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The Headlines
COLD COMFORT. A proposed bronze statue depicting a seated girl, intended as a symbol of wartime sexual violence, has sparked tensions between Japan and New Zealand, the Guardian reports. The sculpture, donated to the Korean cultural garden at Barry’s Point Reserve in Auckland by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance, commemorates an estimated 200,000 women forced into sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels between 1932 and 1945, known as “comfort women.” Most were Korean, though victims also included Chinese, Southeast Asian, and a small number of Japanese and European women.cJapan’s ambassador to New Zealand, Makoto Osawa, said the planned memorial was “needlessly stirring up” this chapter of history and warned it could harm diplomatic relations, not only between Japan and New Zealand, but also between Japan and South Korea. The Japanese embassy has more bluntly described the statue as part of an “anti-Japan” movement. Since the first “peace statue” was erected in Seoul in 2011, followed by similar installations around the world, Japan has repeatedly called for their removal. Auckland authorities are expected to decide later this month whether to proceed with the installation.
BARTERING BREAKY. If you’re in Milan on April 20, it’s worth setting an early alarm to join Maurizio Cattelan’s “barter breakfast” in Piazza del Duomo. As reported by Artribune, the provocateur, who recently made headlines for inviting the public to confess their sins to him, is now asking participants to bring an object of their choosing to a sunrise gathering, where it can be exchanged with others. Running from 7am to 9am and timed to kick off Milan Design Week, the event will feature designers including Stefano Seletti, Fabio Novembre, Marcantonio, and Charley Vezza, each bringing items of their own to trade. Participants are encouraged to bring something “curious, iconic, sentimental, eccentric, or unexpected,” entering into a shared exchange shaped by the real, symbolic, or surprising value objects can carry. There’ll also be live music, and, naturally, an Italian-style breakfast served in the shadow of Milan’s Duomo.
The Digest
The entrance to the Colosseum in Rome has been renovated and enhanced with travertine marble by studio Stefano Boeri Interiors. [Artnet News]
Dior has just revealed the location for its Cruise 2027 collection show, and it’s none other than the new, Peter Zumthor-designed wing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the David Geffen Galleries. [WWD]
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London (V&A) has launched a new collections hub page on provenance and the stories of some looted works in its own collection. [The Art Newspaper]
A performance in front of the Lincoln Memorial yesterday, by blindfolded young girl dancers, titled ResistDance vs Redaction, was made in protest of President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. [The Washington Post]
What if every major city offered free supplies to artists? That is what the program Materials for the Arts (MFTA) is asking as part of a vision to expand their Long Island City space. [Hyperallergic]
The Kicker
SPEAKING ART TO POWER. Do artists inevitably serve the state, or can they challenge it from within? Those questions underpin a timely The New York Times feature on Nailya Allakhverdiyeva, who, until late 2024, remained at the helm of PERMM, a rare outpost for contemporary art beyond Moscow, in the industrial city of Perm. Following mounting pressure from Russian law enforcement and escalating political intimidation, Allakhverdiyeva ultimately fled to Berlin. There, she has reflected on her controversial decision to stay in Russia for years after its invasion of Ukraine, maintaining what she described as an “island” of artistic expression under the constant strain of an authoritarian regime. “I felt a hyper-responsibility toward the museum as a vehicle for promoting creative freedom, and toward contemporary art more broadly,” she said. “I owed it to the artists.”
