Tag: 11.05.19

‘Carpetbaggers’ Keeping Aboriginal Australian Artists In ‘Modern-Day Slavery’, Say Advocates

The artists’ collective APY has warned the Australian federal and South Australian state governments that certain outside art dealers, referred to as “carpetbaggers,” have been manipulating some artists’ family members into debt and then taking those artists away from their families and homes and forcing them to make paintings to pay off that debt. – The Guardian

The Massive Embezzlement Scandal That Nearly Brought Down Barcelona’s Most Beautiful Concert Hall

It was ten years ago that the Palau de la Música Catalana’s name was all over Spain’s newspapers: €24 million had disappeared from the hall’s bank accounts in a corruption and kickback scheme that involved the Palau’s director; the president of Orfeó Català, its resident choral society; the transportation and infrastructure giant Ferrovial; and one of Catalonia’s major political parties. Here’s the story of how the crime was discovered and solved and how the Palau and Orfeó redeemed their reputations. – Bachtrack

U.S. Supreme Court To Rule On Whether A State Can Be Sued For Violating A Creator’s Copyright

Back in the 1990s, videographer Frederick Allen documented the salvage of the pirate Blackbeard’s 280-year-old wrecked ship on the North Carolina coast. Earlier this decade, a department of the NC state government used some images and video of Allen’s without permission or payment — and, when Allen sued, the state legislature passed “Blackbeard’s Law” to exempt the state government. Allen’s consequent federal lawsuit has now made it to the Supreme Court, and reporter Eriq Gardner lays out the somewhat tricky legal issues involved. – The Hollywood Reporter

There’s Going To Be An American-History-And-The-Bible Museum On Philadelphia’s Independence Mall

The American Bible Society is building a $60 million museum, roughly halfway between Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center, that it’s calling the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, whose exhibits will focus on the role of the Bible in the history of the United States and its social and political movements. The ABS is billing the Center as for “people of all faiths and no faith.’ Alaina Johns asks just how sincere that billing is and wonders how welcome such a museum should be at the nation’s birthplace. – Broad Street Review (Philadelphia)

Now A Yayoi Kusama Macy’s Parade Balloon (And It Doesn’t Stop There)

Some attribute the Kusama craze to the Instagram generation, with young people lining up to take selfies in the artist’s “Infinity” rooms of mirrors, colors and lights. Others say her compelling personal story as an Asian woman who first traveled alone to the United States and has openly battled her demons (she lives in a Tokyo psychiatric institution) is resonating amid today’s heightened sensitivity to issues around identity politics, immigration and mental health. – The New York Times