Most Nazi monuments in Germany were torn down after 1945, but in Spain and Italy many of the buildings and statues glorifying fascism are still standing — and there are arguments over them to this day. What to do? The city of Bolzano in the Italian Alps had some ideas. - BBC
"After a granddaughter and great-grandson of the artist trumpeted the upcoming sale, lawyers for the family said Thursday that his heirs have not authorized the launch of any such 'Picasso NFT.'" Later, the business manager for the great-grandson, Florian, said, "Maybe we should have been a bit more clear." - AP
The artist has now admitted that the very widely reported sale of the piece (titled For the Love of God) in 2007 never actually happened and that the bedazzled bundle of bone has been sitting in a London warehouse all this time. - Artnet
The Academy Museum, like the Newseum before it, does an imperfect job of balancing two basic identities and purposes, one essentially self-promotional, the other more civic-minded. It is both a shrine and pantheon, and a space for exhibitions and education. - Washington Post
Despite the chorus of mainstream voices that had written off Los Angeles as essentially devoid of noteworthy cultural activity, the 1970s gave rise to one of the city’s most important art-historical developments of the latter half of the 20th century: a flourishing network of alternative spaces. - Hyperallergic
"It is a vast online trove of Duchampiana" assembled by the Association Marcel Duchamp, the Pompidou Center, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "a virtual 'readymade,' now available to scholars, artists, and the general public all over the world." - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
In the city of Satkhira, near the giant Sundarban mangrove swamp on the Indian border, the Friendship Hospital, designed by the Dhaka-based firm Urbana, manages to channel rain, wind, and sunlight to keep people as dry, cool, and well-lit as possible in such a setting. - The Guardian
Following an investigation lasting more than three years, the final report concluded that the cause of the second blaze remained "undetermined". It said this was due to extensive damage and the destruction of evidence. - BBC
Dr. Emmanuel Masmejean, an orthopedic surgeon who claims to have operated on five victims of the 2015 terrorist attack, listed on the NFT sales platform OpenSea an x-ray image of a forearm with a Kalashnikov bullet lodged in it. He now faces legal and professional disciplinary action. - France 24
"'We are now at the very early stages of planning what this will look like,' says the museum's director, Agustín Arteaga." An architecture firm has been engaged to create a master plan and the city has been notified. - NBCDFW (The Dallas Morning News)
Today, barring the newish Halifax and Calgary central libraries (which opened in 2014 and 2018, respectively), one wonders whether the average Canadian could name a building constructed in the past thirty years the country could be proud of. - The Walrus
Typically this weeklong coagulation of art fairs in mid-February — dubbed Frieze Week — draws art makers, sellers, collectors and spectators from around the globe, which in turn spawns parties, performances, art talks and other Prosecco-infused art happenings citywide. - Los Angeles Times
Artificial intelligence (OK, not an actual "robot") is really, really good at identifying brushstrokes. "The researchers hypothesized that brushwork on a painting leaves behind a 'fingerprint' that largely lies beyond human powers of identification" - and they were correct. - Hyperallergic
To be clear, one has to be at the museum to experience survivors' personal stories in VR. But "pretty much across the board, viewing audiences have been moved by this in ways that they couldn’t have expected," says Illinois Holocaust Museum CEO Susan Abrams. - Fast Company
