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Ways Of Seeing Is Turning 50

The shockwave of the series, and later the book, "Ways of Seeing reframed the conversation about how art is interpreted, focusing on the nature of ownership and the language of appreciation as well as the ways in which advertising appropriates the motifs of painting." - The Economist

The BBC Needs To Let Go Of This Statue

Why is the BBC protecting Eric Gill's Prospero and Ariel? "Gill’s work ornaments a key national building. What, in his case, justifies continued public display of a piece whose revised but still monumental message is 'made by a famous child abuser'?" - The Guardian (UK)

A Rural Initiative In Japan Makes The Case That Art Is For Everyone

These arts projects are "collaborative endeavours without a single author. Many include pieces of public art or sculpture, but the 'project' is what happens around them: workshops and other initiatives that prioritise communication and engagement with communities." - The Economist

Group Calls On Seattle Art Museum To Treat Homeless People Better

A collective of anonymous workers called Decolonize SAM is calling for a boycott and demanding the museum stop removing unhoused people from museum property, provide de-escalation training for frontline staff, and other intervention strategies that center around harm-reduction and mutual aid. - Hyperallergic

Wkipedia Editors Decide Not To Classify NFTs As Art (And The Crypto Guys Are Furious)

As one of the six editors who made the decision (the vote was 5-1) put it, "Wikipedia really can't be in the business of deciding what counts as art or not, which is why putting NFTs, art or not, in their own list makes things a lot simpler." - Artnet

National Gallery In DC Will Close East Building All Spring

The I.M. Pei-designed wing, which contains the museum's collection of Modern and contemporary art, will shut down from the end of February through June in order to replace the 23,000-square-foot skylight in the atrium. - DCist

Netscape Founder James Clark Surrenders Millions Worth Of Cambodian Antiquities Now Thought To Be Looted

Clark, who gave up 35 items he bought between 2003 and 2008, is "the latest in a line of people taken in by Douglas A.J. Latchford, a British art dealer who died in 2020 while facing charges of antiquities trafficking." - The New York Times

Even The Louvre Is Creating An Immersive Art Show — And With The Mona Lisa

The world's most visited museum is teaming up with another Paris institution, the Grand Palais, to crate the light show, which will debut in Marseilles beginning in March. - Artnet

LA’s Bold New Event Space Is… Well, I Need A New Word For It

The history and location are why I wanted to love — love — the new Audrey Irmas Pavilion (which bears the name of the patron who gave the lead gift on the $95-million project). But OMA has delivered a building that is hard to love. - Los Angeles Times

Rescuing The Iconic Floor Tiles Of Barcelona

The decorative cement tiles were used in most residential buildings that went up from the late 19th-century construction boom to 1950, and they became a Barcelona trademark. But as those buildings are remade into luxury apartments, the tiles go into dumpsters — whence Joan Moliner rescues them. - The Guardian

Here’s Just How Lord Elgin Got Those Marbles Out Of Greece And Into England

It was an even uglier, more dishonest project than some of us had realized. (At least Elgin was heavily criticized for it at the time, even within Britain.) - Smithsonian Magazine

Met Museum, Having Difficulty Finding Guards To Staff Galleries, Increases Pay

Until last month, guards starting at the Met had been paid $15.51 an hour, just above the $15 minimum wage for fast food workers in New York state. Now guards are paid a starting wage of $16.50. - The New York Times

How A Major Gift Turned Into A Shiny New Gallery For Indigenous Art In And Unlikely Australian Town

Against the promise of his holdings of Aboriginal art, Gantner urged Shepparton to build a standalone gallery and for it to become a not-for-profit company independent of the council. Councils are “not natural operators of major arts facilities”, he says. - The Art Newspaper

Prehistoric Rock Art In Texas “Irreparably Damaged” By Jackass Vandals

The petroglyphs, at least 4,500 years old, in Big Bend National Park were ruined by "Isaac, Ariel, Norma, (and) Adrian," who carved their names on the rock on the day after Christmas. - Texas Monthly

How Traditional Architecture Has Become A Right-Wing Culture Wars Battleground

This time around, the traditionalist lunatics have succeeded in taking over the asylum. Reactionary ideas hostile to the cosmopolitan, to Modernism, to modernity itself, are in the ascendant. - The Art Newspaper

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