New York’s Climate Clock Gets an Optimistic Upgrade, and Other News

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New York’s “Climate Clock” now shows how much energy comes from renewable sources.

When “Metronome,” a public art project on New York’s Union Square, first opened in 1999, it cryptically measured the time of day. That changed in 2020, when the clock was rewired to measure the amount of time remaining to reduce emissions and prevent the effects of climate change from irreversibly setting in. In time for Earth Day, “Metronome” has been rewired again to show a new set of numbers that represents the slowly increasing percentage of the world’s energy that comes from renewable sources like the sun and wind based on information from Oxford University’s Our World in Data project. At press time, the clock reported the figure at just over 12 percent.

International fashion group OTB has acquired Jil Sander for an undisclosed price. 

OTB (Only The Brave) has acquired the minimalist fashion atelier, Jil Sander, where it will join Diesel, Maison Margiela, and Marni. Chaired and founded by Italian entrepreneur Renzo Rosso, the purchase of the brand strengthens OTB’s plans to expand as one of Europe’s most revered luxury conglomerates. The group now holds 100 percent of capital of Jil Sander, formerly helmed by the Japanese group Onward Holding. 

New renderings of SOM’s 175 Park Avenue show it totally engulfing the Chrysler Building.

The latest renderings of the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill–designed Manhattan skyscraper 175 Park Avenue have been uncovered—and the scale is much bigger than previously realized. It is now apparent that the tower will fundamentally reshape the city’s skyline. Replacing the aging Grand Hyatt Hotel, it will add 2.2 million square feet of office, hotel, and retail space to the corner of East 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. While the new renderings are smaller than previously advertised, they paint a stark picture about the building’s true size—it’ll tower over the famed Chrysler Building, an Art Deco masterpiece that has defined the skyline since 1930.

In Melbourne, a proposed museum housing a local billionaire’s collection draws ire.

Unbeknownst to most people, the Melbourne businessman Lindsey Hogg has amassed a $500 million collection of modern art that encompasses works by Francis Bacon, Gustav Klimt, and Egon Schiele. He now wants to build Rosemaur Gallery, a museum on the outskirts of Melbourne, to showcase the collection within a sprawling facility that will also include a bird sanctuary and landscaped garden. Unfortunately, the proposed site lies on a “green wedge,” a designated boundary to help curtail the city’s urban sprawl. Locals recently voiced their opinion at a series of public hearings: “We don’t oppose Mr. Hogg’s gallery, we oppose the location,” a group representative told The Art Newspaper. A final decision is expected to be made on April 24.

Bombay Sapphire and Camille Walala transform London Design Museum’s shop into a pop-up supermarket. 

The artist Camille Walala has teamed up with Bombay Sapphire to transform the gift shop at London’s Design Museum into an all-encompassing supermarket that aims to help visitors “nourish their creativity” as the city emerges from a three-month lockdown. Conceived in collaboration with artists Charlotte Edey, Holly Warburton, Isadora Lima, Jess Warby, Joey Yu, Katherine Plumb, Katie Kimmel, Kentaro Okawara, and Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Supermarket will stock items designed by the group, including tea, pasta sauce, porridge oats, rice, tonic, and gin bottles. “Supermarket is a great way to not only support the Design Museum but also shine a spotlight on the ten brilliant young artists who through this project have a new platform for their work” says Walala.  

The University of Cape Town’s history-laden library has been devastated by a wildfire. 

A wildfire that started in the foothills of South Africa’s Table Mountain has devastated the University of Cape Town’s Jagger Library, known for its irreplaceable African Studies collection. Many fear losing archival resources on anti-apartheid history and a large collection of African films. The library’s director, Ujala Satgoor, said that the Jagger’s reading room, which was the original structure and subsequently became known as the African studies library, was “completely gutted.”

Today’s attractive distractions:

Now you can make blue ice cream using natural dye from red cabbage.

We’ve always wondered: Why are so many dogs smoking joints in old art?

Gucci drops the Grip Sapphire timepiece inspired by skaters’ grip tape.

This wearable mini-greenhouse creates your own safely distanced bubble.