A lot went down this week in the weird and wild world of Art. Some things were more scandalous than others, some were just plain wacky—but all of them are worth knowing about. Without further ado:
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+ It was a big week for Cuban artists: El Sexto, a.k.a. Cuban dissident artist Danilo Maldonado, was arrested alongside 50 members of the Ladies in White movement (a group comprised of the wives of former Cuban political prisoners) during a protest in Havana, just a day before President Obama’s historic touchdown in the country’s capital. [Miami New Times]
+ More from Havana: Cuban sculptor Kcho, a.k.a. Alexis Leiva Machado, is turning his studio into a literal hot spot, providing free high-speed WiFi for all (image below). [The Art Newspaper]
+ Meanwhile, Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera is the subject of a new documentary by feminist filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson. [Art News]
+ Art Basel Hong Kong boomed with business and weirdness, while Asia Week New York fell flat.
+ Yayoi Kusama turned 87! Celebrate the cute way with The Creators Project’s Kids Critique: Yayoi Kusama’s Give Me Love.
+ Artistic censorship sky-rocketed in 2015. According to Danish organization Freemuse, last year alone there were 469 reported attacks on artistic expression, attacks which included everything from the prosecution to execution. [The Art Newspaper]
+ In related news, pressure from Denver police compelled a teenage artist to withdraw her controversial work from a city-wide school art show. The piece shows a police officer in a Ku Klux Klan hood pointing a gun at a black child. [The News & Observer]
+ Also, Turkey’s “booming” art scene is overshadowed by censorship. [Deutsche Welle]
+ Tom Sachs is back and taking over the Five Boroughs with three shows at the Noguchi Museum in Queens, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Metrograph Theater this Spring. [The Wall Street Journal]
+ Iggy Pop explains why recently he modeled nude for New York Academy of Art artists: “It wasn’t about my winkie, or anything. It was just a documentation of what’s left of me.” [Music News]
+ Are museums breastfeeding-free zones? An angry mom weighs in. [Huffington Post]
+ To preserve cultural heritage in increasingly volatile conditions, the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Arts and Science (supported by the Rijksmuseum) are joining forces to create new art conservation and research technologies. [ArtfixDaily]
+ China can’t stop building private museums. [CNN]
+ Meet the face behind the (singing) vagina: Ann Hirsch on her subversive internet art and her upcoming show in north London. [The Guardian]
+ Hans Ulrich Obrist and Yongwoo Lee will act as artistic co-directors of the new Shanghai Project, a quasi think-tank with the initial goal to bring attention to the immediate threats of Climate Change on its home city. [Art Forum]
+ The highly anticipated Robert Mapplethorpe documentary premiered in L.A. Most audiences, however, must wait to see for themselves if Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures lives up to the hype until April 4th, when the film debuts on HBO. [The Los Angeles Times]
+ Oh, and Tracey Emin married a stone. [The Evening Standard]
Did we miss any pressing art world stories? Let us know in the comments below!
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