Welcome back to a bright and sunny Thursday (well depending on where you live). Here in New York, the Heatherwick Studio and MNLA–designed Little Island, passion project of billionaire Barry Diller, is scheduled to open to the public tomorrow; you can preview the new floating park, and its concrete support pots, here.
Here’s what you need to know today:
You can “adopt” the art at Notre Dame Cathedral to help fund its recovery
Work to restore the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris by 2024 continues apace (even as the square in front of the building closed over lead contamination fears). Now, the Friends of Notre Dame de Paris, the organization responsible for funding the restoration, are letting individuals sponsor individual pieces of art to help raise money for the project. So far, reportedly ten statues have all been sponsored for $10,000 apiece, and most of them grotesques.
H/t to Artnet News
The Getty Conservation Institute is reburying ancient mosaics
Sometimes the best way to preserve millennia-old art is to simply put it back in the ground. The Getty Conservation Institute is doing exactly that, most recently reburying an 1,800-year-old floor mosaic in the Bulla Regia in Tunisia. Why, exactly? It’s because once exposed to the elements, humans, plants, and animals, those historic finds are immediately put at risk. An explainer on the Getty’s blog runs down the why and the how, as well as lists previous examples where archeologists have reburied important finds in order to protect them.
This 1,800-year-old mosaic at Bulla Regia in Tunisia was recently reburied. It decorates the floor of a small room in the Roman-period Maison de la Chasse (House of the Hunt).
Why? Read more on reburial, a conservation technique used around the world: https://t.co/EkOEsFJDRk pic.twitter.com/uw3ZjNfiuk
— Getty (@GettyMuseum) April 13, 2021
H/t to Hyperallergic
Victor Hugo’s house museum reopens in Paris after renovations
After being closed since April of 2019, the Maison de Victor Hugo, home of the French novelist, is finally reopening to the public. The debut had been pushed back five months because of COVID lockdowns, but the house museum has reopened with a new cafe, new staircase and improved circulation, expanded gallery space, and broadened collections. (Museum staff used the extra downtime to restore much of the existing collection.)
H/t to The Art Newspaper
Google is opening its first brick-and-mortar retail store in Manhattan
Following in the footsteps of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and every startup that advertises on the subway, Google is launching a brick-and-mortar retail store this summer. Opening at the base of Google’s New York City headquarters in Chelsea between 8th and 9th Avenues, the Google Store will showcase—surprise—Google products, letting customers test drive the electronics before buying.
H/t to The Verge
The Minneapolis City Council removed parking requirements from new projects
For the first time in Minneapolis, new construction will no longer need to include parking. In a unanimous 13-0 vote on Friday, May 14, the Minneapolis City Council removed the requirement in a bid to help decrease the cost of building housing and incentivize mass transit. And because the move would go toward reducing pollution in the city, it aligns with the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan’s climate goals.
H/t to the Star Tribune
Arizona wants to explore diverting Mississippi River flooding to the Colorado River
Last week, the Arizona Legislature formally approached Congress over a proposal to reroute Mississippi River flood water to the Colorado River. The legislature reasoned that if the Mississippi River is flooding its banks with increased regularity and causing property damage, why not divert the excess water to drought-prone areas? If the proposal is approved by Congress, the first phase would be a feasibility study.
H/t to the Mohave Valley Daily News
