Wednesday Links: Sweatshop Theater, Selfie-Friendly Art, and a Museum Has a Yard Sale

This is old news, but too adorable to forget. A Colombian man and his two children cover Depeche Mode songs using a mix of homemade instruments, toy keyboards, and an incongruously upbeat attitude. They are pretty much the cutest family in the world. [YouTube]

World Factory, an interactive theatrical production by Zoe Svendsen, casts the audience members as capitalists running a Chinese sweatshop. Dishearteningly, even left-leaning London theatergoers tended to make decisions based on profit margins rather than ethics. [The Guardian]

From “The Obliteration Room” to “Please Touch The Art,” does all art now have to be some combination of family-friendly and Instagram-friendly? [Vulture]

The Santa Monica Museum of Art is having a moving sale! While they haven’t announced where they are reopening, they have announced what to expect for sale: everything from tech equipment and art supplies to furniture including pink bean bag chairs. West Coast friends, hurry! The sale ends tomorrow. [NBC Los Angeles]

The City of New York is being sued by members of the Illuminator Art Collective. Kyle Depew, Grayson Earle, and Yates McKee claim the NYPD violated their First Amendment rights when arresting them for “unlawful posting of advertisements.” The three were digitally projecting political messages on the side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while right-wing billionaire Ed Koch hosted a gala inside. They claim that political speech is not an advertisement, and that they technically “posted” nothing—merely projected light from a public space. [The Wall Street Journal]

Holla at your grrrls at KLAM radio! The podcast and art installation, broadcast from the mysterious town of San Ranchito, California, features big-name comedians, public-radio celebs (like Jonathan Goldstein and Starlee Kine), and artists (Eleanor Antin). It doesn’t go live until later this week, but I’m expecting Prairie Home Companion meets Pee-Wee’s Playhouse? That’s what I’m hoping for. Hosted by art historian Anna Kryczka and artist Lenae Day. Woo! [KLAM Radio]

For June 2015, ARTnews publishes an all-women-themed issue. From what we’ve read so far, all the writers can agree there’s still no parity in the art world for female artists and arts administrators. Which should be obvious to anyone who’s worked in museums, or been to one for that matter—right? Personally, I like Amelia Jones’s approach in “On Sexism in the Art World”; she advises us to pay more attention to the “alt” spaces, in contrast to mega-museums, that are actually doing things right. Let’s just give these spaces more visibility. [ARTnews]

W.A.G.E. and Art Agenda were going to establish equitable compensation standards for commissioning digital works of art. Here’s why that project fell through. [e-flux]

Artists in Beirut are fighting the relentless march of gentrification and demolition by repurposing some of few remaining historical structures in the city. [Time]

Here’s some bad news for preservationists: Tokyo’s storied, beloved Hotel Okura will meet the wrecking ball, despite outcry from architects and fans of midcentury modernism. [Curbed]

{ 1 comment }

Igor Lilac Finch May 27, 2015 at 4:52 pm: Whoa whoa whoa wait a second, I just finished leaving a comment to a post that was complaining about an exhibition that was ‘boys only’ .. which that was presented as a negative thing. And now, here is a mention of ‘Art News’ posting an all-female themed issue and that’s fine? First off, there isn’t enough Christian representation in the contemporary art world, the entire scene is dominated by militant atheists. Second, I feel weird

Comments on this entry are closed.