News In Brief: Harvard Students have been protesting at the University’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They are demanding the removal of the Sackler name from the building. The institution’s namesake was one of three brothers who built Purdue Pharma, which created OxyContin, widely blamed for contributing to America’s opioid crisis.
The group said on Instagram it had also sought to echo Harvard students’ demands that the school cut “ties to the legacy of white supremacists and slaveowners, whose names are displayed across campus.”
In a statement, the photographer Nan Goldin said, “As an alumna of Harvard, I demand that the Sackler name be taken down. To claim that Arthur Sackler is innocent is historically inaccurate—he designed the corrupt pharmaceutical advertising scheme used by Purdue to flood America with Oxy, igniting the overdose crisis. He’s as responsible as any of the Sacklers.”
Jason Newton, director of communications at Harvard University, said, “The university has established a process for considering de-naming spaces, programs, or other entities. For example, a proposal to de-name the Arthur M. Sackler Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Building has been submitted and is currently under review.”
Top Photo Harvard University students and PAIN members protesting in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum—Photo: courtesy of Dumedi Malaika Menakaya – PAIN.
Damien Hirst’s 9 Day £20m Windfall For Art Made By You
Damien Hirst has sold 5,508 ‘Beautiful Paintings’: 5,109 physical artworks and 399 NFTs. in just nine days. The physical artworks – released in square or circular format – were available in four sizes. The NFTs were also available in either circular or square shapes. The buyer generated all of the images through an AI algorithm.
After Heni released the final edition numbers of the series, we calculated the revenue for The Beautiful Paintings at $20,994,000.
“As an artist, the best you can hope for is people arguing and mixed reviews. I love it and hate it. If you get that, then you’re on the right track. If everyone loves or hates it, you’re in trouble.” – DAMIEN HIRST.
Texas Born Princess Evicted From Caravaggio Villa In Rome
A widowed Texas cover girl (Playboy) who became an Italian princess was evicted from her $533m Roman villa, housing the only Caravaggio ceiling mural in the world. Following a court order (her stepchildren accused the Princess of stealing their inheritance), The Princess was escorted by the Carabinieri off the property.
For over 20 years, Princess Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi had helped restore the private villa archiving hundreds of thousands of documents pertaining to the palace. She said she was ‘brutally evicted’ from her home despite ‘lovingly taking care of the property. The 73-year-old married the prince in 2009, but following his death in 2018, his children from his first marriage accused her of letting the Villa Aurora deteriorate, something she denies.
