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How Much is Culture Worth Compared to Melania Trump?

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on March 24, 2017

New York’s arts organizations stand to lose big time under Trump’s NEA-gutting budget. New York taxpayers are already losing big time while footing the bill for the Trump family’s security owing to the First Lady’s decision to remain in her Manhattan penthouse.

We wondered: just how much art could you fund with a few hours of Melania’s security detail?

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Friday Links: Texas Enema Performance Art Ends Up Messy

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on February 24, 2017

“My bartender was throwing up behind the bar… Plus, it was indecent exposure. They made performance art look bad.” – Mariana Lemesoff, owner of Houston venue Avant Garden on a performance by Sonic Rabbit Hole. Member Michael Clemmons is accused of butt-chugging a protein shake and then projectile shitting all over a fundraiser party for an artist with cancer. [The Huffington Post]

Programmer Christopher Hesse’s image translation software is amazing. Basically, you can draw a rudimentary building or shoe and an AI will render it semi-photo-realistically based on its knowledge of images from internet databases (think Google Deep Dream in reverse). But what the internet uses this incredible technology for is cats. Terrifying, terrifying drawings of monster cats. How long until someone makes the scary porn version of this? [The Next Web]

“Now more than ever, in my short lifetime at least, we need the ‘Scullys’ of the world to step up. Whether you’re squinting at a lab bench, or giving a voice to the oppressed in a courtroom, or chasing justice in three-inch heels, you are an integral part of the fight. You will not always win. But like Scully, I implore you to persist.” -Abby Norman on the importance of The X-Files, the show that inspired her (and countless other girls) to pursue science. [Paste]
Speaking of science, it’s close to 20 degrees above normal high temperatures today in New York and the surrounding area, a phenomenon scientists call Climate Change. They are worried that these changes will endanger all life on earth, but some people don’t believe the changes are real. One of these people has just been appointed head of the EPA. [The Internet]
The New York Times has announced it will embark on a massive brand campaign In an effort to educate the public on what journalists do, how facts are mined, and the importance of truth, narrative and responsible media in the age of Trump. This is important. Subscribe to the Times and support what they do. We’ve got independent media, and the the judicial system to blunt Trump right now and that’s it. If you want to make a difference, that’s where you spend your money. [The New York Times]
How Soleilmoon Recordings, a Northeast Portland indie record outlet, landed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups. [Willamette Weekly]
Related: Depeche Mode wants everyone to know that Richard Spencer’s infatuation with them is most definitely a one-way street. [Gothamist]
New York could add thousands of relatively affordable basement apartments to the city’s existing single-family housing stock. The biggest obstacle that stands in a pilot program’s way: parking minimums. It’s beyond absurd that nearly every American city’s housing initiatives are thwarted by car-related zoning, as if owning a car were mandatory and regulating where people store their belongings were a government issue. [Curbed]
Well, that didn’t last for four years. Shia LaBeouf has terminated his streaming performance HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US, which had been moved to New Mexico, after gunshots were heard in the vicinity. [People]

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Thursday Links: A Whitehouse.gov Petition to Save The NEA Is Ignoring Signatures

by Michael Anthony Farley on January 26, 2017

White supremacist yells into the camera and Shia LaBeouf shuts him down. This has been a very interesting live stream. #HeWillNotDivideUs pic.twitter.com/CqY9pLobWi

— #HeWillNotDivideUs (@HWNDUS) January 23, 2017

Here’s a weird sentence I never thought I’d write: Shia LaBeouf screamed at a white supremacist until he fled from his livestreaming anti-Trump art project in Queens. [Alternet]
Christo is the latest artist to join the protest against Trump in a yuuuuuge way. The artist is cancelling his $50 million installation over the Arkansas River, claiming that he no longer wants to benefit the new “landlord.” Meaning, the work would’ve been erected on federal lands, which are now controlled by the Trump administration. [The New York Times]
A group of art professionals in Geneva has launched Responsible Art Market Initiative, a guide for gallerists and dealers to avoid artwork becoming entangled in illicit schemes. Switzerland’s massive tax-exempt freeport for artworks has caused recent scandals involving antiquity smuggling and money laundering. [Bloomberg]
More Facebook algorithm drama. Apparently some users never saw The Women’s March in the “Trending Topics”. This is supposedly because Facebook thought they wouldn’t want to? CAN WE PLEASE STOP THINKING OF FACEBOOK AS A LEGITIMATE NEWS SOURCE? Christ, buy a fucking paper people. [NPR]
When artist Pat Lasch asked MoMA to loan a work of hers she believed was in their collection for a retrospective at another museum, she found out it had been thrown out. Apparently MoMA classified the work as a “decorative element” and discarded it after it had deteriorated in storage. [artnet News]
New Yorkers take note: Denver rental prices just dropped, do to the fact that the city added more housing units. We should all be protesting for more new housing, not less. [Curbed]
Hmmm. For some reason, a Whitehouse.gov petition to save the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities isn’t collecting signatures. Some might chalk this up to a technical glitch. Others might label it “alternative counting”. [The Independent via Hyperallergic]
Related: The UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit has downgraded the United States from a “Full Democracy” to a “Flawed Democracy.” We’re now on the same level as Ghana and Botswana on the Democracy Index. [New York Daily News]
Awesome! Rome’s MAXXI has launched JACK Contemporary Arts TV. Goodbye Netflix binges, hello documentaries and video art binges. [JACK TV]
London dealer Simon Lee has opened a new gallery on the Upper East Side [ARTnews]

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Greetings from Little Haiti: The Common Field Convening Starts Tonight

by Michael Anthony Farley on October 20, 2016

I’m in Miami for the Common Field Convening, where I’ll be both speaking on a panel and posting updates to the blog all weekend long. When I tell people this, the first question I get is almost always “What is Common Field?”
Short Answer: Common Field is great.

