Bits: 09.01.09

Patrick Blanc's vertical garden for London's Athenaeum, via Norwegianity

• As Wired profiles "an eight-story antigravity forest composed of 12,000 plants" (above), ROLU catalogues plant-based artworks including Mikayla Dwyer's The Hanging Smoke Garden, Mona Hatoum's Hanging Garden, and n55's City Farming Plant Modules.

• The AP gags the Noorderlicht. Photo giant forces Dutch photography festival to remove a curator's essay by former Magnum head Stuart Franklin because, after interviewing photographers and gathering shots in Gaza, he came to the conclusion that while both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict have committed criminal acts, more blame should be assigned to the Israelis (via Conscientious). Franklin's response to the AP's quashing of free speech:

I have been asked, not by the photographers in the field, but by those who appear to own the rights to some of the photographs, to ‘substantially moderate’ my curatorial text – an analysis of the historical background to the work. I am too upset to do this since this would emasculate my perspective beyond what is reasonable. So having been offered, against all the principles of free speech that I cherish so much, two modes of capitulation: the replacement of my text with one not written by me, and the removal of my text, I choose the latter option. So I will say nothing and let the pictures talk. The pictures must speak and one day, we must hope, their stories will be told.

• Artist Paul Chan visits the Walker Art Center Sept. 17 for a free talk on "war, politics, religion, philosophy, and desire."

• "Unsettling old photos of the 'living dead.'"

• Video: What would it look like if a house was dreaming?

• Flickr deletes the Obama-as-Joker Time cover due to "copyright-infringement concerns."

• Curator Rachel Hooper interviews artist Josephine Meckseper.

• The top 16 New York art shows Jerry Saltz wants to see this fall.

• A 2004 classic: A Tetris block just tries to fit in.