ian says DC statehood now
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wareian.com
ian says DC statehood now
@wareian.com
300 followers 600 following 360 posts
digital boi 4 libraries, former @UVAlibrary n other stuff / all opinions mine pls don’t take em / blm / pfp obviousplant, banner dan flavin

DC

art blog: https://202arts.org
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wareian.com
kinda shocked the martin puryear fountain in bethesda is actually running rn. also they’re redeveloping this whole spot so who knows how long all these puryear details will last, they got rid of the elyn zimmerman fountains a few blocks away when another block was redone :,(
A horizontal waterfall fountain, spanned by a concrete or granite footbridge leading to a curved bench in the same material. Snow is visible at the bottom of the fountain. Slatted wood and metal awnings outside the entrance of a building in Bethesda. A large bronze knot sculpture on the top of a conical roof. Metal trellises leading through a plaza, with a slatted fan metal roof. Hibernating trees and vines are winding throughout the trellis, and piles of snow are visible at left.
February 15, 2026 at 2:23 PM
wareian.com
so uhhhhh what the fuck does this timing dispute mean and is there actually a chance it works? or is Mendelson just bluffing/trying to score a point

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Just before the vote, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) posted a notice on the city’s legislative website, declaring that the bill that Congress sought to reject, the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act, had become law. The notice said Congress’s 30-day legislative review period that it has to disapprove D.C. laws under the Home Rule Act had expired Wednesday. Congress and the D.C. Council have tended to count the 30 days differently, a timing disagreement that has not been litigated before.
February 12, 2026 at 7:16 PM
wareian.com
I truly think this should be required reading for art historians AND artists (though I assume you may have already sent this to folks many times haha) law.unh.edu/sites/defaul...
image reproduction rights in a nutshell for art historians - brian l frye
February 12, 2026 at 1:38 PM
wareian.com
law review writers in the oughts were not happy with the way museums were responding to the suit, that's for sure lol

(Colin T. Cameron, "In Defiance of Bridgeman: Claiming Copyright in Photographic Reproductions of Public Domain Works", Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal, Fall 2006)
In light of this, the reaction to the Bridgeman decision appears utterly remarkable. The Bridgeman Art Library and most museums seem to be wholly ignoring the fact that this holding invalidated Bridgeman’s claims of copyright in exact photographic reproductions of public domain images. Some British academics rushed to defend the skill and labour standard while more recent articles suggest that skill and labour is an outdated standard and propose a new system of copyright for photographs. In the years since Bridgeman, the internet has supplanted CD-ROMs as an efficient means of communicating and transferring images, as well as opening new markets for reproductions. A website has become an essential tool, allowing art libraries and museums to reach new customers. For example, over fifteen million people a year visit the website for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, compared to 4.5 million who visit the actual museum on Fifth Avenue.133 Simply put, almost every museum and art library has a website, and they all have a special section addressing copyright law. The statements on these websites, however, seem rather odd in light of the Bridgeman decision.
February 12, 2026 at 12:38 PM
wareian.com
i feel like you could throw a dart in any direction in any gallery district in the world and you'd find an artist exhibiting something akin to what the theoretical "georgina glenn" made!! (this has always been my favorite example lol)
Common Geometric Shapes The Copyright Act does not protect common geometric shapes, either in twodimensional or three-dimensional form. There are numerous common geometric shapes, including, without limitation, straight or curved lines, circles, ovals, spheres, triangles, cones, squares, cubes, rectangles, diamonds, trapezoids, parallelograms, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, and decagons. Generally, the U.S. Copyright Office will not register a work that merely consists of common geometric shapes unless the author’s use of those shapes results in a work that, as a whole, is sufficiently creative. Examples: • Geoffrey George creates a drawing depicting a standard pentagon with no additional design elements. The registration specialist will refuse to register the drawing because it consists only of a simple geometric shape. • Georgina Glenn painstakingly sculpts a perfectly smooth marble sphere over a period of five months. The registration specialist will refuse to register this work because it is a common geometric shape and any design in the marble is merely an attribute of the natural stone, rather than a product of human expression. • Grover Gold creates a painting of a beach scene that includes circles of varying sizes representing bubbles, striated lines representing ocean currents, as well as triangles and curved lines representing birds and shark fins. The registration specialist will register the claim despite the presence of the common geometric shapes.
February 10, 2026 at 12:51 AM
wareian.com
once again re-reading the copyright compendium's simplicity/originality examples and once again i am begging for a court case that tests this with an Ellsworth Kelly or a Kenneth Noland.
-Gloria Grimwald paints a picture with a purple background and evenly spaced white circles: [A purple rectangle with eight white circles]. The registration specialist will refuse to register this claim because simple geometric symbols are not eligible for copyright protection, and the combination of the purple rectangle and the standard symmetrical arrangement of the white circles does not contain a sufficient amount of creative expression to warrant registration. - Gemma Grayson creates a wrapping paper design that includes circles, triangles, and stars arranged in an unusual pattern with each element portrayed in a different color: [A colorful rectangle full of stars, circles, and triangles in different combinations and colors]. The registration specialist will register this claim because it combines multiple types of geometric shapes in a variety of sizes and colors, culminating in a creative design that goes beyond the mere display of a few geometric shapes in a preordained or obvious arrangement.
February 10, 2026 at 12:51 AM
wareian.com
i love old gossip. and now I think I understand where the weird DC art scene anti-Anne Truitt vibes may have originated, broadly speaking (ily Truitt).

