The Brooklyn Public Library’s Nationwide Library Card to Access Banned Books

For a limited time, the Brooklyn Public Library is offering a free electronic library card to any person ages 13 to 21, anywhere in the US. This move, which grants access to 500,000 digital works (including an array of books banned in certain states, like Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird) is an attempt to combat …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Nick Cave's Grand Central horses, tracking Chinese censorship, mosh pit math and more in our weekly look at the web

1. Basquiat’s Unseen Work After a year of record breaking sales at Gagosian Gallery, the public’s voracious appetite for the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is undeniable. In the wake of this recent rush, his former girlfriend Alexis Alder has come forward with a treasure trove of unseen works that she amassed over their year-long relationship. The collection includes the walls of her apartment, which Basquiat …

Weiwei-isms

Intelligent ruminations from China's most notorious radical artist

In his fight for freedom of expression, Ai Weiwei’s words are his ammunition. And fortunately, the controversial Chinese artist wields intellectual commentary with the voracity of a machine gun. For those who share his sentiments about the synonymity of art and activism, the new book “Weiwei-isms” is like having a nuclear arsenal of critical thinking right in your back pocket. For Weiwei, “Everything is art. …