When Shah Jahan (yes, the one who built the Taj Mahal) built Chandni Chowk in the 1650s, it was lined with trees and elegant buildings and had a canal down its center. Now it has jam-packed crowds, insane traffic, run-down buildings and hawkers everywhere. But the Delhi city government has engaged a team of architects to redesign the street to something like its original splendor. – The Guardian
Category: visual
Architect Proposes Translucent Temporary Space For Notre Dame During Rebuilding
“Pavillon Notre-Dame would replicate the exact dimensions of the nave of the cathedral so that it feels familiar. The roof would be made from Ethylene Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (EFTEC) cushions, a lightweight plastic membrane, and the walls from translucent polycarbonate panels.” – dezeen
A Libertarian Think Tank Produces An Art Show, Hoping To Win Converts
The underlying theme of “Freedom: Art as the Messenger” was that a natural alignment exists between artistic and libertarian priorities, attitudes and approaches to the world. Artists were entrepreneurs, working independently to create something of their own free will and bringing it to the market where someone else was free to decide what they thought it was worth—a pure form of free trade in which government had no business or purpose. – The Baffler
Oakland’s Beloved Green Monster, Once Faded, Is Now Better (And Greener) Than Ever
The Mid-Century Monster, a children’s play structure created in 1952 by artist Robert Winston for the shores of the city’s Lake Merritt, had by 2015 become “a washed-up husk. Its chartreuse color had faded to a drab white. Several of its knobbly concrete limbs had begun to crack. … But this year, after a long restoration project, the monster has finally been let out of its cage.” – Atlas Obscura
At The Museum of The Future, Some Experiments In Virtual Reality
As you can tell, the experience isn’t easy to describe. Afterwards, as I walked back out into the bright, muggy New York evening, I felt equal parts amused, excited and unsettled, and I knew this wasn’t like any other VR I’d seen. – TechCrunch
Emmett Till Memorial In Mississippi Keeps Getting Shot At, So It’s Being Replaced With A Bulletproof Version
“This will be the fourth sign that the [Emmett Till Memorial Commission] has placed at the site. The first was swiped in 2008, and no arrests were ever made in connection with the incident. The replacement marker was vandalized with bullets, more than 100 rounds over the course of several years. Just 35 days after it was erected in 2018, the third sign was shot at as well.” – Smithsonian Magazine
David Brooks Plays Art Critic, Decries Politicization Of Art
“Artists have always taken political stands, but in some eras there’s more of a conviction that beauty yields larger truths about the human condition that are not accessible through politics alone — and these are the truths that keep us sane. Now one gets the sense that not only is the personal political, but that the political has eclipsed the personal. What’s missing from most of these pieces is human contact and emotional range.” – The New York Times
It’s That Weird Moment, Butter Sculpture Season, In The United States
And this time, one butter sculptor decided to honor the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk. But how to explain those cows looking on? – Space
We’re In A Climate Emergency, So Could We Ban Glass Skyscrapers?
They’re expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and very expensive – to the planet – to cool. “Energy used on cooling has doubled since 2000 and accounts for about 14% of all energy use now.” – The Observer (UK)
Artist Defaces Poster For Tarantino Movie With Cut-Outs Of Jeffrey Epstein And Roman Polanski
The artist Sabo retitled the new Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time … in Pedowood and imposed the faces of Epstein and Polanski over Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Why? The street artist wrote: “I’ve never prayed before a project, but I prayed before this one, in the names of all those children harmed by these monsters. I hope they all get caught and put behind bars.” – Los Angeles Times