[reminiscing on the depth of visual art coverage the post had back then... 1978]
Negative things. "Everyone who writes on Washington art seems to harp on the negative things," Jane Livingston sighed over the phone. But takl to anyone in the Washington art world and the negativism soon-" "-comes out, even from Jane Livingston. 'Part of the trouble is that Washington is getting such national attention because of the new museums. People are coming to Washington. But the art in the local studios just doesn't match. It's frustrating for everybody.' There are other opinions. 'There is good art in Washington. Jane Livingston is not doing her job. She doesn't know what's going on in Washington and doesn't care,' one prominent Washington artist who has had a major Corcoran show said calmly over the phone (and then placed an angry call two weeks later denying he had said he could be quoted. 'What if I can't mend my fences with Jane Livingston?') Other artist's reactions to Livingston's statement weren't calm. They were livid. 'The art is not in the studios? She's never been to my studio,' shouted one artist. 'I see my constituency as artists,' Livingston replied, 'but no, I don't visit every-'" "in 1974 a lot of area artists expected to land in a big Corcoran show. Roy Slade planned to show 20 to 30 artists, surveying two generations of Washington art. Then Jane Livingston came and decided to give royal treatment to 'a relatively unfamiliar contingent of local talent' in a show called Give Washington Artists. That was quite a shock to the established contingent of local talent, who relieved their frustrations with allegations that Livingston had gone to Clement Greenberg's friend Anne Truitt, who told her whom tto pick for the shows. Livingston, Truitt and the five artists deny the allegations but could never stop the gossip. Ask those artists in the Five Washington Artists show about the Corcoran being dead and learn that Livingston is the best thing that ever happened to Washington artists."
February 7, 2026 at 7:30 PM
wareian.com
underplayed contrast here: the DOJ didn't give enough of a fuck to remove survivor names and nude images, but they DID manage to randomly redact several apparently feminine-sounding non-English words in the titles of artworks owned by Leon Black.

www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
Screenshot of a spreadsheet of artworks, showing the entry for a Fragonard painting with the title "Le petit parc (Les jardin de la villa [REDACTED])", where the redacted word is likely "d'Este", the name of an Italian villa. Screenshot of a spreadsheet of artworks, showing the entry for a Jean Arp work with the title "Constellation de quatre formes blanches et [REDACTED]...", where the redacted word is likely "deux" or another French-language number. Screenshot of a spreadsheet of artworks, showing the entry for a Picasso work with the title "Tête [REDACTED] à la pipe", where the redacted word is likely "d'homme".
February 3, 2026 at 1:20 AM
wareian.com
they may be trying to memory hole the process but I am genuinely excited for the reopening of the Hirshhorn's sculpture garden, forecasted for october by destination dc
Screenshot from Washington.org (Destination DC): "Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden Set to Reopen in Fall 2026 After $68 Million Revitalization Daily, Oct 01, 2026 - Dec 31, 2027. The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, the only Smithsonian galleries embedded on (and in) the National Mall, will reopen with fanfare in the fall of 2026 after a three-year, mission-driven revitalization. The $68 million project is expected to increase visitation to the national museum of modern and contemporary art threefold. The 1.4-acre art park will reopen as the easiest-to-access American space for the presentation of outdoor sculpture, time-based artwork and performances, large-scale commissions, public education, dining and reflection."
February 2, 2026 at 8:05 PM
wareian.com
Animated fish from Spongebob, staring annoyed at camera. [oh brother this guy stinks scene]
February 2, 2026 at 5:02 AM
wareian.com
what street do you live on, uwu?
CHEVY CHASEy Rd NW
January 31, 2026 at 6:35 PM
wareian.com
romanticizing the salt-snow blue chemical sludge and suddenly it looks like the cold weather cousin of felix's beach/sand/water snapshots
A path of footprints left behind on a sidewalk covered in blueish snowy sludge created by a mixture of salt and de-icing chemicals.
January 25, 2026 at 5:40 PM
wareian.com
oh but we *are* getting AI slop IG posts making up the narrative that he and Ross were “a secret”
Screenshot of a post from “breathing.art”, ft a photo of Felix Gonzalez-Torres with the text “He Love Him But Couldn’t Say it. So He Turned It Into Art” Post caption: Felix Gonzalez-Torres was never allowed to live his love for Ross Laycock openly. In the 1980s and '90s, queer love was invisible denied, erased, forced into silence. So Felix turned grief, desire, and rage into artworks that speak without words, that show without exposing. A pile of candy. Two synchronized clocks. A billboard with nothing but a date. All holding the story of a love the world refused to see. Because unspoken love can become art. And resistance.
January 18, 2026 at 12:27 PM
wareian.com
on the robert indiana of it all, it's very funny how this arced out. in 2018 when the estate drama was all going down, the lawyer who tried to keep control of the estate filed, successfully (!!), a registration for indiana's USA FUN. i assume because he was flat broke and grasping at straws.
USA FUN, a painting by Robert Indiana. A diamond-shaped canvas with the words "USA FUN" in black and white and sunset colors, respectively, amidst a simple geometric design of yellow, black, and red.
January 16, 2026 at 8:14 PM
wareian.com
and ofc there's the one that basically fucked the majority of Robert Indiana's licensing market (if someone's ever willing to go to court to successfully fight a copyright claim by the estate/ARS)

