A then and now of Vermeer’s Little Street. Credit: Rijksmuseum/The Art Newspaper
- The original location of Vermeer’s “The Little Street” has been discovered. After a century of debate among scholars as to whether one of the earliest Northern European portraits of a middle class house exterior was real or fictitious, the buildings have been determined to be Trip Gate in Delft. [The Art Newspaper]
- Silicon Valley has their over-valuated “unicorn” start-ups, and now Canada has their own name for those $1 billion plus tech companies: narwhals. How the arctic toothed whale embodies our pre-tech bubble burst no one knows—maybe when it all sinks, Canadian start-ups are able to break the ice with their tusk, constant apologizing, and self-deprecating humor. [Quartz]
- In related news, a millennial Silicon Valley unicorn founder has let the world know he does not want cars, watches or gadgets: he wants to start collecting art, and has appropriately inspired a Twitter parody account of his potential art collection with quips like “it’s time to #swiperight on the #artworld.” [artnet news]
- This confessional listicle from a recently out of work, 25 year independent video store employee is depressing. With the demise of the video store industry, here’s what we’re losing despite the convenience of Netflix: human interaction and a video library not solely shaped by the whims of licensing agreements. [Vox]
- Holland Cotter thinks the Martin Wong retrospective survey at the Bronx Museum of the Arts is a must-see. He fondly reminisces about first encountering the “virtuoso realist” in the 1980s when he was briefly a clerk in the Met’s bookstore, and the critical eye he brought to his mystical city paintings. [New York Times]
- Artist assistant: “John, BMW’s publicist needs a quote from you for the press release announcing the Art Car commission.” Baldessari: “Is this really necessary right now? I’m in the middle of something.” Assistant: “Cao Fei hasn’t gotten back to them yet.” Baldessari: “I really don’t care, just tell something corny about how it’ll be my ‘fastest artwork yet’.” [Autoblog]
- London’s National Portrait Gallery just scored a $4.5 million donation from the Lucian Freud estate containing his letters, sketchbooks and early childhood drawings. [Artforum]
- David Bowie has a new music video. There’s a sax solo and bandaged eyes and dancers moving with seizure-like movements and creepy kids. [The Awl]
- Another arts publication has written a report about that digital art biennale Michael reviewed last week, analyzing the challenges digital art face from the establishment, but how that’s changing: Jon Rafman and Hito Steyerl are getting institutional shows, and there’s now a Canadian award for emerging digital artists with a $5000 purse. Oh, shameless self-promotion: the online pavilion I curated got a plug. [Canadian Art]
- If you live in Berlin, you really have no excuse to be late ever again if you’re travelling via transit, especially since their transit authority has released a real-time map of their subway system. [Metafilter]
