- The latest artwork to be launched into space are two manga murals on a Japanese rocket from cartoonist Chuya Koyama. The idea is to get kids excited about “the wonders of the universe.” [phys.org]
- Due to Chinese cities’ slash-and-burn style gentrification, in which whole neighborhoods might be demolished for a development, artists are flocking to the nondescript Beijing suburb Yanjiao. Are dystopian-looking cheap condo towers the new warehouses? [The New York Times]
- Tony Rosenthal’s “Alamo”, better known as the Astor Place cube, is finally back! New Yorkers are thrilled, and Nicole Puglise cites the city’s enthusiasm as evidence that public art is important. [The Guardian]
- Crain’s asked a dozen of NYC’s top architecture firms for ideas to help the city absorb so much new growth. Most of them are pretty good—especially the outer borough transit ideas. Others not so much—is a hotel at the Javits Center really a priority? And can we please make preserving manufacturing/workspaces a part of the discussion rather than always viewing industrial land as “underutilized”? [Crain’s]
- Canadian artist Jeremy Shaw has won the prestigious Sobey Prize. Who is he and what does he make? From the report, “Working in a variety of media, Shaw explores altered states and the cultural and scientific practices that aspire to map transcendental experience by creating a post-documentary space in which contrasting ideals and belief systems are put into crisis.” I (Paddy) haven’t even seen the work, but this garbled and pretentious statement makes me want to hate it. [artnet News]
- Uruguayan gallerist Diana Saravia was summoned to a police station after displaying a painting by Julio de Sosa that depicted former president José “Pepe” Mujica and his wife, senator Lucía Topolansky, as nude Adam & Eve. The police also confiscated the painting. She’s justifiably upset. What gives Uruguay? [Artforum]
- Well, this is depressing. Here’s what $1,400 a month rent will get you in NYC right now. [Curbed]
- This Julia Halperin story on how the Albright Knox raised $100 million in three months is just nuts. Last April Janne Sirén, the director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, got an email billionaire Jeffrey Gundlach pledging an insane amount of money towards their $80 million capital campaign. Gundlach, who had never donated to the institution gave $42.5m and the museum’s trustees pledged $21.3m this summer. Halperin says the rate of giving works out to over 1 million a day. Sirén had met Gundlach only once the year before, had not been in touch since, but did remember to send his mother flowers on Mother’s Day. Executive Directors, take note. [The Art Newspaper]
- We couldn’t be more thrilled for the art collective Current Space, who just bought their building (and one next to it!) from the city of Baltimore for $1. They’re the best, and now they finally have a permanent home! Read about that process in this interview with the collective’s Co-Director Michael Benevento. [Bmore Art]
- Headline of the week: “Boneghazi: How a Grave-Robbing Controversy Tore an Online Witch Community Apart.” The piece is a mind-blowing look at the identity politics of Tumblr culture. [Broadly.]
