Jillian Mayer, “The Slumpie,” because smartphone posture.
- It finally happened: “Tinder for art”. There’s a crowded field of mobile apps trying to “disrupt” how people find and engage with art, but this one, Wydr stands out because you literally get to swipe left and right. [Tech Crunch]
- In other tech news, it’s a bad month for Tesla motors. A gallerist just survived a scary-sounding rollover crash in Pennsylvania while the car was in autopilot mode. This comes just days after reports that a Florida man died by watching Harry Potter instead of looking at the road while using the carmaker’s autopilot feature. Can we stop pretending self-driving cars are going to be a panacea for the country’s transportation problems? [Detroit Free Press]
- China’s colonial ambitions in Africa, and a growing African immigrant population in the Pearl River Delta, have caused quite a few cultural/political frictions between the two regions. But now there’s hope that Chinese collectors’ newfound interest in African contemporary art can help lubricate the cultural exchange lagging behind the continent’s economic relationship with China. Let’s just hope the art market’s dealings are a little more equitable than the resource extraction industry or labor agreements. [South China Morning Post Magazine h/t Sugarcane Magazine]
- Artist Jillian Mayer has a new line of lumpy, glittery fiberglass furniture created in response to the horrible posture we’re all getting from staring at smartphones all day. They’re called “The Slumpie” and they let users stay comfy while their muscles slowly atrophy. [Huffington Post]
- Art world leaders have surprisingly little to say about the Brexit, other than echoing platitudes about how museums and artists should remain united to cooperate across national borders. It’s almost as if no one intelligent can process that something this fucking stupid is actually happening enough to formulate a response. [The Art Newspaper]
- People are really upset about Minnesota using federal affordable housing funds to build artist housing because the overwhelming majority of the apartments go to white people. I (Michael) lived in a similarly funded apartment in Baltimore, and that building was pretty diverse. Maybe the problem here is that Minnesota is just really, really white? Blaming artists for a lack of affordable housing seems like the wrong battle to be fighting: let’s just demand more affordable housing units instead of resenting the people who get them. [The New York Times]
- Wow. American architects are among the most likely groups in the country to commit suicide. Given the state of architecture in this country, I don’t find this too surprising. I actually gave up on my dream of being an urban planner after attending public planning charrettes in college because I don’t think I could cope with constant disappointment. Bleak. [Dezeen]
