Posts

British Museum Evacuated After Suspicious Device Found in Restroom

The British Museum was briefly evacuated Saturday after staff discovered what was described as a “suspicious device” inside a restroom, prompting a police response at one of the world’s most visited museums. The Metropolitan Police were called to the museum’s Bloomsbury headquarters around 2:50 p.m. local time after reports of a suspicious package, according to  The Independent .  Officers investigated the object and later determined it posed no threat. Visitors were allowed back into the museum shortly after 4 p.m. and normal operations resumed. In a statement, the museum said it had also received what it described as “malicious communications” before the evacuation. “The safety and security of our visitors, colleagues and volunteers is always our highest priority,” a museum spokesperson told  The Independent , thanking visitors and staff for their cooperation during the evacuation. The museum decli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sideline Conversions 1 June (some rugby news and information to start the week)

Jordan Soli dives over to score a first half try for Ories against Poneke on Saturday. He is the clear-cut leading points scorer in the Swindale Shield – more below. Photo: Andy McArthur.  Welcome to a new week and new month of rugby. There is a whole lot going on over the next few weeks...
Post a Comment
Read more

Julio Le Parc, Pioneer of Kinetic Art and Venice Biennale Prize Winner, Dies at 97

Julio Le Parc, the Argentine-born artist whose shimmering mobiles, vibrating light installations, and participatory environments helped redefine the relationship between art and its audience, died on May 30 in Paris. He was 97. His son, Yamil Le Parc, confirmed the death to the Argentine newspaper  La Nación . The artist had been hospitalized in recent days after a decline in health and died at the American Hospital in Paris. According to his son, Le Parc remained deeply engaged with his work until the end and had been eagerly anticipating a  major retrospective  scheduled to open at Tate Modern in London on June 11. He had hoped to attend the exhibition, which surveys nearly seven decades of his career. For more than six decades, he pursued a simple but radical idea: art should not be something that happens to viewers. It should happen with them. Working with mirrors, light, movement, color, and optical effects, Le Parc became one of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

House Democrats Move to Block Trump’s Proposed Arlington ‘Triumphal Arch’

A group of House Democrats will ntroduce legislation  aimed at stopping President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, opening a new front in the growing battle over the administration’s efforts to reshape some of the nation’s most visible public monuments. Representatives Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Dina Titus (D-Nev.) announced this week that they will introduce the Arlington National Cemetery Viewshed Protection Act, which would explicitly prohibit construction of the proposed arch and bar the use of federal funds for the project. The legislation follows a recent vote by Trump appointees on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approving designs for the monument.  The Trump administration has argued that the arch would serve as a commemorative structure tied to celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. Critics, however, contend that the project violates the Commemorative Works Act, which generally req...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art Critic Anthony Haden-Guest Says Socialite–Collector Libbie Mugrabi Won’t Return His Cartoons

Anthony Haden-Guest says nearly 100 of his cartoons have spent the past 15 years hanging in a Hamptons mansion owned by socialite and collector Libbie Mugrabi. Now he wants them back. In a lawsuit filed this week in New York State Supreme Court, first reported by the  New York Post ,  the veteran critic, cartoonist, and fixture of New York society accused Mugrabi of refusing to return 97 original drawings that were allegedly entrusted to her for a planned exhibition that never took place. The complaint alleges that roughly 15 years ago Haden-Guest provided the drawings to Mugrabi for a show at her Southampton home. Under the arrangement, according to the filing, the works would be framed at Mugrabi’s expense, displayed for prospective buyers, and either sold or returned. Instead, the exhibition never happened and the drawings remained hanging in the house, according to the lawsuit. “There was no contemplation whatsoever” that Mugrab...
Post a Comment
Read more

SXSW London’s Art Program Spotlights Spain’s ‘Underrated’ Contemporary Art Scene

Image
South by Southwest (SXSW) London returns for its second edition next week, taking over more than 20 venues clustered around the Trueman Brewery in Shoreditch. Known for its mix of technology, business, and music, and its focus on navigating global uncertainty, this year’s festival will also spotlight five visual artists exploring how technology is reshaping the creative industries. After launching in Austin, Texas, in 1987 as a music industry conference and festival, SXSW has grown into a massive global event. While still centered in Austin, London became its first European edition last year. Titled “Spain in Transmission: New Digital Work,” the art program at the London event is curated by Patrick Moore, the former director of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Five artists are involved: Enrique Agudo, Filip Custic, Jesús Moratiel, and Marina Núñez — all from Spain — while American artist Molly Gochman is bringing her  Dispersed G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump Reinstalls Monument to Founding Father, Slave Owner Removed in 2020

Last Friday, the Trump administration erected 13 statues on Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington D.C.—including an equestrian monument dedicated to the Revolutionary War figure and slave owner Caesar Rodney that was removed from view in Wilmington, Delaware amidst the Black Lives Matter movement in June, 2020. The statue depicts Rodney’s famed 1776 ride from battle in Dover, Delaware to Philadelphia, where he cast the decisive vote for the country’s Independence. Rodney died in 1784, at his home on the Byfield plantation, where he owned 200 slaves. Surrounding the statue are 12 soldiers, who “represent the collective sacrifice of those who served during the Revolutionary War, reflecting the broad range of individuals who contributed to the nation’s founding,” according to a written statement spokesperson from the Department of the Interior. The spokesperson continued, “as we approach America’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration has been comm...
Post a Comment
Read more