BIZARRE: 19 - You Need To See This

New York sculptor spent $100,000 to make a Charlie Kirk statue no one wants to buy

Sergio Furnari said he thought the lifesize sculpture – which no one commissioned – would raise ‘millions’ of dollars

The Guardian - US · Jul 20

Chinese woman declared dead and nearly cremated in 1995 was saved by a funeral home worker's last-second discovery; today, she is an award-winning artist

In 1995, a routine day at a funeral home in southern China took an extraordinary turn when a worker noticed that a young woman who had already been declared dead was still alive. Without any identification, no family beside her and barely any signs of life after collapsing days earlier,…

The Times of India · Jul 20

A Ruhr treat: can a giant pigeon and a pink basketball revive Germany’s depressed industrial heartland?

The Manifesta biennale is taking over a dozen tiny churches in German towns ravaged by division and decline – and filling them with ball games, bouncy castles and a radical community spirit

The Guardian - UK · Jul 20

The moment I knew: I thought he was a handsome, arrogant colleague – then the tension between us broke

At work, Alison Muir’s relationship with Peter Thorn veered between flirtation and hostility, until one day he stopped sidestepping his feelings

The Guardian - AU · Jul 18

Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara cleared to travel to US

Whereabouts of artist imprisoned after 2021 protests had been unknown following end of his prison term in July

The Guardian - UK · Jul 17

Public walls and personal opinions

A few strokes of spray paint were all it took to ignite a national conversation.

Bangkok Post · Jul 17

A rare bronze inspired by a 2,000-year-old masterpiece vanished for 150 years, then became the most expensive Neoclassical sculpture ever sold

A 19th-century bronze sculpture, the Hamilton Laocoön, sold for £13.6 million at Sotheby's. This price established a new record for a Neoclassical sculpture at auction. The bronze is a rare interpretation of an ancient Roman masterpiece unearthed in 1506. This significant work had not been available at auction for approximately…

The Times of India · Jul 17

Journal of Free Speech Law: "A Cure Worse than the Disease: Why the EU's Proposal to Criminalize Hate Speech Violates Freedom of Expression—and Won't Reduce Intolerance or Extremism," by Jacob Mchangama & Natalie Alkiviadou

The article is here; the Introduction: In Germany, an artist and activist was arrested multiple times, once for wearing a… The post Journal of Free Speech Law: "A Cure Worse than the Disease: Why the EU's Proposal to Criminalize Hate Speech Violates Freedom of Expression—and Won't Reduce Intolerance or Extremism,"…

Reason · Jul 17

Hockney’s Pop pals, Warhol’s American republic and Linder punks Blackpool – the week in art

David Hockney is shown alongside Richard Hamilton, Claes Oldenburg and Jasper Johns and Helen Chadwick’s provocations have a wild Welsh setting

The Guardian - UK · Jul 17

George Osborne explains why Bayeux Tapestry won’t be hung on a wall in British Museum

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer is chairman of British Museum

The Independent UK · Jul 17