Our most-talked-about stories in Art, Design & Fashion, and Performing Arts, May 28-June 1, 2012:
ART
— After a 10-month lockout that galvanized the artists and labor activists alike, Sotheby's and its unionized art handlers finally reached an agreement that will see all 42 employees heading back to work at the Upper East Side auction house in the coming weeks. Julia Halperin broke down the specific terms of the agreement, asking if it was really a win for the union, while Shane Ferro wondered where Mayor Bloomberg was in the whole thing.
— Julia Halperin looked into the case of a Sol LeWitt wall drawing that became worthless after a gallery lost its certificate of authenticity, prompting its owner to sue.
— To mark the Viennese artist's 150th birthday, the Neue Galerie opened a Gustav Klimt retrospective highlighting his landscape paintings and golden portraits of women.
— Timed to coincide with its new Land Art exhibition, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art launched an online atlas letting users explore enormous earthworks on their computers.
— In time for the monarch's Diamond Jubilee, faux-papparazzo artist Alison Jackson unveiled new photographs that seem to depict candid moments with Queen Elizabeth II.
DESIGN & FASHION
— Hot-shot photographer Tyler Shields responded to criticism of an image featuring a $100,000 Hermès Birkin bag engulfed in flames. Our own Ann Binlot got him to promise to give $100,000 to a needy family to make amends.
— Dasha Zhukova enlisted Japanese architect Shigeru Ban to design a temporary pavilion in Moscow's Gorky Park made of paper tubes to house her Garage Center while it awaits the construction of its new OMA-designed home.
— Surrealist director David Lynch premiered a new custom-designed room he created at Paris's Hotel Lutetia.
— Soccer star David Beckham became the first man to be featured in a solo shoot on the cover of Elle U.K. in the magazine's 26-year-history.
— A new anti-counterfeiting ad campaign in France threatened jail time for anyone buying or selling fake luxury goods.
PERFORMING ARTS
— J. Hoberman tackled Palestinian photographer Emad Burnat and Israeli activist Guy Davidi's intensely subjective first-person documentary "5 Broken Cameras."
— Jay-Z and Kanye West released the riotous Romain Gavras-directed music video for their track "No Church in the Wild."
— Graham Fuller looked at Film Forum's new Spaghetti Western series, which includes the Sergio Corbucci classic that inspired Quentin Tarantino's forthcoming "Django Unchained."
— Following news that the unlikely hit "Hands on a Hardbody" will come to Broadway next season, Patrick Pacheco noted the growing number of musicals with pop music sensibilities.
— Tony-winner Scott Wittman discussed his new musical about the life and work of Warhol superstar and drag legend Jackie Curtis.