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The Vandals That Smashed Up Sculpture Space In Utica, New York Were Grade-School Kids

Several hours after the pre-dawn Sunday attack, five children, aged 8 to 11, were caught throwing rocks at parked cars; they were arrested when found to have bicycles and other material stolen from Sculpture Space.  They've been charged with burglary, larceny, criminal mischief, and possession of stolen property. - Hyperallergic

Security For Art In Canada Is Lax, Say Experts

However it happened, it's clear those who stole a world-famous portrait of Sir Winston Churchill from the Château Laurier planned the heist meticulously. It took more than eight months for anyone to realize the photo hanging from the wood-panelled walls of the Reading Lounge was a fake. - CBC

San Francisco Art Market Struggles

The Gagosian Gallery closed last year, and Pace will close its Palo Alto gallery next month. Working artists have had to leave their Bay Area studios for less expensive regions. And last month the San Francisco Art Institute, which has counted a long line of distinguished artists among its alumni and faculty over the decades, shut its doors after...

Vandals Break Into And Smash Up A Sculpture Center In Upstate New York

"Sculpture Space, a residency program for sculptors in Utica, New York, was ransacked and severely damaged by vandals in the early hours of Sunday, August 28. The Utica Police Department (said) that an investigation is ongoing. The motive for the attack remains unclear." - Hyperallergic

Edmonton Nixes Buffalo Sculpture After 12 Years Debate Over History

“Perhaps the city is not ready for a real dialogue about its colonial past and the condition of coloniality that continues to mark the present. That was my intention with the work, not to celebrate colonialism, as the city suggests.” - Toronto Star

A Stonemason Working On Britain’s Stately Homes Says More Women Should Get Into Masonry

Alice Eaton, who's 30, has helped restore Haddon Hall - set of parts of Princess Bride, Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley version), and three versions of Jane Eyre. "Each stone is its own size," she says, "and has to go back exactly in its own place." - BBC

London’s History Isn’t Even History

Just ask the mudlarkers in the Thames. - Hyperallergic

Trump Silenced Guantanamo’s Artists

"Until the end of 2017, Guantanamo detainees were allowed to take their art with them when they were released, or give it to their lawyers to take out." Then, that - randomly, it seems - ended. Why hasn't the Biden administration fixed this yet? - BBC

The Mysteries Of Matisse’s Red Studio

Sure, there's the surface - and then there's the subject. "Today, we recoil at the thought of a 41-year-old dad sketching his naked teenager just so a Russian tycoon can then ogle her body, almost like a thank-you gift from artist to patron." - The New York Times

A New Definition For The Word, And Place, Museum

"Following a years-long debate over how ideological the definition should be, the final text includes new language about museums being ethical, diverse, accessible, inclusive and sustainable" - and open to the public. - Washington Post

What’s Going To Happen To Sydney’s Rather Ugly Central Station Area?

Central Station is a "blight" that "sliced central Sydney in two" when the tracks were built in 1871. The infrastructure minister "said he hoped the development would heal the 'scar' through the city, improve connectivity and provide 850 much-needed residences." - The Guardian (UK)

The Murky World Of Stolen And Forged Art

There's a lot - a wild amount, and it's possibly underreported - of art theft via forgery or replacement paintings, and now photos as well. - Toronto Star

Microsoft Co-Founder’s Billion-Dollar Art Collection To Go To Auction

The trove of blue-chip works spanning 500 years collected by Paul Allen by artists such as Jasper Johns and Paul Cézanne, will go under the hammer in New York later this year; all of the sale proceeds will go towards philanthropic causes in line with Allen’s wishes who died in 2018. - The Art Newspaper

UNESCO Warns That Hagia Sofia Is Endangered

Originally constructed as a church, the Turkish government converted the structure to a mosque in 2020 in a highly controversial decision. In the years since, the Byzantine-era cathedral has seen increased damage and vandalism. - ARTnews

This Startup Wants To “Decentralize The Museum” By Becoming An Art-Lending Library For Far-Flung Institutions

"(At) the Web3 start-up Arkive, ... members don't put down any funds to participate (at least for now); the works it collects are meant to be loaned out to cultural institutions, and the objects that Arkive acquires are not only digital ones." - ARTnews

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