ART

Content Courtesy of: apollo-magazine.com

Written by: Art News Daily

The week in art news – museums in Germany prepare to reopen

Peter Beard (1938–2020) | Sue Davies (1933–2020) | MoMA PS1 lays off 70 per cent of staff | Myriam Ben Salah appointed executive director of Renaissance Society | Met lays off 80 employees | Notre-Dame construction site to reopen next week | Serpentine Pavilion commission postponed to 2021 | Howardena Pindell sues former gallery

Peter Beard (1938–2020) | On Sunday, the photographer, artist and wildlife enthusiast Peter Beard was found dead after having been missing from his home in Long Island for nearly three weeks. He was 82 and had been suffering from dementia for some time. Best known for his book The End of the Game (1965), which documented manmade destruction to wildlife in Kenya and Uganda, Beard was also known for his fashion photographs, society friends, and being the subject of several paintings by Francis Bacon.

Sue Davies (1933–2020) | On Monday it was announced that Sue Davies, the founding director of the Photographers’ Gallery in London, had died at the age of 87. Davies was director of the UK’s first independent space dedicated to photography, which had its original home in Covent Garden, from 1971 to 1991.

MoMA PS1 lays off 70 per cent of staff | On Tuesday it was reported that MoMA PS1 had furloughed 47 employees, more than 70 per cent of the institution’s staff. In her letter to employees, Kate Fowle, director of MoMA PS1, said that the museum was facing its ‘most serious financial crisis’ ever. Staff will be paid until 1 May and have their health insurance covered until 31 July.

Museums in Germany prepare to reopen | On Wednesday, smaller museums in the state of Brandenburg opened their doors observing new guidelines outlined by the Brandenburg Museum Association. It was also reported by the Art Newspaper that museums in Thuringia (28 April), Berlin and Saxony (from 4 May) are set to reopen. Dresden museums are also planning to open on 4 May, although a spokesperson for the State Art Collections has said, ‘Probably not all of our museums will open that day.’ More details are expected next week.

Myriam Ben Salah appointed executive director of Renaissance Society | Also on Wednesday, it was announced that the Renaissance Society in Chicago has appointed Myriam Ben Salah as its new executive director and chief curator. Part of the University of Chicago, the contemporary art institution was founded in 1915. Ben Salah, who was a curator of special projects at the Palais de Tokyo and was the editor of Kaleidoscope from 2016–19 takes over from Solveig Øvstebø who has been appointed director the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo.

Met lays off 80 employees and predicts greater financial losses | On Thursday, it was reported in the New York Times that the Metropolitan Museum of Art is laying off more than 80 members, of staff, particularly in visitor services and retail, and cutting executive pay by 20 per cent and more. The museum now predicts losses of $150million (up from the $100million forecast in March). Daniel Weiss, president and chief executive of the Met, said, ‘While we are not immune from the impact of this pandemic, the Met is a strong and enduring institution and will remain one.

Notre-Dame construction site to reopen next week | Also on Thursday, Le Figaro reported that on Monday (27 April), an exploratory party including France’s chief architect, Philip de Villeneuve, will visit the cathedral to prepare for the return of about 50 construction workers on 4 May. The first objective of the work when it restarts is to dismantle the 500 tonnes of scaffolding on the site.

Serpentine Pavilion commission postponed to 2021 | It was announced today that this year’s Serpentine Pavilion, which was to have been designed by Johannesburg practice Counterspace, will be built in 2021 instead and the accompanying programme of performances and talks has also been postponed. In the meantime, Counterspace and the Serpentine are working on a series of off-site and online projects, yet to be announced in detail.

Howardena Pindell sues former gallery | Artnews has reported that Howardena Pindell is suing her former gallery, G.R. N’Namdi, which has locations in Detroit, New York, Chicago, and Birmingham, Michigan. A lawsuit filed by the artist in New York in January claims that N’Namdi provided ‘misleading and inaccurate’ information about her sales. She is seeking $500,000 in damages and the return of various artworks including 12 works from her Autobiography series. Pindell is now represented by Garth Greenan in New York and Victoria Miro in London.

Content Courtesy of: apollo-magazine.com

Written by: Art News Daily

Getty postpones all public events until after end of August

Plus: Christie’s to pay $16.7m fine for uncollected tax in New York | Charleston farmhouse launches emergency crowdfunding appeal | and New York court rules that Call of Duty game is art

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Getty postpones all public events until after end of August | The Getty Trust has announced that public programming will not resume at either the Getty Center or the Getty Villa until after 31 August. Both sites were closed until further notice on 14 March due to Covid-19.

Christie’s to pay $16.7m fine for uncollected tax in New York | The office of the Manhattan district attorney announced last Thursday (9 April) that Christie’s will pay a fine of $16.7m, having failed to correctly collect sales tax in New York between July 2013 and January 2017. The fine relates to private sales worth $189m, made by offices in other locations but delivered to clients in New York. A spokesperson for the auction house said that, since 2017, the company has ‘reviewed its advice and internal processes to ensure compliance with relevant tax law. This settlement agreement brings the matter to full resolution.’

Charleston farmhouse launches emergency crowdfunding appeal | Charleston farmhouse in East Sussex, formerly the home of Bloomsbury group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, has launched an appeal for emergency funding of £400,000 to offset the financial impact of Covid-19. Since it opened as a public museum since 1980, Charleston has been managed by an independent trust, with no public funding and no endowment.

