- A must-read: the full text of Lionel Shriver’s talk about identity politics that ignited a firestorm of controversy at the Brisbane Writers Festival. It’s worth reading in its entirety, because the most cringe-worthy “can she say that?” moments are offset by smart observations on the nature of “identity”, empathy, outrage culture, and how we challenge ourselves as artists. [The Guardian]
- Finally, some good news from the MTA: bar cars are coming back to the Metro North New Haven Line. This might make life a little more more bearable for all the art world people who commute back-and-forth to/from Yale. [WTNH]
- In other public transit news, one London Underground station is now covered in pictures of adorable cats. [Love Meow]
- Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin’s foundation has donated more than 250 pieces of Russian artwork to the Centre Pompidou. Much of the collection is from the 1970s, when the Soviet version of Pop Art, “Sots Art”, emerged. [Washington Post]
- “Not only is Murry an artist who enters the contest annually, but in the film she’s featured alongside her blind, beret-wearing, long-haired dachshund, Hallie, also a painter. ‘I thought I had a pretty good year last year with my art,” Murry says in the film, “but my blind dog sold more art than I did.’” This review of the documentary “Million Dollar Duck,” about “the Super Bowl of Wildlife Art” is one of the weirdest things to read today. [The Seattle Times]
- The Landmarks Preservation Commission is finally considering the creation of a Morningside Heights historic district. The best part of this idea is that it would mainly protect residential structures, which will hopefully preserve some relatively affordable Manhattan housing stock. [Curbed]
- Last week, residents of glass luxury apartment towers overlooking the Tate Modern complained that museum goers are using the observation deck on the Tate’s new expansion to spy on them. First of all, is this really a problem? Secondly, did people not understand the concept of two-way transparency when they opted to spend ungodly amounts of money to live in apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows in the middle of London? [Dezeen]
- TripAdvisor has named the Metropolitan Museum of Art the world’s top museum. Apparently they weren’t too concerned about that logo change. [artnet News]
- Did Edgar Degas make a plaster cast of “Little Dancer,” discovered in 2004? Art historian, Gregory Hedberg says yes, Arthur Beale, the retired chairman of the department of conservation and collections management at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, says no. But now Beale has decided he thinks the piece is authentic and will give a talk on why at the Alliance Française this Thursday. [The New York Times]
