Outcry Over Tasteless 9/11 NFT

July 27, 2022 • View in browser

Good morning. 🌤️ Today, somebody thought that selling an NFT mimicking the famous image of a man falling to his death from one of the World Trade Center towers during the 9/11 attacks was a good idea. GameStop, which is now in the business of selling NFTs, removed this obscene "artwork" after public outcry.

Also, enough with these NFTs, already.

Moving on, artists in New York accuse cultural institutions of "artwashing" a new real estate development in Astoria, Queens, a Louvre curator was detained in connection to an antiquities trafficking scandal, Sophie Taeuber-Arp's letters to her collectors, and more.

Today we also highlight Interference Archive, a volunteer-run nonprofit in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which focuses on politically engaged art and literature. It's a rare gem in New York's market-oriented art scene.

— Hakim Bishara, interim editor-in-chief

Interference Archive's Democratic Approach to Preservation

Run entirely by volunteers, Interference Archive is a true alternative to the city’s market-driven gallery scene. | Billy Anania

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IN THE NEWS

Screenshot of “Falling Man” NFT, offered by GameStop and since taken down from its website (screenshot Sarah Rose Sharp/Hyperallergic; retrieved via Wayback Machine)

GameStop takes down tasteless “Falling Man” NFT that evoked a well-known 9/11 image by photographer Richard Drew.

Two collection advisors at Louvre Abu Dhabi are detained for their potential role in the acquisition of trafficked Egyptian artifacts.

Art Against Displacement calls on New York art institutions to reject a luxury development and rezoning plan in Astoria.

LATEST REVIEWS

William T. Wiley's Wild Art Legacy

Nothing Is to Be Done for William T. Wiley is a roller derby of irreverent and energetic ideas and a serious revelation about Northern California’s art historical significance. | Daniel Gerwin

Different Hong Kong Generations Come Together in Protest Reenactments

Blending documentary and reenactment, director Chan Tze-woon compares and contrasts contemporary and historical activist movements. | Forrest Cardamenis

The Patrons Who Sustained Sophie Taeuber-Arp

The letters between Taeuber-Arp and her patroness, Annie Müller-Widmann, show the usually invisible tending that goes into an artist-patron relationship. | Karen Chernick

IN OUR STORE

"Virtues Théologales" Tea Towel x Louise Bourgeois

It may be hot but this flower won’t wilt! Featuring a screenprint of work by the acclaimed French-American artist, the words read, “Loves me, loves me not (passionately, crazily, not at all, with love, a little, a lot).”

Shop our Louise Bourgeois collection!

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