Category: visual

Deborah Butterfield’s various horse sculptures have the kind of power that can truly only come from years of history and metaphor. And the artist is aware of all of it. They’re represented the artist/gallery relationship, the idea of male dominion over the earth, and more. Now, she says, “they represent what is/was wonderful about our earth — what we haven’t ruined yet.”  – Glasstire

And it’s the same name as the interim director – Klaudio Rodriguez, born in Nicaragua and raised in Miami, who joins a small but growing coterie of Latinx museum directors in the U.S. – The New York Times

The idea came from a 62-year-old Black man, the art from his collaborator, a 23-year-old white woman. “Not long after the photo illustration went viral, Bridges shared it with a comment on Instagram. ‘I am Honored to be a part of this path and Grateful to stand alongside you,’ she wrote.” – Los Angeles Times

The indelible museum scene in Black Panther might come to mind, except in this case, the British Museum is going to “work with Nigerian teams on the creation of a new Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) and accompanying archaeology project.” But will Britain give back more than 950 Benin bronzes? Hm. – BBC

In early November, Azerbaijan declared victory over Armenia in the area of Nagorno Karabakh, known as Artsakh to Armenians. “There are thousands of unprotected and inadequately documented ancient Armenian monuments in the recently conquered territory. … These include khachkars, monasteries, and churches that have been in use longer than almost any religious buildings in the world.” They’re at risk of being destroyed. And Google Arts & Culture’s info about the area appears to have been written by Azerbaijan.  – Hyperallergic

In June of 2015, a pair of hobbyists carrying metal detectors came upon a hoard of extremely rare gold coins and jewelry, in astonishingly good condition, that came from the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia and had almost certainly been buried by the marauding Vikings who plundered it. Great Britain has fair but strict laws governing the discovery of ancient treasure — laws that these gentlemen had skirted when they stumbled on the hoard and flouted after they found it. As Rebecca Mead reports, the men came to a predictably bad end, but much of the treasure is still missing. – The New Yorker

“The two-mile-long tunnel and its approaches are part of a $2.2 billion package to upgrade the narrow A303 highway that runs startlingly close to the iconic stone circle and has long been notorious for traffic jams and long delays. The approval came despite strong objections from an alliance of archaeologists, environmentalists, and modern-day druids.” – National Geographic

Waters’s collection, much of which is installed in his home, features in-depth holdings of works by Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Mike Kelley, Karin Sander and Richard Tuttle, and will fill gaps in the museum’s own collection of work by artists including Catherine Opie and Thomas Demand. An exhibition of works from the gift will be staged at the museum within the next five years, it says in a statement. – The Art Newspaper

“As summer has given way to a fall and winter marked by increased social-distancing measures and further lockdowns, in-person performance art looks increasingly like it will be forced to transform again for the foreseeable [future]. As a medium built on intimacy and in-person connection, how, exactly, can it adapt? Those who know the genre best seem cautiously optimistic.” – Artnet

A modest three-story building on the edge of Rome’s Trastevere district is where the Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale keep thousands of artworks for as long as they are considered evidence in legal cases. Says one officer at the facility, “Usually, we give back the pieces a few days after seizing them. But some cases take longer, there are several counterclaims, and the objects stay here for years.” – Atlas Obscura