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Mandela Tribute Art Rebuked, Gehry's Latest Design Complete, and More


— Mandela Tribute Art Rebuked: Last Thursday, a giant pair of stainless steel Ray Bans by artist Michael Elion made their debut on Cape Town’s Sea Point promenade. Titled “Perceiving Freedom,” the statue is noted on its plaque as a tribute to Nelson Mandela — because, in the words of the artist, the lenses “symbolize the invisible barriers and prejudices that exist in our perceptions and shape the way we view the world.” This week, however, a slew of critical articles have emerged, decrying the apparent disingenuousness of this “corporate advertising masquerading as public art,” in the words of Daily Maverick reporter Rebecca Hodges. [CityLab, Daily Maverick, Rand Daily Mail]
— Gehry’s Latest Design Complete: The University of Technology Sydney laid down $180 million for a building by Frank Gehry — the architect’s first in Australia — which is now all set to open in February 2015. “As with most Frank-designed buildings, there is a degree of trepidation when one goes into these projects as to how they can be built,” said UTS deputy vice-chancellor Patrick Woods, likely referring to the intermittently rippling facade rendered in five types of custom-designed brick, 320,000 of which were laid by hand. [Guardian, Vogue]
— Palestine Biennial Opens: Palestine’s biennial festival, Qalandiya International, went up as planned, despite the military activity in the region. “It is a celebration of continuity, of life, of steadfastness and, if I may, resistance. There was no doubt we should go on,” said Jack Persekian, director of the Palestinian Museum. Still, the festivities were not immune to intermittent intervention by plainclothes police: “Sometimes art is more political than politics itself. In a way it became part of the show,” explained Palestinian artist and organizer Khaled Hourani. [NYT]
— Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize Awarded: Britain’s National Portrait Gallery has recognized photographer David Titlow with the £12,000 Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize for an image of his infant son among friends at a midsummer party in Sweden: “Everyone was a bit hazy from the previous day’s excess. My girlfriend passed our son to the subdued revelers on the sofa — the composition and back light was so perfect I had to capture the moment,” Titlow said of his winning photograph. [Guardian]
— Meet Chris Marinello, Nazi-Looted Art Expert: One of the lawyers involved in the Gurlitt trove legislation, Marinello has recovered approximately $350 million of stolen art in his 20-year career. [Vocativ]
— 650 Museums, 17 Years, One Book: A new volume by Guido Guerzoni, project manager on the M9 museum currently under construction in Venice, breaks down the pertinent statistics of the 650-plus institutions that have opened worldwide in the past 17 years — e.g., 76 percent of designers were chosen by some sort of competition. [TAN]
— Here’s a peek at 29 works to look forward to in upcoming auctions at Christie’sSotheby’s, and Phillips. [ARTnews]
— The San Francisco theater scene hosted its first local award ceremony with the Theatre Bay Area Awards. [SF Chronicle]
— Inspired by Sicilian nun Sister Cristina Scuccia, who recently recorded a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” the BBC compiled this list of “rebel nuns” — including ’60s Pop artist Sister Corita Kent. [BBC]


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