"This masterful exposé enthralls" — a rare starred review from
@PublishersWkly
and it's for my book TOKEN SUPREMACY. 🙏
So excited to share more details in the coming weeks. I know some NFT people are nervous. But should they be?
Some news — I'm excited to join
@nytimes
as a staff reporter covering the wild and ever-converging worlds of art, technology, video games and more.
I'll have more to share when I start in August, but omg what we have planned for the Culture Desk!
What started as a preview for Tears of the Kingdom became a full interactive documentary about the Legend of Zelda series, now on the homepage of
@nytimes
. Here's a little breakdown on what we found...
For the last four months, I have investigated sexual misconduct claims against Joshua Helmer, America's youngest museum director.
@rpogrebin
and I spoke with nine women who told us their stories, and what happened at the
@philamuseum
1/9
Frida Kahlo has replaced her husband Diego Rivera as the most expensive Latin American artist. We can now reveal the buyer: the real-estate developer Eduardo F. Costantini of Buenos Aires.
MoMA's lobby will glow this winter, not by the twinkling lights of the holiday season but the swirling datascapes of
@refikanadol
whose popularity rose during the NFT frenzy. That's only part of the story ... 🧵
The Artforum boycott appears to be widening as more than 300 sign a letter to also stop working with other Penske publications like ARTnews and Art in America.
"We want independent forums for art," the letter says.
When I learned that
@nytimes
would be expanding its video game coverage,
@KeitaTakahacy
was first on my list for a profile.
Here are some reasons why he deserved the spotlight, from Katamari Damacy to beyond ... 🧵
When the Met repatriates art, it deletes the online paper trail.
Scholars say that makes it harder to research looted artifacts in the collection. Ethics experts say it violates the industry's rules. For
@artnews
, I'm peeling back the issue.
BREAKING: San Francisco legislators have unanimously voted to initiate landmark designation for the endangered Diego Rivera mural. My story for
@nytimesarts
Spoke with
@Madonna
and
@beeple
on their yearlong NFT collaboration, which, yes, includes robotic centipedes emerging from the pop singer. Keeping it weird for
@nytimesarts
Over the summer, I interviewed dozens of art handlers for
@hyperallergic
about the healthy and safety conditions of their field. In honor of
#LaborDay2019
, we are releasing one section of the 10,000 word feature every day this week.
SCOOP: The Guggenheim will investigate allegations of racism after nearly a quarter of all current staff and more than 70 former sign letter demanding change. And they want more done. For
@nytimes
via
@NYTimes
The American Museum of Natural History has the remains of 400 dead New Yorkers from the 1940s. Medical schools gave them to the curator Harry Shapiro, a leading eugenicist at the time. Experts said the transfer might have been illegal. That's not all...🧵
BREAKING: "Joshua Helmer was removed at the Erie Art Museum after a New York Times article about complaints during his tenure at the Philadelphia Museum of Art." My story with
@rpogrebin
Anyway, burying the lede here — I had the chance to speak with the developers of the Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 remakes about why horror is king in today's media, and the tight choreography that goes into scaring people.
***Personnel News*** Excited to join
@TheArtNewspaper
team as their associate editor of investigations! I will be working across sections while continuing my investigative reporting on labor and accountability issues.
I went deep with Tetsuya Nomura and the creators of
#FF7Rebirth
. For
@nytimes
, we returned to the shocking scene of Aerith's death from the original game to understand why it changed the industry forever.
Some thoughts...🧵
We should expect more artists to follow their example. These artists have some of the best works in the show. A major loss for the Whitney, which has not yet commented on the withdrawals.
Once an artist told me she went $100,000 into debt making an artwork for the Whitney Biennial.
A commission of $2,000 and ~6 months to make work might tell you something about who gets to this kind of exposure.
Excellent story by
@Juliahalperin
For the last month, I've "embedded" with the Akron Art Museum as they navigate the pandemic. This is a story about how most museums (read: not the Met) are striving and struggling to confront an unprecedented disaster, and who loses when museums close.
Jeffrey Gibson will represent the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale. He's coming to the art world's Olympics with a panoramic view of his work, and a stage for other Indigenous performers to share.
