A lot went down this week in the weird and wild world of Art. Some things were more scandalous than others, some were just plain wacky—but all of them are worth knowing about. Without further ado: + The day has come: Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in The Revenant. His speech was more stern than celebrative (he closed out his routine "Thank you, Academys" with solemn words about Global Warming)… So the Internet celebrated for him. [HasLeoWonAnOscar.com]
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+ Mad Max: Fury Road virtually swept the board in both editing and production Academy Awards categories. Check out our extensive (obsessive?) coverage of Mad Max's special effects, gadgets, and gizmos.+ Ex Machina, however, snagged the ultimate editing award: Best Visual Effects. We talk to director Alex Garland about the story and design behind the film in our video, Ex Machina | Examining Our Fear of Artificial Intelligence, below:
+ In other news, NASA has announced an open call for artists to submit works to be sent to the Bennu asteroid as part of their We Are The Explorers project. [Smithsonian Magazine]+ Richard Serra, Lawrence Weiner, and Deborah Solomon signed an open letter from PEN American Center to the US Attorney General to end the FBI’s attempts to convince Apple to create an new unlocking software—a request in reaction to the investigation into the man behind the San Bernardino shootings. [ARTNews]+ Cairo’s Townhouse gallery, shut down and raided late last year by officials on charges of “administrative irregularities,” will reopen its doors next month, albeit under crippling legal restrictions. [The Guardian]+ Introducing the Macbook Selfie Stick. [ArtFCity]+ House of Cards' Frank Underwood now has a portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. [The Creators Project]+ The Met changes it’s “recommended” admission rate to a “suggested” rate, after the settlement of a recent class-action lawsuit. [ABC News]
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+ The FBI has joined the search for three historic firearms stolen from the National Civil War Museum. [Penn Live]+ Yesterday, St. Mark’s Bookshop shut its doors for the very last time. [Bedford and Bowery]
+ A literal message in a bottle, released over two years ago by Brooklyn artist George Boorujy into the Atlantic Ocean, was found by a French painter on a beach in southwestern France. [New York Daily News]+ Pace Gallery is opening a new gallery in Palo Alto to replace their perennial pop-up gallery in Menlo Park. [The New York Times]+ A Camille Pissarro painting, which was stolen by the Nazis and eventually purchased by the University of Oklahoma, will be returned to its original owners. [The Washington Post]+ A Japanese arts activism group by the name of the Tomorrow Girls Troop is subverting the country’s strict gender stereotypes. [Dazed Digital]
+ The Artist’s Institute is moving on up to an Upper East Side townhouse. [ARTnews]+ Here are the art lovers of the GOP race. [The Art Newspaper]+ Oakland wants the Lucas museum that Chicago dumped. [San Francisco Business Times]+ The world welcomed Facebook’s launch of ‘Reactions.’ [Facebook]
Via+ Tate Britain will host the world’s most extensive David Hockney retrospective next year. [BBC]+ Art UK wants to create an online database of all of the United Kingdon’s publicly owned art. [The Art Newspaper]+ Anish Kapoor sold a steel sculpture for $700K in India. [India Times]
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+ Düsseldorf is opening a new subway line, ad-free and filled with public art. [The New York Times]
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+ A literal message in a bottle, released over two years ago by Brooklyn artist George Boorujy into the Atlantic Ocean, was found by a French painter on a beach in southwestern France. [New York Daily News]+ Pace Gallery is opening a new gallery in Palo Alto to replace their perennial pop-up gallery in Menlo Park. [The New York Times]+ A Camille Pissarro painting, which was stolen by the Nazis and eventually purchased by the University of Oklahoma, will be returned to its original owners. [The Washington Post]+ A Japanese arts activism group by the name of the Tomorrow Girls Troop is subverting the country’s strict gender stereotypes. [Dazed Digital]
