- Critic Rebekah Kirkman considers images from the Baltimore Police Department’s social media accounts. The often-poorly-photoshopped images are an attempt at improving the embattled department’s awful public image. But the result is so kitschy they have accidentally been making net art all along. [City Paper]
- Fairphone—the Amsterdam-based social enterprise founded to create sweatshop-free, less environmentally destructive smartphones using transparently-traded minerals—has unveiled designs for their highly-anticipated latest model. The smartphone will have a built-in case, a crack-resistant screen, open source software, and can easily be taken apart for DIY repairs using replaceable, upgradeable parts. This is huge news for the electronics industry; the group of activists-cum-phonemakers is proving they can get everything right that Apple gets wrong for less than the price of a new iPhone. [Fairphone]
- Yesterday, we posted a Rachel Dolezal painting that’s an uncredited copy of J.M.W. Turner’s The Slave Ship. Today, it seems Dolezal isn’t the only person with a secret. Art investor Jonathan Weal is accused of hiding a “long lost” Turner valued at £20 million. Maybe it’s just a Dolezal reproduction? [The Telegraph]
- A giant Jesus statue made out of trash has been destroyed by Russian authorities at the request of the Russian Orthodox Church. The artwork by Maria Shinkevich and Alyona Pozhilenko is the latest casualty of the church’s culture wars. Past censored artworks have included everything from a production of the opera Tannhauser to a 3D light installation inspired by “The Eye of Sauron” from The Lord of the Rings. [Christian Post]
- An entire article of inane quotes from gallerists at Art Basel about the “experience economy”. This means art hammocks and art tea for rich people. [The Art Newspaper]
- Michelle Grabner will curate the Portland Biennial. [Artforum]
- Why is the German art market lagging while the US, UK, and China are experiencing booms? Taxation and stricter laws governing the export of irreplaceable cultural commodities might be to blame. [artnet News]
- Blaze Starr, the stripper who became a cultural icon in the 1950s and was once the First Lady of Louisiana, has died at age 83. This is a really great look back at her unconventional life, which served as an inspiration to John Waters and Divine. [The Baltimore Sun]
- Liberate Tate, a 25 hour unsanctioned performance held inside the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall Sunday protests the museum’s sponsorship deal with BP, one of the world’s largest oil companies. Tate staff have formally voted to end the sponsorship. According to the Tate’s own reports, the BP sponsorship is pretty small—0.3 percent of their operating budget. Perhaps they can ditch it. [Hyperallergic]
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