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The ‘World’s First Art Amusement Park’ Rides Again
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The ‘World’s First Art Amusement Park’ Rides Again

With attractions by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sonia Delaunay, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and others, the resurrected Luna Luna opens in Los Angeles this month This month, a landmark if quirky project billed as “the world’s first art amusement park” will be resurrected on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. In the summer of 1987, Luna Luna...

Philadelphia Museum Returns 16th-Century Manuscript to Peru
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Philadelphia Museum Returns 16th-Century Manuscript to Peru

Federal investigators found that the six-page manuscript at the Rosenbach Museum and Library had been illegally removed from a larger volume The Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia has voluntarily returned a 16th-century manuscript to the government of Peru, following a federal investigation into the provenance of the object. The manuscript, which dates to 1599 and documents...

In Conversation with Tim O’Keefe of the Texas Ballet Theater
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In Conversation with Tim O’Keefe of the Texas Ballet Theater

The winter holiday season is chock full of tradition, and one of the most beloved traditions this time of year is seeing the beloved ballet The Nutcracker. Except for the sourest curmudgeons, The Nutcracker dances, music, story, and costumes are major fan favorites, for many reasons, and that’s not just the opinion of the average showgoer, but of...

Alleged Head of Egyptian Antiquities Trafficking Ring Arrested in Paris
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Alleged Head of Egyptian Antiquities Trafficking Ring Arrested in Paris

Serop Simonian was arrested in his hometown of Hamburg and transferred to France The suspected head of an alleged Egyptian antiquities trafficking ring, Serop Simonian, has been arrested in Germany and transferred to France. Investigators believe the octogenarian is the source behind a string of allegedly smuggled Egyptian antiquities sold for around €60m to the...

As Shipping Costs Rise, Galleries Get Creative
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As Shipping Costs Rise, Galleries Get Creative

‘Shipping has become a nightmare,’ says Mihai Nicodim, owner of Nicodim Gallery (Los Angeles and New York City). ‘It almost doubled. When the pandemic hit, we were getting quotes that quadrupled overnight.’ Talk to any dealer right now about shipping costs and you are likely to get the same reaction. Dealers responding to a survey for the Art...

Before the Deluge, Who Was Jean-Michel Basquiat?
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Before the Deluge, Who Was Jean-Michel Basquiat?

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–88) was by most accounts a sweet kid. He had a baby face and a distinctive walk, one foot pigeon-toed, so he was easy to spot from a block away. He was a pussycat – at least the girls said so – soft-spoken and polite. And he liked to draw. My mother-in-law, an art...

‘When the Pictures on the Walls of Paris Bar Begin to Speak.’
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‘When the Pictures on the Walls of Paris Bar Begin to Speak.’

German playwright Heiner Müller once dubbed Paris Bar the ‘hell of Berlin bars.’ Müller lived in the Communist East, but had documents that allowed him to pass between East and West when the Berlin Wall still divided the city. In the 1980s, he was a regular at Kantstrasse 152. Then as now, Paris Bar felt...

For Guadalupe Maravilla, Optimism Is the First Medicine
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For Guadalupe Maravilla, Optimism Is the First Medicine

Wherever he goes, Guadalupe Maravilla plays a childhood game called tripa chuca, or ‘rotten guts’. Two people take turns connecting numbers on paper by drawing lines that cannot touch, creating a map that tracks how they charted a path in relation to each other. Maravilla played tripa chuca throughout his journey from El Salvador to the United States in...

Yto Barrada on Fixing the World with a Dye Garden
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Yto Barrada on Fixing the World with a Dye Garden

In the first interview in a new series dedicated to artists’ work beyond art, we (Art Basel) speak to Yto Barrada about her vision for The Mothership, a community-led research center grounded in the Moroccan landscape. Artists don’t just make art. Over a decade ago, this realization led to the launch of ‘The Future of Art Practices:...

Why Milan Is More Than Just Fashion and Design
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Why Milan Is More Than Just Fashion and Design

Contemporary art has found its footing in the home of Salone del Mobile When contemporary art and Milan come up in conversation, many observers point to one seminal event that put the city on the art world’s radar: Expo 2015. Before the world’s fair, Milan’s two leading creative industries – fashion and design – routinely...