www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
Screenshot of a copyright review board final opinion. "The Copyright Office Board of Appeals has reviewed your request for reconsideration of the Office's refusal to register the above referenced works submitted for copyright registration by your client, Robert Indiana. The Appeals Board has reviewed the claims and all correspondence from your office regarding these claims, and it has determined that the works do not embody sufficient originality to support a copyright claim. Administrative Record. On December 9, 1999, the Copyright Office received applications, deposits, and fees for two works, a three-dimensional sculptural work and a sketch, both entitled "2000." The sketch is a line drawing of the number "2000" in which the two and zero are positioned atop the other two zeros. The only variation in the position of the numbers is that the top zero is slanted toward the right. The sculptural work is a threedimensional representation of the same design. The outer surface of the sculpture is red and all other surfaces are blue. By letter dated May 10, 2000, Visual Arts Examiner, Helen Livanios, refused registration of both works because they did not contain even a de minimis amount of creativity based upon her observation that the works were comprised only of the number "2000."
January 16, 2026 at 6:45 PM
wareian.com
god now im just on a copyright review board opinion kick, some of these are so good. sorry but you can't copyright a snow globe with the work fuck in it :/

www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
Screenshot of a copyright review board final opinion. "1: Description of the work. The work is a snow globe with the red, printed word 'Fuck' suspended on a clear stick, such that it appears to be floating. The work is depicted below." [Two color photos of a small snowglobe with a red base, with the word "Fuck" floating inside]
January 16, 2026 at 6:39 PM
wareian.com
kind of an essential read if you care about collective knowledge. I don't agree with all the solutions put forth but our collective information ecosystem is reaching a breaking point because of changing habits and accelerating AI use. something has to change: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...
Wikipedia at 25: A Wake-up call. The internet is booming. We are not. By Christopher Henner, former Chair of the Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Fdn, 20-year Wikimedian. This piece was first published on Meta-wiki on January 9, 2026, with the preamble "This is a personal essay. It reflects the views of the author"
January 15, 2026 at 4:40 PM
wareian.com
this reminded me of the guy who tried to get a copyright registration for the little metal hook he broke off the end of a tape measure, as a work of sculpture. incredible stuff, genuinely.

