MICA is demolishing the 1914 buildings that house the school’s Printmaking department and replacing them with this ugly, out-of-scale thing from GWWO Architects. It’s not surprising they opted to render it at night.
- Mikolai Napieralski—a former employee of the Qatari National Museum—provides a surreal behind-the-scenes account of the tiny nation’s rise and fall in the art world. Qatar’s former Emir and his daughter Sheikha Mayassa went on an ambitious spending spree to bring Western art professionals, museum outposts, and crazily expensive exhibitions to Doha. All of this was made possible by oil wealth and underpaid foreign labor. Now, that money is gone, and there’s a new Emir on the throne. [Quartz]
- With the re-opening of SFMOMA, now the country’s largest modern and contemporary art museum, and a small but loyal collector base, is San Francisco poised to be a major art capital? The article briefly touches on one obstacle: international blue chip galleries are opening branches, but the city is just too expensive for artists and artist-run spaces. [W Magazine]
- Ew. You can now buy Truman Capote’s ashes at auction. [artnet News]
- Painter Timothy Desmond is suing the state of California over its ban of selling or displaying images of the Confederate flag. His paintings of Civil War battles have been rejected from the Fresno State Fair because they feature the flag. Okay, that law is kinda ridiculous… but so is this painting. [The Art Newspaper]
- Italy’s horrible earthquake has destroyed countless historic sites, artworks, and ancient buildings. This is pretty much almost too depressing to read. [The Guardian]
- Artist and Bad at Sports contributor Amanda Browder has been wrapping old buildings in Buffalo with fabric as part of a public art initiative led by The Albright Knox. The piece is called “Spectral Locus” and is intended to create a sense of connection amongst viewers. [WGRZ]
- Times Square Arts has unveiled a new installation from German artist and architect J. Mayer H that pays homage to the hyper-gentrified zone’s sexier pre-Giuliani era. Titled “XXX Times Square With Love,” the piece comprises a series of recliners in the shape of Xs, which is a fitting commentary on the area’s transformation from porno mecca to sunbathing tourist trap. [Curbed]
- MICA is demolishing its printmaking department, housed in a series of buildings from 1914 in a historic district, and replacing it with a product design center that looks like bland, cheap condos. What the fuck? What will this mean for the alley behind the Mount Royal Tavern? [Baltimore Fishbowl]
- This interview between multispecies ethnographer Eben Kriksey and artist Katherine Behar is nuts. They discuss Behar’s show, which includes a performance by two Roombas, and the questions look like this: The Roomba really isn’t a species as such. A Roomba can’t fuck another Roomba and make baby Roombas. In that way a plant is different from a Roomba? [Bad at Sports]
- The Tate Modern is hiring assistant curators, at about half of the average London salary. The positions pay less than the museum’s cafe pays chefs. [Hyperallergic]
- The impending shutdown of the L train, the oncoming development of the Cornell Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island, and the proposed Midtown East rezoning set to affect Manhattan stations along the 7 line is leading some to speculate that property further into Queens will increase in value. [Commercial Observer]
- Speaking of Queens, the feud between Queens City Councilman Jimmy Van Bremar and Mayor Bill de Blasio continues. Five days after de Blasio told reporters he was going to reach out to Van Bremar and give him a stern talking to about affordable housing, he still hasn’t done reached out. Van Bremar is pissed. And rightly so. The councilman has has said will not approve a building of affordable housing units until the developer gets its act together and makes the repairs on the building it runs across the street. He has also said that these units are not actually affordable. Finally, a councilman willing to say what everyone knows—the affordable housing plan is media plan, not an actual plan. [Politico]
