Bits: 11.05.10

Banksy, You Concrete Me

• Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is placed under house arrest for planning a party to "celebrate" the government-decreed demolition of his studio. Police won't let him leave his home til midnigiht Sunday, the day he scheduled the party.

• Henry Rollins and artist Shirin Neshat visit a "hipster" East Village record store. (Also: Rollins signs my name several times.)

• Slavoj Zizek, in a statement accompanying a portrait in Steve Pyke's series of photos of philosophers: "I HATE philosophy, but I cannot find peace if I do not get rid of a philosophical problem. Philosophy is or me like women: they are impossible, but it is even more difficult without them."

• Hans-Peter Feldmann wins the 2010 Hugo Boss Prize.

• Boats recycled as sheds. (Thanks, SP!)

• From 1995: How the CIA used art by the likes of Rothko, DeKooning and Pollock as Cold War weapons. (I forget how I found the link; if it was you, let me know.)

• Next Halloween, consider going as a Banksy mural. Via Make.