New York court rules that Call of Duty video game is art | A judge in New York has ruled that the video game Call of Duty can be classified as ‘art’, and is therefore protected under the First Amendment from legal action brought against its makers, Activision, by the military vehicle company Humvee over its use of their brand. District Judge George B. Daniels stated in his ruling that ‘If realism is an artistic goal, then the presence in modern warfare games of vehicles employed by actual militaries undoubtedly furthers that goal.’

ARTnews in Brief: Getty Releases Art Generator for Animal Crossing Game—and More from April 17, 2020

Content Courtesy of: artnews.com

Written by: THE EDITORS OF ARTNEWS

Getty Releases Art Generator for Animal Crossing Game The Getty in Los Angeles has created a new tool for the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With the Getty’s Art Generator, users can give their avatars clothes, homes, and other surroundings emblazoned with artworks from the museum’s collection. Players can also create their own exhibition using the works available in the game, which include Vincent van Gogh’s painting Irises along with pieces by Monet, Renoir, Rembrandt, and more artists.

Art Brussels Cancels 2020 Edition Art Brussels said that it would no longer plan to hold the 2020 edition of its annual fair. This year’s fair was originally scheduled to take place from April 23 to April 26, and was originally postponed until June after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancelation of numerous mass gatherings around the world. The news came as the Belgium government announced that no large-scale events could take place in the country through August 31. Among the work that was to be shown at the fair was Bill Viola’s installation The Dreamers (2013), presented by financial services firm Degroof Petercam. The work is confirmed to be shown at the 2021 edition, which has been scheduled for April 23–25 of that year. Unlike other art fairs that have been forced to cancel their in-person gatherings, Art Brussels has not yet announced plans for a virtual iteration of the fair for this year. —Maximilíano Durón

Taipei Biennial Reveals Participants for 2020 Edition The Taipei Biennial, which was postponed until November 21 due to the pandemic, has named the 39 participants from 18 countries showing work in its 12th edition. Co-curated by Bruno Latour and Martin Guinard, the exhibition is titled “You and I Don’t Live on the Same Planet” and will focus on environmental and ecological themes. Among the artists in the show, which will run through March 14, 2021, are Aruwai Kaumakan, Cemelesai Dakivali, Mika Rottenberg, Jonas Staal, and Su Yu Hsin.

Thursday, April 16

Coronavirus Relief Fund for New York City Nonprofits Has Distributed $44 M.

The NYC Covid-19 Response & Impact Fund, which was created just under a month ago with $75 million from a consortium of 18 foundations, said that it has already issued $44 million in aid to 276 New York City–based nonprofits in the arts and the social sciences. The money is to help offset lost revenue from canceled programming and closures, as well as to help with operating expenses, payroll, and to the help organizations continue to reach their audiences virtually. Organizations that have received funds, which range from $8,000 to $250,000 for a grant and from $100,000 to $3 million for an interest-free loan, include Art21, Artists Space, BRIC Arts, El Museo del Barrio, the International Center of Photography, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, the New Museum, Perfoma, Performance Space New York, and the Socrates Sculpture Park. The fund, which is administered by the New York Community Trust, also announced that it had raised an additional $20 million since its March 20 launch, bringing the total available funds to more than $95 million. Among the initial foundations to contribute to the fund are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Ford Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. —Maximilíano Durón

Wednesday, April 15

Sobey Art Awards Alters Prize Structure in Face of Coronavirus Each year since 2002, the Sobey Art Awards has recognized one Canadian artist under 40 with a $100,000 prize, with additional funds given to shortlisted artists and those on its longlist. This year, in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has threatened the livelihood of many artists, the award’s facilitator, the National Gallery of Canada, said it would instead give $25,000 CAD to each of the 25 artists it had selected from its longlist from a pool of 100 nominations. Artists receiving the funds include Sara Cwynar, Lou Sheppard, Caroline Monnet, Zadie Xa, and Joseph Tisiga. The award cycle each year also includes an exhibition of the work of the five shortlisted artists, a gala, and a residency for the winner, all of which have also been canceled for this year. In a statement, the National Gallery’s director Sasha Suda said, “By altering this year’s program, the 2020 Sobey Art Award is contributing to the short and long-term preservation of Canada’s contemporary art ecosystem in the face of the unknown.” —Maximilíano Durón

Tomm El-Saieh Is Now Represented by Luhring Augustine

Two years after appearing in the 2018 New Museum Triennial, Miami-based artist Tomm El-Saieh has joined the roster of New York’s Luhring Augustine gallery, which also represents Lygia Clark, Ragnar Kjartansson, Pipilotti Rist, Christopher Wool, and others. El-Saieh creates abstractions that refer to the artist’s Haitian heritage, and he will continue to be represented by Miami’s Central Fine gallery.

