Weekend Reading: August 4 Edition

Around Columbus

• The Wex is featured in a reshare of gorgeous Columbus photos from 2008.
• The Dispatch rounded up the big-name authors coming to Columbus, including Barry star Henry Winkler, who’ll appear at Mershon Auditorium in November in conversation with Connie Schultz.
• If you’re waiting ’til the last minute to make it to the Ohio State Fair, here’s a rundown on must-sees at the Fine Arts Exhibition.
• In the latest sign that it is, indeed, a Barbie world, COSI announced plans for an exhibition around the fashion doll to open October 4.
• On the eve of Sound of Freedom star Jim Caviezel visiting Ohio on Sunday, Matter covered how the new film about child trafficking is creating a misinformation problem for other anti-trafficking workers.
• The local creative world officially got into the debate over the August 8 election focused on Issue 1 when the Ohio Chapter of the American Institute of Architects endorsed voting against the initiative.
• In Ohio State news, the Dispatch offered a complete guide to moving on and off campus.
• Say hello to the city’s newest art space: the pop-up gallery Project Unicorn.
• Curators Sso-Rha Kang and Matt Distel talked up their new show of Ohio women artists at the Riffe Gallery.
• Wednesday, Ohio State Associate Professor Elissa Washuta will be reading from her book White Magic at Thurber House.
• Thursday and Friday nights, Urban Arts Space will host Bibliomancy, a new performance work by Michael J. Morris.
• Next weekend is Franklinton Friday. Highlights include the family-friendly Sunset Art Fair and a live show with Earwig headlining at Secret Studio—where the Wex will be handing out info and giving away tickets to upcoming performances—as well as an Opera Columbus/OBLSK collab at Gravity and STORYLINES at Vanderelli Room (Disclosure: this writer’s husband is that show’s curator.)
• Lastly, some sad news this week: David Schirtzinger, a longtime graphic designer and instructor at CCAD, passed away suddenly last weekend. He was 59.

Around the Globe

• The Guggenheim Museum is the latest cultural institution to raise admission fees in response to lingering, COVID-related financial woes.
• An Oregon gallery removed an anti-police banner by Indigenous artist Demian DinéYazhi’ from a group show, prompting accusations of censorship. DinéYazhi’ was a contributor to our Spring 2020 show Climate Changing.
• An Arkansas judge blocked a law that would make it easier to ban books.
• The company behind Immersive van Gogh filed for bankruptcy.
• There’s a new AR app that will turn objects from the Metropolitan Museum of Art into gaming accessories.
• Joanna Moorhead, cousin of Leonora Carrington, discussed the book she wrote about the artist.
• The Guardian shared a gallery of Anton Corbijn’s portraits of artists, including Lucien Freud and Patti Smith.
• NPR collected a set of Tiny Desk Concerts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. Artists include Cypress Hill, Megan Thee Stallion, The Roots, and Wu-Tang Clan.
• The public broadcaster also highlighted what parents have enjoyed and learned from the widely acclaimed animated kids show Bluey.
• Film Comment posted an in-depth interview with Barbie filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who looks poised to be the first female director to have a movie hit $1 billion at the global box office.
• Martin Scorsese’s daughter Francesca decided to make a 30-second trailer for the sillier side of her father.
• The New York Times invited author Mark Jacobson to write about how streaming will never compare to the experience of watching a film in theaters.
• There’s conflict brewing as Hollywood studios such as Disney are increasingly using influencers to drown out the opinions of film critics.
• Love the wild party hats of artists and designers such as Piotrek Panszczyk and Faye Toogood? Here’s a how-to for making your own versions.
• Wool shorn from the sheep at Isabella Rossellini’s Mama Farm provided the foundation for a fabulous collaboration with online retailer Moda Operandi.
• Google’s home page donned some cool shades this week to honor the 116th birthday of artist Altina Schiasi. Among her many art-related accomplishments is the original design for cat eye glasses.
• And performer Paul Reubens died this week at the age of 70 after a long struggle with cancer. The New York Times offered an appreciation of his best-known character, Pee Wee Herman, and NPR’s Fresh Air reshared archived interviews with Reubens and Pee Wee’s Playhouse actors Laurence Fishburne and S. Epatha Merkerson.