Zaha Hadid’s Innovation Tower at Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Zaha Hadid, 65, died yesterday from a heart attack. Dezeen has not one, but two slideshows commemorating her work. [Dezeen]
- Jersey City’s Art House Productions, a 501c3 nonprofit exhibition space and theater, had a pipe burst in their building last month. It caused extensive damage, so they’re fundraising to recover. Today at 7 pm, there’s a wine tasting with music and snacks. Tickets are $50, but they’re tax deductible. [Art House Productions]
- In this interview with a ‘top curator” at Amazon Art, we learn that the platform is trying to legitimize itself in the art world with promotions like prints from street artists. Uh, good luck with that strategy. Her job description also sounds suspiciously nothing like “curator” and everything like marketing/sales. [The Huffington Post]
- It’s April Fool’s day, which means stay off the web. Last night, Gmail introduced a “mic drop” button that allows users to “mic drop” out of a thread, complete with a minion GIF. And a bunch of people lost their jobs using that function. The joke reinforces the idea that the company is rife with frat dude employees with computer science degrees. Google’s since apologized and pulled the joke. [Metafilter]
- New York has announced its budget deal which turns out not to be the total disaster for New York City that Governor Andrew Cuomo had threatened earlier this year. CUNY had its funding restored, New York City was not asked to pay for CUNY, or hundreds of millions in Medicaid. And minimum wage rates will go up. Not so bad! [The New York Times]
- Here’s an article with more than you ever needed to know about the Ibrahim Mahama v.s. Stefan Simchowitz and Jonathan Ellis King case. Mahama is now countersuing the dealers, who had sued the young artist for disowning pieces made by cutting up his installations. Everyone in this case sounds insane. [ART News]
- The Longhua Funeral Parlour in Shanghai is 3D printing body parts for damaged or “incomplete” corpses. [The Telegraph]
- Columbia students are protesting a Henry Moore sculpture they call a “monstrosity”. In an op ed at the Columbia Daily Spectator four students write. “Whatever its artistic merits, placing the sculpture in front of Butler Library will put an eyesore on an otherwise crisp, geometric, and symmetrical landscape. Moore’s ghoulish figure clashes with the neoclassical aesthetic instantly recognizable to generations of Columbians.” And this jewel, pulled out by Jillian Steinhauer. “All of this is not to say that modern sculpture has no place at the University. It just doesn’t belong in the center of campus.” [Hyperallergic]
- An old firehouse that once served as Andy Warhol’s $150/month studio is now on the market for close to $10 million. [artnet News]
Amazon Art Customer Reviews are Hysterical
by Ian Marshall on August 9, 2013It’s only been a week since Amazon launched its new fine arts category, but the customer reviews are already pouring in. Naturally, we immediately took to combing the site for the best of them. Some of the juiciest comments have already been removed from the site, but luckily we were able to snag a lot them before they disappeared. Hoo-boy, did we ever find some good ones!