March 7, 2023

Good morning. ☁️ Today, climate activists stage an action in front of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Don’t worry, they didn’t glue themselves to the masterpiece or throw ketchup at it. That stuff is so last year.

And good news: After 16 months of hard bargaining, workers at New York's Whitney Museum finally got their first union contract. Workers who used to earn $17 per hour will now be paid $22 (with more raises in the future).

Also today, digital artists protest against AI image generators that use their work without permission and our staff writer Rhea Nayyar recaps the first episode of the Hirshhorn Museum's reality TV art competition. Rhea describes a show full of awkward silences, artspeak, and "misused soundboard effects." In other words, 44 minutes of her life she'll never get back.

Lastly, join us this evening for an online conversation with Hyperallergic fellow Beya Othmani about the First World Festival of Black Arts of 1966 and how North African artists negotiated the concept of Blackness. You can also check out Othmani's online exhibition today about the work of Tunisian artist Fela Kefi Leroux, who participated in the festival.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

Hirshhorn’s The Exhibit Premieres With Inflatable Banana and Lots of Cringe

The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist is filled with awkward silences and art-world jargon. | Rhea Nayyar

LATEST NEWS

Activists protested in front of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" at the Rijksmuseum. (all photos courtesy Extinction Rebellion NL)

• Activist group Extinction Rebellion urges the Rijksmuseum to cut ties with fossil fuel industry players in their latest action.

• Workers at the Whitney Museum of American Art voted to ratify their first union contract after 16 months of bargaining.

• A new report by Arts for LA calls for “solidarity-based approaches” to secure studio spaces, educate civic leaders, and secure living-wage jobs for artists. 

REVIEWS & EXHIBITIONS

Fela Kefi Leroux, Embracing Blackness at the First World Festival of Black Arts

Beya Othmani presents an exhibition on artist Fela Kefi Leroux's participation in the 1966 festival in Dakar and offers insight into her curatorial process. | Beya Othmani

A Brush With the Californian Sublime

Using grand scale, lush color, and time-intensive labor, Hayley Barker creates artwork that magnifies the sublime in that which is often overlooked. | Jennifer Remenchik

Hip Hop and the Machine

Rap Research Lab continues what hip hop has been doing for the past half century: playfully rearranging the words, sounds, and textures of postwar American pop music. | Dereck Stafford Mangus  

MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC

Digital Artists Are Pushing Back Against AI

Using the hashtag “No to AI Art,” artists protest AI image generators' use of their work without permission or compensation. | Verity Babbs

Beneath the Surface of Art’s Visual Symbolism

Matthew Wilson’s new book, The Hidden Language of Symbols, chronicles the buried visual cues of power, faith, uncertainty, and hope. | Sarah Rose Sharp

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