Man Sues Museum of Ice Cream, Bronx Museum Director Quits, Judge Allows Artists’ Copyright Lawsuit Against AI Companies, and More: Morning Links for August 14, 2024

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THE HEADLINES

JUMPING SHIP? Smack bang in the middle of the Bronx Museum’s very expensive renovation project, its executive director has decided to leave. Klaudio Rodriguez, who has led the museum since 2020, is moving to Florida to take charge of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in St. Petersburg. He was instrumental in getting the $33 million expansion and facelift off the ground so his departure may come as a surprise to some. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with the staff and board of the Bronx Museum over the past seven years,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “I am leaving the museum in great hands and with a great team.” Shirley Solomon, the museum’s deputy director, and its chief advancement officer, Yvonne Garcia, will serve as interim co-leaders until the next director is signed up. Rodriguez will take the MFA reigns from Anne-Marie Russell, who quit on March 1. Her departure was announced in November 2023, just over 12 months after she first joined the museum as interim director. He short tenure came right after controversy linked to an exhibition of Greek antiquities at the MFA, many of which were revealed to have suspect provenance documentation. 

DAVID AND GOLIATH. A lawsuit filed by a cohort of artists against Midjourney, Stability AI, and other companies dabbling in AI has been green-lighted by a judge, despite some claims being dismissed. The artists claim that the popular AI services broke copyright law by training on a dataset that included their work and, in some cases, their users can directly reproduce copies of their work. Last year, a judge allowed a direct copyright infringement complaint against Stability, which operates the Stable Diffusion AI image generator. However, he binned a load of other claims and asked the artists’ lawyers to add more detail to them. In the most recent, though, the revised cases have convinced the judge to approve another claim of induced copyright infringement against Stability. Who will win, artist or AI corps?

THE DIGEST

How do you choose which museums to visit in Paris? A safe bet is to ask the director of Art Basel Paris, Clément Deléphine. He’s in the know. [FT]

A museum in Tel Aviv is hiding its most valuable works in the basement as Israel fears the wrath of Iran. Paintings by Pablo Picasso and Gustav Klimt are among the works being secured underground by the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in case Tehran fires missiles at the Israeli capital as regional tensions flare. [The Times of Israel]

Find out how one of Japan’s most revered contemporary artists, Yoshitomo Nara, and others are subverting the country’s cute “kawaii” aesthetic to question the world we live in. [BBC]

A solitary gold coin may fetch more than $1 million at auction as an ancient coin hoard goes under the hammer after a century of secrecy. [Business Insider].

THE KICKER

ONE FELL SCOOP. The Museum of Ice Cream in Manhattan is being sued by a man who injured himself in the sprinkle pool. Described by The Art Newspaper as “the millennial-pink, dessert-themed ‘experium’ that promises to help visitors ‘reimagine the way [they] experience ice cream,’” the museum looks like it’s made for Instagram. Jeremy Schorr was visiting the joint with his daughter in 2023 when he suffered “severe and permanent personal injuries,” according to the lawsuit. He claims the museum “failed to warn… visitors that it is unsafe to jump or plunge into the sprinkle pool, while encouraging them to do so through its advertising, marketing and promotional materials.” Schorr, who is represented by the Staten Island-based personal injury firm Perrone, also argues that there weren’t enough sprinkles in the pool. We’ve all been there, when the ice cream man is a little tight with the hundreds and thousands. [Artnet News]