“Umbilical cord art” is now a trend, according to Buzzfeed.
- Strangest headline of the day: “Why I Won’t Judge Women For Making Umbilical Cord Art”. [Refinery29]
- Berlin’s legendary nightclub Berghain has been deemed a “high art” institution by German courts. This entitles the club to pay a lower tax rate than an “entertainment” business. ARTnews defends this “art v.s. entertainment” decision by pointing out that Art21 host Claire Danes is a fan of Berghain. But seriously, cities should be doing more to help keep their nightlife afloat. [ARTnews]
- Alec Baldwin has escalated his dispute with Mary Boone and is now suing the gallery over a Ross Bleckner painting. Baldwin had approached Boone in the hopes of acquiring Bleckner’s 1996 work “Sea and Mirror.” Instead of tracking that down, Boone just sold Baldwin another, identical version of the painting, also by Bleckner. [artnet News]
- Tommy Hilfiger is throwing a fashion-show-cum-carnival on a pier. This is just one of the “unconventional” venues for NYFW shows this year, ranging from public spaces to Department of Sanitation salt storage sheds (yes, really). [Curbed]
- Melania Trump used $20,000 of the Donald J. Trump Foundation’s funds to buy a six-foot-tall portrait of the Donald by “speed painter” Michael Israel. To be fair, this was at an auction benefitting a charity for children. But The Washington Post reports that it’s one of many shady dealings at the Foundation. [Hyperallergic]
- The Finnish government has refused state funding for the €130 million Guggenheim Helsinki. Several of the politicians who opposed the new museum outpost argued that they would support a privately-funded Guggenheim, but that the Finnish government’s share of construction costs would not be an appropriate use of state funds. [Dezeen]
- 10 songs that help Pitchfork staffers get shit done. This is the epitome of a music nerd/writer listening list—mostly instrumental and heavy on drone. Pretty much the opposite of anything we’d use to motivate, expect perhaps Daft Punk’s Alive and Rhythm & Sound’s The Versions. [Pitchfork]
- Democratic New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo shies away from criticizing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by name. [Politico]
- Shortly after the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro contrived to convert the grounds of an elite golf course into a series of national art schools, housed in creative architecture designed around economic restrictions such as an embargo on imported US steel. Unfortunately, the campus became abandoned and neglected. Today, it’s one of many culturally significant sites in the country that face preservation challenges from the coming tourism boom. It would be so great to see this complex restored and put to use as an art school. Knowing the impact tourism has had on other islands in the Caribbean, though, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the site ironically returned to use as a golf course, unfortunately. [The Art Newspaper]
- Chinese social media users are bashing painter Guo Jia, accusing her of destroying historic frescos she had been tasked with restoring. We can’t find any before-or-after images of her work, but is this the Chinese equivalent of Spain’s “Beast Jesus” in-the-making? [China Daily]
