Wednesday's Art Notes

_Jeroen Diepenmaat, "Pour des dents d'un blanc eclatant et saines," 2005. Record player, vinyl record, taxidermied bird and sound. Image courtesy of the artist and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston._ "The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl" at the "Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston,":http://www.icaboston.org/ explores the culture of vinyl records. The exhibit runs through Sept 5. * After saying its June tour to Japan was in jeopardy because of safety concerns, the Metropolitan Opera announced it would go ahead with the trip, via "the New York Times":http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/19/metropolitan-opera-to-make-japan-trip/. * A Chinese human rights lawyer who has represented "detained artist Ai Weiwei":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/china1_04-04.html has re-emerged after a five-day disappearance, "via the Guardian":http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/19/ai-weiwei-lawyer-liu-xiaoyuan-reappears-china. Weiwei has been jailed since April 4. "In a New York Times op-ed":http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/opinion/20Rushdie.html Tuesday, novelist Salman Rushdie writes, "[Weiwei's] release is a matter of extreme urgency and the governments of the free world have a clear duty in this matter." * Poland's most precious painting, "Lady with an Ermine" by Leonardo da Vinci, will be allowed to travel to Spain, Germany and Britain, via "the Associated Press":http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_POLAND_DA_VINCI_PAINTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT. Wednesday's decision comes after almost a year of discussion by art experts and Poland's Culture Ministry about whether the 15th-century masterpiece should be allowed to leave the country. * Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith in the "Doctor Who" series between 1973 and 1976, died of cancer Tuesday, "the BBC reported":http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13137674. She was 63.