Tuesday, April 14

Art Paris Cancels 2020 Edition

After hoping to stage this year’s edition, the Art Paris fair announced that it would cancel the 2020 iteration, which was to bring together 150 galleries to the French capital. It had originally postponed its early April run until the end of May as the new coronavirus concern forced governments around the world in March to prohibit large gatherings of people. In a statement, the organizers said that they had considered a further postponement until July as a way “to keep our hopes up until the very last minute,” and as a way for its exhibitors to be able to “meet their collectors after a spring period of complete standstill.” Art Paris said that it will offer an online version of the fair in the coming weeks, and that it plans to return as an in-person event in April 2021, this time to the temporary Grand Palais structure while the original one undergoes renovations for the 2024 Summer Olympics. —Maximilíano Durón

Monday, April 13

Portland Art Museum Places 168 Staff Members on Unpaid Leave Due to financial fallout precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon will put 80 percent of its staff on unpaid leave. According to a report by the Oregonian, the 168 staff members who will be impacted will be allowed to use sick days and vacation leave to continue receiving pay and health benefits during the pandemic. The institution’s director, Brian Ferriso, and other senior leadership will take pay cuts.

Getty Postpones All Public Programming Through August 31

The J. Paul Getty Museum—comprising its two locations, the Getty Center in L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood and the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades—said that all of its public programs and events scheduled through the end of August have been postponed. In a statement, the museum said it called off months of programming because of uncertainty over when bans on large social gatherings in California would be lifted. The two spaces have been closed since March 14, and the museum has not yet announced any layoffs. (Earlier this month, the affiliated Getty Trust established a $10 million relief fund to help sustain other L.A.-based arts organizations through their temporary closures.) The Getty also said that it is unable to make decisions about its exhibition programming, including whether current exhibitions might be extended and future ones postponed, until it can determine a reopening date. —Maximilíano Durón

Roberts Projects Now Represents Wangari Mathenge

Roberts Projects gallery in Los Angeles has added Chicago-based artist Wangari Mathenge to its roster. Mathenge is best known for bold, emotive paintings which foreground the black female experience. In 2019, Roberts Project staged a solo exhibition of Mathenge’s painting, titled “Aura of Quiet.” Her second solo show at the gallery is scheduled to take place in 2021.

Berlin’s Humboldt Forum Assesses Damage After Fire Last Week

The Humboldt Forum, a soon-to-open museum in Berlin that will bring together ethnographic objects from throughout various German state collections, said that a fire that broke out last week at its construction site had not impacted its planned September opening. According to a report in Monopol, as of now the main damage seems to be in the ceiling of a passageway, which would mostly like have to be replaced. The fire broke out at 10 a.m. on April 8 when two containers with poured asphalt caught fire and exploded. Two workers were injured in the fire and one has returned to work. The damaged area is still closed off for an internal investigation, but local authorities announced at the time that they do not believe foul play caused the fire.

ADVERTISING

Content Courtesy of: adweek.com

Written by: David Cohen

Facebook’s Newest Ad Shows How Groups Are ‘Still Going Strong’ During Covid-19

The Facebook app's More Together campaign continues, with a relatable update

Facebook continued to put its promotional muscle behind its groups feature with Still Going Strong, the latest spot in its More Together campaign.

Facebook’s Creative X team created the spot in partnership with Wieden + Kennedy London and Portland.

Groups moved up Facebook’s priority list with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s declaration that “The future is private. This is the next chapter for our services,” at the company’s F8 2019 developers conference last April, where a redesign of its website and flagship applications was unveiled with groups in a prominent location.

More Together, Facebook’s first major brand campaign, kicked off in May 2019 under chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio, and the company’s first-ever Super Bowl spot, featuring Sylvester Stallone and Chris Rock, was part of it.

The company said in January that 1.4 billion people use groups each month.

The message conveyed by “Still Going Strong” is that despite people being confined to their homes by Covid-19, they continue to embrace their passions.

People in Facebook groups covering topics including camping, cooking, crafts, creativity, dogs, gardening, parenting, rock climbing, skateboarding, surfing, women in technology and yoga are featured in the spot.

Facebook wrote in its description of the video on YouTube, “We might be apart outside, but in Facebook groups, there is still creativity, bravery and kindness. People are still sharing, still caring, still goofing about and still doing their thing, together.”

CREDITS:

Client: Facebook

Project name: Still Going Strong

Client contact: Chloe Bower, Kyle Christensen, Gianna Pisano

Wieden + Kennedy Portland

Global creative director and chairman: Susan Hoffman

Co-president and chief creative officer: Colleen DeCourcy

Account team: John Rowe, Hannah Hewitt, Samantha Lam

Media/comms planning: Lisa Johnson

Business affairs: Amber Lavender, Rylee Harper, Tara Allender

W + K London

Creative director: David Dao

Creatives: Katy Edelsten, Rachel Clancy

Executive creative directors: Iain Tait, Tony Davidson

TV producer: Anna Neilson

Account team: Francesca Yeates, Marlon Ge, Eldar Chen

Strategic planning: Indiana Matine, Rachel Holden, Lauren Ivory

Comms planning: Anjali Patel

Creative producer: Ross Dunstan

Design director: Aaron Skipper

Designers: Adam Hunt, Jonny Isaacson

Motion graphics: Jon Harris

Business affairs: Helena Tomas

TV Production

Production company: Knucklehead

Director: Maceo Frost

Managing directors: Matthew Brown, Tim Katz

Head of production: Francis Mildmay-White

Production designer: Joey Jenkins

Costume designer: Melanie Mildmay-White

Editorial

Editor: Andreas Arvidsson

VFX

VFX company: Time Based Arts

Partner/executive creative director: Mike Skrgatic

Grade: Lewis Crossfield

Senior VFX producer: Jo Gutteridge

VFX lead: Luke Todd

2D artists: Jamie Crofts, Ollie Ramsey, Bernardo Varela, Tom Robinson, Stephen Ross

