Does nail art mean we’re turning into post-human cyborgs? [Rhizome]
“I put a giant 10-foot vagina in the world and people respond to giant 10-foot vaginas in the way that they do.” Carolina A. Miranda interviews Kara Walker on her Domino Sugar project. [Culture: High & Low]
As we mentioned yesterday, Karlheinz and Agnes Essl, founders of the Essl Museum, had 43 works from their private auction put up for sale at Christie’s last night. To be honest, sales “fell flat,” according to The Art Newspaper. That didn’t stop Christie’s from trying to sell works after the auction; the house sold Gerhard Richter’s “Net” straight after the auction close. I guess you can you do that? [The Art Newspaper]
Frieze opens its doors to VIPs today. Journos don’t have their write-ups ready, but we’ve learned that there’s a new section for performance called “Live.” [Twitter]
Can’t get enough Frieze news: Cory Arcangel and a Frieze staff member will perform a new piece by the artist, which is to download and watch Anchorman 2. Very Arcangel. Very ironic. Very 2000. *eyeroll* [@cory_arcangel]
Adult goths, bow down before this new review of NIN’s 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine. It’s been 25 years since the album’s original release, and the ensuing commodification of teenage angst. [The Quietus]
Beginning this December MoMA will present a 50-film screening of Robert Altman films. [Artsbeat]
“I think that humor is always a reaction to a feeling of impotence or despair, and for me the moment we are living in right now is very dark, with conflicts dividing people in a violent way and having an impact on culture and trade.” Camille Henrot on the relevance of humor in art. [Artspace]
Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced the creation of “Public Art Challenge,” a series of million-dollar grants to three cities in the United States to create temporary art projects that “celebrate creativity, enhance urban identity, encourage public-private partnerships and drive economic development.” Could this mean more cities hosting ArtPrize-inspired exhibitions? [Artsbeat]
Man arrested for aggressive mopping and threats. [Fox]
Governor Cuomo’s “Women’s Equality Express” campaign bus looks like a tampon box. [The Daily News]
Follow up to yesterday’s Baby Pac-Man link: Pac-Man air hockey. The goal is to smash all the “baby” pucks with your mallet. Where can we play? [YouTube via Ben Gonyo]
Decades after their making, Gober’s room-size installations can still fill viewers with pangs of rage. At the SculptureCenter, Camille Henrot and Ruba Katrib have put together a drippy, rubbery, slithery show themed around silliness.
The Studio Museum’s Thelma Golden reveals all, from being inspired by The Jeffersons to become a curator, as well as the importance of listening to artists: “I was raised as a curator by a fierce group of artists who really demanded that I understand what their work was about.” [Studio 360]
Holland Cotter discusses the new Aspen Art Museum designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. The shows have little relationship to the architecture, but two out of the five are good. Cotter notes that all of them are trendy and that the museum should try to do better. [The New York Times]
Camille Henrot has won the Nam June Paik Award and will receive $32,000. [Artforum]
Facebook launches a new ad platform that analyzes every status update you’ve made over the last five years on the network to determine which ad will be the most effective. Apparently, they will be particularly effective on mobile (a point we find hard to believe because their own app is nearly unusable). [The New York Times]
If only I were rich. I would be clearing out the shelves on Paddle8. Brian Bellot’s sock paintings were some of the best pieces from all the Miami fairs last year; I wanted them then and I want them today. He also covered marshmallows in glitter, and they’re selling that, too. (Whitney) [Paddle8]
It’s national coffee day, which means free coffee at places that sell disgusting coffee (Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s). Editor’s note: AFC’s Corinna Kirsch likes the iced coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts. Editor’s editor’s note: The author of this link, Paddy Johnson, does not drink coffee, and therefore, is unqualified to make an assessment on said subject. [WGNtv]
An untold story nobody needs to know: how real estate developer Harry Macklowe came up with the Apple Cube. He came up with the idea, got it past Steve Jobs and the city, made some size adjustments, and wa lah, one of the most successful retail locations in the world was born. And now we have another giant Apple Store. [New York Magazine]
Do you hate looking at subway ads? Well, there’s an app for that. Put your phone up to a subway ad, and then the app will replace the ad with art—but you still have to look at your screen and not the actual wall. And then there’s that issue of having to look through your phone screen at the advertisement instead of doing anything else. [The New York Times]
The Folk Museum is being demolished. Thanks, MoMA! [Curbed New York]
Jayson Musson gave a talk at the BHQFU’s “Humor and the Abject” class last night. In case you missed it, you can still watch the livestream. Image quality isn’t too great, imo. [YouTube]
“It Took 50,” the documentary about 90-year-old East Village housing activist Frances Goldin (whom we wrote about here), has five more days to fundraise for part two. If you want to know the story behind the plan that’s already preserving tons of affordable housing in New York City, then fund this. Plus, this woman is just incredible. [Indiegogo]
In a world where definitions change on a whim, Prada Marfa has been named an “art museum site” by the Texas Department of Transportation. [Associated Press via Ballroom Marfa]
Also in Marfa, a terribly expensive art project: artist Robert Irwin has received funding to go ahead with a new installation after receiving a $1 million gift. [Glasstire]
