The Yorkshire greeting card company said it wasn’t trying to own his work, but “Banksy claimed he had been forced to open a shop in Croydon, south London, this week, as a result of the dispute. … The street artist was advised by his legal team to sell his own merchandise to avoid his trademark being used by someone else under EU law.” – BBC
Author: ArtsJournal2
College Kids Don’t Want Your Fancy ‘Reinvention,’ Just A Plain Old Library
There’s a lot of glitz going on in the college library funding race. A media room! A media room with a green screen! No, a Maker Space! And – perhaps the best idea of them all – a library escape room where students save a rare book! But actually … “Survey data and experts suggest that students generally appreciate libraries most for their simple, traditional offerings: a quiet place to study or collaborate on a group project, the ability to print research papers, and access to books.” – The Atlantic
The First Black Woman To Direct In Hollywood Says That Industry Thought She Was ‘Too Black’
Euzhan Palcy’s A Dry White Season earned Marlon Brando an Oscar nomination, but that didn’t impress Hollywood executives, she says. When she pitched other films with black leads, “‘They were very matter of fact: they’d ask: ‘Can’t the lead be white?’’ she said. ‘I was pitching a story about a black freedom fighter and they asked me if he could be white. Incredible things like that.'” – The Guardian (UK)
A Three-Year Saga Comes To A Conclusion As Jeff Koons’ Tulip Sculpture Lands In Paris
Though many in France said Koons’ sculpture “donation” – more on that in a minute – was “opportunistic and cynical,” the artist said “he hoped his tulips would become part of the local landscape and that Parisians would interact with them.” After the terrorist attacks of November 2015, the artist announced that he would give Paris a sculpture that echoed Picasso’s Bouquet of Peace. But “Koons only donated the concept for Bouquet of Tulips. The production — costing 3.5 million euros, or about $3.8 million at current exchange rates — was raised by French and American donors.” – The New York Times
What’s The Bestselling Album In Britain Right Now? Abbey Road, Obviously
The last time The Beatles’ Abbey Road was #1 on the charts, a U.S. president was laying the groundwork for his later impeachment, and Harold Wilson was Prime Minister of the UK. This return to the top “sees the album set a record – the gap of 49 years and 252 days since its initial chart-topping run ended in early 1970 is the longest gap before returning to number one.” – BBC
The Secret To A Life Well-Lived
If you’re tired of other people’s “Month of Gratitude” posts on Facebook, sorry to tell you this, but that’s the secret – gratitude. Wildly, if you want to save for retirement or something, gratitude is also the way to go: “We’ve repeatedly been able to show the close link between gratitude and self-control. In 2014, we demonstrated that people induced to feel grateful, compared with those induced to feel happiness or no emotion at all, became much more willing to wait for a larger financial reward (eg, $80 in three weeks) compared with a smaller, immediate one ($35 now).” – Aeon
Groundbreaking Oscar-Nominated Actress And Singer Diahann Carroll Has Died At 84
Carroll was the first Black woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series in the U.S. “NBC executives were wary about putting Julia on the network during the racial unrest of the 1960s, but it was an immediate hit.” Carroll also won a Tony for No Strings and an Oscar nomination for Claudine. The director and producer Ava DuVernay wrote, “Diahann Carroll walked this earth for 84 years and broke ground with every footstep. An icon. One of the all-time greats. She blazed trails through dense forests and elegantly left diamonds along the path for the rest of us to follow.” – PBS Newshour (AP)
Even After Hordes Of ‘New Yorker’ Publications, Authors Might Need To Be Rescued For Future Readers
Is this the most discouraging development ever, or is it just a sign of how many writers are forgotten as the relentless pressure of the new takes hold? Nancy Hale holds the record for the most short stories to appear in The New Yorker in a year – 12 between July 1954 and July 1955 (TWELVE?!). “She also put out seven novels and was a 10-time recipient of the O. Henry Prize for short fiction. Her writing is progressive and tackles issues such as infidelity, abortion, domestic abuse, motherhood, mental illness and female sexuality. … And despite this, most readers of short stories haven’t even heard the name Nancy Hale.” – NPR
In Dijon, This Museum Features Not Mustard But The Goddess Of The Waters
Long before tourists came to Dijon in search of mustard (“Dijon” mustard actually comes from Canada, but never mind), pilgrims were heading to the area temple to buy mass-produced icons of a goddess and to worship at the nearby source of the Seine. – The New York Times
London’s National Theatre To End Funding From Shell
The National Theatre joins the Royal Shakespeare Company, which had been deliberating for quite some time before ending its longtime “relationship” with BP (formerly British Petroleum). Pressure from youth, climate activists, and even its own artists means that “the National Theatre has announced it will end Shell’s membership from next year, as the arts organisation accelerates plans to make itself carbon neutral in the face of the climate emergency.” – The Guardian (UK)