Animation: Dan Lowe

Might Be the Remedy for Overcoming Videoconferencing Fatigue

Content Courtesy of: adweek.com

Written by: Ian Zelaya

Project from Leo Burnett creates 30-second looping videos to sneak out of meeting calls

People who work from home these days might be experiencing a bit of videoconferencing fatigue. Coors Light is offering a solution for folks who need a break from meeting calls and virtual town halls but don’t want their team to know they ditched.

The beer brand teamed with agency Leo Burnett to launch the Coors Light Clone Machine. The project, available on a custom microsite, invites people to record 30-second looping videos of themselves acting engaged in a conversation.

The recording coaches users on how to look attentive with tips for nodding, acting like you’re taking notes and making “good point” gestures. Coors Light encourages people to download their recordings and upload them as videoconferencing backgrounds in place of themselves, encouraging them to enjoy a beer instead. Fans can also share the looping videos on social media.

Liz Taylor, global CCO at Leo Burnett, said the idea was sparked by a cultural insight that workers are suffering from Zoom fatigue after two months of working from home during the pandemic.

“Coors Light is all about bringing moments of reprieve and chill,” Taylor said. “This seemed like the perfect moment for the brand to help people dealing with Zoom overload and offer some levity.”

Leo Burnett worked with marketing and tech agency Digitas to create the recording feature on the site, which will be available indefinitely.

For those nervous about whether or not you can trick your coworkers, it really depends on how convincing you make your digital clone. Adriano Matos, evp and ecd of Leo Burnett, said his background managed to go unnoticed for about 10 minutes in a production meeting this week.

In addition to the humorous project, Coors Light also launched its frank “#CouldUseABeer” campaign in April, which acknowledges the time we’re living in simply sucks. The promotion encourages fans to nominate friends or family to receive a free six-pack.

Ikea’s Quarantine Campaign Offers 6 Ways to Make Furniture Forts

A guide to keeping kids occupied from Russian agency Instinct

Content Courtesy of: adweek.com/p>

Written by: Sara Spary

Whether you’re in quarantine with kids who are increasingly desperate for entertainment or you’re simply longing for a time when life was safer and more innocent, Ikea Russia has you covered.

The retailer’s newest campaign for the quarantine era perfectly captures that yearning sense of nostalgia by bringing old-fashioned childhood adventure into modern home.

Created by agency Instinct, the campaign includes a series of Ikea instructions for parents on how to make tents and forts indoors to create a sense of adventure for children cooped up at home as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The “easy-to-follow” instructions (though if you’ve ever assembled an Ikea product before, your opinion may vary) show how every day items like blankets, bedspreads, chairs and stools can be transformed into a new hideaway.

Ikea Russia is also asking people to share their creations on social media with the hashtag #StayHome.

CREDITS:

Client: Ikea Russia

Anna Fokina, marketing communication manager

Olya Belyaeva, communications leader

Yulia Prygunkova, social media leader

Agency: Instinct

Creative directors: Roman Firainer, Yaroslav Orlov

Creative group heads: Antonina Pirogova, Evgeny Golovan

Creative designer: Elena Kravchenko

Client service director: Marina Vershinina

Group account director: Irina Gornov

BUSINESS

Content Courtesy of: adweek.com

Written by: T.L. Stanley

As the Meat Industry Stumbles, Here’s How Plant-Based Brands Are Stepping Up Their Game

Exclusive: Faux-meat marketers are keeping it positive, but expanding their footprint aggressively

Key Insights:

Covid-19 has rattled the supply lines of meatpacking and put the industry under a microscope.</p.

Alternative meats are a clear winner in quarantine, with sales up 454%.

For these brands, giving back to those in need is 'more important than ever.'</p.

Plant-based proteins are nearing the $1 billion mark, but meat is still a $50 billion dominator.

Covid-19 outbreaks have shuttered meatpacking plants throughout the American Midwest, spurring a perfect storm of negative chatter around the meat industry. In addition to highlighting short-term meat shortages and higher prices, news reports are exposing the industry’s harsh conditions for workers and animals.

Such a moment could be a perfect time for plant-based protein marketers to tell the American consumer, “We told you so.”

But the biggest players in the faux meat world, namely Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, have no plans to go for the jugular with PETA-style attacks against the meat industry. In fact, they’re taking the marketing equivalent of the high road, emphasizing their stepped-up availability via grocery stores and restaurant delivery, at a time when it might be tough to get a burger at Wendy’s.

Rather than highlighting the ominous debate around the supply lines of beef, chicken and pork, the meat-alternative brands are leaning into their charitable programs and promoting their original content, virtual events, new family-sized retail packages, direct-to-consumer channels and just-launched discounts. They’re still emphasizing their meat-like flavor, but pushing their earth-friendly and nutritional messages further to the fore amid rising consumer interest in those priorities.