Gibson is the first Native American to represent the US
@rpogrebin
@philamuseum
Stories like this are emblematic of a culture of silence affecting the art world and corporate culture, which can propagate sexual misconduct. Journalists are here to shed light on those stories — and my email is published in my profile 7/9
Art criticism has generated some of the most important philosophies of the 20th century; it's required to understand the 24/7 visual culture of our time. So why does nobody pay for it? For
@nytimes
, we dug deep.
The Guggenheim will announce a price hike today — joining a "new normal" in the museum world in which tickets cost $30.
What's behind it? I spoke with nearly two dozen museums to find out. Here's what I heard...
"What results is a conflation: Search becomes research."
A very good Claire Bishop essay, and perhaps relevant for the AI image generator people to read.
Graffiti on the Greek sculptures. White dots on the Rembrandts and the Vermeers. Guards at the Met Museum say there's a major vandalism problem because they are overextended and understaffed.
A thread about my investigation for
@artnet
.
NEW: Louis Vuitton has received a letter demanding a stop to its current ad campaign starring Léa Seydoux.
The problem? A foundation representing the artist had repeatedly denied requests to use her paintings; it appears the fashion brand did so anyway.
The New Yorker's decision to end its "Goings On About Town" section, where the mag posted the bulk of its art reviews, returns me to our story on the sad state of art criticism.
@nytimes
@KeitaTakahacy
Takahashi was a little camera shy. So when I asked for a portrait of the designer, he drew one.
Here's the artist's portrait as the King of All Cosmos.
Staff at
@AkronArtMuseum
say that Covid layoffs have unfairly targeted workers who last year penned a letter to the board about racism, sexism, and bullying from management. Roughly 1/3 of all staff sent the letter; only 1 remains employed by the museum.
And how are NY's museums doing a month after reopening their doors? A dozen are discussing dissolutions or mergers. Another has removed ticket sales entirely from its budget.
@juliarebeccaj
and I surveyed the field.
Our big report for
@nytimesarts
One of the greatest public artworks in recent memory by
@pamelacouncil
is sitting in storage; another has been stuck on flatbed trucks for two years, after the artist paid $200k with her gallery to subsidize the nonprofit's budget. My
@nytimesarts
look.
It's not the museums and it's not necessarily the governments who are leading repatriation efforts. It's the people.
Our deep dive into the anatomy of a return, starting with Nepal's stolen gods.
A sign of the times?
I started my morning writing about the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston unionizing. By the time we were ready to publish, Film at Lincoln Center announced their own union. Both by ~90% margins.
The Guggenheim has approved a two-year diversity plan after July uprising by staff. It's the most detailed roadmap we've seen from a major museum, but some employees say it doesn't go far enough. My scoop for
@nytimes
BREAKING: Protesters are now calling for the removal of Steven Tananbaum from MoMA's board. Some time ago, I started looking into the hedge funder's investments in Puerto Rico, and his $2.5bn control of the island. Here's the story:
“This is not an archaeological artifact; it’s part of a living, continuous culture." Nearly 40 years after it disappeared from a temple shrine, a Nepal deity is headed back home. My story for
@nytimesarts
The most famous artwork on Rikers Island is leaving the crumbling jail complex. The city has approved Faith Ringgold's request to see her vibrant 1972 painting sent to the Brooklyn Museum
As expenses surge and attendance slows, U.S. cultural organizations are raising admission fees to offset rising costs. The Guggenheim in New York is the latest to increase its entry fee to $30 — the new normal for major museums.
Has any museum before gone on the record like this to claim that the bulk of its employees are "non-core" workers? And in the same stretch of time as promising to diversify its ranks, knowing those "non-core" departments are where they've hired their most diverse staff...
Who is “core” according to museum leadership at
#PMAUnionHearing
? Curatorial, conservation, education, library & archives, and publishing. “Non-core” is visitor services, membership, marketing, development, tech, retail, finance, facilities, and more.
SCOOP: Kim Kardashian is being sued for claiming she had tables made by the artist Donald Judd.
