The accusation first surfaced on July 31, during the opening day of Lollapalooza: as a small group of protesters dressed in black gathered in front of the mirrored sculpture (which is formally titled Cloud Gate), waving signs and handing out flyers, demanding the release of the man they insisted was trapped inside. - Artnet
The work on the monumental fresco behind the altar in the Sistine Chapel is intended to protect it from the effects of large-scale tourism. The Chapel attracts an average of 25,000 visitors a day, or roughly 6 million each year. - Artnet
“After five years and a $37 million restoration, Norwich Castle — one of England’s most iconic Norman fortresses — is reopening its doors with a meticulous recreation of its 12th-century grandeur.” - Artnet
This case isn’t as egregious as “Beast Jesus,” but it has happened to a far more prominent artwork: a statue, known as “la Macarena,” of the Blessed Virgin which has been an object of affection and veneration in Seville for centuries. - The New York Times
“It’s a mystery how things can be this difficult for an industry that works on such large margins—up to 50 percent for most galleries, for inventory that they don’t have to buy, invest in or manufacture." - The Observer
“The sculpture Agora — a striking work composed of 106 nine-foot-tall iron human figures — has been a fixture on the southern edge of grant park for nearly 20 years. But the artwork might have to take a hike next August.” - Chicago Sun-Times
More than a century on, as artificial intelligence offers a fresh tech challenge to humanity, a timely spot of revisionism appears to be taking place. Last month, in Paris, it emerged that a museum is finally to be dedicated to one of art nouveau’s most deserving and neglected exponents. - The Guardian
As democratic values in the United States erode at an accelerated pace, acts of silencing and erasure at artistic and academic institutions — think of Columbia University, the Noguchi Museum, or Paramount — will continue to occur, but they cannot go unchallenged. - Hyperallergic
Two galleries vie to show the rejected artists’ work, of course. “People loved coming and supporting it and having another opportunity, obviously, to show their work, too.” - MPR
The exhibit is on state violence and resistance, and “some of the censored works reference China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other primarily Muslim ethnic groups.” - Hyperallergic
Sketched on discarded road signs, “the artwork’s surface depicts hundreds of stringybark blossoms and thousands of bees, referencing the songline of Wuyal, the honey hunter – an important ancestor for the Marrakulu clan.” - The Guardian (UK)
“Over the course of her nearly 70-year career, Ruysch shunned radical innovation and experimentation, and opted for the subtlest of variations on a theme. No grand gestures or avant-garde maneuvers. Just refinement, focus, and perfection. Flowers and fruit.” - The Atlantic
“The exhibition, Saved Treasures of Gaza, at Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe brings what curators called a sense of ‘urgency’ to explain the rich history of a place that has been a crossroads of cultures since Neolithic times.” - The Guardian (UK)
“Spanning 13-by-5 feet, the polychrome mural, … with a three-dimensional design, indicating a sophistication and artistry that is without precedent for pre-Inca cultures in the region, … was discovered at Huaca Yolanda, a site 500 miles north of the capital, Lima.” - Artnet
