Why has a crumbling bottle plant been rebuilt in Paris? The stunning show suggesting the future is Ghana-shaped

This year marks the centennial of one of the most audacious projects in the history of American higher education. John Kane, "The Cathedral of Learning" (1930), oil on canvas (photo public domain via Carnegie Museum of Art)

For a few days this week, filmmaker Alice Diop has created a space for healing. For this year’s Miu Miu commission during Art Basel Paris, she has transformed the Place d’Iéna into a large-scale installation title Geste de Consolation (Gesture of Consolation). The journey begins with Zanele Muholi’s Bona, Charlottesville, Virginia (2015), from the “Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness)” series. In the black-and-white photograph, we see the artist looking at themself in a mirror, but her face is only visible through their reflection. Beyond this is a new film by Diop, title [Sans titres], which begins with excerpts from ethnographic films of African women, depicted as the other, and ending with shots that show empowered Black women.

The Roman sculpture smashed its presale estimate of $12 million. The post $34.3M Roman Marble Busts Through Antiquity Record at Sotheby’s appeared first on Artnet News .

Three works by Paul Cézanne have been removed from the “Le Temps Retrouvé: The Schlumberger Collection” evening sale at Sotheby’s Paris on Thursday coinciding with Art Basel Paris. The three works: La Ferme, Arbres au Bord de la Rivière and Ciel Entre les Arbres, carried a combined estimate of $1.57 million to $2.24 million (€1.4 million to €2 million) and were painted between 1862 and 1864. The paintings are being returned to the artist’s hometown in Aix-en-Provenance to be displayed at the Musée Granet along with the artist’s other work. Sotheby’s said it has been holding discussions with the Schlumberger family and the town of Aix-en-Provence which, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, now intends to acquire the artworks for the museum.

stained glass takes on unexpected formsAn ordinary egg carton becomes something unexpectedly precious in the hands of artist Hayden Clay Williams. Its familiar folded shape is reconstructed from fragments of jewel-toned stained glass, with turquoise, amber, and soft pink panels joined by silver-colored seams. Sunlight passes through the delicate structure, scattering patches of color across the surface below. The humble carton, designed to protect fragile eggs, has become an object that needs protecting itself. Williams brings the same playful approach to a traffic cone and a folding wet floor sign, recreating familiar objects in a material usually associated with decorative windows and Tiffany lamps. Their recognizable silhouettes remain intact, though their surfaces have taken on an entirely different character. There is something playful about a roadside safety object made from breakable glass, especially when the finished sculpture looks somewhat convincing from a distance.

In a scene that could have been ripped out of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a historic floor globe used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II was broken when Pentagon staff tried to move it, according to The Washington Post. As reported by the paper, the globe caught the eye of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who ordered for it to be moved into his office to ogle on his own.