Bits: 06.16.09

Detail of Andy Ducett's installation It Could Have Happened Yesterday or It Could Have Happened Today (2009)

• A Dutch artist kills her pet cat to make it into a purse, receives hate mail, and turns around to make the angry correspondence her art, revealing the identities of those who write in to threaten and ridicule her.

• I'm not sold on Ben Judson's distinction between "street art" and "public art" -- his description of the "typical street artist" is something of a caricature, and it seems he sees the former as perjorative, while the latter isn't -- but I do enjoy the meticulous work of the artist he highlights, Aaron Forland. (Caveat: I agree with the sentiment, though; I most appreciate street art when it's interventionist or site-specific, offering surprise or a challenge along with demonstrated craft by a visual artist.)

• Starting today: Two Degrees, a "week long programme of work by radical and politically engaged artists about climate change and our relationship with the environment" in London. Thirteen artists or groups are taking part, including Akroyd & Harvey, who have grown seedling grass on buildings throughout the UK. [via]

• As Jammie Thomas' RIAA/filesharing retrial began yesterday in Minneapolis (via), Fleet Foxes singer Robin Pecknold says filesharing exposed him to a wide range of music. As a result, he says, bands "are doing way better music now than was being made pre-Napster." (About piracy of his music: "I've downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records - why would I care if somebody downloads ours?")

• Essay: "What Makes Us Happy?"

• "Frank Behry"? Dwell is asking readers to help name the newest flavor of icecream sold from the Coolhaus, an architect-owned ice cream truck in LA.

• Liberian Barbie.