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Friday Links: Brooklyn Museum, Vanessa Beecroft Unsurprisingly Court Respective Controversies

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on September 9, 2016

Vanessa Beecroft Kanye

The Brooklyn Museum has named David Berliner president and chief operating officer. Given the museum’s PR problem with accusations of being pro-developer (and by extension, pro-gentrification) this is an odd choice. Berliner served previously as the chief operating officer of Forest City Ratner Companies, the developers who controversially created Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park using eminent domain to displace residents. [ARTnews]

Wow. Kanye West and Vanessa Beecroft can’t seem to stop doing controversial/dumb things. For their latest collaboration, they left models (“multi-racial women only”) standing for hours in the blistering sun on Roosevelt Island for so long that several women fainted and audience members (not production crew) felt so bad that they brought them bottles of water. Why? According to Beecroft, “The long wait before, I believe it was planned because [West] wanted the audience to get into this state of having to observe and having to stay.” [artnet News]

As New York rents skyrocket, in conjunction with higher labor and food costs, the city is hemorrhaging restaurants. Chefs are instead heading to midwestern cities to open places that can afford a “neighborhood” feel or culinary risk-taking. Meanwhile, landlords are ending up with vacant retail space or some combination of banks and Duane Reade locations. [Food Republic]

This post’s title-“Time to Let People Decide if 9/11 Sculpture is Art or Exploitation”-is pure click bait but the post isn’t. Reading through the article we watch the writer cite her own past criticisms of Eric Fischl’s sculpture back in 2002, Eric Fischl’s response years later and her reassessment of her position now. It’s rare to see that kind of bravery in writers. [The New York Post]

In other WTC news, a design has at last been chosen for the complex’s performing arts center. The winning proposal comes from Brooklyn-based firm REX, headed by former OMA architect Joshua Prince-Ramus (who spearheaded the famed Seattle Central Library alongside Rem Koolhaas). It’s a translucent marble box that slightly recalls OMA’s Casa da Musica, or perhaps I.M. Pei’s East Gallery. Those buildings are successful because they feel sturdy, timeless, and permanent yet lightweight and welcoming (as opposed to the 1 World Trade Center tower) and the performing arts center looks to hit those same notes. [Curbed]

It only took three weeks for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Councilman Jimmy Van Bremer to sit down for the meeting de Blasio promised in their latest skirmish over affordable housing, but it happened. Van Bremer has not backed down on his position that the so-called affordable housing at Phipps House slated for Queens is not a good idea. Now, a coalition of nearly a dozen community and arts organizations (Art F City included) will hold a summit on Sunday, Sept. 18, to discuss the Phipps Houses plan, the overdevelopment of western Queens and the SBJSA. [Times Ledger]

Not so sure about the photos on this site, but what the hell: YaPhoto is a new photography platform that’s launched in Cameroon with the mission of promoting an emerging community of Cameroonian photographers. [YaPhoto]

Art Basel has announced Buenos Aires as its first partner in the vaguely-defined Art Basel Cities Initiative. This is intended to “develop a program of cultural events designed to celebrate the city’s vibrant arts scene and raise its profile in the international art world as part of its economic development.” [Miami Herald]

We’ve never heard Joan Semmel’s theory that feminism comes into fashion when the market is down, because women’s art is less expensive. We’re not sure how this theory follows the rules of supply and demand. Art market experts, is this true? Anyway, an interview with painter and feminist Joan Semmel. [Hyperallergic]

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Thursday Links: MICA to Replace Historic Buildings With Condo-Lookalike

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on August 25, 2016

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]

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Faulty Cottages: the Curious Case of Mill Hill’s Fired Community Artists

by Michael Anthony Farley on August 2, 2016

Macon Georgia’s Mill Hill Arts Village is a utopian vision of inclusive planning, permanently affordable housing stock, and community arts programming. So why were resident artists Samantha Hill and Ed Woodham fired? They believe they uncovered a gentrification scheme, but the Macon Arts Alliance tells a different, incomplete story.

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NEW INC’s “Public Beta” Showcase Is Incubating Something Weird

by Rhett Jones on July 29, 2016

It’s been about 35 years since we were first promised a viable, commercial virtual reality headset. The time for that promise to be fulfilled seems to be upon us with major technology companies going all in on the research and infrastructure that will be necessary to make it happen both as a technology and a product.

