ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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London’s National Gallery May Get A Rethink For Its Third Century

That’s right, it’s 200 years old - and its director welcomes the opportunity to reconsider how to present art to a public that, occasionally, greets that art with hammers or paint. - The Art Newspaper

The Glass-Fronted Architecture Of The Proposed New NFL Stadium In Chicago

Perhaps unsurprisingly, “the design and necessity of the new stadium have faced objections from the community. It has an estimated to cost over $4.2 billion, with … approximately $1.5 billion, be drawn from state taxpayers." - Dezeen

Ghana Puts Crown Jewels, Looted By Britain, On Display

“'This is a day for Asante. A day for the Black African continent. The spirit we share is back,’ said Asante King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.” Of course, Britain has only “loaned back” the looted items for three years. - BBC

Why Are So Many Mid-Century Modern Houses Being Torn Down? Blame Americans’ Lust For McMansions

"Historic houses across the United States are targeted for teardowns every week, often under cover of night with little to no warning. Increasingly, preservationists say, these demolitions are not driven by changing tastes but rather by (the) ravenous desire for larger and larger homes." - The Washington Post (MSN)

A Bigger, Better Light Show Is Coming Back To San Francisco’s Bay Bridge

"The team responsible for the beloved Bay Lights art installation, which dimmed 14 months ago, announced on Thursday that it secured over $10 million in funding to illuminate a 1.8-mile section of the bridge. … The revived installation will boast 50,000 LEDs, doubling the count from the original." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Wall Street’s “Fearless Girl” Sculpture Lawsuit Settles

The 250-pound bronze statue was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors to express its support for gender diversity in the corporate world. State Street sued the artist, Kristen Visbal, in 2019, alleging that she had committed breach of contract and trademark infringement by selling replicas of the sculpture. - The New York Times

Biden Cancels Billions In Student Debt To Bankrupt Art Institute Chain

"President Joe Biden has cancelled $6.1 billion in loans taken out by students at the Art Institutes, the network of for-profit colleges that shuttered in September 2023, … (at which point its remaining campuses were) in Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Virginia Beach, … Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio." - Artnet

EU Court Approves Italy’s Attempt To Seize Looted Greek Statue From Getty Museum

"'Victorious Youth,' a life-sized bronze dating from 300 B.C. to 100 B.C., … was pulled from the sea in 1964 by Italian fishermen and then exported out of Italy illegally. (It) was purchased by the Getty in 1977 for $4 million and has been on display there ever since." - AP

Astonishing Ancient Construction Found In France

Researchers from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) unearthed the monument while excavating a prehistoric site in the eastern commune of Marliens. - Smithsonian

Art Gallery Of Ontario Strike Revealed A Class Divide

If the union made scant material progress, the strike looks mainly like a huge strategic error on the AGO’s part. -- The Globe & Mail

Climate-Protesting Art Vandals In Paris Arrested Before They Could Vandalize Art

"Two people were arrested on Sunday morning at the entrance of the Musée d’Orsay for being suspected of attempting to damage classified property. … When they were arrested, they were 'in possession of a white liquid – glue and a viscous whitish mixture – and were wearing" t-shirts of an environmental activist group. - ARTnews

Toronto’s Largest Art Museum Reopens After Monthlong Strike

"The Art Gallery of Ontario, which closed to the public on March 26 as more than 400 unionized workers went on strike, (reopened) on April 30. The employees, whose ranks included curators, archivists, designers, researchers, technicians, and front desk staff, … had sought wage increases and protection for part-time workers." - Artforum

Marrying Arts And Tech In The Building So They Can Feed Off One Another

At the new gateway to the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology the 180,000-square-foot Student Hall for Exploration and Development offers views into two nearly transparent cubes. In one, actors rehearse a theater performance; students are practicing their moves in a dance studio in the other. - Bloomberg

Nigeria’s New Museum Of Yoruba Culture Is Not Like Other Museums

Architect Seun Oduwole: "This museum pops with colour and sound." Curator Will Rea: "It is very different to a European museum, you walk in a soundscape and it’s noisy, it’s performative, you have to move your body the whole time." (It also has a public swimming pool.) - The Guardian

Natural History Museums Get A Redesign

In part, that’s meant to feature the “gateway drug to natural history” - the dinosaur skeletons. - The New York Times

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