LA-based artist Kadir Nelson on his Martin Luther King Jr. cover for The New Yorker: “What happened to his dream of racial and economic equality, and what is the impact of non-violent resistance over half a century later?”
- Museums all over the country are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with special programming. The Studio Museum in Harlem will be open on a Monday (!) and free. [culture type]
- Pianists rejoice (in a sort of hauntingly melancholic way?) French pop/classical musician Maxence Cyrin has released the sheet music to his beloved, spooky cover of “Where is My Mind”. You too can now download it and regale your roommates/neighbors with bittersweet ennui. [Maxence Cyrin]
- The world is going to shit, and the wealthy aren’t taking any chances. Elites can now buy into a community of decommissioned military bunkers, far from rising seas and nuclear targets, that’s been reconceived as a luxury apocalyptic enclave. Don’t worry, it will be fully stocked with a spa, en-suite media rooms, and armed security. [Dezeen]
- The list of the world’s most expensive living female artists is here (yay feminism! shruggy-face to assigning “value” based on the market?) and it features the usual suspects: Yayoi Kusama, Cindy Sherman, Jenny Saville, etc… But it’s nice to see names such as Vija Celmins and Bridget Riley on the list, who have been in the game a long time and weathered many fickle cycles of taste. [artnet News]
- Whoa. The Women’s March On Washington organizers have released their platform, and it includes everything from living wages for sex workers to recognition of the burdens women of color bare in the care industry. This is awesome. [BUST]
- If you’ve ever dreamed of art school at Harvard but aren’t the heir to a hedge fund fortune or oil-rich emirate, here’s your chance! (sort of). Harvard will be giving away free online photography classes this year. [Konbini]
- Ugh. The St. Louis Art Museum is lending George Caleb Bingham’s “The Verdict of the People” (1854-55) for Trump’s inauguration luncheon. People are upset, because, you know, that would imply that Trump’s election was “The Verdict of the People” instead of an archaic and racist institution designed to give rural whites outsized representation in government. [The Daily Beast]
- CalArts students have joined the #J20 Strike, and are planning a walk-out in solidarity. We will also be striking, and you should too. [Hyperallergic]
- For those who can’t afford a car or rising NYC rents, here’s a list of walkable, transit-friendly suburbs within commuting distance of Manhattan. [Curbed]
- Are civic megaprojects like the Second Avenue Subway and Hamburg’s gorgeous new Elbphilharmonie a dying breed? Given cost over-runs and an increasingly fractured political sphere, it seems like these two accomplishments might be a last gasp of public sector city-building in much of the global north. [Community Architect]