The meatless marketers’ light-but-still-aggressive approach isn’t entirely magnanimous. They also don’t want to appear to be capitalizing on their competitors’ misfort

But they do have plenty of their own gains to tout, which includes skyrocketing demand that Nielsen pegs at a 278% increase in sales of plant-based meat substitutes since this time last year.

Some recent quarantine periods have seen even more dramatic boosts for the sector, per Nielsen: In the week ending March 21, sales of meat alternatives grew 454% compared to a 100% bump in real meat sales.

As Zak Weston, foodservice expert at the nonprofit Good Food Institute, puts it, faux meat marketers don’t need to talk about animal mistreatment, Covid-19 cases among slaughterhouse workers or rising beef prices. Every major news outlet is taking the lead there, as the White House has declared the meatpacking industry an essential business and tried to send workers back to factory floors. But plant-based protein brands as varied as Tofurky and Dr. Praeger’s can use this backdrop, with its meat shortages and retail rationing, to tell their stories to a more broadly receptive audience.

We’re seeing the inherent fragility of the conventional animal protein chain laid bare,” Weston says. “That’s presenting unique opportunities for plant-based brands to show their advantages and the ways they can compete with the big players in animal protein.

Some recent quarantine periods have seen even more dramatic boosts for the sector, per Nielsen: In the week ending March 21, sales of meat alternatives grew 454% compared to a 100% bump in real meat sales.

As Zak Weston, foodservice expert at the nonprofit Good Food Institute, puts it, faux meat marketers don’t need to talk about animal mistreatment, Covid-19 cases among slaughterhouse workers or rising beef prices. Every major news outlet is taking the lead there, as the White House has declared the meatpacking industry an essential business and tried to send workers back to factory floors.

But plant-based protein brands as varied as Tofurky and Dr. Praeger’s can use this backdrop, with its meat shortages and retail rationing, to tell their stories to a more broadly receptive audience.

“We’re seeing the inherent fragility of the conventional animal protein chain laid bare,” Weston says. “That’s presenting unique opportunities for plant-based brands to show their advantages and the ways they can compete with the big players in animal protein.”

Impossible Foods expands into Kroger, debuts first cookbook

As a mover-shaker in the space, Impossible Foods had been riding high on its Burger King deal for the hot-selling Impossible Whopper, as well as alliances that continued to stack up over the past few years for its faux beef, pork and sausage lines with Red Robin, Little Caesars, White Castle and other chains. (This, after starting its consumer journey at tony eateries like David Chang’s Momofuku and Michael Symon’s B Spot cafes.)

All those channels have suffered because of the Covid-19 lockdown, sending Impossible and other restaurant suppliers scurrying to make up the difference.

The brand had already set its sights on supermarkets (traditionally the stronghold of competitor Beyond), launching its faux ground beef last fall in specialty retailers like Gelson’s.

Now Impossible is taking its grocery presence to a new level with its just-announced partner: Kroger, which will stock the brand in 1,700 stores. Having started the year with about 150 stores, Impossible is on a distribution roll (2,700 doors and counting), expecting to “expand more than 50-fold in 2020,” says Jessica Appelgren, vp of communications for the brand. Combined with a fresh $500 million funding round and partnerships with DTC apps like Cheetah, the retail growth is expected to help make up some of the loss from closed restaurants.

Facebook Acquires Giphy, Which Will Become Part of Instagram

The GIF platform's library and APIs will continue to be available to 'the wider ecosystem

Content Courtesy of: adweek.com

Written by: David Cohen

Facebook has acquired Giphy, and will fold the a GIF library and creator platform into its Instagram team.

Neither company would confirm financial terms of the deal, reportedly worth $400 million, according to Axios.

Giphy said the majority of its team will join Instagram, and senior director of communications Natalie Vegel added, “For those employees who will not be joining Instagram, we’ve taken extra steps to provide them with generous severance packages in order to ensure as much of a smooth career transition path as possible.”

The Giphy staff making the move will eventually relocate to Instagram’s offices in New York (Giphy is also headquartered in the city), but the timing has yet to be determined.

“By bringing Instagram and Giphy together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct,” said Facebook vp of product Vishal Shah in a Newsroom post. “Both our services are big supporters of the creator and artist community, and that will continue.”

Already, 50% of Giphy’s traffic comes from Facebook’s group of applications, with Instagram alone accounting for 50% of its parent company’s overall traffic, Shah said.

Giphy’s library will remain widely available, as will its application programming interfaces and software development kits for third-party developers and partners. The library is extensive: Since making its debut in February 2013, Giphy has grown the database to “several trillion” GIFs.

“[F]or our API/SDK partners and developers: Giphy’s GIFs, stickers, emojis, etc. aren’t going anywhere. We will continue to make Giphy openly available to the wider ecosystem,” Giphy said in a blog post, Snapchat and Twitter declined to comment on whether their relationships with Giphy would be affected by the transaction.

Twitter integrated Giphy into its tweet composer in February 2016, enabling users to add GIFs to tweets, while Snapchat did the same in February 2018.

“We’ve had a lot of fun teaming up with Instagram over the years; Giphy’s stickers were the perfect fit for layering on Instagram Stories, while our GIF search allowed everyone to capture that perfect emotion in Instagram’s DMs,” Giphy said. “Based on the success of those collaborations (and many others), we know that there are exciting times ahead of us.”

