I have a confession to make: I have no idea what "placemaking" is. The more I hear the word, the less I understand it. What is placemaking? The word, for one, does not feature in any English dictionary and, until recently, was underlined by Microsoft Word as a spelling mistake. - Dezeen
Botero’s paintings of Colombian governmental officials and clergy are now known the world over. He said that when he first started making them, in the 1950s, there wasn’t much other art like it in his home country, where European modernist painting was not widely seen at the time. - ARTnews
As befits a man who has been held up as an avatar of his generation’s achievements and failings, Wenner has left behind a complex legacy. But it’s one that he’s happy to defend. - The New York Times
"CapRadio's problems are much deeper than a shifting media landscape, former employees and current management say: three costly construction projects combined with falling revenue have pushed the nonprofit media organization to the financial brink." - MSN (The Sacramento Bee)
For years, this kingdom’s Islamic clerics waged a war on videogames, banning popular titles such as “Pokémon” for promoting blasphemy, violence and laziness. Now, Saudi Arabia is pouring $40 billion into a bid to become a world leader in a videogame industry beloved by its booming youth population. - The Wall Street Journal
"The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain: Lyrics for Stacey Kent will be published on 7 March 2024 by Faber, featuring 16 sets of lyrics alongside specially commissioned illustrations by Italian artist Bianca Bagnarelli and an introduction by Ishiguro." - The Guardian
"Allegations of sexual misconduct against David Adjaye ... sent shockwaves through the profession and led clients to cancel a string of projects. Now, his practice is making redundancies while former employees allege that a toxic culture permeated what was once one of the world's most revered architecture studios." - Architects' Journal
"TikTok has been fined €345 million — about $367 million — by (Ireland's Data Protection Commission), which ruled the app violated the EU's data-privacy laws with respect to processing information on children users." - Variety
"The artworks were all previously owned by Fritz Grünbaum, a cabaret performer and songwriter who died at the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. (They were) seized Wednesday from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio." - AP
"A lot of what drove the programming decisions was where there was that emotional hook," said artistic director Bill Rauch. "What does it mean to do X, Y or Z at the World Trade Center? You walk by that North Memorial Pool on your way in and out. It's right there." - MSN (The Washington Post)
Mena Mark Hanna, who became the festival's general director in 2021, has replaced longtime chief conductor John Kennedy with a new music director, Timothy Myers of Austin Opera. Kennedy said the decision "was no surprise," but the absence of a "caring, respectful transition plan" was disappointing. - The Post and Courier (Charleston)
That's what French authorities are investigating. The two medallions were taken from the Paris cathedral during its last renovation, in 1862, and were sold to an unnamed buyer in 2015, 153 years later. The auction house says it did nothing illegal or improper. - MSN (AFP)
For nearly a dozen years, the adult ticket has been $25. But the museum has since dramatically expanded its footprint in Midtown Manhattan, adding 47,000 square feet of gallery space in 2019 at a cost of $450 million. - The New York Times
Wemding’s citizens are assembling at a rate of one six-by-four-foot block every decade. There are 116 more to add before the “Time Pyramid” will be complete, when it will stand 24 feet tall. That won’t be until 3183 A.D. - The New York Times
“We designed the telescope to wow the scientists,” Mike Menzel agreed. Now, he said, “We’re here in an art show, watching some images that we helped produce becoming things that are almost iconic.” - The New Yorker
