
Ben Stiller, David Zwirner and Christie’s are teaming up to raise money for Haitian humanitarian non-profits by selling some of today’s most notable artists’ works. The auction is offering all proceeds to charity, a tax write-off for buyers and a waiver for all fees usually taken by the high-end auction house.
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This week’s Required Reading explores the restoration of earthquake-damaged Haitian murals, an archeological mystery in West Asia, the 18th C toilette tradition, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge on pandrogeny, connecting the dots on Mona Lisa, the Banksy app, the year’s worst first sentences, cool iPhone cases and even Death has a generational divide.
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Last week, the “first real inauguration of the [Konbit Shelter] community center with workshops and events brought by Ayiti Resurrect and Ayiti Cherie Healing” took place in Bigones, Haiti. Spearheaded by Brooklyn-based artist Swoon, the Konbit Shelter Project was created with the idea that a group of artists, engineers, architects, and builders could pool their individual knowledge, resources, and time to make a lasting difference in post-earthquake Haiti. [Konbit Shelter blog]
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Two Konbit Shelter project team members, Thaddeus Pawlowski and Sarah Walko, reflect on the nature of disasters and what they can teach us about how we become who we are. As they explain, “They reveal deep patterns in our nature. Artists are vital to the rebuilding process because they can help us recognize these patterns and the lessons embedded within them. By fostering a common vision and purpose, they can glue a city back together even more than housing and infrastructure, as they provide a psychic infrastructure.”
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… Florida’s Dail Museum needs money to complete its new building … a woman fell into a Rose Period Picasso last Friday at the Met and ignited some of the funniest blog comments I’ve ever read on a New York Times blog (don’t worry, both the woman & the Picasso will be fine) … Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario receives its biggest contemporary art donation ever … and a list of all the biennials you can look forward to in 2010.
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Today, I was browsing Facebook and I discovered a post by Joy Garnett, who was offering one of her paintings to the first collector to pledge $10,000 to a fund for Haiti. She’s an artist known for painting images of disasters and I wanted to talk to her about her latest bout of altruism.
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