At the beginning of last year, Giphy had planned to ramp up its advertising capabilities to compete for digital ad dollars with the likes of Google and its now-parent company Facebook.

“No one’s been able to figure out an intent-based marketing platform,” Giphy founder and CEO Alex Chung told Adweek at the time

TECH

Content Courtesy of: mashable.com

Written by: BRENDA STOLYAR

Apple Maps can now help you find COVID-19 testing sites across the U.S.

UPDATE: April 28, 2020, 4:01 p.m. EDT Users in the U.S. and Puerto Rico can now use Apple Maps to find Covid-19 testing locations.

A couple of weeks ago, 9to5Mac reported that Apple Maps was in the process of adding a feature that allowed users to find Covid-19 testing sites from within the app.

On Tuesday, 9to5Mac reported that the tool is now officially live in both the United States and Puerto Rico. Anyone using Apple Maps can now search for where they can get tested for Covid-19 and view nearby locations on the map.

Approved testing locations appear on Apple Maps with a red medical glyph icon. Towards the bottom of the display, the location is specifically labeled as a Covid-19 testing site.

You can see all the standard details of the testing site like its address, phone number, and website, as well as directions on how to get there.

But you can also see additional details like the type of site (drive-through, parking lot, or building), along with whether you'll need an appointment or referral.

Apple is currently allowing healthcare providers, hospitals, and other businesses to submit an application for their specific testing locations. Once a location is approved, it'll appear right on Apple Maps.

The portal to fill out an application is currently live. All providers need to do is download the application, fill it out, and email the file to Apple for review.

With the coronavirus outbreak still growing and testing sites popping up little by little, it's tough to keep track of exactly where to access a test. So hopefully, this feature will expand to a lot more countries very soon.

LG's 'Velvet' phone is the start to the company's revamped design strategy

Content Courtesy of: mashable.com

Written by: BRENDA STOLYAR

It's getting tough to tell new smartphones apart from the old ones based solely on the number in their titles. Which is why LG is ditching the concept entirely by naming its latest phone the LG Velvet.

In a press release, LG explained the Velvet is the first device that will launch as part of its new branding strategy. Specifically it's "moving away from alphanumerical designations in favor of familiar and expressive names," and emphasizing design instead.

I'm glad all of this is coming from a company that named their last phone the LG V60 ThinQ. It's something that I avoid saying out loud at all costs because it's truly a mouthful.

But the new design strategy also means any plans for the LG G9 ThinQ have clearly been scrapped. The new phone was supposed to be a follow up to last year's LG G8 ThinQ, which was part of its G-series lineup of devices.

According to Korean news site Naver, the G9 would've been a midrange device rather than a flagship like the G8 as it's apparently supposed to include the Snapdragon 765 chipset complete with 5G connectivity.

Now, these specs are reportedly reserved for the Velvet instead. Which also means it'll have an affordable price tag.

The phone will also have a minimalistic design that's a lot different from what we've seen from LG recently.

For starters, LG is introducing a "3D Arc Design", which means the edges of the display are symmetrically curved to allow for a more natural and comfortable grip.

On the back of the phone is something called a "Raindrop" camera. The triple cameras and LED flash are stacked on top of one another in descending order from largest to smallest, which is supposed to mimic the look of falling raindrops.

LG says the main camera sits "slightly" above the surface while the other two camera lenses are kept under smooth glass. That way, there's no annoying camera bump.

We saw a somewhat similar design back at CES this year, when OnePlus debuted its Concept One phone with disappearing lenses. Like the LG Velvet, the camera sensors also sit beneath the glass.

Essentially, the raindrop camera module is supposed to take up less space while also providing a smoother feel and sleeker look.

LG remains tight lipped on any specs and features though.

The launch date remains a mystery as well. But Naver reports we could see the phone revealed on May 15, which isn't that far away.

CULTURE

Content Courtesy of: mashable.com

Written by: NANDITA RAGHURAM

'SNL' Zoom call spoof highlights hilarious pains of video conferences

We've all been in this Zoom call.

In this Saturday Night Live sketch, highlighting a piece of technology that has quickly taken over our lives, Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon play two incompetent receptionists. Bryant brings her laptop into the bathroom while McKinnon turns off the camera and switches to an avatar of Wayne Brady.

Both eventually start crying. "We ruined the Zoom," McKinnon sobs.

It's at once relatable — and completely ridiculous

Food

Amazon Created A Waitlist For Grocery Deliveries Because Demand Is So High

Content Courtesy of: mashable.com

Written by: ALEX Perry

Crushed by the massive increase in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon is making some big changes to its grocery delivery services.

In a blog post published over the weekend, Amazon laid out some of the changes it's making at Whole Foods stores in order to meet increased demand for deliveries and pick-ups while most of America is stuck at home.

On the consumer end, the most noteworthy change is that new Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods delivery customers need to sign up for an invitation to get food delivered.

In other words, if you haven't already been using those services, you're going to be put on a waitlist. Amazon said it's letting new customers in each week, so monitor your email inbox if you've signed up.

The Amazon Fresh home page will display available delivery windows each day for anyone who's able to actually use the service. In normal times, you put together your cart and just choose the time that is most convenient for you. Now, you'll have to choose a delivery time first, and you'll only know when one is available by checking the website that day.

