As we near the National Galleryâs much-anticipated double reveal of its collection rehang and remodelled Sainsbury Wing, here is a curious tale about its instinct to remain closed, at least in spirit.
I would plunk my tricorne hat atop my head and meet the incoming waves of visitors, herding them around the Common and telling them the story of the April morning in 1775 when brave townspeople made their stand against the British and their king in the first fighting of the Revolution.
More than 460 visual artists, dancers, and poets signed a letter in protest of the requirements for grant applications accepted by the NEA this month in compliance with President Trumpâs latest executive order, one in a growing list intended to shape what art is made and displayed in America.
In exchange for Adamsâs coöperation with Trumpâs immigration crackdown, Boveâs memo said, the Justice Department was prepared to endorse the Mayorâs unsubstantiated theory of the case against him: that it was a politically motivated prosecution provoked by his criticism of former President Joe Bidenâs border policies.
Fiona Greenland is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, one of several prestigious US institutions that contribute to the Conflict Observatory, and the co-chair of the Cultural Resilience Informatics and Analysis (Curia) Lab, which released a report in January on the environmental impact of Russiaâs destruction of the Oskil dam on the Sviati Hory National Park.
The 2,000-year-old ruins, once a public building where major political, economic and administrative decisions were made, were found underneath 85 Gracechurch Street, a commercial office close to Bank tube station and London Bridge, which is due to be demolished.
Begum, who was born in Bangladesh, another country that is highly vulnerable to climate change, told The Art Newspaper: âDuring my research visits to Oulu, I have been struck by the exceptional beauty of the low Arctic light, along with the wonderful walks along the seafront, where I have observed the many shapes of the frozen and melting sea ice.
âI had my heart set on it because, as an artist, I did a performance in Arnold Circus at the end of the road and I did some community classes in this building too, so it felt the right space for me.â She adds: âI find the Shoreditch art scene really excitingâIâm a big admirer of galleries like Emalin, Kate MacGarry, Maureen Paley.â
In its appeal, the AcadĂ©mie des beaux-arts also denounced âverbal attacks against arts and artists launched by some local politiciansâ who are seeking to justify the cuts and threatening the âfreedom of research and creation, necessary to our democracyâ.
A silicone cast of a peach tree from her garden that failed to survive Los Angelesâs heat and drought hangs upside down from the ceiling, with bits of delicate bark clinging to its limp branches.
When I asked about Charli XCXâs âBRATâ and BeyoncĂ©âs âRenaissanceââtwo of the biggest club albums of the past several years, each backed by expensive arena tours and hefty production budgetsâshe distanced herself from those records, calling them âbrilliantâ but âcommercial.â Where they had borrowed from some of the same scenes, she told me, â âEusexuaâ was born from a crevice of subculture.â (Reconciling her celebrity status with her genuine desire to be immersed inâand regarded asâpart of the underground can be a challenge.
Exiting through the lobby, you couldnât miss a familiar, heartening post-screening buzz: sounds of laughter and exasperation; hesitant, hazardous attempts at analysis; confused variations on âWhat was that all about?â We could have just seen âEraserheadâ or âBlue Velvet,â or stumbled out of âMulholland Drive,â as some friends and I did, not too far away, more than two decades earlier.
