Es Devlin Honors the Connective Power of Language, and Other News

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Es Devlin’s latest sculpture celebrates the 700 languages spoken in New York City. 

“While New York City is aglow with state-of-the-art public installations every holiday season, one piece stands head and shoulders above the rest this year: Es Devlin’s illuminated revolving sculpture, Your Voices, at Lincoln Center. Commissioned by champagne house Moët & Chandon, Your Voices is situated on Josie Robertson Plaza, the public square that serves as a gateway to the Lincoln Center’s constituent indoor performance venues, including the Metropolitan Opera House. Stretched among the sculpture’s structural arcs are 700 glowing cords, representing the 700 languages currently spoken in New York City—the most linguistically diverse place on the planet.” [H/T Wallpaper] 

Meta’s personalized, Bitmoji-style avatars will launch on WhatsApp in a few weeks.

“WhatsApp has announced the launch of a supporting feature for Meta’s customizable avatars making headway in the metaverse. Available across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, the Bitmoji-style characters represent digital 3D versions of yourself that can be created from billions of combinations of diverse hairstyles, facial features, and outfits. For a few months, the feature has been rolling out to Android and iOS users for beta testing—but the company is expected to release the Avatars on WhatsApp in a few weeks. Once rolled out, users can set up their characters as 36 custom stickers depicting different poses and showing a range of emotions and update their profile picture to their avatar.” [H/T Designboom]

A forthcoming book explores the creative legacy of late Land Art pioneer Nancy Holt. 

“The American artist Nancy Holt (1938-2014) willed The Holt/Smithson Foundation, New York into being in 2014 to develop her creative legacy and that of fellow Land artist Robert Smithson (1938-1973). The foundation is behind this book, published to coincide with an exhibition of the same name at Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden (until Jan. 29), and traveling to Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. That said, Nancy Holt/Inside Outside is not tied to the exhibition but is a standalone publication that considers Holt’s work between 1966 and 1992. As Lisa Le Feuvre, the foundation’s executive director explains in the introduction, this book ‘is the exploration of five decades of Holt’s examination of how we attempt to find our place on the surface of our planet.’” [H/T The Art Newspaper]

Silverstein Properties is raising $1.5 billion to convert aging office towers into housing.

“Silverstein Properties is seeking to raise $1.5 billion for converting older offices to residential buildings. The New York developer, known for developing towers at the World Trade Center, is in talks with investors to kickstart what could be a “$10 billion-plus” opportunity, CEO Marty Burger said. The firm is exploring acquisitions of Manhattan office buildings that are facing growing vacancies or debt burdens. The effort could potentially expand to other areas of the US, such as Washington, D.C., Boston, and the West Coast.” [H/T Bloomberg]

Apple’s long-awaited car, slated to debut in 2026, won’t have autonomous features.

“Apple’s long-rumored car could cost less than $100,000 when it’s finally available to buy, according to Bloomberg. But the car may have less ambitious self-driving capabilities than first planned and arrive a year later than originally expected. While the car had been reported to be a fully autonomous car like prototypes from EV startup Canoo, the current design for the car will have more conventional car features like a steering wheel and pedals, Bloomberg reports. This new version won’t be fully autonomous; instead, users will apparently only be able to activate the self-driving features on highways, closer to driver-assist options like GM’s Super Cruise and Ford’s BlueCruise. (Perhaps Apple is wary of running into the issues Tesla has faced with its Full Self-Driving technology.)” [H/T The Verge]

The National Mall enlists six artists for an exhibition about diaspora and migration.

“The National Mall in Washington will have its green acres transformed into a temporary exhibition next summer that reimagines the role of monuments in the telling of American history. The exhibition, announced by the Trust for the National Mall, is part of a $4.5 million initiative for new programming at the park that emphasizes equity and inclusivity. “Normally for artists, you work in isolation, but this is about being vulnerable and acknowledging the audience,” said Derrick Adams, a sculptor and one of the six artists commissioned for the project. The other artists in the exhibition, called “Pulling Together,” are Vanessa German, Wendy Red Star, Paul Ramírez Jonas, Ashon Crawley, and Tiffany Chung. They were all selected because of their experience producing work about democracy and public memory, said Paul Farber, the director of the nonprofit Monument Lab.” [H/T The New York Times]

Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada hire Luxottica chief Andrea Guerra as Prada’s CEO.

“Former Luxottica boss Andrea Guerra is set to become Prada’s new group CEO, as co-chief executives Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli prepare their succession. The company said Tuesday it would propose Guerra’s appointment at a board meeting in January 2023. Bertelli, who built the brand into a global name alongside Miuccia Prada, will remain active in the company as chairman of the board. Mrs. Prada will relinquish her role as co-CEO but remain the creative director of Miu Miu and co-creative director of Prada (alongside Raf Simons). The group is also preparing to name a new brand CEO for its flagship Prada label, tapping Gianfranco d’Attis, most recently Americas CEO for LVMH’s Christian Dior Couture division, sources familiar with the matter said.” [H/T Business of Fashion]

Today’s attractive distractions:

These California restaurants kept, earned, and lost their Michelin stars.

Alessi’s kettle reimagined by Virgil Abloh Securities is truly a slam dunk.

Enter the Romanian castle used for Nevermore Academy on Wednesday.

In Alaska, a mystery is brewing over the disappearance of beluga whales.