Whole Foods workers will also see some changes. Store hours are being adjusted to allow for increased restocking and some stores are actually going to focus exclusively on online deliveries. One store in Woodland Hills, California, for example, will only serve online customers on a temporary basis.

Amazon also noted the safety protocols it has implemented in the wake of the coronavirus, such as glass shields for cashiers and gloves and masks for retail workers. Whole Foods workers went on strike two weeks ago to demand better protections from their parent company. That followed a similar strike by Amazon warehouse workers, who felt the company was lax in its response to the fact that several of them tested positive for the coronavirus.

6 ways to reduce food waste, even during a pandemic

Content Courtesy of: mashable.com

Written by: SIOBHAN NEELA-STOCK

By now, you've probably seen photos of people panic buying groceries and shelves laid bare. In mid-March, you might have even been one of these panic buyers; I certainly was. But weeks later, as pounds of beans and rice lay unused on shelves, many of us may be thinking "what am I going to do with all this food?"

Panic-buying, like the type that can occur during a pandemic, can prompt people to purchase perishable items that they aren't able to consume before they go bad, which can ultimately lead to food waste, says Brian Lipinski, a researcher on food waste at the World Resources Institute.

Moreover, many of the country's largest farms are throwing out fresh food that they're unable to sell due to restaurant, school, and hotel closures, according to the New York Times.

Even in normal circumstances, it's easy to waste food. In the U.S. about 30 to 40 percent of our food goes to waste, according to estimates from the USDA's Economic Research Service. What's more, Americans waste about one pound of food per person every day, according to a separate study conducted by USDA researchers published in 2018.

"It seems like such an obvious thing, don't waste food. It's something we learned growing up. So it seems like it should be a no-brainer to stop it," explains Lipinski.

It's not that simple, though. We often don't realize we're getting rid of food and it's easy to dissociate spoiled food from its edible origins.

"Once you take out the moldy piece of bread or the gross, mushy carrot from your fridge and have to throw it away, you're not thinking of that as something you can eat or really that you were ever going to eat," explains Lipinski.

WATCH: Turning your ugly vegetables into beautiful works of art

With than in mind, it's time to rethink your food habits. The pandemic provides good opportunity to make the most of our food since we want to avoid frequent trips to the grocery store, says Lipinski. Limiting trips to potentially crowded places like the grocery store can help minimize the spread of coronavirus and reduce food waste.

Mashable spoke with experts to get tips on how we can all put our food to better use.

Track what you waste

Tracking exactly what you throw in the trash and rinse down the sink will help you realize what kind of food and how much of it you waste, says Beth Gingold, the founder of Recycle Leaders LLC, which works with organizations to help them recycle and reduce their waste (including food).

"A lot of waste happens just because we're not paying attention to it," explains Gingold.

Once you know your "waste patterns," you can be more strategic about what you buy. When Gingold did this, she learned she bought too many onions. Ultimately, she was able to change her shopping habits and now wastes less.

All you have to do is record how much food you waste per day for about two weeks (or longer if you can keep that up), says Gingold. This duration is based off of the EPA's Food: Too Good To Waste Toolkit, which teaches people how to waste less food. Gingold is leading Recycle Leaders' Team Up on Food Waste @ Home remote competition, which encourages people to reduce their food waste at home.

Recycle Leaders only requires participants to measure their food waste for seven days, which is enough time to get someone in the habit of thinking about what they are throwing away, Gingold wrote in an email. That said, ideally people would collect this data for longer as a seven-day period doesn't necessarily reflect all the food purchased and discarded during a week, she explains. Additionally, people don't necessarily throw away food on a daily basis as they may clean out their refrigerator once a month.

The good news is you don't need any fancy equipment to measure your food waste. Measuring cups, empty food containers or jars work well, says Gingold.

You can also take photos. When Anne-Marie Bonneau, who writes the zero-waste cooking blog Zero-Waste Chef, went plastic-free in 2011, she had her daughter take photos of the plastic they accumulated every week. It made them both more aware of what items they were buying with plastic.

"Keep a diary of what you're wasting, and then you look at it and you go, 'oh wow, I had no idea'...and then you can come up with a plan," says Bonneau.

Lists, lists, and more lists

Before you head to the grocery store, do an inventory of what food you have and try and cook something with it," suggests Bonneau.

"You'll not only reduce food waste, you'll also make fewer trips to the store," says Bonneau.

You can also make a list of the perishable food items in your refrigerator and tape it to the door.

"That way, we don't end up shoving some lettuce or carrots to the back of a drawer and forgetting about them," says Lipinski.

Once that's done, break out a pen and paper (or your phone) and make a food list before going to the grocery store. It seems like a no-brainer, but not doing so may lead to buying — and ultimately wasting — food you don't need.

"Hopefully, you'll avoid some of the temptations of walking through the store and being like, 'oh, I need 10 packs of ramen, eight apples, and three loaves of bread,'" says Lipinski.

Understand food labels

Food date labels can be really confusing for consumers, as there are a ton of different phrases that all mean something different. People are understandably concerned about eating something past the listed date, even if it's not an expiration date, says Lipinski.

