The New School’s first Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics goes to Theaster Gates. His The Dorchester Projects transformed a series of run-down buildings on Chicago’s South Side into a thriving community hub.

On his LA MOCA show Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, Paul Schimmel states, “As much as you think of wars as things that destroy culture, one can see again and again in the exhibition that out of destruction comes rebirth.”

Takashi Murakami is suing New York gallerist Marianne Boesky over her reuse of his Cosmos wallpaper. He says she broke the strict terms of an editioning agreement by reproducing the work for other uses, including a loan to the Met.

A new city panel assessing graffiti in Toronto has approved certain existing street-art sites, including the legendary Graffiti Alley, but some oppose the panel: “Even if it’s Picasso,” says Elyse Parker, “you’re not allowed to paint on other people’s walls.”

MoMA’s conservation team has begun conducting workshops alongside the American Institute for Conservation to aid not only artists and galleries in handling water-damaged works, but also those affected by Hurricane Sandy with waterlogged keepsakes.

Henry Moore’s daughter opposes plans to move Draped Seated Woman from a housing estate to the Museum of London: “This work was created with the belief that everyone, whatever their background, should have access to works of art of the highest quality.”

Following the destruction of countless artworks by Hurricane Sandy, Tyler Green discusses such lost works and the importance of digitally preserving art pieces in the future. “It could be something as simple and as low-cost as a crowd-sourced wiki.”

Ai Weiwei on the importance of the Internet in challenging the Chinese government: “I think those technology platforms constantly put the government on trial.” His own website was shut down by the government in 2009.