After 50 days, Gaza European Hospital, one of the few trauma centers serving the Gaza strip, reopened, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The hospital has been a vital part of the crumbling medical infrastructure in the region. It reopened earlier this month.

In August, I told the story of two medical students who worked at Gaza European Hospital before it was shuttered and forcibly evacuated on July 1st. The medical center remained closed amid bombardment in the area for over a month. Each student told me harrowing stories of their time suddenly propelled to the job of full-time doctors amid the devastation of the medical system in Gaza.  

You can read the full piece, here:

Now, the students are back to work. Hasan Ali Abu Ghalyoon, a dental student I interviewed via WhatsApp in August, returned to European Hospital on September 9th. He said things are different there now. 

Nikita Gale, a Los Angeles–based artist best known for installations that mesh unexpected elements, pairing video and sound equipment with industrial materials like concrete and metal barricades, has been named the winner of the Whitney Museum’s Bucksbaum Award, which goes to a participant in the Whitney Biennial and comes with $100,000.

Gale is among the most closely watched artists today. For the 2018 edition of the Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. biennial, the artist presented a sculptural and sound installation titled PROPOSAL: SOFT SURROUND SYSTEM (2018), dissecting the roles music and physical barriers play in galvanizing protest and mass detainments. In 2022, when Gale’s work was shown at 52 Walker Street, the New York Times argued the artist has become part of a distinct group of women artists of color applying new rules to minimalism that were set in place by an older generation of male predecessors.

For the 2024 Biennial, titled “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” Gale presented a player piano for the installation TEMPO RUBATO (STOLEN TIME). But instead of playing its set tune, Gale has made it so the piano emits no sound, other than the clanking of the keys as they are activated. Additionally, the installation, presented in a black box, is dramatically lit, with the lights oscillating up and down as if on a dimmer.

“Works like TEMPO RUBATO decline to perform to the viewer’s liking,” ARTnews senior editor Alex Greenberger wrote in his review of the exhibition. “In doing so, they refuse their viewers’ gaze, mirroring an unwillingness by many artists here to participate in structures that seek to oppress them.”

Gale’s work, relating the body to technology, was selected as the winner by a six-person jury, that included the Biennials cocurators, Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli, as well as Whitney Museum director Scott Rothkopf, Hammer Museum curator Erin Christovale, University of Virginia art history professor David Getsy, and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art chief curator Stamatina Gregory.

Public resources in Springfield, Ohio, were strained long before former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets derailed the presidential debate. Now, after days of vile disinformation from Senator JD Vance and other prominent Republicans, dozens of bomb threats, an immigration town hall that attracted thousands, and the possibility of a Trump visit to town, local and state services have been stretched to their limits. Even as officials hope the major waves of national attention are behind them, they’re preparing for more of the same.

On Thursday, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue announced that he has signed an emergency proclamation granting himself the power to bypass the usual contract procurement and bidding procedures, letting him quickly enter into agreements with vendors related to “public safety concerns.” The proclamation—which originated with Rue’s office, not the city council—will remain in place until further notice, according to the Springfield News-Sun. Flanked by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and regional and state officials, Rue told reporters that the emergency powers were a precaution that would also allow the city to recoup security costs from the state. “It is not an indication of immediate danger, but allows us to efficiently and effectively protect our public safety,” he said.

Dozens of buildings across Springfield—including schools, businesses, and city hall—have been targeted by bomb threats over the past week. Although every threat has turned out to be false, each has required significant time and resources—including federal bomb-detection dogs—to investigate. DeWine has deployed three dozen state police officers to conduct daily sweeps of every school building in the district; those officers will remain on hand, he says, until school officials call them off.

If Trump cancels his visit, “it would convey a significant message of peace to the city of Springfield concerning immigration.”

About three hours into prowling the aisles at the VIP preview of The Armory Show earlier this month, I began to feel déjà vu. It’s difficult to say what triggered it. Was it the sounds of The Dare, an indie sleaze pop revivalist whose sound is reminiscent of 2010s LCD Soundsystem, pumping through my earbuds? Or maybe the performance artist clad in thigh-high fishnets whose plastic-wrap dress listed her phone number and a summons to sext her, a stunt that felt very Art Basel Miami Beach 2016. Or could it be that it was only three years ago that I received the first of two Covid vaccine shots right here at the Javits Center? Back then, the vast, fluorescent-lit convention center was largely deserted, a set for a zombie apocalypse were it not for all the front-line workers.

Covid wasn’t the only reason memories of 2021 felt poignant. It was then, during the dark days of lockdown, that collectors, stuck at home, started bidding up the works of young painters in online auctions. Now, we are paying the price, with an overall market slowdown. Wandering the Armory Show, I wondered what art dealers made of it all.

“We also have been very conservative with our pricing from the very beginning,” Mariane Ibrahim, whose eponymous art gallery is based in Chicago, told me. Ibrahim supported artist Lina Iris Viktor in a 2018 lawsuit against Kendrick Lamar after Viktor alleged that Lamar’s “All The Stars” video drew from her work without her permission. “Even when the market was very high, we kept our prices at a level that was not fitting with the demands.” In other words: she didn’t let the secondary (auction) market determine the prices of primary market works. “Our currency is still the relevance of the artist within an institutional background, and that is what justifies the price.

By increasing the price, Ibrahim continued, “you also lose the younger collectors. You also lose the opportunity to engage with certain demographics. … So we keep it really steady.”

Elsewhere at the Armory Show, New York art critic Jerry Saltz held court at a pop-up cafe, graciously taking selfies with fans and trying mightily to pass off my questions to passing friends who, he insisted, would be better equipped to answer my queries.

