Kim Jong Un added to the list of people angry with James Franco.
- An angry janitor or group of janitors slashed dozens of student paintings at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Why? To give the students a dose of discipline about keeping the halls clean. [Artnet]
- Prolific art collector Bernard Arnault announced plans to launch the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in October, which will give out three days of free admission. Meanwhile, he spent €100m to construct the Frank Gehry design, which he can just do, because he’s the richest man in France. [The Art Newspaper]
- The Rent Guidelines Board backed a proposal for a one percent increase on one year leases in rent stabilized buildings. That’s the lowest increase in its 45 year history, but still more than Mayor de Blasio had hoped for. He had been gunning for 0. [Capital]
- Union Square Cafe is the latest in a series of restaurant closings. They had occupied the same space for nearly 30 years. Marco Canora, the owner of Hearth, one of the first restaurants to bring artisanal cooking to the Lower East Side, has also been hit with 65 percent rent increase. He says he might need to change his whole business model. Anyway, we’ve seen lots of talk about this story over the Internets, and while we wish that the same fear was generated every time an artist lost their studio space, perhaps the loss of restaurants with impart some sense of urgency amongst the people of New York. Market-rate buildings disproportionately favor landlords, and that has to change. [The New York Times]
- In other news, the internet is really excited about this American studying abroad in Germany who got stuck in a 32-ton vagina sculpture. Here are some confusing images to prove it. Thanks for representing us well abroad, students. [The Huffington Post]
- Kenny Schachter files a diary of his travels through Europe for Art Basel at Gallerist. It’s basically vaguely self-obsessed work porn but if that’s your thing, definitely read it. [Gallerist]
- This tool invites users to change the background on this Homer Simpson cartoon, so that he can back into it. The end result is a GIF. [Homer Back Into Things]
- Queen Elizabeth II looks like she doesn’t want to sit in this throne made of swords, and we can’t blame her. [Huffington Post United Kingdom]
- A Monet painting that failed to sell at Sotheby’s four years ago was auctioned off yesterday for $54 million. Times are changing. Or maybe it was just priced too high four years ago. [Bloomberg]
- Kim Jung Un isn’t happy with James Franco nor Seth Rogan. Seeing as they’re starring in a movie in which they assassinate him, this story seems more logical than the headline would have you believe. Still, Kim Jung Un will see the movie, because it’s always fun to be in a movie, even one wherein you die. [Vulture]
