BY In the Name of Art in News | 09 MAY 18

Nudist Day at Parisian Art Museum Hailed as Historic Breakthrough

Naturists triumph at art gallery; soothing students with colouring books; Kanye’s architectural firm: your dose of art world madness

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BY In the Name of Art in News | 09 MAY 18

Nudists visit Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2018. Photograph: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt; AFP; Getty Images

Oh to be a fly on the wall at whichever Palais de Tokyo commitee meeting where it was decided to open their storied Parisian art space up for a special nudist tour. One hundred and sixty one visitors wandered the exhibits in the buff over the weekend, in an event that naturists are hailing as a breakthrough: ‘The naturists’ way of life of is to be naked. Culture is part of our daily life, and this is a special opportunity,’ the Paris Naturists Association said. If you weren’t already tempted, the association’s vice chairman offered this claim: ‘When you are naked, you can concentrate completely on the art.’ One lucky reporter was packed off by the New York Times to cover the event in the nude – the most uncomfortable thing, he discovered, was ‘the cold air circulating through the cavernous galleries’. Now it’s over to the Louvre.

We’ve all been there – you’re knee-deep at 1am with that essay deadline approaching, the pressure’s rising and getting too much ... time to reach for your crayons. Or at least that’s what a new research project suggests. Projects presented at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society show that colouring-in exercises can have a calming impact on university undergraduates. Nicola Holt, an academic at the University of the West of England, told the Times: ‘Our first study confirmed evidence for the benefits of colouring on mood that has been found in earlier studies, but the findings on mindfulness, creativity and visual attention are new and exciting’.

Here we go again. If you hadn’t had enough of the recent Kanye West madness – including memorably, his claim that slavery was ‘a choice’, snaps of his MAGA hats, and unbelievably, tweeting shoutouts to Joseph Beuys (leading some to wonder if the whole thing has been an elaborate performance artwork) – the rapper’s found time to set up an architecture practice, called Yeezy Home. ‘We’re looking for architects and industrial designers who want to make the world better,’ he said. 

In the Name of Art is our semi-regular compendium of (almost) unbelievable art world stories. Send your worst to digitaleditors@frieze.com

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