Info comes from a Wall Street Journal interview. Clint told them - not Twitter hack. (Behind WSJ paywall)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-hollywood-legend-talks-politics-11582311359

“I just want to do something, to keep a record of what I have experienced,” Jijie says on the phone from Wuhan. “This helps me collect my thoughts. I think every one of us wants to keep a record, a kind of evidence, of this event.”

For most people, art is an afterthought in the face of the highly contagious COVID-19, which, in mainland China alone, has infected nearly 76,000 people and claimed more than 2,230 lives.

But for others, creating images from their experiences and posting observations on social media has been an outlet in a difficult time.

“We ask ourselves, what can art do?” says Amber Wang, director of Gallery Weekend Beijing. “It seems that art is so trivial, and that it cannot solve problems immediately. But with good intentions, we reflect and do what we do best to contribute.”

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Nevertheless, the Beijing Association of Auctioneers is urging individual auction houses to develop their own online sales platforms “to not only adapt to the new consumer behavior or expand business, but also to minimize risks brought by unpredictable circumstances, such as this virus outbreak.”

But China’s art market, Hu says, is expected to undergo extensive adjustments even after the coronavirus outbreak is over.

“This epidemic is more severe than any adversity we have experienced. Our lives have been put on pause,” she says. “When normality resumes, the recovery of the art market might be slightly slower than other sectors.”

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/coronavirus-china-art-world-1783740?utm_content=from_&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=US%209:30%20a.m.%20newsletter%20for%202/24/20&utm_term=New%20US%20Newsletter%20List

Museums across northern Italy have closed their doors as part of a spate of emergency measures to contain the spread of the novel 2019 strain of coronavirus.

Italy is at the center of the biggest outbreak of the mysterious new virus outside of Asia. A total of 219 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the country, five of whom have died from the respiratory disease it causes. One person has successfully recovered, the country’s health ministry reports. Cases have erupted in the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, and Lazio. The sudden spike—up from only five known cases on Thursday—has put the global community on notice that the virus is spreading far beyond China’s borders—quickly.gl

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/coronavirus-italy-museums-closing-1784706?utm_content=from_&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=US%209%3A30%20a.m.%20newsletter%20for%202%2F24%2F20&utm_term=New%20US%20Newsletter%20List