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A remote island draws thousands of turtles each year. Could it attract tourists?
NEW YORK, NY.- Each year, thousands of baby green sea turtles clamber across a beautiful, white-sand paradise that is one of the largest hatching sites of this species in the Atlantic, adorably making their way to the sea. There’s one noticeable absence: people. The spectacular hatching events take place between August and December on Poilão Island, a tiny, uninhabited speck off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. It is the southernmost island of the 88 that make up the Bijagós archipelago, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Last year, turtles laid more than 44,000 nests on its 1.4 mile-long beach. While the masses of turtles seem to have little trouble finding the spot to lay their eggs — some swim more than 600 miles across the North Atlantic — it’s hard to imagine somewhere more challenging for human turtle-lovers to reach. ... More

Exhibition draws on ideas of myths and monsters in the representation of women to reflect on womanhood
HYÈRES.- The Fondation Carmignac presents ‘The Infinite Woman’ exhibition at Villa Carmignac on the island of Porquerolles, in the South of France, from Saturday, April 27, to Sunday, November 3, 2024, curated by Alona Pardo. ‘Strong, lustful, temptresses, femme fatales, caregivers, demonic or mythic, women have been represented in a myriad of ways across the centuries to fulfil a patriarchal view of the world. Weaving the narrative of artists who, regardless of gender, have been able to challenge not only social norms but also the limitations of art and its restrictive categories. Central to the artists and works represented is a commitment to experimentation and to pushing the boundaries of artistic practice. Organised thematically, the exhibition draws on ideas of myths and monsters in the representation of women to reflect on womanhood ... More

Artist Mario Moore bridges untold stories of America's past and present
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.- The newest installment of the Grand Rapids Art Museum’s Michigan Artist Series, Mario Moore: Revolutionary Times, opened at GRAM on April 27, 2024. On view through August 18, Revolutionary Times brings together three recent bodies of work by Detroit-based artist Mario Moore, including large-scale paintings, silverpoint drawings, and works on paper. In these works, Moore bridges America’s past and present and illuminates stories buried or ignored in Americans’ collective understanding of history. “It has been an honor to work with Mario Moore on this exhibition and to witness his incredible talent and creativity. His highly realistic paintings radiate with warmth and life. They also prompt viewers to consider our country’s past and what legacies we’ve inherited from it,” commented GRAM Curator ... More

DAM Projects opens "Between control and autonomy - areas of tension in AI"
BERLIN.- Thousands of images are created every day with the help of so-called AI (artificial intelligence). But who creates them, what role does the individual using the AI programme play and to what extent does the complex AI programme influence the outcome? Just as we don't have more outstanding photographers, now that it's easy to take a spectacular photo with a smartphone, we don't suddenly have more great artists thanks to AI. This selection introduces you to some outstanding artists who had already developed their own artistic position before using AI as another tool. "I write software - I design systems that abstract behaviour." Akten deals with the questions of our existence in many different ways and favours the use of new technologies. He dedicated his PhD to the study of deep neural networks, a form of AI. This ... More

New Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition offers a unique exploration juxtaposing 17th century and contemporary fashion
CLEVELAND, OH.- Korean Couture: Generations of Revolution tells a compelling story about the history of Korean couture fashion and its transformative legacy. Ranging from 17th-century excavated aristocratic garments to contemporary Korean couture from leading and emerging Korean fashion designers, the exhibition allows visitors to explore the rich tradition of Korean dress. Featuring more than two dozen works and accompanying ephemera, it highlights the ways Korean artists and designers use fashion to elevate and challenge aspects of traditional Korean culture, while empowering contemporary designers to invent a new artistic language. Unique in its presentation, this international loan ... More

Xippas Paris opens second solo exhibition of American painter John Phillip Abbott
PARIS.- Xippas Paris opened the second solo exhibition of American painter John Phillip Abbott. Entitled “The Great Escape”, the exhibition takes over the gallery space from floor to ceiling. Visitors are invited to contemplate and decipher the works, standing or lying down. “A nation of restless people, forever attempting to get somewhere or get away from somewhere: Kerouac, Cassady, Ginsberg, Kesey, and Robert Frank listening to Zen koans on speeding highway winds; Chuck Berry cruising along with “No particular place to go”; the reckless young motorcycle racers in Bruce Brown’s documentary On Any Sunday (1971) hand-grinding the gears of their motors to save a few ounces and add a some rpms; Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in Easy Rider (1969) riding their choppers through a cinematic elegy for American roads ... More

