Beach Reading and Foot Stuff
Today: The story of a rare Michelangelo sketch, the battle over a San Francisco brutalist icon, and more.
Miami Dispatch: Beach Library Installation Flops
Reporting from Miami Art Week, Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia attends the opening of artist Es Devlin’s “Library of Us” (2025), a 50-foot (~15.2-meter) revolving library set within a pool on Miami Beach. Gimmicky? Yes. But in Devlin’s defense, the artwork promotes a good cause: encouraging people to read books again.
Alas:
"I watched this premise fall apart almost immediately after Devlin’s speech, as attendees invited to mount the slowly rotating installation did what anyone who finds themselves riding an enormous sparkly spinning thingy on a beach would do in 2025: They pulled out their phones to document every second. (That includes me.)"
Read Valentina's full review here.
Make a Lasting Impact. Support the Fund for The Met Today!
The Fund for The Met provides unrestricted support for the Museum, making everything at The Metropolitan Museum of Art possible. From daily operations to conservation efforts and everything in between, these critical funds go where they’re needed most and ensure The Met continues to thrive for generations to come.
Meanwhile:
- Foot Stuff: A recently discovered Michelangelo sketch of a right foot could fetch $2 million at an upcoming Christie's auction. | Aaron Short
- San Francisco's embattled brutalist icon: A month after the city's arts commission ordered the dismantling of the Vaillancourt Fountain, a local preservation group appeals the decision. | Isa Farfan
The Top Four Tax Mistakes Every Artist Makes
Learn the most common mistakes artists make on their taxes and how they cause stress (and cost money). In a free class at 12pm on December 10, Sunlight Tax's Hannah Cole, an artist, tax pro, and author of the new book Taxes for Humans, will share her four-step framework to make your taxes easier while feeling valued as an artist — and the secret to saving more.
Exclusive
Who said art criticism is dead? Omar Berrada and Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert are among this year's recipients of the Andy Warhol Foundation’s Arts Writers Grant. See the full list of winners here. | Isa Farfan
The Art Crossword: Art Heist Edition
And no, the Louvre security password being “Louvre” isn’t a clue. | Natan Last
The National Museum of the American Indian Presents Water’s Edge: The Art of Truman Lowe
The first major retrospective of acclaimed artist Truman Lowe (Hoocąk [Ho-Chunk]), features nearly 50 evocative sculptures and drawings.
From Our Critics
Cat Dawson on Hortensia Mi Kafchin
"As Kafchin’s painted figures — all arguably her avatars — elongate, slither, swim, or even transcend the human, she represents transness as both a capacious range of embodiment and a tight metaphor for the transhuman."
Read the full review here.
Member Comment
Kenneth Goody on Lisa Yin Zhang's "Will Jeff Bezos Ruin The Met’s Costume Institute?"
ICYMI
Alison Saar’s Artistic Revolution
The artist talks to Hyperallergic about being raised by strong Black women, creating with abandon, and the full-circle significance of receiving the David C. Driskell Prize. | Jasmine Weber
From the Archive
Over 500 Joseph Beuys Multiples Go on Rare View in NYC
From the 1960s until his death in 1986, German artist Joseph Beuys produced some 557 multiples — small-scale portable and affordable pieces that captured an element of his practice.
Featured Opportunity
Athens Photo Research Center – One Year Program: The Photographic Condition
The APhRC offers a hybrid year-long curriculum with in-person workshops, online lectures, and studio visits. Tutors include Laia Abril, Joan Fontcuberta, Susan Meiselas, Oluremi Onabanjo, and Taryn Simon, among others. The program fee is €2,900 for early applicants and €3,500 after that deadline.
Early Deadline: December 10, 2025 | Final Deadline: January 13, 2026 | photoresearchcenter.org
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
Have an artsy day!
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
