Discuss.
- Talk amongst yourselves: Lutz Bacher’s work in Greater New York bears a striking resemblance to a set piece Daniel Arsham created for his film Future Relic. And Rhode Island is neither a road nor is it an island. Discuss. [ARTnews]
- Beirut’s Sursock Museum — hailed as a vital cultural landmark of the Lebanese capital, dating back to when Beirut was the Middle East’s capital of culture — has reopened after a seven year, $15 million renovation. [Artforum]
- Due to various legal battles with the United States and the European Union, the Russian government is refusing to loan artwork from state collections to museums abroad. Russia claims artwork might be seized as a strategy to force Russia to pay fines the international community has imposed on the state, though this sounds more like Russia being characteristically passive-aggressive. [The Art Newspaper]
- Gargoyles depicting slain Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Cabu and Georges Wolinski were recently added to the facade of a 13th century church in France. [Artforum]
- A new legacy fund in honour of the influential artist, DJ and activist Will Munro has launched. The Will Munro Fund for Queer and Trans People Living with Cancer will provide emergency relief funds to the cancer-afflicted in Toronto’s LGBTTIAQQ2S community. [The 519]
- In the lead-up to the Kunsthalle Wein’s upcoming exhibition and symposium, arts writer Rosemary Heather is penning a series of blog posts exploring how contemporary art has been impacted by the rise of political populism. [Kunsthalle Wein]
- Uh, this is a list of expensive artwork one might buy in London this month paired with expensive beers one might buy in London this month. [Observer]
- Outset, lead sponsor of the Frieze purchase fund benefiting the Tate’s collections, has ended its sponsorship. [The Art Newspaper]
- Fashion and technology seems to be the haute 2016 museum exhibition: the Museum of Fine Art’s “#techstyle” will open in March, and the Costume Institute’s “manus x machina: fashion in an age of technology” will open in May. Which means that we’ll likely see a lot of Sorayama-inspired, Courrèges throwback outfits on celebrities at the Met Gala. [New York Times]
- Want to buy Edith Wharton’s sterling silver and coral baby rattle? Gifted at her christening in 1920, it can be yours for $20,000. [Abe Books via Paris Review]
- Well-deserved: Jamaican writer Marlon James has won the Man Booker Prize for fiction. [The Guardian]
- Christian Viveros-Fauné’s review of Greater New York is a good read. He argues that the exhibition is nostalgic for the edgier, less-gentrified city of the latter decades of the 20th century. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing: “If institutions like MoMA PS1 are clued in to New York’s artistic decline, it’s time to redefine cultural and political alienation in the city—one museum experience at a time.” [artnet News]
- Denver! Paddy is giving a talk on the history and evolution of GIF art tonight at Redline. Here, she talks with writer Bree Davies about what she’ll be covering. (Yes, it will include the Netscape Navigator GIF icon.) [Westword]
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