"We don’t want to be mixed up with Kim Kardashian," a lawyer for the foundation said. "We respect what she does, but we don’t want to be involved with this.”
@AMNH
To understand the nature and legality of the 12,000 human remains at
@AMNH
, I spent months researching the historical record and dove into the museum archives and the cadaver records at Columbia Medical School.
Queers of the world!
@hyperallergic
is running a feature that will spotlight one queer artist per day in June. Take the survey. Share it! Send me the sassy responses. (Someone said their guilty pleasure is mayonnaise and I immediately collapsed.)
@spinelloprjcts
Breaking: Christine Sun Kim has also withdrawn from the biennial. "As a mother to a 2-year-old daughter, it terrifies me that my work is currently part of a platform that is now strongly associated with Kanders’ teargas-producing company Safariland," she said in her letter.
As institutions like
@metmuseum
and
@frickcollection
close, I've asked museum reps to elaborate on payment and sick-leave for freelance, contract, and hourly workers through the foreseeable future.
The house that gave Marcel Breuer his start is gone, demolished by owners before preservationists could save what many saw as a modernist masterpiece. My story for
@nytimesarts
BREAKING:
@AkronArtMuseum
board announces that Mark Masuoka has resigned as director following my investigation for
@artnews
into several allegations of sexism and racism under his administration. Article to follow soon.
After the veterans memorial near me was boarded up, I started digging into how the city cares for its crumbling landmarks. Two years later? Our report on how the mayor largely ignored those aging sculptures while rushing to new ones that he never built.
Our research on the
@AMNH
collection of 12,000 human remains also found the bones of enslaved African Americans, which were taken from a Manhattan cemetery in 1903.
Excavators piled the skulls into a pyramid:
Last year
@refikanadol
based an entire series of NFTs on MoMA's collection. The sale thru
@FeralFile
had works selling for $1,000+ with one going for $200k.
MoMA received a sixth of all primary sales.
@AMNH
Legal experts said the "medical collection" likely violated state laws at the time.
Letters from Columbia's medical school in the 1930s show an awareness that giving bodies to the museum would be illegal. "We are not permitted to do so under the present law." the dean wrote...
"The reality is, people are trapped in low-paying positions and are forced to come and go quickly. You would be emailing somebody and realize they had left weeks ago."
Happy to have helped
@rpogrebin
bring this important story to light.
Pace Gallery leads the commercial art world. But employees say verbal and physical abuse inside the gallery has been tolerated for decades from the dealer's top lieutenants. My investigation into those allegations (1/x)
@rpogrebin
@philamuseum
The intern described Helmer’s conduct to the museum board, which told her she would not be receiving an apology. She left the museum. “I felt really unsafe,” she said. “He retaliated against me because I declined his advances.” Helmer remains director to this day. 6/9
"The bottom has fallen out of everything."
1000s of freelancers who help run arts orgs are finding themselves without jobs, sick pay, or information from their employers. I spoke to about a dozen art handlers for
@artnews
about their
#COVID19
struggle.
BREAKING: One of NYC's most contested statues is being removed. Theodore Roosevelt's monument at
@AMNH
, which became a symbol of colonialism and racism, is now diminishing by the day.
Just three staffers remain on Sotheby's NFT team, according to ARTnews, amid quiet layoffs throughout the company. Not the kind of thing that happens during a growth period.
The Met Museum hosted a workshop to teach soldiers about protecting cultural heritage, revealing new details about what's happening in Ukraine — and threats that curators have received for their work. My report on the training:
@AMNH
The "medical collection" at
@AMNH
includes most of the identities of the 400 dead, who likely have not-so-distant relatives out there.
However, the museum has declined to release their names, suggesting it would be inappropriate...
Who wants to be a museum director? There are at least 22 vacant seats in American museums, with some open for nearly a year. So maybe it's not such a great gig right now. My story for
@artnet
Over the last three years, nearly two dozen museums have unionized — virtually every major cultural institution in the country. Huge news ... and then you look at historic national lows in union membership. Our story on the contrast:
Thrilled to share my interview with
@chrisunkim
for
@artnet
before she performs the National Anthem at the Super Bowl in less than a week! You never know where an artist will show up next.
