Aras Amiri, a 33-year-old art student with Iranian nationality and British residence, worked for the British Council (roughly the equivalent of the Alliance Française or Goethe Institut). An Iranian official speaking on state television “claimed that she had confessed to working with Britain’s foreign intelligence agency on ‘cultural infiltration’ projects.” – Artforum
Tag: 04.20.19
1,300-Year-Old Gilded Book Seized From Smugglers In Turkey
“The suspects were caught red-handed when [anti-smuggling police in Diyarbakır province] raided a property in Bismil district. where [sale of the volume] was supposed to take place. Written in Assyrian letters on papyrus, the 102-page book also includes some religious motifs.” – Daily Sabah (Turkey)
As The Earth Warms, Long-Buried Objects Are Emerging. It’s Both Scary And Fascinating
Water levels in the River Elbe dropped so far that “hunger stones” were revealed – carved boulders used since the 1400sto commemorate droughts and warn of their consequences. One of the stones bears the inscription “Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine” (If you see me, weep). – The Guardian
LACMA Counterpoint: An Art Historian Argues In Favor Of The Museum’s Radical Makeover
Brian T. Allen argues that LACMA’s new Zumthor makeover of its campus is just what the museum needs. “Donna Reed and Celeste Holm were attractive and workable. Lana Turner was fabulous. L.A. will always crave fabulous… I think a big, Met-style museum in Los Angeles is culturally counterintuitive, and I mean the civic culture. In L.A. style, it’s time to do something fresh.” National Review
Eleven Countries Vote Against EU’s New Copyright Overhaul
This surprising turn of events does not mean the end of Link Tax or censorship machines, but it does make an adoption of the copyright directive before the European elections in May less likely. – Julia Reda
A Home Improvement TV Show Helped ‘Restore’ Waco, But Does Waco Want To Be Instagram Central?
For those over a certain age – people who can remember the first years of the Clinton administration – “Waco” used to mean one thing: Branch Davidians. Now it’s all about the empire of the couple behind the Home Improvement show Fixer Upper. “It’s difficult to shake the feeling, walking from shop to shop, of being haunted by the physical manifestation of a targeted Instagram ad. But there’s something about Chip and Joanna Gaines — and, by extension, the changes they’ve helped catalyze in Waco — that tends to disarm cynicism.” – BuzzFeed
Jayne Wrightsman, Grande Dame Benefactor Of The Arts Of New York, Has Died At 99
Wrightsman, like her husband before her, was a big donor and a trustee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “While giving millions to buy art and refurbish galleries, her involvement was often more personal. She spent many days walking through the galleries, examining paintings and artifacts, talking to curators, and analyzing the museum’s artistic needs.” – The New York Times
The Fifth Week Of Whitney Protests Focuses On Palestinian Liberation
And it didn’t always go well. ‘”This is offensive to me,’ [a] vexed visitor complained. The security staffer found himself in the position of having to defend the activists’s right to protest, and soon after, he needed to separate the visitor and the protesters, as an expletive-laden physical scuffle broke out between the two sides.” – Hyperallergic
The Joys And Learning Of Cultural Appropriation
Yes, some of it is bad, or uncomfortable, or a real mess of power dynamics. But “the impulse to play dress-up in other people’s cultures goes beyond teenagers wearing qipaos to prom, or Coachella girls in feathered headdresses. It’s an impulse that is nearly universal.” – The New York Times
What Literary Agents Want Now
“On the hunt for a less problematic Simone de Beauvoir who can speak for literally all women at once and also not be so serious. This seems like it should be simple?” (Yes, this is a satirical list … kind of.) – The New York Times