A lot went down last 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:
+ After six years of restoration, Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi (1481) is returning to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. [The Art Newspaper]
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+ Jaden Smith has started leaving his original artworks outside of art galleries and telling his followers to “come get it.” [The AV Club]
+ The New Museum announced a partnership with the Nokia Bell Labs to allow three artists from the museum’s New Inc incubator to work with engineers from the research and scientific development firm. [The Architects Newspaper]
+ German sculptor Fritz Koenig, whose bronze ball-shaped “The Sphere” piece became a relic of the September 11th terrorist attacks, passed away at the age of 92. [The Los Angeles Times]
+ Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib, who worked on Netflix’s Oscar-winning documentary, The White Helmets (2016), was unable to make it to the award ceremony because after the Department of Homeland Security discovered “derogatory information” about him. [Associated Press]
+ Five museum directors from the Boston area have co-signed an open letter addressing President Trump’s proposal to defund the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. [ARTnews]
+ LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner officially shut down the live stream art project He Will Not Divide Us after gunshots were heard in the area. [Twitter]
+ Chinese Photographer Ren Hang, known for his subversive nude imagery, died at the age of 29. [Creators]
+ Ai Weiwei’s documentary about the refugee crisis has been set to release internationally late this summer. [Art Daily]
+ A Guercino painting, stolen from a Church in Modena in August 2014, was traced back to Casablanca in Morocco by Italy’s Carabinieri art crime squad. [The Art Newspaper]
+ Two archaeologists digging near Janjala Village in Kaduna state, Nigeria, were kidnapped at gunpoint on Wednesday, only to be freed unharmed on Saturday evening. [The Guardian]
+ The preserved section of a two thousand year old basalt Roman road has been opened to the public beneath a McDonald’s restaurant. [The Telegraph]
Protesters outside of PSSST. Image via Hyperallergic
+ After spawning hordes of anti-gentrification protesters, PSSST, a non-profit arts organization located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, announced that they will be closing. [The Los Angeles Times]
+ The Lincoln Center turned down a woman trying to see the Budapest Festival Orchestra because she refused to take off the anti-Trump sign attached to back of her jacket. [ The New York Times ]
+ The Parkett publishing house announced the end of their acclaimed art magazine after 33 years in print. [Artforum]
+ Following the 30th anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death, a surgeon wrote an essay arguing that the artist’s death during gallbladder surgery should have been a complete surprise. [The New York Times]
+ The deputy director of the California African American Museum, Naima J. Keith, was announced as the winner of the High Museum of Art’s David C. Diskell prize for her major contribution to African American art history. [ArtsATL]
Did we miss any pressing art world stories? Let us know in the comments below!
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