From Pinterest
- New York Magazine has launched a new, temporary art blog on Vulture called Seen, to last for 33 days. It will be run by editor Thessaly LaForce. [Vulture]
- Upon the President’s request, an 18-foot-tall electric giraffe, “an interactive electric quadruped who speaks with a British accent,” went to the White House. (The giraffe debuted at Burning Man in 2005.) Here’s the story of how its creator Lindsay Lawler moved the robot from San Diego to Washington on a time crunch. [Make Zine]
- The Whitney has announced that they will open their new building May 1, 2015. [The New York Times]
- It costs only $23.90 to transform your regular eyes into anime eyes. [Pinky Paradise]
- More collectors founding vanity museums. The New York Times cites François Pinault, Bernard Arnault, Carlos Slim Helú, Viktor Vekselberg, Emilio Botín III, and Eli and Edythe Broad as major trendsetters (you could also list the royal family of Qatar, and the Waltons of Walmart). Perhaps the trend diverts from the history of collectorship by Solomon Guggenheim and the Rockefellers, in that this is competitive collecting on steroids. [New York Times]
- In May 2015, the Walker Art Center will hold a three-day symposium on the state of arts publishing. Looking forward to hearing Carolina A. Miranda and Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times, who consistently bring a balanced mix of criticism and thoughtful reporting to the table. [Walker Art Center via @jilnotjill]
- Mike Nichols, best-known as the director of The Graduate and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has died. Nichols led an extremely varied career, with films like The Odd Couple, Angels in America, and Charlie Wilson’s War. [Los Angeles Times]
- Jeff Bezos is making his mark on the Washington Post, bringing into action many of the same philosophies that made Amazon the juggernaut it is today. The Post will be releasing a new app that “reduces cognitive overhead.” This is a term that refers to the number of decisions or actions a customer has to make before getting to what they want. [New York Times]
- Not to worry, lit grads! Here’s some excellent advice on how to write a shitty young adult novel. “Speaking of thinly veiled knockoffs of Hogwarts, where are you going to set this turd of a story?” prompts Randall J. Knox. You could probably craft said turd and shill it on Amazon within the year. [Post Grad Problems]
- Come 2016, New York gets a new 2.7-acre island, technically a park, off Lower Manhattan. “Pier55 will bring a ‘Treasure Island’ to New York’s waterfront, providing a neighborhood amenity, regional resource, and citywide destination for recreation, great views, and inspiring outdoor cultural offerings,” said Adrian Benepe, Senior Vice President and Director for City Park Development at the Trust for Public Land. It sounds like an amenity for young professionals, but it does have trees. [Hudson River Park via Dezeen]
- In other suspiciously utopic urban visions: New York Magazine’s architecture critic Justin Davidson finds that the designers in MoMA’s exhibition Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities offer only “pragmatic microremedies, utopian ambitions, and razzle-dazzle renderings.” Like so many New York redevelopment plans, we seem to get masterbatory plans which flatly ignore the needs and realities of local residents. “It all sounds simple and brilliant and right: Who could object to a bench, or to planting a garden in a de-paved parking lot?” asks Davidson. [Vulture]
- Tracy Morgan has sustained traumatic brain injuries from the crash he was in this summer and lawyers say he may never be the Tracy Morgan he once was. [The Toronto Star]
