by Paddy Johnson and Corinna Kirsch on May 14, 2014
Making friends
- Here’s the main thing to know about Christie’s auction from last night: MOST MONEY SPENT ON ART IN ONE NIGHT. We’re at $744.9 million andcreeping towards one billion. That’s the headline you’ll read all over the art paper, but thankfully, Kelly Crow adds in more than that. For instance, Joan Mitchell became the highest grossing female artist at an auction; an untitled work from 1960 sold for $11.9 million. [Wall Street Journal]
- The Onion publishes a pro-abortion commentary that’s not that funny. It reads like a serious pro-abortion piece. [The Onion]
- Holland Cotter works pretty hard to find the positive in the 9/11 Museum. The museum opens today. [The New York Times]
- United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron is sending surveillance aircraft and other officials to help track down the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. That’s better than a hashtag! [The Guardian]
- Look at this dog sitting on the leg of an elephant! [Trend Junky]
- Look at this dog who hates his new haircut! [Rocket News via @wrbrand]
- Artnet news editor Benjamin Sutton has curated a show called Current: Gowanus which runs from May 14th to May 18th at the Gowanus Loft. The opening is tonight! [Arts Gowanus]
- Today, the F.C.C. will be unveiling their “Open Internet” plan. We’re all wary of this, but Reddit, in particular has a proactive plan: Just call the FCC and complain. [Reddit Blog]
- “These are urgent problems. As many of these writers remind us, the only responsible thing for them to do is to warn students away from graduate school.” [The Billfold]
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by Paddy Johnson Whitney Kimball and Corinna Kirsch on April 25, 2014
- Artforum’s profile on the Greek-born American sculptor Chryssa ends on a rather strange note. “One day in her studio, I noticed a gun. She pointed to it and said she was planning to shoot [Arnold] Glimcher. Sure she was being mistreated and ignored in New York, she shut her studio on lower Broadway for good and apparently returned to Athens.” Chryssa died earlier this year in Greece. (Above: Chryssa’s “Large Bird Shape.” Courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery.) [Artforum via Andrew Russeth]
- “If elected president, Barack Obama plans to prioritize, well, barring broadband providers like AT&T and Comcast from prioritizing Internet content.” That was in 2007. With news this week that the F.C.C. is considering “fast lanes” for commercial providers, let’s hope that he keeps to his promise. [CNET via Reddit]
- Triple Canopy announces their 2014 Commission recipients: Kieran Daly, Primavera di Filippi & Samer Hassan, Sowon Kwon, Timothy Leonido, Frank Pasquale, Jared Stanley, and Gillian Walsh. Looking forward to seeing their projects. [Triple Canopy]
- Next week, the Frieze Art Fair will come to New York yet again; talks will include a keynote by UbuWeb founder Kenneth Goldsmith and a roundtable between Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot and David Remnick of the New Yorker. We’re sure these talks will fill up quickly—their lecture hall is pretty tiny. [Frieze via Artsbeat]
- Bill de Blasio has not yet addressed his promise to stop the Central Library Plan, and instead he’s kept $151 million in the budget for the renovation. Very fishy. [Bloomberg News]
- Artspace provides their own rankings system for “10 of the Most Influential MFA Programs in the World.” Not sure if they talked to anyone at the School of the Art Institute (where Corinna went for grad school); their excerpt focuses on their MA program in Visual and Critical Studies, not an MFA program. Thankfully, Artspace lists off the ridiculous amount you’ll pay in tuition by enrolling in any of these programs: Bard costs $55,000 per year; Columbia costs 51,676; and UCLA sounds like a bargain at $23,465 for out-of-state residents. Sigh. [Artspace]
- More on the ongoing battle between hedge funder and activist shareholder Daniel Loeb and the storied auction house Sotheby’s. Loeb has nominated three director candidates and now advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that shareholders vote for two of the three board nominees he has proposed, one of them being Loeb himself. [New York Times]
- Hyperallergic has partnered with London’s Lost Lectures. Tonight, The Awl co-founder and blogger Choire Sicha will talk along with Photographer Barbara Nitke, street performers Flex (is King) + Deirdre Schoo and scientist Marc Abrahams. Should be an interesting night. [Hyperallergic]
- At a White House event for kids, a 10-year-old girl hands Michelle Obama her dad’s resume, and says he’s been out of work for three years. [NPR]
- London’s Victoria & Albert Museum just made a pile of money. They’ve confirmed rumors that they are getting the blockbuster Alexander McQueen show. [Artnet]
- Kriston Capps continues his coverage on Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design. On April 7, the museum’s board, along with the boards of the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University were supposed to vote on how the Corcoran will be absorbed into these other two institutions. That deadline was skipped. [City Paper]
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