April 14, 2022 • View in browser

Good morning. ☁️ Today, two major New York museums are lifting their mask requirements, the New York Public Library is making banned books available across the country, and reviews of Elliot Green, Thomas Bayrle, and Sergei Loznitsa’s Donbass film, which will finally get a proper theatrical release in the US.

— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief 

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Is It an Artificial Paradise or an Artificial Hell or Both?

Elliott Green seems to be espousing that landscapes are living forms governed by rules we cannot fathom — they appear to be welcoming us, but we might be wrong. | John Yau

LATEST NEWS

A visitor a the 2022 Whitney Biennial (Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)

• The MoMA and the Whitney Museum in NYC no longer require visitors and staff to wear masks or show proof of vaccination for COVID-19.

• At the British Museum, activists protest BP’s sponsorship and the government’s controversial plan to build a road near the Stonehenge site.

• The New York Public Library will make four banned books available to anyone in the country with its new “Books for All” program.

• DALL-E, a new artificial intelligence system in pre-release from OpenAI, can convert simple text prompts into digital illustrations.

VIEWS & REVIEWS

An Artist's Monument to the Monotony of Images

Bayrle creates an art gallery version of computer reproductions of unreality. His art inhabits a world composed of repeated ready-made images. | David Carrier

Is Touching Sculpture Sexier After Zoom Fatigue?

The sensation of touching isn’t the point. It’s the yearning — heightened during quarantines — that lives on in these sculptures. | Daniel Larkin

Pissing on Faces or When Women Behave Badly

When Sophia Urista urinated on an audience member onstage, her act was framed and understood in a particularly gendered way. | Betsy Huete

FILM

Years After its Release, a Film about Ukraine’s Donbass Region Seems Relevant Again

Initially released in 2018 but never getting a proper run in the US, Sergei Loznitsa’s Donbass now finally comes to theaters. | Dan Schindel

In The Girl and the Spider, Voyeurism Is Both Comical and Creepy

Everybody seems to be infatuated with everyone else in the film, locking eyes with an intensity that could shame a tantra guru. | Eileen G’Sell

IN MEMORIAM

Mira Calix (1969-2022)
Composer and visual artist | Guardian

Doris Derby (1939-2022)
Activist and civil rights era photographer | New York Times

Delfina Entrecanales (1927-2022)
Spanish supporter of Young British Artists | Artnews

Nan Melville (1949–2022)
Photographer known for images of dancers | New York Times

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