www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...
Screenshot of a copyright review board final opinion. "1: Description of work. The subject work is the end hook of a tape measure. It is a small, two-inch long by one-inch high piece of slightly bent metal, formed by two separate pieces of metal attached together by an interlocking clasp mechanism. The shape of the work resembles a hook, with perforated edges along one end a curved top edge. There is a small oval cut-out on the front of the work, located in between two round metal circles." [A grainy black and white image of, yes, the small hook from a measuring tape]
January 15, 2026 at 3:06 PM
wareian.com
hitting the pen, thinking
Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester from Glee, looking spitefully toward a person out of frame, with subtitles: "I am going to create [insert meme addendum] 'a copyright registration application' that is so [insert meme addendum] 'designed to trigger a rejection and create a copyright review board precedent'"
January 14, 2026 at 11:32 PM
wareian.com
lol *finally*
NYT: The New Museum Sets Reopening Date with New Artist Commissions. After over three years of construction, the museum will open its new building on March 21 with an ambitious show exploring how technologies have changed what it means to be human.
January 13, 2026 at 2:47 PM
wareian.com
everything scott beardsley does is designed to ingratiate himself to whoever is standing in front of him with a check.
A candidate for one of the most prestigious presidencies in American higher education submitted materials that, at a minimum: systematically removed documented accomplishments in the midst of a politically charged leadership crisis that quickly became the predicate for UVA’s search; presented a dissertation record that appears to list two authors, including the committee chair — a highly irregular signal for a credential meant to demonstrate independent scholarly capacity; blurred corporate and academic publishing categories under the label “peer-reviewed” and claimed unpublished, unverifiable internal documents as research outputs; relegated scholarly work to an appendix rather than presenting it as the core of an academic record; relied heavily on promotional corporate metrics and autobiographical padding in a document that should have been built for scrutiny and did so in a context where the search firm’s leadership had previously offered unusually effusive public endorsement of his work — a relationship that should have heightened, not relaxed, the demand for demonstrably independent vetting. None of this was resolved in a way visible to the university community.
January 11, 2026 at 6:09 PM
wareian.com
i have no problem w clifford ross and i hate to use him as the example here, but i kinda cant believe even the nat gallery is succumbing to "big screen big space big pixels" fever, aka refik anadol syndrome
Screenshot of the National Gallery's website. "Upcoming Exhibition: Clifford Ross, Digital Waves. Our central, soaring Rotunda comes alive with a 23-foot-tall screen featuring waves of glowing pixels. Clifford Ross has spent decades studying the sea—from photographing hurricane waves to creating custom, computer-generated videos of the ocean. In Digital Waves, Ross mimics the seemingly random shapes and movements of waves across millions of pixels, each one corresponding with an LED bulb. The result is a 'light storm,' as the artist says. This installation reveals not only the 'the complexity and power of the ocean,' but also 'the surprises of form and movement…central to the wonder we experience.' Come stand by our cascading fountain and Ross’s imaginary surf and enjoy a moment of awe."
January 10, 2026 at 9:10 PM
wareian.com
apropos of nothing, i too would like to drug myself and fall asleep before an opening. mine is more anxiety.
Screenshot of a 2013 article about artist Scott Burton from Art in America, by Nancy Princenthal: "To extend the theme, Burton drugged himself to sleep on a cot he placed in a hallway during a reception for 'Street Works IV', at the Architectural League, which hosted the entire series."
January 5, 2026 at 6:07 PM
wareian.com
we're indecisive but i got to see the things i needed to see 🫡

richard hunt @ laumeier sculpture park
jennie c jones & ellsworth kelly @ the pulitzer
anselm kiefer @ st louis art mus (why did i like this???)
& the triangular(ish) richard serra downtown
Richard Hunt's sculpture "Linked Forms" (1999), on view at the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St Louis. A multi-part metal sculpture suspended between several trees about 20 feet off the ground, hanging amidst a tangle of tree branches that partly camouflage the sculpture. The work is made of several shining stainless steel pieces, most curved and jagged, all linked to a length of steel bent at a right angle and pointing upward like an arrow. The sunset is casting a soft glow on the left of the work. Jennie C. Jones' sculpture "Point of Perspective" (2025), viewed in front of Ellsworth Kelly's wall sculpture Blue Black (2000), at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St Louis. Jones' sculpture, made of two lengths of painted white wood joined at a right angle with bright red and dark black architectural felt and wood placed where they're joined, mirrors the shape of Kelly's sculpture, a wall work with a length of black on the bottom and blue on the top. In the distance is the pink glow of a separate room of works by Jones, and at far right is the pond in the Tadao Ando-designed museum. Anselm Kiefer's painting "Missouri, Mississippi" (2024) at the St Louis Museum of Art. A monumental painting fills an arched entrance in the massive central hall of the museum, easily reaching 30 feet or more in height. The painting is a dense assemblage in Kiefer's signature style, depicting a massive structure in or adjacent to a body of water. The top half of the painting appears to be a kind of map of the bodies of water in the region, specifically the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. View of Richard Serra's sculpture "Twain" (1982) in a park in downtown St Louis, directly across from the Civil Courts building. A series of massive rectangular Cor-Ten steel panels are arranged horizontally in a public park, creating a massive semi-triangular structure in the park. The photograph is taken from the apex of the triangle, with the neoclassical courthouse framed by the two pieces of steel forming the entrance to the interior of the work. The piece of steel on the right has a partially visible graffiti tag - the visible first word is "Free", and I instinctively assumed it would read "Free Palestine" or "Free [name]", but the full tag in fact reads "Free Sample".
December 29, 2025 at 2:38 AM
wareian.com
last work day of the year and i’m levitating
blurry happy seal doing an excited dance
December 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM