ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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The De La Torre Brothers Make Maximalist Art On Both Sides Of The Border

“As a young artist, you’re wondering: Are you a craft person? Are you a conceptual artist? Are you Mexicano? Are you Americano? A Chicano? … At some point, we understood that the least we worried about it, the better.” - The New York Times

Boston MFA Director To Step Down

His tenure at the MFA was marked by both successes and challenges, from the overhaul of many galleries, conservation facilities and education programmes, to a racial incident involving a visiting school group and contract negotiations with (and a brief strike by) unionised workers. - The Art Newspaper

The First Post-Pandemic Carbuncle Cup, For Britain’s Worst New Building, Goes To —

"A bunch of developers have been allowed to knock down a happy, eclectic row of buildings ... and (have) replaced it with such nothingness, such banality that their only option is to cover it with a screen. Upon which, they have drawn portraits of those same old demolished buildings." - The Fence

Museum Of Fine Arts Boston Director Announces Retirement

"Matthew Teitelbaum, … who stewarded the institution through a tumultuous era of social upheaval and change, announced his retirement Thursday evening at a meeting of the museum’s board of directors. Teitelbaum, 68, became director in August 2015. He will leave his post ... in August 2025." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

How Architecture Is Defending Ukraine

In the third year of this epochal war — which has destroyed some 210,000 buildings, according to a recent New York Times investigation — Russian forces continue to target civilian habitations in contravention of international law. When the city is a battleground, architecture becomes an act of defense and defiance. - The New York Times

Stonehenge (Stonehenge!) Is Latest Target Of Climate-Protesting Art Vandals

Two members of Just Stop Oil sprayed orange paint (which they say is made of cornstarch and will rinse off) on the ancient monument just a day before summer solstice crowds arrive. Their reason is that the Labour Party's promise to stop new oil and gas exploration licenses is not enough. - AP

Culture War: Fighting Over Palm Springs’ Marilyn Statue

In the rest of the country, they’re arguing about statues of Confederate generals. In Palm Springs, they’re arguing about Marilyn Monroe’s underpants. This is fitting, perhaps, for a make-believe city, an oasis in the desert created by unsustainable water policies and the Hollywood studio system. - Slate (MSN)

Entries Are Surging For Australia’s Art Competitions. Why?

‘I definitely think that over the COVID-19 lockdown period people discovered a new talent or passion for art. And I think now, we are seeing some of those people trying to break through into the industry more and potentially look for ways to have exhibitions, and art prizes are a good first step.’ - ArtHub

Oh, Great, The Mysterious Mirrored Monolith Is Back

The first of them — rectangular pillars over 10 feet tall, made of reflective sheet metal — materialized, seemingly out of nowhere, in Utah in late 2020. Over four months, similar pillars appeared, then disappeared, in various places on every continent. Now one has reappeared in the desert mountains north of Las Vegas. - AP

Parkour Crew Damages Building At UNESCO World Heritage Site In Italy

The London-based Team Phat — which has already been banned from Venice — was doing its thing in the seaside town of Matera, in the arch of the Italian boot, when they stood on a stone protruding from a historic building and it fell off. They videotaped the whole thing. - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

Why Is The Progressive Brooklyn Museum Being Attacked By The Political Left?

 Seven months ago, the museum was criticized not for a sympathetic view toward Israel but instead for antisemitic leanings. The turmoil in which so many universities and cultural institutions were now engulfed was playing out at the museum as whiplash. - The New York Times

The Slow-Motion Heist Of Pre-Columbian Antiquities From A Fort Worth Storeroom

In 1996, a wealthy collector donated a trove of ancient Peruvian ceramics and textiles — items which had no clear provenance — to Texas Christian University, which turned out to be ill-equipped to handle them. By 2001, most of them had disappeared. - Texas Observer

Why Your Local Bank Branch Looks More Like A Starbucks These Days

Increasingly, customers are visiting physical banks to receive guidance on products such as mortgages, loans and financial planning, while accessing more basic services online. These trends are industrywide, and Citi isn’t the only bank to rethink its physical spaces in response. - Bloomberg

Baltimore Should Get An Iconic Bridge To Replace Key Bridge

The city deserves a replacement that is similarly expressive of the working harbor’s importance to the city and its location as a gateway between the port and the Chesapeake Bay. This new structure must also serve as a memorial to the lives lost in the collapse. - Bloomberg

Stephen Fry, For One, Is Ready For Britain To Return The Parthenon Marbles

Indeed, he compares the Ottoman Empire giving away anything from Greece to Nazi Germany giving away French monuments. And it’s not the first time he’s hoped to push Britain into giving them back to Greece. - The Guardian (UK)

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