Just as social media have quickly gone mainstream, we’re starting to see social media art received more attention from the mainstream art world. I’m currently writing a survey of social media art’s (brief!) history for Hyperallergic and as part of my research, I’ve invited a number of contemporary social media artists to a roundtable discussion on Hyperallergic’s Facebook page.
News
New Banksy Stencils Surface in LA [UPDATED]
This week, Banky’s new film Exit Through the Gift Shop will hit theaters in North America. For complete listings, visit Wooster Collective, which seems to be the official PR agency for all things Banksy. The movie premiere’s today in Los Angeles, so it’s no coincidence that these images hit the intertubes this past week to turn up the hype around his film.
New 9/11 Museum Renderings Released
Last fall, the designs of the new 9/11 Museum were released and now the renderings of the exhibition design have been made public. I will reserve comment on the museum and the displays until it opens but I have to say that I practically forgot this project was still in the works. — via Curbed
Help Camp Pocket Utopia Raise $25K For Kids & Artists
Bushwick’s Nortre Maar and Austin Thomas of Pocket Utopia are teaming up this summer to create “Camp Pocket Utopia” for community children & artists.
They’ve been given the chance to raise $25,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project and need your support (and vote) to win funding for the project.
Art Professor Under Fire For Artistic Protests
Ricardo Dominguez, a visual arts professor at the University of California, San Diego, is under fire for electronic civil disobedience work. Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Dominguez is really feeling the heat from his university, auditors, and the police over a virtual sit-in he staged last month on the website for the president of the University of California system.
Controversial “African Renaissance” Statue Rises in Senegal
On April 3, the West African nation of Senegal has officially unveiled one of the strangest statues in the history of Africa. Costing $28 million and built by North Korean labourers, the 160-foot “African Renaissance” statue is made of copper and has been embroiled in controversy since it was announced in 2006.
Droog Design Invites Designers to Re-interpret Corporate Refuse
Sure the economy is still crappy, but Netherlands-based Droog design has found another way to be creative. In the past several months they have been bidding on liquidation auction items from bankrupt companies and they have invited 14 designers to re-interpret them.
The Destroyed Bamiyan Buddha Inspires An Exhibition
While it became a worldwide symbol of the cruel Taliban regime and its intolerance towards difference, the destroyed colossal Buddha of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley has inspired a small exhibition which opened last Saturday at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.
Australian Museum Rejects Bequest With Strings Attached
According to The Australian, the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia has rejected a $400,000 bequest because it came with strings attached. The Murdoch-owned newspaper also used the opportunity to point out that the donors are communists.
Police in Zimbabwe Shut Down Art Exhibit Exploring Violence
Last Friday, artist Owen Maseko was arrested by police for an exhibition at the National Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This is the second exhibition closed by Zimbabwean authorities. Earlier that same week, a photo exhibition in Harare by Okay Machisa was shut down.
Protesters Hijack Paris Metro Billboards
The French went to the polls on Sunday, March 21, and photographer Sean Hicks captured images of posters by leftist protesters, who hijacked the illuminated billboards of the Strasbourg Saint-Denis Metro station in Paris just before election day.
Frank Gehry Designs the New Eisenhower Memorial
View of Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial (via Culture Monster) Culture Monster has the specifics on this new landmark in central Washington, DC by starchitect Frank Gehry: The memorial to the 34th president will be built on a four-acre site along Independence Avenue, close to but not directly on the National Mall and backing up to the […]