News
Utopia, Branded: Hotel Chelsea Becomes a Chain
You might say it was bound to happen. And perhaps it was. But now it has happened: the legendary Hotel Chelsea has become a brand. Capitalism spares none.
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Opinion
Maya Angelou's Last Tweet
This morning, the sad news of poet, writer, and scholar Maya Angelou's death has been circulating online.
Art
A World History in Skin, Needles, and Ink
PARIS — As the world map that leads the new tattooing exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris plots out, the art of skin alteration has roots in every continent, from the Iroquois in North America to the Samoans in the South Pacific.
Art
The Politics of Architecture in Nicaragua
In March, I wrote about Nicaraguan First Lady Rosario Murillo’s massive construction of public art projects as symbols of state power, into which the government has funneled millions of dollars. Now, in a bizarre twist, the state has destroyed the most iconic of these structures, the Concha Acustica
News
East Harlem Subsidized Artist Housing Opens for Applications
A former public school on 99th Street in Harlem redeveloped into artist housing under the auspices of El Barrio's Operation Fight Back has recently begun accepting tenant applications.
Art
Mapping a Museum's Collection with Memory
SAN FRANCISCO — "The rhino looks like it has a terrible skin disease," said Jay Xu, director of the Asian Art Museum (AAM), discussing a rhino vessel in the museum's collection as part of a project by artist duo Hughen/Starkweather (Amanda Hughen and Jennifer Starkweather).
News
Oldest San Francisco Arts Nonprofit Suspends Curatorial Programs
SAN FRANCISCO — Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco’s oldest alternative arts space, has suspended curatorial programs and halved its staff, KQED reported last week.
Art
Black-and-White Photographs of Fireflies Lighting Up Summer Nights
A decade passed between the summer of 1996, which photographer Gregory Crewdson spent meditating on the sprinkle of fireflies in the dusk of Becket, Massachusetts, and when he finally developed the film. After nearly another decade, the Fireflies series is being exhibited as a whole for the first ti
News
Victoria & Albert Museum Devotes Gallery to Buzzy Objects
For better or for worse, museums tend to be behind the times, arbitrating culture from some kind of temporal remove. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is attempting to minimize that gap with a newly announced initiative called Rapid Response Collecting.
Art
Street View 50 Years Before Google: Joel Meyerowitz’s Car Photos
On the road, speed is a guiding principle of design: attractions, billboards, the deceptively long (ten-foot) white stripes on our highways are all structured around the principle that time is fleeting and unfocused in the car.
Art
New Algorithm Turns the Emotion of Language into Music
The future of e-books, or any electronic text, may be soundtracked. A new experiment in automation is generating music in response to the emotion of words in literature.
News
Two Street Artists and Artist Collective Labeled Terrorists in Egypt
Finnish street artist Sampsa and Egyptian street artist Ganzeer are being labeled as "terrorists" by various Egyptian media outlets, but why?