– Artist Arrested for Instagram Post: Montreal artist Jennifer Pawluck, 20, was arrested yesterday morning after posting a photo of a piece of anti-police street art on Instagram several days earlier. "I was walking around the neighborhood. My friend told me to look and I took a photo of it," Pawluck said. "I never made any threat or anything, so I don't really regret it. They're the ones who freaked out." But Montreal police doesn't take Instagram uploads lightly: "All I can say is that a person has been arrested for making threats on the internet," said police spokesperson Dany Richer. [La Presse, Hyperallergic]
– Where Are the Tech Collectors?: Though New York's tech and start-up sectors are flush with funds, very few of those well-heeled geeks are spending their money in galleries, a situation that has art dealers increasingly frustrated, particularly in areas like Chelsea and Soho, where the two industries share blocks. "If these are our next Rockefellers, Carnegies, Fricks, whatever you want to say in terms of our wealthy American elite, then why aren’t they supporting culture?" asked art adviser Sima Familant. "If these people are the new wealthy, and they’re not supporting institutions and the arts, then we’re going to have a really big problem at some point." [NYT]
– Corcoran and University of Maryland Team Up: Yesterday the board of trustees of Washington, D.C.'s struggling Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design voted 13 to 0 in favor of signing a document committing to exploring a long-term partnership with the University of Maryland. The deal would not only strengthen the Corcoran College's interdisciplinary programs and expand its enrollment, but also help shoulder some of the costs of the Corcoran Gallery. The deal didn't go over so well with Corcoran students, however, who see the deal as compromising their school's independence. "Students have no voice and no say, and they pay millions to keep the Corcoran going," Tom Pullin, a senior studying photography, said. [Washington Post, Washington City Paper]
– Qatar Censors Nude Olympians: As part of its campaign to host the 2020 Olympic Games, Qatar organized an exhibition on the history of the Olympics from ancient Greece to the present — one judged to be the "most important exhibition ever mounted" on the subject by Christian Wacker, director of the Museum of the Olympics and Sports — but at the opening guests were surprised to find many of the statues loaned from Greek, Italian, French and German museums missing. Local censors found the exhibition's many sculptures portraying male nudity to be indecent, forcing their removal, though a sign at the entrance to the ExxonMobil-sponsored show still warned visitors about the disappeared nudes. [Libération]
– Nationalgalerie Director Slams Ai Weiwei Pick for Venice: The Nationalgalerie, State Museums of Berlin's director, Udo Kittelmann, thinks Susanne Gaensheimer made a mistake in selecting artist and activist Ai Weiwei to represent Germany at this year's Venice Biennale, as the ensuing media attention will overshadow the work of the three other selected artists. "Ai is increasingly used by some art world figures to put forward their own cultural politics in a populist way," said Kittelmann, who is curating the Russian pavilion at this year's Biennale. "The other artists could easily be overshadowed by his presence. It is my belief that one must take great care that the playing field is level." [TAN]
– Spanish Artists Ignore Economic Crisis: Though Spain's economy continues to sputter, the consequent financial hardships have had surprisingly little impact on the work being produced by Spanish artists. "Most artists have stuck to their line and there’s been no new movement really linked to the crisis," said Ivorypress gallery director Antonio Sanz. "Artists have a power of communication, and I believe a duty to use it at a time like this, but I’m amazed by how few other artists are really trying to say something about this crisis," said artist Julio Falagán. [Herald Tribune]
– Hopi Tribe Hopes to Halt Auction: Arizona's tribe of Hopi Indians has solicited the advice of the State Department and the Department of the Interior in its attempts to block a sale of 70 tribal masks at Paris's Néret-Minet auction house on April 12, which is expected to bring in $1 million, but no viable solution has been found thus far. "Right now there just aren’t any prohibitions against this kind of large foreign sale," Jack F. Trope, executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs, said. "The leverage for international repatriation just isn’t there." [NYT]
– All Hirst's Spots Spotted: Though only an unlucky few jet-setters managed to see all of Damien Hirst's spot paintings peppered across Gagosian's global gallery network last year, soon devotees of the dot canvases can peruse all 1,400 in a 1,000-page catalogue, which will list every spot painting and feature reproductions of most. The book, which is being published by Hirst's former gallery and his publishing company Other Criteria. "People often say the spot paintings are all the same, but they’re not — far from it," said Blain/Southern co-founder Harry Blain. "The catalogue will give an understanding of the many subsets within [the spot works]." [TAN]
– Tate Removes Convicted Pedophile's Prints: Following his conviction on six charges of indecent behavior with a child and one count of indecent abuse on Tuesday, 34 prints by Graham Ovendon were removed from Tate Britain's website and will no longer be available to be viewed by appointment. The works, acquired by Tate from Mayfair's Waddington Galleries in 1975, date from 1970-75 and depict children, some of them partially or fully nude, in Ovendon's trademark style. The Tate said it is "reviewing the online presentation of these editioned prints by him that are held in the national collection." [Guardian]
– All Eyes on Asian Auctions: This week's major sales by Sotheby's, Poly Auction, China Guardian, and Tiancheng International in Hong Kong will be monitored closely as indicators of the Asian market's health after reports of a major slowdown in sales, with the four houses looking to move a combined $300 million worth of art, wine, antiques, and other luxury goods. "Everybody’s looking at these sales — Sotheby’s, mostly — as a test to see if the market is coming back," said Hong Kong gallery owner Catherine Kwai. "I don’t think we’ll ever see it like it was two years ago. You now just don’t see that crazy mainland Chinese buyer who bids up and up." [WSJ]
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Film by Jennifer Pawluck
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Mischief-Makers Art Club 2000, in New Museum's "1993," Recall the Era of The Gap
Fair Director Katerina Gregos on Avoiding the Mixed Bag Approach at Art Brussels
Tick-Tock Terrific: The Frick Collection’s Timekeeping Show
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