Native American groups said that change is long overdue in getting universities and museums to finally return their ancestral remains. My report for
@nytimesarts
Marking a major milestone, the Guggenheim's first union has a contract after nearly 18 months of negotiations. My story for
@nytimesarts
— wage increases, health insurance, and safety procedures were on the table.
MoMA is not alone. The Whitney recently promoted
@ChristianePaul2
(brava!) to a full curator position and has been acquiring NFTs, including Eve Sussman's phenomenal work — seen in the article.
Yesterday, I received a lot of messages from museum staff asking if arts orgs have clarified their pay policies for contingent works during coronavirus. The results are ... mixed and murky. For
@artnews
MoMA used its NFT profits to endow a Web3 associate position to (among other things) build partnerships with the crypto community. Last week, the museum also gave out free NFTs by artist Stephanie Dinkins to attendees at an event.
"If we went on strike before or during the opening, [Hans Haacke] said, sorry, but he wouldn’t be able to help us."
@decafdana
's must-read on all things arts labor.
@ulabeast
@NPR
@MorningEdition
UPDATE: Warren Kanders has resigned from the Whitney Museum's board of trustees. His wife has also left its painting and sculpture committee.
@AMNH
Under circumstances still murky, the bone transfer happened.
Decades later,
@AMNH
under a new director says it will overhaul its human remains policies, including the removal of bones from display.
BREAKING: The Treasury has released a report on money-laundering and terror-financing in the art market.
@Graham_Bowley
and I have analyzed the findings, which may come as a surprise to some experts.
In other news, I wrote about the rise of prison art exhibitions for
@thenation
and how we need to do better — stop asking what incarcerated people can do for us and what we can do for them! Feels especially important after City Councils jail vote.
Curators feel more comfortable embracing NFTs post-surge, arguing that it showed audiences want more digital art.
Naomi Beckwith, chief curator at the Guggenheim said it best: “If artists are working with technology, then we have to be able to hold it.”
My first book is now available for preorder!
"Token Supremacy: The Art of Finance, The Finance of Art, and The Great Crypto Crash of 2022"
It was a delirious feat of reporting that uncovered new details on the FTX crash and the NFT boom. More soon 🫠
NYC museums have seen nearly a dozen directors resign in the last few months. But a new generation is emerging. Today, the Leslie-Lohman Museum announced its new leader—its first queer woman at the helm. My story for
@nytimesarts
Chuck Close was planning a comeback exhibition that would have tested the MeToo movement's longevity before he died in August.
This investigation looks into how his managers protected his reputation and hid misconduct allegations from the public 🧵
“We have a deaccession plan" — inside the Whatsapp group of collectors tracking artists who signed the Artforum letter.
Nan Goldin and Nicole Eisenman speak on what artists have faced as the magazine faces boycotts and resignations. Our
@nytimes
story.
Timothy Rub, the Philadelphia Museum of Art's director, has announced his retirement. He leaves a museum still reeling from sexual misconduct and physical abuse allegations against former managers under his watch.
@rpogrebin
@philamuseum
@nytimes
@RonanFarrow
Here to add the kicker: According to emails we received, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has "put notices up for all security officers at all P.M.A. buildings that Josh Helmer is not to be allowed in.”
@rpogrebin
@philamuseum
Mr. Helmer dated two women who directly reported to him, an apparent violation of museum policy, and warned them not to report it, they said. He would tell them he would be running the museum someday and had the ability to fire, hire, or promote whomever he pleased 2/9
Indiana University canceled the exhibition of an 87-year-old Palestinian artist because of her social media posts. Samia Halaby discusses what happened in our
@nytimes
story
Yuga Labs (the bored ape people) have acquired Proof (the moonbird people) leaving Art Blocks (the squiggle people) as one of the last “big” NFT companies standing
Decentralization looks awfully centralized, huh?
Amid the summer protests, museums vowed to improve diversity. Are they putting money behind their ambitious, multi-year plans?
My report for
@artnet
on the lack of transparency — and the few numbers we know.
So what happens next might depend on whether you believe digital artists can control the technology they use, or if technology (and its economies) will control them. 🧵 end