A city scarred by terrorism prepares an Olympic opening without walls
PARIS.- A terrorist attack in 2015 that left her city angry and heartbroken persuaded Paris’ mayor, Anne Hidalgo, to campaign for the Olympic Games. “I said to myself, ‘We need to do something that is unifying,’” she said in a recent interview, remembering the horrifying afternoon when masked gunmen charged into the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and opened fire that January, killing 12. “Something that is very powerful, very peaceful and allows us to move forward. So I threw myself into it.” Nine years later, the Summer Olympics are set to open in Paris in July with France at its highest level of terrorism alert, after the attack on the Moscow concert hall last month. Yet for the first time, the opening ceremony will not be held inside the barricaded confines of a stadium. Instead, athletes will float in boats down the Seine ... More

What directors love about Nicole Kidman
NEW YORK, NY.- “We come to this place for magic,” Nicole Kidman says in the well-known AMC Theaters preshow advertisement. And who could better welcome back audiences to experience movies on the big screen than an acclaimed artist who’s illuminated stories across all genres? Kidman has starred in daring art house projects (“Dogville,” “Birth”), awards-friendly dramas (“Cold Mountain,” “Rabbit Hole”), big-budget crowd-pleasers (“Aquaman,” “Paddington”) and everything in between. On Saturday, the Australian American Oscar-winning actress will receive the life achievement award from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. At 56, Kidman is among the youngest honorees. But what qualities have kept Kidman consistently in demand for the past three decades? New Zealand director Jane ... More

What's so funny about a dead comedian?
NEW YORK, NY.- A few weeks after Kenny DeForest died, a group of his friends gathered in an apartment in Los Angeles. The mood was somber — DeForest was only 37, and he had died from traumatic brain injuries after falling off an electric bike in New York City borough of Brooklyn. But DeForest was a professional comedian, and his friends were all comedians, and any gathering of comedians eventually comes to feel like a party. They were playing a game where everybody gets a card with a single word and then gives clues to help their teammates guess the word. Will Miles, one of DeForest’s best friends, plucked a card from the deck. He read the card and immediately said, “Kenny should have worn a …” His teammates gasped then blurted out the answer in unison: “Helmet!” “So we did win,” Miles recalled a few weeks after the ... More

Fossils take form at the Whatcom Museum
BELLINGHAM, WA.- When you think about a saber-toothed cat, do you think of a fossil? Or do you imagine a powerful, sinewy Ice Age carnivore stalking its prey in the open plains millions of years ago? If you’re picturing that extinct mammal now, complete with musculature, fur, and focused eyes, you can give credit to acclaimed scientific illustrators like David W. Miller, whose work is on exhibition in UNEARTHED: Art & Science Survey the Fossil Record at the Whatcom Museum's Old City Hall building, April 27 – September 29, 2024. UNEARTHED celebrates Miller’s contributions to paleoart with his largest-ever collection of original works on display. The exhibition centers the artistry of this niche field with more than 60 richly detailed paintings of the wildest creatures of the past along with their fossil counterparts, on loan from the Burke ... More

Raymond Briggs returns home with posthumous personal show at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft
DITCHLING.- A new exhibition featuring never-seen-before items and artworks from one of the UK´s most beloved author illustrators – Raymond Briggs (1934-2022) - opened, in the part of East Sussex that he made his home. Bloomin’ Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft is a highly personal show that brings together 30 items from the late author´s estate with over 100 original artworks from his 60-year career. The exhibition joins up with the acclaimed, currently touring show from Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration (Raymond Briggs: A Retrospective) and is the first specifically curated show following the death of the author. This exhibition includes work from Briggs’s pioneering titles, including The Snowman (1978), Father Christmas (1973), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) and When the Wind Blows (1982), plus the autobiograph ... More