A collection of artwork allegedly created by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is back on the auction block after the initially scheduled sale was postponed.

When the Jackson-Strong Alliance filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 2, the August 3 sale by King Auctions was postponed. Since a federal judge dismissed the bankruptcy filing and ruled that the art collection return to the block, the auction house rescheduled the sale for October 5.

In 1989, Jackson and Australian artist Brett Livingstone Strong founded the Jackson-Strong Alliance. The artworks slated to hit the block are believed to have been made around that time.

The original August 3 auction was ordered by the superior court of California to account for a debt owed between the alliance and Vinson Investments. The artworks were the property of both the alliance and the investment company.

Ahead of the auction, however, the late icon’s estate questioned the authenticity of the works.

Around 4,000 people filled the Los Angeles Coliseum on September 15 to witness the kickoff event for the Getty Museum’s $20 million PST ART: Art & Science Collide, in which over dozens of institutions present exhibitions around a unifying theme.

They didn’t anticipate having to duck for cover.

The museum’s collaboration with Chinese pyrotechnics artist Cai Guo-Qiang saw spent fireworks and their stone-like byproducts rain down on attendees, with many in the crowd requiring first aid after being hit

The 30-minute fireworks display unfolded over five acts that became increasingly explosive. People were also reportedly scared out of their wits around the University of Southern California (USC) campus and surrounding neighborhoods due to the rising smoke and ear-splitting blasts in the night sky.

Many USC students were preparing to evacuate the campus and posted messages on social media asking if their lives were in danger, fearing the commotion was gunfire and exploding bombs.

Less than two months before the election, the Trump-aligned majority on the Georgia State Election Board passed a new set of eleventh-hour rule changes on Friday that could plunge the vote counting process into chaos and give Republicans yet another pretext not to certify the results if Kamala Harris wins the state.

During a highly contentious meeting, the state board voted 3-2 to require county election boards to hand count ballots cast on Election Day and then compare the results to the totals tallied by electronic voting machines to reconcile any discrepancies. While hand counts are commonly used in post-election audits to ensure accurate results, counting all votes by hand is significantly more burdensome, time-consuming, and error-prone than using standard voting machines. The rules were passed by three Republican appointees who Trump praised as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory” during a rally in Atlanta in August.

“We’re so far off the deep end of sanity here,” Sara Tindall Ghazal, the board’s lone Democratic member, who voted against the rule changes, told me. “It’s a terrible, terrible idea to do this sort of thing with no notice, no training.”

Given the short time period for counties to certify the election—the deadline is the Monday after Election Day—voting rights activists worry that the new hand counting mandate, combined with rules adopted last month requiring counties to undertake a “reasonable inquiry” into the vote totals and access “all election-related documentation,” will be weaponized by Republicans to oppose election certification. “After changing election certification rules in ways that give new power to local election officials to refuse to certify results, the MAGA board is now changing rules in ways that seem meant to create a fail point in our system,” says Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of the voting rights group Fair Fight.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

How Booksellers Are Taking On Book Banners

Publishers Weekly recently highlighted efforts by some indie booksellers to combat local book bans and get banned books into people’s hands. Big ups to Charley Rejsek of Austin’s BookPeople and Valerie Koehler of Houston’s Blue Willow Bookshop for challenging HB 900 as unconstitutional and winning “a landmark preliminary injunction” in federal court, which was later affirmed by an appeals court. Also, a familiar name in here–Lauren Groff, author of Florida and owner of The Lynx in Gainesville set up shop to promote books that have been challenged or banned in Florida. A round of applause for all mentioned–check out the bookstores featured and consider paying them a visit when you’re in town.

Jeff Bezos’ Fiancé Sued Over Alleged Kid Lit Plagiarism

The plagiarism news won’t quit, but we’re leaving academia and entering the realm of children’s literature for this story about a lawsuit against Jeff Bezos’ fiancé, Lauren Sánchez. Author and yoga instructor Alanna Zabel filed a complaint against Sánchez alleging that her former yoga student stole her idea for her kids’ book, publishing it as The Fly Who Flew to Space. Between the allegations of jealousy-induced retaliation and celebrity knock-offs, and talk of Sánchez’s Kardashian-attended promotional dinner parties, this sounds like the stuff of reality TV.

Learn a Little More About Hillary Clinton

If you’ve been thinking about Hillary Clinton a lot lately and want to learn more about the major political figure and former presidential candidate, you’re in luck–she has a new memoir out. The New York Times offered a few takeaways from Something Lost, Something Gained, which is described as “an affectionate ode to the women in her life.” Find out what nickname she bestowed upon her spare tire (you read right), her thoughts on aging, and her distress about Israel-Gaza protests (I honestly can’t tell where she stands based on the snippet included).

Why Teens Across the Country Are Acquiring Brooklyn Public Library’s Free Digital Cards

Take a deep dive into Brooklyn Public Library’s work addressing America’s book censorship crisis, including through its Books Unbanned program, and into the data BPL collected from teens about why they wanted to get a digital library card as part of that program. The data is fascinating and full of insights.

In a video clip posted to social media Wednesday, former First Lady Melania Trump defended her prior history of nude modeling by comparing it to several classical paintings and sculptures, including Michelangelo’s David.

In the 45-second video, Trump speaks in a voice-over asking, “Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?”

“Throughout history, master artists have revered the human shape, evoking profound emotions and admiration,” she continues. “We should honor our bodies and embrace the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self-expression.”

Images of David, John Collier’s Lady Godiva (1897), a painting from Paul Cézanne’s “Bathers” series, and other works appear in the background as Trump talks.

While, in the video, Trump references media scrutiny over her nude modeling, it’s not clear what exactly prompted the video.