Last spring, a group of black middle school students had an ugly encounter with a few museum patrons and a guard. “Critics rightfully pounced, and the museum moved swiftly to contain the damage. … It might have ended there. But in this city still scarred by court-ordered desegregation and the turbulent busing of minority students to white suburbs in the 1970s, the museum — which welcomes 1.2 million visitors each year — took it as a wakeup call.” – Yahoo! (AP)
Category: visual
For First Time, Stirling Prize For Architecture Goes To Public Housing Project
“Goldsmith Street in Norwich represents what has become a rare breed: streets of terraced homes built directly by the council, rented with secure tenancies at fixed social rents. And it’s an architectural marvel, too.” – The Guardian
Major Public Art Project Honors Black Lives In One Of America’s Most Important Black Neighborhoods
“Njaimeh Njie, a Pittsburgh-based artist who works primarily with print and photography, set out on a journey in 2016 to document black lives in her city, focusing on the Hill District, the historic black neighborhood that serves as the home base for some of the world’s most pioneering musicians and August Wilson’s 10-play theatrical universe.” – CityLab
Anthony Gormley Plans Giant Brexit Sculptures On Brittany Coast
On the eve of Britain’s potential departure from Europe, Gormley is planning a new and dramatic intervention on the beaches of northern France. He wants to erect a group of seven huge sculptures, made from iron slabs, on the coast of Brittany. They will look towards Britain, the lost island of Europe. – The Observer (UK)
The Museum Where They Print Money
OK, where they printed money, a museum of the Mint – but not in the mint. Real estate is everything in San Francisco- San Francisco Chronicle
Will Robert Indiana’s Home Ever Become The Museum He Envisioned?
The Maine island where Indiana found a home isn’t quite into it. “There are concerns here on the island about just what an Indiana museum might entail. Who would it attract? What sort of people would be running it? How might the character of the island, which already doubles in population when the ‘summer people’ arrive, be affected?” – The New York Times
Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum Has Been Closed For Renovation For Two Years
And the results are almost in; the museum reopens on Monday, with much pomp, a lot of new paint, and a ton of QR codes. – BBC
Part Of The Los Angeles Central Library’s Mysteriously Missing Sculpture Returns Home
But where are the other parts of the Wall of Scribes? And how did someone (or someones, or a syndicate, who knows?) steal the bronze sculpture in 1969? – Los Angeles Times
A British Greeting Card Company Says It Isn’t Trying To Own A Banksy, Just Use It To Sell Cards
The Yorkshire greeting card company said it wasn’t trying to own his work, but “Banksy claimed he had been forced to open a shop in Croydon, south London, this week, as a result of the dispute. … The street artist was advised by his legal team to sell his own merchandise to avoid his trademark being used by someone else under EU law.” – BBC
A Three-Year Saga Comes To A Conclusion As Jeff Koons’ Tulip Sculpture Lands In Paris
Though many in France said Koons’ sculpture “donation” – more on that in a minute – was “opportunistic and cynical,” the artist said “he hoped his tulips would become part of the local landscape and that Parisians would interact with them.” After the terrorist attacks of November 2015, the artist announced that he would give Paris a sculpture that echoed Picasso’s Bouquet of Peace. But “Koons only donated the concept for Bouquet of Tulips. The production — costing 3.5 million euros, or about $3.8 million at current exchange rates — was raised by French and American donors.” – The New York Times