News Articles

Climate Chaos Causing Deterioration of Ancient Cave Art

The World’s Oldest Cave Art Is Being Destroyed By Climate Crisis, A New Study Finds

BY JESSE HOLTH
ArtNews (Original Link)
May 14, 2021 6:02pm

Some of the world’s oldest cave art is being lost due to the detrimental effects of climate change, according to a new study on the effects of climate change on Sulawesi’s Pleistocene rock art conducted by Jill Huntley and others from the Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit at Griffith University in Australia. In southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, more than 300 cave sites are at risk of deterioration—this notably includes some of the earliest cave art…

Street Art - On Canvas, in Galleries, for auction, in the Streets?

What Qualifies as Street Art?
Justin Kamp, for artsy.net
Jan 11, 2021 12:43pm
photo: An early 2000s Swoon paste-up on a San Francisco public wall

The ascent of so-called street artists into the moneyed realms of the blue chip is not exactly a new phenomenon—it’s been nearly two years since KAWS skyrocketed to a new auction record of HK$116 million (US$14.8 million) with the sale of The Kaws Album (2005) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, which was followed six months later by the record-breaking sale of Banksy’s Devolved Parliament (2009) for £9.8 million ($12.1 million). These two mononym…

Historical Graffiti Anti-Evil Spells

Medieval Graffiti to Repel Witches and Evil Spirits Found In Britain
21 OCTOBER, 2020 - 17:52 ED WHELAN
LINK

In Britain, a mysterious discovery has been made in the ruins of a church in an abandoned medieval village. On some stones, archaeologists have found graffiti and some enigmatic marking. It is believed that the markings were made to ward off evil spirits or witches. This discovery is a timely one as we approach Halloween.

Currently, there is a major infrastructure project being carried out in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, England. It involves the construction of rail lines and a highway. This project will totally destroy a long-abandoned…

SF Viral Video About Black Lives Matter Stencil Unpacked

She 'Rode That Bias Off a Cliff': Man Who Filmed SF Viral Video on Handling 'Karens'
Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez for KQED (Link to article)

Jaime Juanillo was not looking to 'out' a white woman for making racist remarks last Thursday. In other words, he wasn’t looking to catch a 'Karen.'

(That’s a term often used to describe white women, specifically, who call police to punish Black people and people of color generally while they're enjoying everyday activities — like barbecuing, running a lemonade stand or bird-watching.)

But when a woman named Lisa Alexander and her…

Miniature Stenciled Art Rock found in AU

Rare Form of Miniature Stenciled Rock Art Found in Australia
New research suggests the small-scale illustrations may have been made with beeswax
By Alex Fox
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
MAY 27, 2020

In 2017, researchers surveying the Yilbilinji rock shelter in northern Australia’s Limmen National Park discovered rare examples of miniature stenciled rock art. Now, a new study published in the journal Antiquity may unravel the…

Just another day on aerosol earth

Just Another Day on Aerosol Earth
(hi-res image here: NASA's Astronomy Photo of the Day)

Model Visualization Credit: NASA Earth Observatory, GEOS FP, Joshua Stevens

It was just another day on aerosol Earth. For August 23, 2018, the identification and distribution of aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere is shown in this dramatic, planet-wide digital visualization. Produced in real time, the Goddard Earth Observing System Forward Processing (GEOS FP) model relies on a combination of Earth-observing satellite and ground-based data to calculate the presence of types of aerosols, tiny solid particles and liquid droplets, as they circulate above the entire planet. This August 23rd model shows black carbon particles in red from combustion processes…

Chilean Public Art Steps Up in Time of Revolution

The Writings on the City’s Walls: Street Art and Graffiti in Santiago, Chile in a Time of Social Revolution
FEBRUARY 17, 2020
Reporting: Street Art NYC (LINK)

The following post is by Houda Lazrak:

While visiting Santiago, Chile in late December, I sat down with Santiago-based architect and street art/graffiti expert Sebastián Cuevas Vergara. We met a few blocks from one of Santiago’s main urban landmarks, Plaza Baquedano, now known as Plaza de la Dignidad or Dignity Square — the main site of Chile’s protests against social inequality that erupted last October following a hike in subway fares.

Every Friday afternoon, thousands gather in Plaza de la Dignidad to express their frustration with the high cost of living, rising rents, government corruption and an…

The fraught business of removing and selling street art murals

The fraught business of removing and selling street art murals
Published on CNN, 20th January 2020 (LINK)

Written by Christy Kuesel

This article was published in partnership with Artsy, the global platform for discovering and collecting art. The original article can be seen here.

Banksy is well known for creating murals in the dead of night, frequently addressing social ills like homelessness or poverty. Tourists and fans gather around each of his new creations, often spurred to the site by a post on the anonymous artist's Instagram account. So the idea of…

A Primer on Aerosols

Aerosols, explained
Tiny particles floating in the atmosphere have a much bigger impact on the planet than you might think, and human activity plays a role.
BY ALEJANDRA BORUNDA for National Geographic

THE MOST VIBRANT sunsets, cloud-choked skies, and cough-inducing days all have something in common: They happen because of aerosols, tiny particles that float in the air. Aerosols can be tiny droplets, dust particles, bits of fine black carbon, and other things, and as they float through the atmosphere they change the whole energy balance of the planet.

Aerosols have an outsized effect on the planet’s climate. Some of them, like black and brown carbon, warm the Earth’s atmosphere, while others, like sulfate droplets, cool it. Scientists think that on balance, the whole budget of aerosols ends up cooling the planet slightly. But exactly how much, and how much that…

Face-Scanning Tech Expanding in USA, EU

Fight against facial recognition hits wall across the West
The result is an impasse that has left tech companies largely in control of where and how to deploy facial recognition.

By JANOSCH DELCKER and CRISTIANO LIMA (POLITICO)
12/30/2019 05:03 AM EST

Face-scanning technology is inspiring a wave of privacy fears as the software creeps into every corner of life in the United States and Europe — at border crossings, on police vehicles and in stadiums, airports and high schools. But efforts to check its spread are hitting a wall of resistance on both sides of the Atlantic.

One big reason: Western governments are embracing this technology for their own use, valuing security and data collection over privacy and civil liberties. And in Washington, President Donald Trump’s impeachment and the death of a key civil rights and privacy champion have…