“Non participation,” say Karen Mirza and Brad Butler of the central idea in their upcoming Walker exhibition, is evident “when, for example, people encounter something they believe is valid or necessary—say, homelessness, the right to protest, the Iraq War—but in that simultaneous moment they ignore it or reject it.” In a new interview, the UK-based duo discusses their approach to art and resistance.

Art “is a universal language in our search for common ground, an expression of our shared humanity,” writes Hillary Clinton in announcing winners of the new State Department Medal of Arts: Cai Guo-Qiang, Jeff Koons, Shahzia Sikander, Kiki Smith, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Agreeing that libraries shouldn’t hide controversial issues, Newark library officials have removed a shroud hiding a Kara Walker drawing that includes a depiction of a slave having sex with a white man. The library has invited the artist to speak about the piece.

Minneapolis-based photographer JoAnn Verburg—who recently discussed her 9/11 photos for our series Lowercase P: Artists & Politics—says much of her art comes out of “the fact that we’re alone and we’re not alone.”

Some 300 drawings from the 1950s have been unearthed in the Warhol Foundation’s storage. To be published for the first time in a book next week, they show “a skilled and sensitive draughtsman producing images that are more Egon Schiele than pop art.”

Landscape designer, furniture builder, conceptual artist, blogger, avid researcher: Matt Olson’s diverse passions come together in ROLU, the experimental design studio he founded with Mike Brady in Minneapolis. When we asked him about his favorite moments of 2012, he unsurprisingly took a diverse look at culture, listing the year’s best in art and design, spirituality and technology.

Barry McGee, whose first US museum solo show was at the Walker in 1998, has created a giant mural on the side of the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn. Measuring 96 by 67 feet, it includes his signature text, figures, and geometric shapes.

The Newseum in Washington is hosting a free-speech message through Jan. 19. With the Hirshhorn, it’s projecting images of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s work on the 74-foot-tall marble First Amendment tablet on its exterior.

Just as art in Abraham Cruzvillegas’ forthcoming Walker exhibition, The Autoconstrucción Suites, includes found objects, the Mexico City–based artist’s best-of-2012 list includes a sampling of items from all over, including literature, sculpture, journalism, film, and his personal life, which is the category of his year’s top moment: the birth of “La Dragona,” his daughter Ana.