— Ai Weiwei Stars in Secret Sci-Fi Film: Ai Weiwei is the star of a Kickstarter-funded, short sci-fi film called “The Sandstorm,” that was recently shot in Beijing “under the radar.” Written and directed by Jason Wishnow with cinematography by Christopher Doyle, the film features Ai as a smuggler in a dystopian world without water. “We told no one what we were up to,” said Wishnow. “The crew used code names and ever-shifting modes of communication.” [Hollywood Reporter]
— Stolen Paintings Recovered in Italy: Italian police have recovered a Paul Gauguin still life from 1889 and Pierre Bonnard’s “Woman With Two Chairs,” two works that were stolen from a London home in 1970. The works had been hanging in the home of a factory worker for 40 years after he bought them for around $70 in an auction of unclaimed objects left on a train. Gen. Mariano Mossa, the chief of the cultural heritage division of Italy’s paramilitary Carabinieri police, has estimated the Gauguin to be worth around $48 million and the Bonnard to be worth around $690,000, while New York auction house experts valued them at $15 million and $2 million respectively. [NYT]
— Artists Support Ukraine Online: Painter Fred Tomaselli, Russian artist collective AES+F, and media artist Lara Baladi, among others, have joined an online effort led by Kiev-based Kadygrob Taylor Platform for Contemporary Art to draw public attention to the crisis in Ukraine. Sporting the banner #SupportUkraine, “Artists Support Ukraine” pairs specially created artworks by participating artists with written messages of support. AES+F, internationally known for its work at the Pinchuk Art Centre and First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2012, posted a message, part of which reads, “The Government of our country uses the power and a lie” against Ukraine and its citizens. [TAN]
— Ohio’s Art Scene Blooming: Ohio’s Miami Valley arts community is celebrating after the capital budget allocated $9.3 million for arts and cultural projects in Dayton, further exemplifying Ohio’s flourishing art scene, which was touted in a 2012 study by Americans for the Arts, which noted that the “Columbus area arts and cultural non-profits generate $226 million annually for the local economy — three times the economic impact from Ohio State sports.” [Dayton Daily News, Columbus Alive]
— Banksy Vandal Could Serve 5 Years: David William Noll has been charged with felony vandalism for defacing two of Bansky’s well known works, “Girl on Swing” and “Peeing Dog,” which could land him up to five years in prison. [TMZ]
— Art Historian Implicated in Knoedler Case: Swiss art historian Oliver Wick, a curator at the Kunsthaus Zurich, has been named as a defendant in the Knoedler Gallery case for knowingly participating in the scam as a consultant. [NYT]
— Madonna has chosen Miley Cyrus as the next guest curator of her Art For Freedom project. [Billboard]
— Op Art sculptor Mon Levinson has died at age 88. [NYT]
— Austria has declined to buy the $344 million art collection of struggling millionaire Karlheinz Essl. [Reuters]
ALSO ON ARTINFO
He Said, She Said: Robert Heinecken’s Strange Stories at MoMA
Consequences of a Sculpture: Karla Black at David Zwirner Gallery
Kraftwerk’s Nostalgia Tour: Not Human After All
VIDEO: Watch the 3D Printing of a Canal House in Amsterdam
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