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A New Proposal For The US At The Venice Biennale Is, Uh, Not Great

“With its fascist posturing, suggestion of militarized violence, laser light shows, and relentless ego-buffing in the form of giant statuary, it’s like World War Z but with fascists instead of zombies (and also on the side of the zombies).” - Hyperallergic

Massive Stolen Sculptures Recovered In Anaheim

After a mysterious warehouse heist last weekend, sculptures worth about $2 million were recovered on Friday night at a private house. - KTLA

Seattle’s Low-Income Artspace Seems To Be Falling Apart

“Artspace, the Minneapolis nonprofit that owns the lofts, sold the city on a vision: affordable housing that would help retain Seattle’s creative soul as redevelopment and rising costs were driving out artists. But the dream shattered.” - Seattle Times

World, Especially US, Politics Hang Over Art Basel

“'Many folks have asked specifically if we are OK,’ said David Kordansky, a Los Angeles dealer who felt the need to defend the image of his city at Art Basel after the White House portrayed it as being under siege by protesters.” - The New York Times

Can The Venice Architecture Biennale Use AI To Gain Popularity?

Architects "balked at having their voices clipped. The compromise was to let architects write the texts they wanted (which can be full of jargon and a struggle to parse), and to let A.I. produce shorter, plainer summaries." - The New York Times

Why Is Velázquez’s “Las Meninas” So Important? Because Of The Tricks It Plays On You.

“A deconstruction of the relationship between viewer and viewed, depiction and depicted, Las Meninas comprises a nesting doll of paradoxes that play with pictorial space to ask, Just what is it you think you’re looking at?” - ARTnews

GAO Agency Finds That Trump Administration Withholding Of Library And Museum Funding Breaks Law

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a decision on Monday finding that the Trump administration‘s withholding of funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), appropriated by Congress, is in violation of the law. - ARTnews

Colorado Museums Brace For Program Cancellations

Institutions across Colorado were awarded about $4.3 million in IMLS grants, most of which require matching funds from the museum or library, for the current fiscal year. - Colorado Newsline

One Of Gaudí’s Most Famous Barcelona Houses Has Its Rear Façade Restored

“In a project Casa Batlló has described as a ‘remarkable rediscovery,’ the back façade has been returned to its original state following a years-long €3.5 million ($4 million) initiative. ... This was the first comprehensive attention that has been paid to the building’s rear in more than a century.” - Artnet

This 13th-Century Yemeni Citadel May Not Survive Its Own Restoration

“From its perch 5,000 feet above sea level, the ancient al-Qahira Castle has watched over Yemen’s third-largest city, Taiz, for more than 800 years. ... But the future of its weathered walls is now uncertain — not because of threats from invaders or empires, but because of the sudden suspension of restoration funds.” - Smithsonian Magazine

Posting The Receipts: Writers Are Documenting Themselves Writing On TikTok To Prove They’re Not AI

Prolific authors are not only calling out people who use AI to write, they’re also posting livestreams and time-lapses of their writing processes to defend themselves against such complaints. - Wired

Is Art Basel Losing Its Mojo?

Art Basel’s flagship event in Switzerland now faces formidable challenges. The 289 gallerists from 42 countries participating in this year’s edition of the fair, whose V.I.P. preview opened on Tuesday, are trying to make sales at a time when the art market is in a slump and the world is in turmoil. - The New York Times

Man Drives Mercedes Down Rome’s Spanish Steps, Gets Stuck

Firefighters who helped the 80-year-old driver from his vehicle say that he was uninjured and disoriented but not intoxicated. A crane removed the car from the travertine staircase, which is evidently undamaged. - Artnet

Is Art Basel Being Overshadowed By Its Own Spinoffs?

For decades it was the contemporary art world’s do-not-miss fair, but the Swiss mother-ship now faces competition from Art Basel events in Qatar, Hong Kong, Miami Beach, and, especially, Paris, a city which experience-minded collectors are likely to prefer to sedate Basel. - The New York Times

With Its Own Building Closed For Renovations, Pompidou Center Moves Into Newly-Restored Grand Palais

The Beaux-Arts landmark on the Champs-Elysées, built for the Paris Universal Exhibition (World’s Fair) in 1900, has been renovated for the first time in its history. Among the Pompidou exhibitions so far is Fun Palace, a pink, textile structure designed by Rotterdam architect Studio Ossidiana as a habitable "living laboratory.” - Dezeen

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