The Week In Culture: October 20 – October 27

Culture moves in mysterious ways, occasionally sublime, frequently ridiculous. Allow us to assist you in determining which category to fit the following under.

Brooklyn design studio, Hieronymus, has commissioned thirty artist posters as a month-long preamble to Election Day. Never mind that the 30 Reasons to re-elect Obama project follows in the proud tradition of political poster art. It is extremely cool and wildly smart.

Also in the smart column is Lena Dunham's Obama tutorial about her first time. Voting, that is. Surprise, it's inflaming the right. But as proof positive we're actually in the 21st Century, Red State-r Erick Erickson saw Dunham's sex metaphor and raised it. He compared Obama's first term to a one-night stand. Metaphorically speaking, that's an awfully long night.

In the unexpectedly smart column, the UK Littoral Arts Trust is planning the first memorial to the generation of modernists dubbed degenerate by the Nazis, proving its never too late to do the right thing.

In the unexpectedly dumb column, it appears the thieves who swiped seven major works from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum took advantage of an electronic lock system that opens easily to comply with fire laws. But it's not like the museum wasn't aware of this hole in their security. A local paper is reporting that a visitor was recently trapped at closing time and got out using the same emergency exit.

Not-at-all unexpected is the Houston gallery show of artist Uriel Landeros. In case you've forgotten his previous fifteen minutes of fame, he spray-painted the Picasso at Houston's Menil Collection in June. The locals are outraged. Except, of course, those who will flock to the opening. The fugitive artist will attend his opening via SKYPE, from Mexico. And a star is born.

Another Picasso was found painted over. Don't fret. This one was by executed by Pablo himself. Experts have know about the portrait lurking beneath Woman Ironing since 1989, but advances in technology have shed new light into who the subject might be. Unfortunately, its infrared light, so you can only take advantage of the master's twofer with x-ray specs.

Which brings us to Halloween, and the one day in the year we are encouraged to dress up as somebody else. Marie Antoinette had tons of shoes. Still, one particularly cunning pair brought five times their estimated value at a Paris auction last week. Perhaps it's because of their other provenance. The pink and green slippers were a gift to her manservant. 

Christopher Street isn't edgy enough for MoMA PS1. So they're staging the First Annual Artist's Halloween Carnival and Parade, hosted by Courtney Love and
 MoMA's own, Klaus Biesenbach. Lest they be accused of trying too hard, scores of guest artists will help make costumes that afternoon, and the hosts will be judging the best costume in categories based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Under Envy, they specifically mention Celebrity look-alike. Won't Courtney freak when every art student in Brooklyn shows up as Biesenbach?

And finally, Ai Weiwei worked out his Gangnam envy by posing as PSY in his own YouTube video. It really needs to be seen.