Below is a break down of terms you've probably encountered. We pulled examples of commonly-used food date labels and their definitions from the USDA's website to help you avoid throwing away something that's still edible.

• Best if used by/before: indicates when a product will be of its best flavor or quality. But it doesn't tell the consumer when they should buy or eat it.
• Sell by: tells the grocery store how long to display the food for sale. But it doesn't mean you have to eat it by that date.
• Freeze by: indicates when food should be frozen to maintain its highest quality. But it doesn't mean you have to buy or use it by that date.
• Use by: indicates the last recommended date to use the food while it's at its peak quality but it doesn't need to be consumed by that date (except for infant formula).

If any of that is confusing, don't worry. You can rely on your senses when it comes to any potentially spoiled food, says Lipinski. Food can go bad before its listed date or last beyond that depending on how the product has been packed and stored. You should look out for signs of spoiled food, such as if there's an off odor, flavor, or texture, according to the USDA's website. So don't be afraid to sniff your milk if you suspect it's gone bad.

Both Lipinski and Gingold also recommend the website EatorToss, if you're unsure if food is safe to eat. About once a week, EatorToss posts a photo of food (such as a raw potato with black discoloration) with a science-based explanation if you should eat or toss it, according to the website.

Use refrigerators and freezers wisely

There are a few things you can do with your refrigerator and freezer to cut down on food waste.

First, ensure your refrigerator is at its recommended temperature setting to help food stay cold enough, says Lipinski. The FDA recommends setting your refrigerator at or below 40° F. You can refer to your user's manual to find steps to maintain that temperature.

"The back of the fridge tends to be cooler than the front because every time you open the door more cold air escapes from the front," explains Lipinski. So place any highly-perishable food like milk and meat toward the back to help it stay fresh for longer. You can place less-perishable foods like condiments on the door. That said, if you have a fridge with ice-making compartments up top, it'll be coldest there, according to BBC Science Focus.

You should also take advantage of your freezer.

"It's great to have fresh foods in your life but frozen vegetables and fruit are a great alternative, still very nutritious, and they keep longer," says Lipinski. Frozen vegetables are usually cheaper too, explains Lipinski. So if you're on a tight budget due to coronavirus-related layoffs or other reasons, frozen produce might be a better choice.

You can also cook a lot of food at once and freeze it, suggests Bonneau. This can reduce the amount of food you waste as you don't have to worry about it going bad and makes for a quick meal when you don't feel like cooking.

Share extra food with neighbors

If you find yourself with excess food that you won't be able to cook in time before it goes bad, consider giving it to your neighbors, especially those who are elderly or immunocompromised as they're at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-18, according to the CDC.

But you'll want to do this in a safe way so you don't jeopardize their health or yours. To get the word out, you can put up signs in your apartment building or neighborhood along with your phone number so you don't have to come face-to-face with anyone. You can also try emailing them, if you have that info, says Lipinski. To drop off the food safely, you can leave the food at your neighbor's door and alert them once you've left, he explains.

Put food scraps to use

Anyone who cooks has almost certainly run into the dilemma of having odds and ends they don't know what to do with or are about to go bad.

There's a lot you can do with food scraps that you might otherwise throw out. Here are some of Bonneau's suggestions:

• Apple scraps: You can turn apple scraps into vinegar. Bonneau explains how to do this here.
• Unused cabbage: Turn it into sauerkraut with just a cutting board, a knife, bowl, and glass jars. Here's Bonneau's blog post that details the process. You can actually ferment any vegetables you're not going to use before they spoil, explains Bonneau.
• Kale stems: Chop them up and add to fried rice, stir fry, frittatas, and soup. You can also make them into pesto if you add garlic, nuts, olive oil, salt, and if desired, nutritional yeast or cheese to taste.
• Broccoli stems: Instead of tossing them, peel and use them just like florets.
• Leek greens: People mostly use the white part and toss the greens. Bonneau cuts them into small pieces and uses them when she wants a strong onion flavor in a dish.
• Wilting vegetables: You can try to perk up vegetables like limp celery, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, and some herbs by standing them in a jar of water. And you can shock lettuce and spinach back to life in a bowl of ice water.
• Cheese rinds: Save these for tossing into soup or broth as they add umami.
• Whey from making yogurt or cheese: If you have leftover whey, use that in pizza dough, bread dough, soup, or quick breads to add flavor.
• Citrus peels: Bonneau always keeps some zest in the freezer to add to quick breads and cookies. You can also make an all-purpose cleaner by soaking citrus peels in vinegar for a couple weeks, then straining and diluting the vinegar with water.
• Stale bread: Turn stale bread into bread crumbs, croutons, or French toast. You can also tear the bread up and toss it into minestrone soup.
• Leftovers (homemade and take-out): If you can fool your diners into thinking that they're eating a new meal, they'll be less likely to turn their noses up at your repurposed leftovers, Bonneau said. If you make chili one night, for example, cook it down until it's thick, make a pastry, fill the pastry with the chili, and bake it. Now you have a hand pie. Or if you roast vegetables one night, put them in an omelette the next morning. If you cook rice as a side dish one night, make fried rice the next with any vegetables that need to be eaten.

"The beauty of leftover food is you don't have to start from scratch for every meal. You already have something on hand that can be reincarnated into something new," Bonneau told Mashable.