The Da Vinci Forgery: Last Week in Art

Plus, the Pope filled 20,000 pairs of sneakers and sandals into the Place de la Republique after the Paris Climate March was canceled.

by Sami Emory

November 30, 2015, 2:05pm

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A lot went down this week in the weird and wild world of Art. Some things were more scandalous than others, some were just plain wacky—but all of them are worth knowing about. Without further ado:

+ After the U.N. climate march was canceled in Paris on Saturday, shoes belonging to Pope Francis, Marion Cotillard, Vivienne Westwood, and 20,000 more people were put on display at the Place de la Republique. [Huffington Post]

+ A Czech court offered Jakub F, who was charged with a large fine and a prison sentence for software pirating, the chance to avoid the charges if he made an anti-piracy film that reached 200,000 hits. After a week, the video has upwards of 800k views and Jakub F is laughing. [BBC]

+ Matthew Barney’s 6-hour-long River of Fundament will be screening at the IFC Center for a week starting this Friday. [IFC]

+ Drake posted a work from artist Dave Valeza—cut and uncredited—on his Instagram and the act did not go unnoticed. [Paper Mag]

+ Subway ads for The Man in the High Castle, a new series on Amazon Prime, were taken down this week following protest over caustic imagery, including swastikas, the "rising sun" symbol, and the Statue of Liberty hailing Hitler. Based on Philip K. Dick's book of the same name, the series depicts an alternate reality wherein the Axis won WWII. [CNN]

+ J.K. Rowling publicly defended the much-hated Snape against critics (meaning on Twitter); meanwhile, the Ronbledore theory lives on. [TechTimes, The Toast]

+ #SprayForParis is trending on walls—real and virtual—around the world. [artnet]

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+ A slavery museum opened in Qatar. [Reuters]

+ In reaction to the fighter jet shot down last week, Russia will break “all cultural ties” with Turkey. [The Art Newspaper]

+ This Spanish artist is being sued for using Eucharist wafers to construct his work Pederasty, on display at a public art space in Pamplona. [Art Forum]

+ A database of work by black artists is in pre-production by British artist Sonia Boyce. [The Independent]

+ An art show featuring work fighting violence against women was shut down at Bejing’s Jinge Art Gallery this week, just in time for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. [The Guardian]

+ After a drastic sentencing two weeks ago, writers, artists, and activists across the world are standing up for Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh. [The Sydney Morning Herald]

+ British art forger Shaun Greenhalgh is claiming that a Leonardo da Vinci painting La Bella Principessa, worth over 100 million dollars, is, in truth, one of his works titled Sally from the Co-op. Hmm… [Telegraph]

+ The new Parisian fair on African art and design, “Also Known as Africa,” follows suit of Lyons Light Festival, canceling their event in wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and across the globe. [Art Forum]

+ Divine Bovine, a styrofoam cow tied to a balloon by artist Siddharth Kararwal, was dismantled by police at last week's Jaipur Art Summit after protests; the police later apologized. [Mashable, BBC]

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+ David Smith is now represented by Hauser & Wirth. [Hauser & Wirth]

+ Visitors are being encouraged to stop snapping and start sketching the art at the Rijksmuseum. The movement comes with the hashtag #hierteekenen or, translated, #startdrawing. [Hyperallergic]

+ An anonymous buyer spent millions on a Wu Tang Clan album valued at $5 million at Paddle8 auction house; Noisey speculates it's Quentin Tarantino, and they’ve got evidence. [Noisey]

+ Ai Weiwei is working on a series of 8-bit Instagram portraits of dissidents. [Instagram]