One of these four artists is about to be € 25,000 richer: Cory Arcangel, Camille Henrot, Thomas&Craighead, and Ulf Aminde. They’ve all been nominated for the 2014 Nam June Paik Award. [e-flux]
After Art F City covered the American Royalties Too Act (twice), now WNYC has added their two cents, interviewing a law professor at Ohio State University who argues that it might “drive sales to galleries and private sales, which would be exempt from the law.”[WNYC]
This KLM commercial has the airline employing a beagle to return lost property to its passengers. It’s pretty much the most joy-inducing video ever, though the buzzfeed investigative reporting team discovered that the airline doesn’t actually have dogs on staff. Whatever. It’s slightly misleading, but adorable regardless. (And you get to listen to Dutch, which always sounds lovely.) [YouTube]
Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, the co-owner and co-directors of Frieze have stepped back from their role and appointed Victoria Siddall as the new director of Frieze London and Frieze New York. Siddall already managed Frieze Masters. Sharp and Slotover say they are stepping back from the business so they can pursue other projects. Slotover says they aren’t opening a new publication or fair, so what’s next? Frieze auction data? [FT]
Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia student who has been carrying her mattress around campus in protest of the school’s tepid response to her rape, is not the only student suffering from this problem. A new Times op-doc reveals that universities routinely punish rapists with a slap on the wrist. [The New York Times]
A good, long read on the downfall of the all-black sitcom on network TV. By now, it’s history. [The New Inquiry]
Free Art Friday, a treasure hunt on Instagram for free art. Good luck finding good art. [artnet News]
A photographer documents squatters inside a Venezuela skyscraper, where construction was halted mid-project in 1994 when a third of the country’s banks failed. [Hyperallergic]
Part three of Paddy Johnson’s GIF history is out and it’s a doozy. This section focuses on Tumblr alone. [Artnet]
Libertarian-leaning Grover Norquist went to Burning Man and he loves it; the Playa is like “old-fashioned, Main Street Republicanism.” [Daily Intelligencer]
If you feel like looking at pictures, you can do that with this link. Laika, the first dog sent into space by the Soviets, was also something of a pop star in her own right: portraits of the pooch featured on matchbooks, postcards, and candy tins. [The Guardian]
The block of Orchard and Houston has been bought by developers. Katz’s deli will stay, although developers have purchased “air rights” to build above the deli because yes, in New York, you can buy the air. [Bowery Boogie]
The Times of London gifted its newsroom writers with speakers blaring the “click-clack” noise of typewriters. Thanks for the present, grandad. [Edelman Editions]
After yesterday’s expensive GIF auction closed, eBay seller and artist Michael Green simply launched a new one. We don’t have high hopes for this endeavor. This sale has one watcher, down from the last auction by two. [eBay]
1,000 words on how Chelsea galleries don’t feel welcoming. The biggest issue? Gallerinas don’t say “hi” to visitors. How did this article make it to print? [The New York Times]
I drew Spider-Man like the new Spider-Woman. [The Oatmeal]
São Paulo Biennial removes general Israeli sponsorship after receiving a letter of protest signed by 61 artists. Agence France-Presse reports that Israeli funding comprised approximately $40,000 of the Biennial’s $10.5 million budget. From the letter: “We…refuse to support the normalization of Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people. We believe Israeli state cultural funding directly contributes to maintaining, defending and whitewashing their violation of international law and human rights.” [Hyperallergic]
Simon de Pury hasn’t been in the spotlight much since stepping down from Phillips de Pury & Company in 2012. For a comeback of sorts, he’s curating Fire!, an all-ceramics show at Venus Over Manhattan. [T Magazine]
Until September 10, you can watch Camille Henrot’s “The Strife of Love in a Dream” online; you might remember it from the New Museum’s Henrot exhibition earlier this year. [Vdrome]
We talk about Camille Henrot’s show “The Restless Earth”, which includes her video “Grosse Fatigue,” which won her the silver lion at the 2013 Venice Biennale. The award was justified.
What appears to be a North Korean children’s orchestra and choir. [Facebook, via Arash Akbari]
Unexpectedly, Martha Stewart produced the most disturbing Easter egg still life we saw yesterday. A taxidermied Easter bunny sitting on emu eggs and quail eggs and pheasant eggs. [@marthastewart]
Easter iconography made ugly. (We like these gifs by Mike and Claire.) [VICE]
Romans were some of the first art collectors. In a nutshell, here’s how it’d work: After taking over an enemy, they’d steal their art collections, then open up a victory museum. [University of California]
An original print of Richard Prince’s “Spiritual America” (1983) is going up for auction at Christie’s, but it was probably made in 1987. This, despite claims from Richard Prince himself that the work was conceived later. Why is nobody listening? [greg.org]
Amazon is going to start selling self-published photo books. [The Telegraph]
Camille Henrot, darling of the 2014 Venice Biennale, has a solo exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art where she focuses on the Houma tribe of Louisiana, a tribe that has failed to receive federal recognition. [Art in America]
Next level Easter eggs for your Easter Monday. [Vimeo]
A woman “gives birth” to a painting. Someone call Keith Boadwee up. His asshole paintings are being given a run for their money. [The Huffington Post]
September and October were mega-openings, but November rolls out the primo little shows. In this week’s art events, we’re heading all the way over to the Canadian internet.
Paddy Johnson, Editorial Director
