Our most-talked-about stories in Art, Design & Style, and Performing Arts, February 20 - 24, 2012:

ART

— Chloe Wyma offered five lessons from a behind-the-scenes exposé by Alice Gregory of her experiences as an accidental "Sotheby's girl."

— Cindy Sherman's retrospective opened this week at MoMA. Kyle Chayka wrote that the exhibition offers a new angle on an artist who's long been a household name.

— We gave a peek at the trippy environments Yayoi Kusama unveiled at her dot-filled solo show at Tate Modern.

— New York-based sculptor and installation artist Sarah Sze was selected to represent the United States at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

— Julia Halperin rounded up some of the stranger details from the recent scandal around the Knoedler Gallery's sale of allegedly forged masterpieces by the likes of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. (Frank Stella has a sideline as an art authenticator?)
 

DESIGN & FASHION

— Shohei Shigematsu, of Rem Koolhaas's Office of Metropolitan Architecture, spoke with Janelle Zara about the firm's plans for Marina Abramovic's amazing performance art center in Hudson, New York.

— Just as the late singer Whitney Houston was being laid to rest, celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien announced plans for a sale of the tragic actress and singer's memorabilia.

— Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's latest work is a solar-powered lamp, to be mass produced for the people of Africa, South America, and Asia.

— Designers at London Fashion Week took inspiration from almost every period in art history, from Gustav Klimt to Ryan McGinley.

— The Smithsonian's $500-million National Museum of African American History and Culture broke ground in Washington, D.C. this week, and we took a close look at David Adjaye's glittery designs.

PERFORMING ART

— Nick Catucci explains why, against all logic, you should care about Kenny Powers's caricature of a character on mancentric HBO sitcom "Eastbown & Down."

— Less than a week before the ceremony, artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen complains that Michael Fassbender, the star of his new film "Shame," was snubbed at the Oscars because Americans are prudes.

— New songs and music videos by the hip-hop veteran formerly known as Mos Def and rising horrorcore rappers Odd Future try to out-shock you.

— Following controversy over an offensive joke tweeted by "The Office" star Rainn Wilson, Nick Catucci had some thoughts about the comedy mine field surrounding the "Rape Joke."

— Filmmaker Abel Ferrara unleashed the gloomy trailer for his Willem Dafoe-starring apocalypse drama "4:44 The Last Day on Earth."