More than 18 months since the coronavirus pandemic hit Britain, its long-term effects on the country’s museums are becoming clear. Months of closures have caused havoc with their finances, and as a consequence, many museums expect to be strapped for years. - The New York Times
Rules restricting the use of wood in UK buildings are hampering the switch to low-carbon building methods, according to timber architecture expert Andrew Waugh. - Dezeen
"Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon allotrope whose molecules bind together through a phenomenon called Van der Waals forces. … It can be produced in large, thin sheets; it blocks ultraviolet light; and it is impermeable to oxygen, moisture, and other corrosive agents." - Artnet
"Mehrdad Sadigh pleaded guilty to seven felony counts that included charges of forgery and grand larceny. … The prosecution of Mr. Sadigh was something of a departure by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit, which generally pursues people dealing in artifacts that have been looted." - The New York Times
The Faculty Paintings — three allegorical works titled Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence — were likely destroyed in a fire near the end of Word War II; all we have today are black-and-white photos and verbal descriptions. Here's how Google and Vienna's Belvedere Museum recreated the artworks. - Smithsonian Magazine
The 23-foot tower of naked bodies twisted together, some mid-scream, was created by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt and is the last remaining Tiananmen commemoration on Chinese soil. - Washington Post
"I keep returning to an unrealized project of the late philosopher, public intellectual, and curator Édouard Glissant, who consistently told me that what matters is the production of reality." - Artnet
"Fittingly, the artist (Wolfgang Beltracchi) — infamous for his uncanny ability to mimic the work of others — is making 4,608 versions of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, in a variety of different artistic styles." Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art … - Artnet
The platform’s erasure of certain kinds of work has the net effect of discouraging the making and exhibiting of that work. It erases art that is confrontational, that expresses points of view outside of the mainstream, while promoting art that is decorative and/or unchallenging. - ARTnews
Claire Lilley, who placed 18 sculptures for the London Frieze Sculpture show this year: "I love how we as humans occupy the same space as sculpture. I’ve seen people press their entire bodies against sculptures and hug them." - The New York Times
The activist artist says she accepted a position at Harvard after telling the regime, "Look, you want me to leave, well now you have an opportunity. ... But I’ll leave on the condition that you release , and I handed a list of several people." - Hyperallergic
It was a particularly bad evening for the actor who had recently been diagnosed with epilepsy: "I was onstage, and I forgot my lines, I forgot where I was, and I thought, I can’t do this anymore." - Irish Times
Some things went better, including a lot of pivoting to digital, but "Before the pandemic hit India, the annual India Art Fair took place in Delhi. 'We were at an all-time high,' said its director, Jaya Asokan. ... Just weeks later, everything ground to a halt." - The New York Times
The portrait was peeling with age, and it hung for three decades in a private home in Poland after that consequential flea market find. "Only the artist's first name, Alfred, is preserved." - ABC News (AP)
The short answer is that Lord Elgin simply took them from the Parthenon and shipped them home to London. True as such, but, as this backgrounder explains, Elgin had reason to believe that he was doing the right thing and had legal permission to do it. - ARTnews
