Left: a photo Jason deCaires Taylor took of Damien Hirst’s “Treasures From the Wreck of the Unbelievable” and posted to Instagram. Right: Jason deCaires Taylor’s own work.
- Here’s the latest bizarre beef over Damien Hirst’s Treasures From the Wreck of The Unbelievable: sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor is upset that Hirst’s work here looks a little like his schtick. Taylor, who is showing in the Biennial’s Granada pavilion, has been putting sculptures underwater for around a decade (the same amount of time Hirst started planning this show). Hirst, for his part, had been experimenting with similar processes in the 1990s, which makes Jason deCaires Taylor’s implication that Hirst plagiarised him and statement that he is “considering my options and discussing it with my legal team” even more ridiculous. There are 7 billion people on a planet with a surface that’s 75% covered with oceans. The fact that two of us had the idea to put some shit in them and leave it there isn’t surprising. [artnet News]
- Here’s a very cool map: all the best mosaics in New York subway stations. [Curbed]
- America’s first accredited degree program in “circus arts” is building a tent-shaped campus. The Circus Conservatory will be opening in Portland, Maine. I literally had to reread this sentence multiple times to accept that it wasn’t Portland, Oregon. [Dezeen]
- The ReThink NYC plan imagines a transit system in which commuter trains can run from New Jersey, through Manhattan, and into Queens and the Bronx. They claim this, in addition to extending several subway and PATH lines to meet the new hub stations, would free up track space and avoid congestion at Penn Station. It’s always been baffling that NYC doesn’t have a connected regional commuter rail system that doubles as high-frequency rapid transit in the core, like Paris’ RER or Madrid’s Cercanias. [NJ.com]
- Speaking of transit, the MTA has admitted New York City’s subways are falling apart and has released a six point plan to address the matter. The big thing is that they are planning to expedite their capital plan to purchase hundreds of new trains. Cuomo cut 65 million in funding to the MTA this year even though the train system is in dire need of repair. [Gothamist]
- The Cincinnati Art Museum has received a nearly $12 million gift to establish the Alice Bimel Endowment for Asian Art (the largest in the museum’s history). In addition to the cash, Carl and Alice Bimel donated over $14 million in art objects. [ARTFIXdaily]
- Sotheby’s Impressionist Modern sale had an Egon Schiele painting estimated to sell at between 30-40 million withdrawn at the last moment last night. Reports are that the sale was a bit of bore with its star lot lost. [ARTnews]
- Josh Baer speculates that the cover lot (Schiele) was withdrawn because they did not anticipate a winning bidder. Ouch. [Baer Faxt]
- The movie Baby Driver is inspiring so much fan art, that Kaitlyn Tiffany has written about it. The movie is about a getaway card driver who wants out of a life of crime, but his bosses won’t let him. The art looks as unoriginal as the movie does, though, which is a disappointment. [The Verge]
- 25 million images of art from 14 art institutions world wide are about to be digitized and put online. The partnership aims to make available 7 million images by 2020. [artnet News]
- Artist Matthew Ritchie is selling his 4 million dollar loft in TriBeCa. He needs more space to work. [Curbed]
- Frighteningly, a new poll finds that the majority of New Yorkers support Governor Andrew Cuomo running for president. [Politico (paywall)]
