Weekly This week, Erin Thompson shares the story of her incredible trip to Nepal to witness the return of a sacred Lakshmi-Narayan sculpture looted decades ago; she also writes about the Met Museum’s curious African Origins of Civilization exhibition that avoids the topic of looting. Reporter Valentina Di Liscia dives into the Guggenheim’s tax forms to discover that the museum director made a record $1.5M while 11% of staff was laid off. All this and reviews of Michael Mandiberg, Bob Thompson, Jane Freilicher and Thomas Nozkowski, Kandinsky, and much much more. Look out for our Powerless list next week as we wrap up an eventful year and prepare for more adventures in 2022. — Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief REPATRIATION Returned to Nepal by the FBI, a Sculpture Becomes a God Again Erin L. Thompson flies to Nepal to witness a ceremony replacing a looted Lakshmi-Narayan sculpture to its original location. How the Met Museum Justifies Looting Erin L. Thompson argues that the African Originsexhibition at The Met ignores the fact that approximately 160 objects from Benin are held by the museum under ongoing demands for their repatriation. SPONSORED Johnson’s paintings can be seen at Flea Street in Menlo Park, California, and in a group exhibition at Questroyal Fine Art in New York City. Learn more. LATEST NEWS A guerrilla projection by the artist-activist groups Artists for Workers and the Illuminator on the Guggenheim Museum’s facade in 2020. Guggenheim director Richard Armstrong made a record $1.5M while the institution laid off staff throughout the pandemic. A new wave of closures sweeps through art institutions across Europe in response to the alarming spread of the Omicron variant. The Met Museum reduced its visitor capacity and suspended indoor dining in response to the surge of COVID-19 cases in New York. The Royal Ontario Museum hires what is believed to be the first climate change curator. Docs about Jamaica Kincaid, Confederate Monuments, Repatriation and more receive over $20M from Ford Foundation. and... Brits rank museum curators among top 5 most trusted professions. SPONSORED Organized by geographic regions, a list of arts-related graduate programs to explore and apply to before deadlines close. View the list. ART Installation view of Michael Mandiberg's Timeframe at Denny Dimin gallery Thomas Nozkowski, “Untitled (8-40)” (2003). Rethinking Kandinsky "The problem with many of Kandinsky’s abstractions is that they don’t offer enough immediate visual information to “crack” his expressive code for color and form." —David Carrier BOOKS & FILM Support our independent journalism and help keep our reporting and criticism free and accessible to all. Join Us COMICS ART HISTORY ON TIKTOK? YES, PLEASE. The Art Historical Gems on TikTok Isabella Segalovich takes us on a tour of her favorite art and visual history TikToks. Required Reading This week, debunking Christmas myths, Brian Eno on NFTs, artists we lost in 2021, garbage internet trends, and more. |