Tennessee Signs Historic AI Protection Legislation, Pro-Palestine Action at the Met, Art Basel Hong Kong Swings into Gear, and More: Morning Links for March 25, 2024

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THE HEADLINES

ELVIS ACT. Tennessee, the historic home to a swath of musical superstars, has now become the first US state to sign off on legislation protecting musicians and artists from AI-related infringements. The Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, or ELVIS Act updates the state’s existing laws, which protect an artist’s name, photograph or likeness, to include AI-specific issues, such as mimicking an artist’s voice without permission. The law will take effect starting July 1.

GAZA QUILT. Pro-Palestinian activists unfurled a giant quilt over the front steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sunday, and carried signs which read, “We See Genocide,” and “Let Gaza Live,” while some performed a traditional Palestinian folk dance. The quilt titled “From Occupation to Liberation,” was made of 64 patches by anonymous artists, including details of Palestinian embroidery, and references to artists, such as the poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Prints of the quilt are being sold in support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), itself the subject of recent controversy.

THE DIGEST

A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled Sotheby’s must reveal both the consigner and the buyer of a Giovanni Battista Tiepolo painting that may become subject to a restitution claim. Three heirs of Jewish art dealer Otto Fröhlich say the painting, St. Francis of Paola Holding a Rosary, Book, and Staff, was lost when Fröhlich fled Austria to escape the Nazis in 1938. [ARTnews]

Art Basel Hong Kong and surrounding events swing into high gear this week, ARTnews’ Executive Editor Harrison Jacobs is on the ground, “sprinting madly from one opening to the other.” Readers can follow along in this week’s special, sister morning newsletter, including in-depth ARTnews coverage. [ARTnews]

Major cultural landmarks went dark for “Earth Hour” on Saturday, as part of an environmental awareness campaign led by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Participating monuments include London’s Barbican Centre and Tower Bridge, as well as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum in Paris. [BBC]

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has named Sotheby’s executive Lucian Simmons to head its newly expanded provenance team. He will lead researchers who will work with Met curators to confirm provenance studies on all objects in the collection or in the process of acquisition, while coordinating with the deputy director for collections and administration, in conjunction with the office of the Met’s general counsel. [ARTnews]

The Brooklyn Museum’s period rooms sold for 30 times their low estimates on March 19, at North Carolina’s Brunk Auctions, raking in a total of over $678,000 without fees. The sales were made to make room for new works ahead of a promised announcement of “very major gifts” in time for the museum’s 200th anniversary”, but reactions to the sale were mixed. [Artnet News]

Exhibitions celebrating the 150th anniversary of impressionism are popping up around France and internationally, featuring major loans from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, as well as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. At their nexus is an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay titled “Paris 1874: Inventing impressionism,” opening tomorrow, with a two-part, physical and digital homage to the first exhibit in Paris which inspired the name of the movement. [Le Monde, The Telegraph]

THE KICKER

BIDDING ADIEU. Los Angeles Times arts columnist Carolina A. Miranda is stepping down. In her final piece for the paper, she gives readers a fond farewell, woven into quirky memories on the job – she once “penned a cut-up poem to Jeff Koons” — along with her take on the edible art experience by Adam Silverman, currently at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, called “Common Ground.” The closely followed weekly Essential Arts newsletter she wrote will be helmed in the future by colleagues. “It’s been a great ride,” she writes.