NEW INC, the New Museum’s ambitious effort to fuse artist residencies, coworking spaces and business incubators into one singular program, has had two years to become a fully-formed innovation. It’s tough to say whether that’s happened yet, but the latest “Public Beta” (on through July 31st, part 2 will run from August 4-7th) is certainly different than any exhibition going right now and indicates that what’s to come could be a weird and original niche between several disciplinary worlds.

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Friday Links: Billionaire Museums and Taco Bell Artists

by Rhett Jones on July 29, 2016

Eric Wesley’s converted Taco Bell gallery. Photo: Eric Wesley

Tomilson Hill is opening his own private museum in Chelsea on West 24th street. The Hill Art Foundation will be a two-story, 6,400-square-foot space that currently does not plan to charge admission. The collection is estimated to be worth $800 million and consists of stalwart contemporary artists like Christopher Wool and Richard Prince as well as Renaissance and Baroque bronzes. [New York Times]
Eric Wesley was looking for something in between New York and Los Angeles that would reinvigorate his art practice and allow him to use alternative space. What he found was an abandoned Taco Bell in Cahokia, Illinois. The renovated fast food joint operates as a gallery, installation and workspace.[Chicago Tribune]
Manhattan art consultant, Lacey Doyle, was arrested on Thursday. She is accused of using overseas bank accounts to hide millions of dollars she received from a family inheritance. Doyle is out on bail and faces up to six years in prison. [New York Daily News]
Stephen Hawking explains his belief that Brexit signals a need for society to change its relationship with money. He believes that we need to refocus on “cathedral projects,” meaning the type of initiatives that only serve the purpose of cultural good rather than short term profit. [The Guardian]
The original film from 1954 has long been understood to be an allegory for the birth of atomic weaponry and it looks like Godzilla is returning to its political roots. Kotaku’s man in Japan explains how the film is actually about the rise of right-wing militarization that is currently sweeping the country. Unfortunately, it seems, the film spends the bulk of its time with politicians arguing and doesn’t have enough giant lizard. [Kotaku]
The Detroit Institute of Arts is planning to better reflect the demographics of its home city by expanding its collection of African-American art. [Hyperallergic]
Following the release of a 2016 sales report that was relatively grim, three top executives have left Christie’s auction house. It’s unclear if the two events are related. [artnet News]
Leonardo da Vinci expert Mario Taddei explains why Dan Brown’s conspiracy theories about The Last Supper are probably bullshit and positions the painting as following proper traditions for the scene. Taddei says the most notable break from tradition is simply da Vinci’s choice to paint the apostles without a halo, indicating that they were just common men. [Smithsonian Magazine]
Found Art: Russian man crashes truck full of yellow paint and reconsiders his life. [YouTube]

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Tuesday Links: Fox News Not A Fan of Dread Scott’s Flag at Jack Shainman

by Michael Anthony Farley on July 12, 2016

Dread Scott

Jack Shainman has hung Dread Scott’s “A MAN WAS LYNCHED BY POLICE YESTERDAY” flag above the gallery, referencing the iconic Jim Crow era NAACP flag. Predictably, our colleagues over at Fox News find this controversial and insensitive following the mass shooting in Dallas in which five police officers were killed. Because in conservative logic, the deaths of five police officers somehow outweigh the roughly 100 unarmed black people killed annually by police? [Fox News]

Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance have presented the “Culture Forward” plan to retain and expand the neighborhood’s art scene in the face of large-scale developments. Most excitingly, they’re advocating that the city-owned properties at 31 Lafayette Avenue and 334 Furman Street be renovated into 30,000 square feet of artist studios and are offering affordable housing seminars for arts/culture workers. [Curbed]

Mark Hudson doesn’t seem to be a fan of the Liverpool Biennial. His chief complaint seems to be that the future of art looks a lot like the 1980s, but the whole curatorial concept of “episodes” sounds bizarre and hokey. Has anyone else seen the show? Sound off in the comments, please. We’re curious. [The Telegraph]

A French court has indicted dealer Olivier Thomas over charges he participated in the theft and sale of three Picasso paintings from the artist’s stepdaughter Catherine Hutin-Blay. The paintings were discovered at the home of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who purchased them for €27 million from the Swiss businessman Yves Bouvier, who has been accused and fined for harboring the stolen paintings. Juicy. [artnet News]

And in a far more bizarre case of international art legal troubles: a Canadian corrections officer, Robert Fletcher, is suing Scottish artist Peter Doig for $5 million because he won’t admit to painting a landscape painting in Fletcher’s possession. According to Fletcher, Doig was arrested for LSD possession as a teenager in Canada in the 1970s and sold the painting (which could now be worth a hefty sum) to the corrections officer when on parole for $100. The plot thickens, as there’s also a now-deceased Canadian with a similar name whose circumstances also fit the narrative. [Daily Mail]

This is disgusting and also kind of cool: Central Saint Martins student Tina Gorjanc has filed a patent to clone human leather from Alexander McQueen’s DNA to produce a line of leather goods. I guess that human leather “Perfecto” jacket would be cyberpunk as fuck. [Dezeen]

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