Art & Design
In an online auction by the renowned auction house Christie's, a record work has just been achieved for the NFT artwork "Everydays: The First 5000 Days".
After 353 bids, 60.25 million dollars flowed for a jpeg with a resolution of 21,069 x 21,069 pixels and a file weight of around 319 megabytes. The difference to other jpegs, however, is that the freshly made but still unknown owner can prove his ownership of the file via blockchain. His ownership is permanently recorded in the Ethereum network. The artwork is linked to a non-fungible token (NFT).
Netflix has teamed up with Japanese anime studio WIT Studio to offer a 6-month long full scholarship for up-and-coming anime artists created by former Studio Ghibli animator Hitomi Tateno. The scholarship will be offered to ten individuals and will take place at the Sasayuri Video Training Institute in Tokyo. Students between the ages of 18 and 25 can apply and, while non-Japanese citizens may be considered they must have conversational Japanese.
Sandro Botticelli's painting "Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel" has sold for a record $92 million at an auction at Sotheby's, the most expensive work by the Renaissance artist ever to be sold at auction.
The British graffiti artist Banksy has confirmed Saturday a piece of art that appeared on a wall in Nottingham depicting a young girl using a bicycle tyre as a hula-hoop is his work.
The work went up on Tuesday on the red brick wall of a beauty salon, next to a bicycle that was locked to a metal signpost and missing its back wheel.
Graphic artist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, known as Quino, died at the age of 88. Quino rose to fame for his comic strips and for his most widespread character globally: little Mafalda.
He had an extensive and acclaimed career that led him to receive distinctions such as the Official Order of the Legion of Honor in France and the Prince of Asturias Award in Spain. "When I think that I am going to open the newspaper and my drawings will not be there, it gives me more anguish and I continue drawing. It is like that stationmaster who retires, but returns every day to see if the trains run on time", he said once.
The responsible EU authority for intellectual property confirmed to the Deutsche Presse Agentur on Thursday that trademark rights for the "Flower Thrower" motif by the street artist Banksy have been cancelled.
The agency explained that Banksy is keeping his identity secret and has also repeatedly spoken out strongly against copyright in the past as he wrote "Copyright is for losers" in his book "Wall and Piece" in 2005. The British company Full Colour Black had applied for the cancellation of the trademark, as it prints and distributes images of Banksy's motifs on postcards, among other things.
Chief architect Pascal Prunet said in a press conference that the restoration of the 15th century Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Nantes would likely take "at least three years." The exact scope of the damage is currently still being assessed and the total cost is still uncertain. While the main structure of the Cathédrale was saved by firefighters, a 17th-century organ and many artefacts and paintings were destroyed in the fire.
The Louvre has reopened its doors after four months of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Anyone wanting to visit the museum is required to pre-book a time slot, and during the visit face masks are compulsory and social distancing of at least one meter will be enforced.
Jean-Luc Martinez, the museum director, said the museum was expecting just 7,000 visitors on the reopening day. Before the closure, as many as 50,000 people per day toured the Louvre in the busiest summer months.
The technical shortcomings at the Green Vault (German: "Grünes Gewölbe") in Dresden were known longer than previously thought. The managing director of the Saxon Real Estate and Construction Management (SIB) announced in a press interview that an exchange of the surveillance cameras had already been decided at the end of 2018. Due to complicated planning and ordering conditions, the exchange was only possible one and a half years later.
According to the current state of the investigation, the public prosecutor and the police assume that the perpetrators knew about this security vulnerability and were actively exploiting it. In 2019, 20 single pieces of the three larger jewel sets containing 100 pieces in total were stolen.
Reuters reports french officials arrested six people near France’s Italian border in connection with the theft of a mural by British street artist Banksy that memorialized the victims of the 2015 Paris terror attacks.
The piece was spray-painted onto an emergency exit door at the Bataclan theatre, and it was stolen in January 2019 by a team of hooded thieves. Detectives tracked it down in a barn at a farmhouse in the Abruzzo region of Italy earlier this month.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Salzburg Festival will take place this year, only under more stringent security and hygiene measures. For example, only personalized tickets are sold and checked against the identity card at the entrance.
According to President Helga Rabl-Stadler, the goal must be that infection chains can be traced immediately. All attendees are required to wear a mask upon entrance and can only remove them while seated.
The Italian police have found a stolen artwork from the mysterious artist Banksy. The door, which was stolen last year from the Parisian venue Bataclan, was decorated with a mourning girl by the artist to commemorate the victims of the bloodbath caused by Islamic terrorists in 2015.
The artwork was retrieved in cooperation with the French police. The state of the piece and whether there are any suspects in the case is unknown at this point. Tomorrow, the Italian authorities will likely give more in a press conference.
British street artist Banksy has revealed his new artwork inspired by the death of George Floyd, showing his support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The post, on Instagram, features the scene of a vigil, in which a candle burns the American flag.
The Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen-Bornemisza museums in Madrid reopened today after nearly three months of Covid-19 lockdown.
At the Prado, visitors were required to wear face masks, keep a distance of two meters apart during the visit and had their temperatures checked before entering the museum.
A visit to the famous museum is free during this weekend -- and half-price until September -- with tickets available online to the first 1,800 people
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, commonly known as Christo, has died at the age of 84 of natural causes. Christo, and his partner Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, are known for massive, short-lived public artworks, such as Wrapped Reichstag, Oil Barrels and The Umbrellas.
Three Humboldt penguins from the Kansas City Zoo have visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. In a talk about re-opening plans between the museum and the zoo, the directors joked about the idea of bringing penguins to show them the exhibited art. Julián Zugazagoitia, the director of the museum has stated that they were "were concerned first and foremost for the security of the birds and the art" and decided what rooms would be available to the birds. According to him the penguins "felt more comfortable" at the Baroque section than with the Monet painting "Water Lilies".
The parliament of Brandenburg answered on Friday, that there will be no statewide security concept for museums. Reasons for this decision were, that all buildings and art collections are too specific in the architecture and the way how to secure them.
The party "Freie Wähler" called for measures after the burglaries in the "Bode Museum" in Berlin and the "Grünes Gewölbe" in Dresden.
Banksy, an anonymous British street artist, has donated a painting named 'Game Changer' to the Southhampton General Hospital. The painting shows a kid playing with a superhero nurse doll wearing a cape and bearing the Red Cross on her chest. A note left by the artist read “Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if its [sic] only black and white".