Category: visual

Assuming the captions are at all accurate, these images — until recently only accessible by trudging through the archives date by date and document by document — can be searched for by their contents, like any other corpus. – TechCrunch

Or rather, misuses the textile, a late-18th-century military rank badge. “Byron Breedlove and Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, authors of the cover feature ‘Auspicious Symbols of Rank and Status,’ try to give an art historical analysis of this textile their best shot. However, their attempt at intertwining art and science takes a disastrous, even comical turn in the sixth paragraph, in which they state that ‘The birds and animals featured on the various rank badges (excepting, among others, dragons, unicorns, and qilin) may also serve as zoonotic reservoirs capable of transmitting viral pathogens that can cause respiratory infections in humans.'” – Hyperallergic

In Victorian times,  long exposure times meant moms had to find a way to keep their little ones sitting still long enough to be seen, while also fading into the background themselves.” – The Atlantic

Does any of this seem like a good idea right now? “The scheme is set to bring a 12,500-seat arena, 300-room hotel and three vast exhibition halls to the 10-acre waterside site, along with shops and restaurants, all packed inside a crumpled mishmash of competing structures. It looks like the compromised result of design-by-committee, employing a plethora of materials and awkward angles in a vain attempt to break up the lumpen mass. Public reaction has been caustic.” – The Guardian (UK)

This is the way it’s working in Germany and (soon) Belgium: “How are art museums to reopen without endangering staff and visitors? Cimam, the international committee for museums and collections, has already laid out some unarguably rational rules. Timed entry, limited viewing slots, one-way systems. Online booking, plexiglass barriers, face masks and hand gel. No paper, no maps, no headphones; obviously no group tours.” – The Guardian (UK)

Actually, Marabar, the million-pound granite sculpture, isn’t the problem: The National Geographic Society’s plan for expansion is the problem. Artist Elyn Zimmerman isn’t happy with the plan. “In 2017, when she was first told about the proposal, she said she did not take it seriously at first because so much work had gone into preparing the site for its installation. The plaza infrastructure below the pool and boulders was engineered to support Marabar, she said, and district officials had to reinforce sewer lines before trucks could drive over them to deliver the granite in 1984.’ – The New York Times

“Officials from Egypt’s antiquities ministry recently announced that [four] ram-headed sphinxes had been taken from the Karnak temple in Luxor to the capital’s busy traffic roundabout, where they have joined a pink granite obelisk.” Egyptologists say that the sculptures will be damaged by Cairo’s air pollution, while government critics say it’s a move to erase Tahrir Square’s recent history as a protest site. – The Guardian

One gallery owner said, “Art is so important. We’re more important than other businesses. I want to be taken seriously.” Another said, “We refuse to die here in the tunnel. We’re pushing through to the light.” Her husband tweeted a quote from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. – Artnet

A 5.4 magnitude temblor hit the Croatian capital, Zagreb, in late March. “Over 80% of [the city’s] museums are in buildings that date from before the Second World War and most of them have reported serious damage, but the aftershocks and lockdown have stopped detailed inventories of the destruction being made. More than a third of them are identified as unsafe or dangerous.” – The Art Newspaper

Police officers in Spain recovered several rare pre-Columbian objects at Madrid’s Barajas airport, including a unique Tumaco gold mask, gold figurines and pieces of ancient jewellery. All had been illegally acquired by looting in Colombia. – The Guardian