This, dear outsiders, is how we fight terrorism here. They haven’t got a chance! We haz kittens! #BrusselsLockdown pic.twitter.com/sdq1MbrKsz
— Gilles Bordelais (@Gilles_PPDE) November 22, 2015
- Is this the dumbest possible solution to New York’s affordability crisis? Today, leasing begins on the city’s first new “micro units” which range from 260 to 360 square feet and rent from $2,540 to $2,910. That’s more than the city’s average rent, for an apartment that doesn’t have a stove or enough space for a houseplant. [The New York Times]
- Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development finds holes in the mayor’s affordable housing plan, namely that developers in many affluent neighborhoods could make up to 50 percent of their projects affordable but won’t be required to do so. [Crain’s New York]
- Is there any politician more out-of-touch with the city’s realities then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo? According to Politico, he’s threatening to cancel funding for the federal tax-exempt bonds that fund New York City’s (flawed, but necessary) affordable housing program. [Politico, New York]
- Artist Siddhartha Kararwal was arrested and had his sculpture “Bovine Divine” seized by police at the Jaipur Art Summit. The sculpture depicts a plastic cow floating from a helium balloon and was intended to call attention to the environmental impact of plastic trash on India’s wild cows. Apparently the installation was offensive to Hindus. The police have since apologized. [BBC News]
- Carolina Miranda reports that Hauser Wirth & Schimmel will open their LA Gallery with an inaugural exhibition of all female sculptors. The show was inspired by Ursula Hauser’s personal collection. “I come from the museum world, where it’s always best to start with what’s in a collection, with the history of an institution and build out from there,” says Paul Schimmel. [Culture: High & Low]
- A British study titled “Panic! What Happened to Social Mobility in the Arts” found that most people working in creative fields come from middle-class backgrounds, make relatively little money, and often find themselves working for free—barriers that make it difficult for artists from low-income backgrounds to enter the field without support. Unsurprisingly, women make even less money than their male peers. [The Guardian]
- Does anyone else watch HBO’s bleak-as-fuck foray into magical realism “The Leftovers”? Watching last night’s especially weird episode, I said outloud multiple times that the whole premise seemed like an unauthorized adaptation of a Haruki Murakami novel. Thanks to the internet, I now know I wasn’t alone. [Reddit]
- This is horrible. Poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh, a member of collective Edge of Arabia that has exhibited at the Armory Show and United Nations, has been sentenced to death for apostasy by the Saudi government. The Saudis claim Fayadh’s work promotes atheism. I’d like to argue that theocracies using beheading as a form of censorship is a far more convincing incitement to abandon religion. [artnet News]
- A exhaustive and needed survey of artist run galleries in New York. Let’s hope there are more of these. Soloway is a notable omission on these lists! [Artsy, Part 1, Part II]
- MoMA’s expansion is going to cost 93 million according to an application filed with the New York City Department of Buildings last Tuesday. The controversial plan includes demolishing the beloved Folk Art Museum building—an architectural landmark—so they can build an atrium space to house building-sized sculptures and performances. The museum has a glut of work in their collection that never gets shown due to space restrictions and continual overcrowding issues. This plan addresses none of these problems, but will cost taxpayers a shit ton. Great. [The Real Deal]
- LOL. Dad Magazine. [The Toast]
- Brussels residents are flooding twitter with pictures of cats in response to a police request not to post details of ongoing counter-terror operations on social media. Police don’t want to alert potential targets of the raids to police movements. [CNN]
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