How A Stolen Native American Artifact Ended Up For Sale In Paris

There is a loophole, in which it’s illegal to traffic certain cultural items within the United States, but exporting them is not prohibited. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which was enacted in 1990, requires repatriation of sacred or culturally significant items to their respective tribes or lineal descendants. It also instituted procedures for when said items are inadvertently discovered in excavations on federal lands. However, NAGPRA does not apply internationally. – Hyperallergic

Surge In Black Art Is ‘Exhilarating Sea Change’ That Made 2010s ‘Thrilling’: New York Times

Roberta Smith: “What made the 2010s the most thrilling of all the decades I’ve spent in the New York art world was the rising presence of black artists of every ilk, on every front: in museums, commercial galleries, art magazines, private collections and public commissions. During this exhilarating sea change new talent emerged, older talent was newly appreciated and the history of American art was suddenly up for grabs — and in dire need of rewriting.” – The New York Times

The American Theatre Was Killing Me: Healing from Racialized Trauma in an Art Workspace

“In the following conversation, theatremaker Lauren E. Turner recounts her courageous healing journey from the depths of sustained racialized trauma working in a New Orleans theatre to the launching of her own theatre company, No Dream Deferred, into its first season this fall. Given the persistence of racialized trauma in white theatre institutions, we interrogate how — and if — people of color feel they have a place within them.” – HowlRound

There’s Now An Artist-In-Residence At The Philadelphia DA’s Office

“It makes perfect sense to DA Larry Krasner, who sees the arts as central to the criminal justice reform movement … ‘the connection between the reforms we’re trying to make in Philadelphia and the people in Philly who are part of that movement are best made in some ways through the arts,'” he said. The first artist in the position is James Hough, who spent years painting parts of murals for Mural Arts Philadelphia while in prison and is now finally seeing his finished work. – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Chicago Architecture Biennial Examines How Design Shapes Urban Protest

It’s a study of human behavior. And it’s a study of the ways in which the architecture of public spaces is designed to control the ways humans move, perhaps by funneling people towards an exit or preventing mass gatherings. (Think: Hong Kong.) It also reveals the situations in which the human is no longer at the center, but becomes technology-adjacent. – Los Angeles Times

Melina Matsoukas’s Unflinching Eye

“Provocative subject matter isn’t foreign to [the director of Queen & Slim], who was raised in the Bronx by a Cuban mother and a Jewish Greek father, whom she describes as ‘freedom fighters.’ She’s the visionary behind a number of cultural touchstones from the past decade … [and in] an industry that lacks opportunities for female directors, Matsoukas is one of the few with a major-studio release this year. Perhaps most notable is her talent for capturing the inextricable beauty and brutality of life for black Americans, and the necessity of exuberance in the face of hardship.” – The Atlantic