– Tracey Emin Doesn’t Need the Money: The British artist plans to donate her Royal Academy teaching wage to pay for art materials for her students. The Turner Prize winner was appointed a professor of drawing at the famous British institution last week. "It's a wonderful position because I actually dictate how the drawing classes can be," she said. [BBC] 

– Public Art for D.C.: A new program called 5x5 will put temporary public art installations throughout Washington, a city that has long lagged behind others in the realm of public art. Five curators each received $100,000 to create 25 projects in collaboration with five artists of their choosing. [NYT] 

– White Cube Signs Theaster Gates: The Chicago-born sculptor, installation and performance artist will work with the blue chip gallery in London and continue to be repped by Kavi Gupta in his hometown and Berlin. Perhaps Gates’s upcoming stint as the official artist of the Armory Show will inspire a New York gallery to pick up the rapidly rising star next? [Baer Faxt]

– Occupy D.C. Street Art Spreads: An unnamed street artist has begun posting wheatpasted signs around Washington, D.C. supporting local artist and activist Adrian Parsons, who has been on a hunger strike while in jail with other protestors from Occupy D.C. for the past two weeks. The poster reproduces a photo of Parsons being arrested while handcuffed with the words “Lean and Hungry.” [WaPo]

– London Dealers Fight Droit de Suite: London dealers oppose the new droit de suite law that goes into effect in the EU next year. Critics claim the directive will put London at a competitive disadvantage with top art works going instead to rival markets like New York or Hong Kong, where no such levy applies. “The original idea was to help artists who were young and starving in their garrets to get a little bit more from their art. But the reality is rather different,” said Ivan Macquiten, editor of the Antiques Trade Gazette. [Guardian] 

– Altamira Restoration Lags: Despite nearly 10 years of restoration work, the Altamira cave paintings in northern Spain will remain inaccessible to almost everyone for the foreseeable future. Archaeological director José Antonio Lasheras voiced frustration with the project’s pace, saying that it is “an absolute failure” that such a valuable cultural heritage site should remain closed. [El Mundo]

– Art Project Alerts SVA Administrator to Burglary: A motion-sensitive camera School of Visual Arts administrator Levant Cetiner purchased for an interactive art project ended up alerting him to a burglary in progress inside his home. Pictures of a man entering his apartment from the roof and attempting to make off with several of Cetiner’s used laptops landed in his inbox. He called 911, and the burglar was arrested. [CBS]

– A New Curator for MoMA’s Architecture Department: Pedro Gadanho has been appointed a curator in MoMA’s department of architecture and design. Gadanho, currently an architect and curator based in Lisbon, will oversee the museum’s Young Architects Program and its WAP International Program. [ArchPaper] 

– Assessing the Washington Monument’s Damage: A new report on the damage done to the Washington monument during August’s earthquake details extensive cracking and chipped stones at the top of the 127-year-old structure that make it vulnerable to rain. The report was prepared by an engineering firm whose employees repelled down the monument to inspect damage. [AP] 

– Mr. Brainwash Returns: The street artist who played a starring role in the street art documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop” has returned to the City of Angels “with a new mega-show of the sort that only he could mastermind — which is to say that it is a sprawling, jumbled monstrosity pieced together at the last minute,” writes the L.A. Times. Brainwash and his crew rented out a five-story warehouse in the city and are working frantically to fill it with sculptures and paintings before opening night. [LAT] 

– Captain Beefheart’s Album Gets Release Date: More than 36 years after it was recorded, Zappa Records is finally releasing Captain Beefheart’s highly-anticipated album “Bat Chain Puller.” The album, which was reportedly shelved because of a disagreement with producer Frank Zappa and business partner Herb Cohen, will hit shelves January 15. [NYT] 

– Is England in the Midst of a Metal Sculpture Crime Wave?: The theft of a life-size aluminum sculpture of a rhinoceros from a college in North Yorkshire is the second incidence of metal sculpture larceny to make headlines in England this week. Police have traced the recent wave to the rising cost of metals such as brass, aluminum, copper, and lead. [ITA]