- Yet another art app no one asked for: Google Arts & Culture. It seems to do many of the same things as Artsy with an eye cast more toward art history. And users can visit architectural wonders using Google Cardboard. And of course, search for artwork by color. I’d try it myself, but my phone has limited space thanks to all the immovable, self-updating “bloatware” apps Google has already snuck on there. [The Next Web]
- In other Google news, the tech giant asked artists Marina Esmeraldo and Mallory Heyer to make a mural using the dreaded Google Sheets app, seemingly to make accounting look cool? Congratulations Google, there’s now a wall in Brooklyn that looks like a Miami juice bar/Zumba studio, thanks to the fun magic of spreadsheets. [The Next Web]
- Sales reports from the first half of the year are down for Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Both auction houses are seeing sales in the ultra high-end collapse, with Christie’s latest total down 37.5%. Contemporary art sales took a staggering 45% hit, totalling substantially less than a billion. The surprising news, according to Marion Maneker is that Europe nudged ahead of the US in terms of buyers. Also interesting: new buyers account for 25 percent of all sales at Christie’s. In any event, The Wall Street Journal is describing the report as bad news for the top end of the market and health in the middle market. Meanwhile the Art Market Monitor has used the statistic of new buyers to predict growth, and perhaps even a flashier market going forward. [The Art Market Monitor]
- Queen is really pissed that the Republican National Convention used “We Are The Champions” on stage… especially after they already publically criticized Trump for using their music in his campaign. Though after Hillary’s AIDS comments earlier this year, it’s probably not a good idea for her to try to channel Freddie Mercury either. [CNN]
- Here’s some music Trump can probably secure the rights to, but might not want to: his daughter Tiffany’s awful foray into auto-tuned trash pop. Listen now (if you dare) before the campaign gets this scrubbed from the internet. [Youtube h/t Mieke Gentis]
- Erik Satie was really, really weird. But he might have invented performance art, and spent 8 days in jail for it. [Flypaper]
- Concept art has been revealed for the upcoming Blade Runner sequel. Please, god, do not let them turn this into a CGI clusterfuck that looks like a video game. The original was so, so good precisely because of its practical special effect that still hold up compared to contemporary movies. [Shortlist]
- Related: in this tribute to Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, it’s revealed that they started making the latest of the terrible, terrible JJ Abrams reboots before having actually written a script. This film is directed by the same guy who brought us The Fast and the Furious…. A subtle joke from 30 Rock about a movie from that franchised being advertised as “Written by No One” now seems tragi-comically prescient. [Fox News]
- An old Bronx courthouse has been scouted as the site for a new hip hop museum. [Curbed]
- Larry Gagosian has finally agreed to pony-up $4.3 Million in unpaid sales taxes, including interest and penalties, after an investigation by the New York Attorney General. Given the scope of his art empire, it’s frankly surprising that number isn’t higher. [The Wall Street Journal]
