Ai Weiwei

The latest update on the Ai Weiwei story: The New York Times reports that supporters have chipped in over a quarter of his "tax bill". And what major arts institution in the United States has made a statement recently? You guessed it.*

*None. That I'm aware of, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Why we should subsidize arts majors

The Economist argues that we should continue to subsidize college arts majors, responding to critics who quake at the thought of more and more young Americans directing their attention to Yeats instead of cancer cures. The Economist's response?

What is economic growth for, anyway? It's for expanding our choices and making life better. Is it really so surprising that, as we grow wealthier as a society, more and more of our young people, when the amazing resources of the modern university are put at their disposal, choose to use them learning something satisfying and enriching and not for anything except cherishing the rest of their lives? Is it really so surprising that taxpayers are not in revolt over the existence of poetry professors?

Yoko Ono's twitter

Twitter is great for some things, and certain comedians have mastered the art of the hilarious tweet. I'm still on the fence about whether Twitter is good for contemporary visual artists. Case study? Some gems from Yoko Ono:

Anna Ostoya

An old classmate works at MoMA and produced this short exploration of Anna Ostoya's Fluxkit piece.

 

Marcel Duchamp archive

Check out an excellent archive of Marcel Duchamp-related audio, including interviews (English and French) and Duchamp's sound recordings.

Links

• Anastasia Rudenko's powerful portfolio on domestic violence. (via)
• Gary Stix on why car ads seem to foster an unusually robust identification between driver and machine.
• This a little old - Justice Stephen Breyer on his passion for architecture and his service on the Pritzker Prize jury.