Required Reading

• Some reports from Art Basel (where the crowds were smaller, the energy was more subdued, and sales were alright for some). So, let’s read what the NY Times has to say:

Given the softening in the market, several dealers said that they felt more compelled than ever to bring their A game to the fair and that artists realized the importance of doing the same, “even if the paint isn’t dry,” said Lucy Mitchell-Innes of Mitchell-Innes & Nash, which featured work by the artists Eddie Martinez, Jay DeFeo and Sarah Braman. “It’s not just dealers bringing around old wares,” Ms. Mitchell-Innes added. “Now artists get it: It’s an opportunity.” …

Finding work fresh to market for the fair wasn’t easy. Just as the auction houses had difficulty getting collectors to part with their prize pieces this fall, so did the dealers preparing for Art Basel. “Whatever I can get my hands on,” Andrew Fabricant of Richard Gray Gallery said. “It’s very hard. Everyone’s having trouble getting material.”

• Madonna performed a Britney Spears song at Art Basel Miami Beach (so, that tells you something about what a shit show this all is) (and Rolling Stone covers it, too):

• Russian President Vladimir Putin vows to protect artistic freedom (I’m not sure if we should believe him):

 President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in a meeting with film directors and artists, vowed on Friday to protect artistic freedom in the country but also said a court was right to give one director a 20-year prison term.

Meddling in the arts by government officials and the Russian Orthodox Church is raising worries over a return of censorship not only to political news, but also to plays, movies and art exhibitions.

• Is the UK’s Turner Prize avoiding politics?

In truth, they can’t. One person’s genius is always another’s joker, and prizewinners almost always reveal more about the appointed judges’ sensibilities than anything else. The Turner, which will be awarded on 5 December, is no exception. But despite Tate’s rhetoric, the “best of British” isn’t what the prize is really about. Its true value lies in the Turner’s existence as a public institution that each year opens up and reintroduces the field of contemporary art to the nation. At least, that’s how it is now. It wasn’t always the case.

• The Geneva Free Port may be home to the world’s greatest art collection (there are roughly a million works, we think), but no one quite knows:

I say “reportedly” because nobody actually knows exactly how many works of art are stored in the Geneva Free Port, but its chairman talks of “a million”, while the New York Times says the number is nearer 1.2 million (including around 1,000 works by Picasso). Either way, it is oceanic.

… Those Picassos might never come out, remaining boxed-up in a cold corner as they shift from one owner’s capital assets balance sheet to another’s.

We can argue all day long about the meaning of art, but surely it isn’t that.

• Here is some advice about what to do when you witness (and film) an act of hate:

• The right created a phantom enemy in “political correctness“:

Trump claimed that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were willing to let ordinary Americans suffer because their first priority was political correctness. “They have put political correctness above common sense, above your safety, and above all else,” Trump declared after a Muslim gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando. “I refuse to be politically correct.” What liberals might have seen as language changing to reflect an increasingly diverse society – in which citizens attempt to avoid giving needless offence to one another – Trump saw a conspiracy.

Throughout an erratic campaign, Trump consistently blasted political correctness, blaming it for an extraordinary range of ills and using the phrase to deflect any and every criticism. During the first debate of the Republican primaries, Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked Trump how he would answer the charge that he was “part of the war on women”.

“You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals’,” Kelly pointed out. “You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees …”

“I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct,” Trump answered, to audience applause. “I’ve been challenged by so many people, I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either.”

• Are you worried multiculturalism is ruining Christmas?

• What Gamergate and the alt-right have in common:

The similarities between Gamergate and the far-right online movement, the “alt-right”, are huge, startling and in no way a coincidence. After all, the culture war that began in games now has a senior representative in The White House. As a founder member and former executive chair of Brietbart News, Steve Bannon had a hand in creating media monster Milo Yiannopoulos, who built his fame and Twitter following by supporting and cheerleading Gamergate. This hashtag was the canary in the coalmine, and we ignored it.

• I dare you to unsee this (via Eater):

Required Reading is published every Sunday morning ET, and is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.

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