David Harbour and the cast of Stranger Things are the latest creatives to use an awards show acceptance speech as a pulpit against Trump. But the spotlight here is undeniably on Winnona Ryder, who looks like she’s a little confused and also holding in a massive cocaine-induced shit during the whole thing. [YouTube]
Does Jonathan Jones really think there’s no future for figurative sculpture in the UK? Princes William and Harry are commissioning a memorial to their mother, Princess Diana, for Kensington Gardens, and Jones seems pretty adamant that it must be abstract. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that any work produced to fit a popular genre runs the risk of looking dated and tacky. [The Guardian]
“There’s no one more optimistic than I am about the power and importance of art, even when it’s just for art’s sake. But every once in a while, especially when prodded by a show like Perpetual Revolution, I want to shout, ‘F*** art, it’s time to do something!'” -Blake Gopnik on the ICP’s latest politically-charged exhibition. [artnet News]
“I’m really glad that this piece is happening when it is, because art needs to be a voice… You can’t just be in opulent halls — most of the people who come here are very, very wealthy, and to have a time in our country where this is going down, you have to speak directly to them and be like, get f–king real.” Dan Deacon on “The Times Are Racing,” the New York City Ballet production set to his album America. [W Magazine]
Juicy: the worst art heists of the past century. [The Daily Beast]
Heji Shin’s solo show at Real Fine Arts looks amazing and so weird. [Contemporary Art Daily]
If you need a break from politics, watch this minute spot on people who were offered $30 to jump off a 10 meter tower into a pool. They had never done so before. It’s so great. [The New York Times]
POLITICS
And in the chaos that is now our country, lets run down the latest list of shit that’s happened. We expect this to be out of date in a couple of hours.
Yesterday Sally Yates, the Attorney General under the Obama administration told Justice Department Lawyers not to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order banning muslims against legal challenges. In response, Trump fired her in a letter that reads like a Yelp review. [The New York Times]
Fox commenter Sean Hannity is asking who was bankrolling the protestors at airports this weekend. Toronto Star Reporter Daniel Dale asks how much money Hannity thinks it takes to stand at an airport? [@DDale8]
From the speech writer responsible for coining “the axis of evil”, and outspoken conservative Trump critic David Frum, a dystopian look at how quickly the republic will fall. [The Atlantic]
Conservative op-ed columnist David Brooks is losing his shit over Trump’s administration. Another must-read. [The New York Times]
Russia is heating up the shooting war in in Ukraine as US alienates Germany, isolates UK, and provokes China. [@Davidfrum]