UK culture secretary abandons his projection

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories

Plans for UK culture secretary Jeremy Wright to follow in the footsteps of Tupac, Frank Sinatra and others by appearing on stage as a hologram (at the Conservative Party Conference) have sadly been shelved. Mooted some time ago – by Wright’s technophile predecessor, Matt Hancock – the plan would have involved the politician addressing the MPs gathered in Birmingham in projected form in an attempt to make the event ‘less dreary’. Wright will now appear in person – but will he bring anything of substance to the podium?

In other news…

High times for the culture sector, as the world’s very first museum dedicated entirely to marijuana opens in Las Vegas. Cannabition Cannabis Museum, as it styles itself, was dreamt up with the aim of de-stigmatising the drug. ‘Cannabition is not about just serving people that like marijuana,’ founder J.J. Walker told journalists before the opening. ‘It’s about serving the masses that want to learn about cannabis and or just have fun and go do a cool art experience.’ According to Time magazine, exhibits include everything from Hunter S. Thompson’s car to a bed shaped like a cannabis seed –  and a 24ft-tall smoking instrument known as ‘bongzilla’.

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‘I know nothing about fashion,’ Martin Parr admits to the Guardian in a piece exploring his unlikely involvement with the world of haute couture. But the photographer certainly knows what he likes in matters sartorial: ‘If I was going to a party or an opening, I would probably wear a shirt with Robert Mugabe or Barack Obama’s face on it. I collect ephemera associated with dictators, so the Mugabe shirt fits that […] I’m still looking for a Mugabe jacket – I’ve been searching eBay for 20 years – but now that he’s gone, I suspect I’ll never get one.’

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