- Ben Davis examines the art-historical references made by Identity Evropa (an Alt-Right group) in their Classical propaganda posters. 2017 is so weird. Also, can someone point out to the Right Wing that Europe has so much sculpture because the governments of antiquity commissioned it? If you wanna talk about the decline of Western Civilization, start by getting your own people to lay off the NEA. [artnet News]
- The animatronics behind the live action Ghost in the Shell adaptation are crazy. It’s nice to see craft isn’t dead in the age of CGI filmmaking. [Tested]
- The National Parks Service has released aerial inauguration photos in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, settling the absurd “alternative facts” issue. [USA Today]
- The strange story of SoWeBo, the Baltimore artists enclave that actually bucked the trend and de-gentrified. [Splice Today]
- Mari Katayama was born with a bone disorder that led to the amputation of her legs at the age of 9. Twenty years later, she’s found a fine art career that involves bedazzled prosthetics, soft sculpture, and surreal self-portraiture. [The Guardian]
- Gowanus’s iconic “Bat Cave” (a former power station-turned-squat) is being renovated by a philanthropist into the “Powerhouse Workshop”. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Powerhouse Workshop will be a fabrication center for artists. That sounds great, and is certainly something the city’s tiny-studio-bound artists need, but squats are cooler. [The New York Times]
- Well, this should come as a shock to absolutely no one: Downtown Brooklyn has an oversupply of “market rate” (read: luxury) apartments and a dearth of affordable housing. Presently, hundreds of pricey apartments are sitting empty while tens of thousands of New Yorkers apply for scarce affordable units. What’s that saying about the logic of the free market correcting itself again? [Curbed]
- The Dallas Observer has been doing some pretty thorough, exhaustive coverage of the John Wiley Price trial. If you haven’t been following the drama, though, it’s a bit difficult to get caught up. Price is a Dallas County Commissioner who is at the center of a complicated corruption investigation that involves bribery, tax evasion, and money laundering. Unsurprisingly, art is involved. Price is accused of using his African art collection to hide assets and evade taxes. His works were sold through Karen Manning’s Millennium 2000 gallery. If Manning’s recent, strange testimony is correct, she has to be one of the worst-paid gallerists in the history of the business (she claims she received a $45 commission per piece). Here’s a link to the Dallas Observer’s latest coverage if you want to stay in the loop. Or, you could hold out for a made-for-tv movie about this saga, which I’m hoping is an inevitability. [Dallas Observer]
- The projection-augmented set for the play Ugly Lies the Bone, at London’s National Theater, is so smart. The play follows an injured American veteran as she readjusts to small-town Florida life with the help of virtual reality. The stage, designed by Es Devlin, is an inverted dome which feels claustrophobic when acting as the protagonist’s IRL backdrop, and an expansive surround screen when she’s experiencing simulations. [Dezeen]
