Necessary Links: Museums in Egypt and France re-open, Met Museum faces deficit, ‘Spiral Jetty’ as Utah’s state art

Important museums re-open after very different attacks. A key American critic passes away. The Metropolitan Museum of Art faces a financial diet. Here are your Necessary Links:

— Art critic Dore Ashton, who wrote some of the earliest histories of the Abstract Expressionists, has passed away. New York Times

— The mighty Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is facing a nearly $40 million deficit. Is it a sign of a “great institution in decline”? New York Times

— Cairo’s Museum of Islamic Art re-opens three years after being damaged by a car bomb. NPR

— And the Louvre in Paris re-opens after a machete-wielding man attacked soldiers guarding the museum. Time

— The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the High Museum in Atlanta engaged in some artsy Super Bowl trash talk. Artnet

— More inspiring than a Mexico border wall: An International Gateway of Friendship. Interestingly enough, the idea was once pitched by the Hoover administration (the very same administration that deported Mexicans during the Great Depression). The renderings, however, are pretty fabulous. Citylab

— Lawmakers in Utah are considering making Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty” the official work of art of the state. KSL (Via ARTnews)

— Architect Daniel Libeskind comes out against Donald Trump’s travel ban — and says he will boycott companies that support the administration’s policies. The Architect’s Newspaper

— The London-based Hospital Club, a private, arts-focused social club, is planning a branch in Hollywood. Love thinking about all the socialites with looking-at-art face who will hang out at this thing. The Architect’s Newspaper

— Seven L.A. streets are now scheduled to receive pedestrian-friendly “Great Streets” makeovers. Curbed

— In L.A.’s Koreatown, an artsy fartsy gallery hangout — with booze. LA Weekly

— A show by Taravat Talepasand at Zevitas Marcus fuses Pop Art with some very unconventional depictions of Iranian women. Los Angeles Times

— A lost photo album becomes a singular portrait of black life in the 20th century. This is a terrific story. New York Times

— Mexican anti-Nazi propaganda. Fusion

— “A reading list for the New America.” Especially dig that “Red Feed Blue Feed” link submitted by artist Chloë Bass — showing, side-by-side, what social media feeds might look for a conservative versus a liberal. Eye-opening. Walker Art Center

— In case you need some more dystopia in your life: A short story by Katie Kitamura and Hari Kunzru that imagines a world in which spoken languages are licensed to their speakers. Could happen. Triple Canopy

— And last but not least, Trump draws. Twitter

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carolina.miranda@latimes.com

@cmonstah