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The headlines
NFT NEWS. There always seems to be drama in the NFT space. Quentin Tarantino and Miramax argue about director’s plan to sell NFTs pulp Fiction–related material at an auction, the Wall Street Journal reports. Miramax, which produced the 1994 classic, claims that Tarantino does not have the right to mint the tokens. Meanwhile former First Lady Melania Trump draws criticism for her plan to sell one of her hats, as well as an NFT of a watercolor of herself, CNN reports. “It’s unseemly,” said an unnamed senior Trump White House official. Last, Wikipedia Editors have voted that NFTs should not appear on the site’s list of most expensive art sales for now, with one voter per the ongoing debate over their status as art Artnet News.
A FRIDAY ARTIST UPDATE. sculptor Hugh Hayden is about to unveil an ambitious new work in Madison Square Park in New York, with 100 school desks from which twigs are sprouting. “My wood is like a bone-in chicken, with a straight foot — you still see that’s a tree,” he said New York Times. A little west of the park, artist-composer Harun Mirza just opened a broadcast at Lisson Gallery This includes “a mini sun made of halogen lights surrounded by an array of solar panels,” he said art newspaper. “These solar panels will generate electricity, which in turn will power an ecosystem of works” in space. Mirza said he’s reflecting on whether we’re a “parasitic species” or “a species that’s symbiotic with the rest of nature and the biosphere.”
The abstract
MAKE PUBLIC. South Korea’s second largest auction house, K auctionis listed on the nation KOSDAQ Exchange later this month, the Korea Herald reported and Sotheby’swhich was privatized in 2019, is set to explore an IPO, with Goldman Sachs and MorganStanley to advise, ARTnews written down.
Aras Amiria curator for the British Council Arrested for espionage and sentenced to 10 years in prison while visiting her grandmother in Iran in 2018, is back in the UK after the nation’s Supreme Court ruled her conviction violated Islamic law. [The New York Times]
The late bookseller’s Americana collection William Reese will be sold in a series of auctions at Christieswith a low estimate of $12 million. The house counts it as one of the most valuable single-owner book finds ever auctioned. [The New York Times]
the National Art Gallery in Washington, DC, its East Building will close from late February through June for renovations related to accessibility and the atrium skylight. [The Washington Post]
the burning man The organization has opposed a proposed geothermal project in Gerlach, Nevada, where it owns land, saying it would “change forever the environment, visibility and quality of life in the area.” [Reno Gazette Journal]
An original page from 1984 Spiderman Comic, which features the superhero in a black costume for the first time, sold for a whopping $3.36 million Heritage Auctions. [Sky News]
The kicker
SKATE ON THICK ICE. For a three-day play, running this weekend, performers take turns dancing on a 2.5-ton block of ice suspended above Sydney Harbour, Australia Guardian reports. Of course, it melts as they dance (nine hours a day total). The work, titled thawingis the creation of Joshua Thomsonthe artistic director of the theater group legs on the wall who said he wanted to “drive the conversation and awareness about climate change.” Not exactly subtle! Not exactly something you see every day either. Thomson admitted that “yes, it has an element of spectacle”. [The Guardian]
