Edward Snowden's iPhone Hack Wants to Help You Hide Again: Last Week In Art

A lot went down this week in the weird and wild world of Art. Some things were more scandalous than others, some were just plain wacky—but all of them are worth knowing about. Without further ado:

+ Edward Snowden and hacker Andrew “Bunnie” Huang co-designed an iPhone case “add-on” that monitors and disrupts your phone’s radio signals. The case was made, in part, for journalists reporting abroad to protect their information and conceal their whereabouts. [Engadget]

+ Political turmoil in Turkey is impacting its art market. [Artnet News]

+ The new Harry Potter play-cum-book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, hit shelves this weekend, and already the internet is full of plot-spoiling trolls. [The Washington Post]

+ Russians in St. Petersburg are voting whether or not to put some pants on a plastic recreation of Michelangelo’s David. [BBC]

+ The website for LA's The Hammer Museum has been infiltrated by M&Ms espousing excerpts of artists’ statements, courtesy of net artist Guthrie Lonergan. The work, Built with Indexhibit, is part of the museum’s current show, Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only, and has elicited some truly incendiary responses from website visitors. [Hammer Museum via ArtFCity]

+ Having children is a challenge for female artists, said Marina Abramović to the German daily, Tagesspiegel. “I have no husband, no family, I’m totally free.” [Artnet News]

+ Rashid Johnson will be the second-ever artist to be appointed to the Guggenheim Foundation’s board. [Artforum]

+ Donald Trump is being prosecuted by Luciano Pavarotti’s family for his use of the tenor’s famed aria “Nessun Dorma” during his rallies. [The New York Times]

+ At St. Paul’s Cathedral in London this September, Bill Viola will unveil his latest large-scale video installation of Mary supporting Jesus’ body. The video, simply entitled Mary, complements Viola’s other installation in the cathedral’s south side, Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water). [The Guardian]

+ In Philadelphia, Rock The Vote brought the works of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and many other artists focused on issues surrounding the 2016 campaign (gun violence, women’s rights, homelessness) to the doorstep of the DNC. [NBC]

+ Shanghai Project, the brainchild of Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Yongwoo Lee, is undergoing some serious re-organizing due, allegedly, to poor planning on the organizers’ parts, and a lack of funding. The biennial’s inaugural exhibition has been delayed until April of next year, to be replaced this September by a community-oriented event with pavilions, library pop-ups, and public forums. [The Art Newspaper]

+ It seems like more people should know about Hannah Höch, the founder of the photomontage, whose work was condemned as “degenerate” under the Nazi regime. [New York Magazine]

+ The Tor Project says that they have proof of sexual misconduct by Jacob Applebaum, a former employee, hacker, and artist. [The Verge]

+ People are shocked that Fisk University sold two pieces that it owned, one a prized Florine Stettheimer, to provide some financial relief to the school. [The New York Times]

+ A French court has denied Orlan’s 31.7 million dollar case against Lady Gaga, which the performance artist leveled for the plagiarization of her imagery in Gaga’s "Born this Way" music video. Orlan now must pay the pop star and her label over $11,000 each. [The Observer]

+ Why Dan Brown is wrong: an informed perspective on the actual significance of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. [The Smithsonian Magazine]

+ Through their “Artist/City” program, Bortolami Gallery is renting out nontraditional exhibition spaces and giving artists across the country free reign to self-curated shows at any point during the year. In Cahokia, Illinois, for example, artist Eric Wesley will soon become resident of a former Taco Bell. [The Art Newspaper]

+ An initiative for an increase in the acquisitions of African-American art is leading the Detroit Institute of Arts to become more representative of the demographics of its hometown. [Hyperallergic]

+ Pharrell Williams has composed the score for a new dance performance by Jonah Bokaer and Daniel Arsham for the Guggenheim’s Works & Process program this September. [TimeOut New York]

+ Propel announced a line of official Star Wars drones, which you can now reserve. They have 0-30 acceleration in 3 seconds, perform “aerial stunts,” and participate in “laser battles.” [Wired]

+ India’s culture ministry is developing a system to grade the country’s artists in three categories: outstanding, promising, and waiting. [Artforum]

+ London’s top museums have received the renewed sponsorship of BP and people aren’t pleased. [City A.M.]

Did we miss any pressing art world stories? Let us know in the comments below!

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