Roundup: The art of protest, Dakota Access edition; a Trump tower, with pigs

Art and the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. A conversation about freedom of expression in Russia. And an imaginative idea for blocking Donald Trump's building logo in Chicago. Here's the Roundup:

— The Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline. Writer and editor Hrag Vartanian has been on the scene to talk to artists involved in the protests, conversations that have been gathered into a pair of podcasts — one that explores why artists are getting involved, and another that examines the role of art in protest. Hyperallergic, Hyperallergic

— A look at how Paul Cheyok'ten Wagner, a member of the Coastal Salish ethnicity, updated the design of the teepee into the "tarpee" so protesters could better weather North Dakota's winter. Seattle Globalist

— Vladimir Putin says he supports artistic freedoms — even as he supports the severe sentence of a theater director who opposed Russia's invasion of Crimea. New York Times

— Since we're on the subject of Putin: A member of Pussy Riot offers warnings about freedom of expression under Donald Trump. New York Times

— Sort of related: The Chicago architectural firm New World Design has come up with a proposal for blocking the unseemly views of Trump's giant name signage in Chicago. It involves pigs that fly (sort of). The Architect's Newspaper

— Plus: How the architecture of Trump's buildings is indifferent to truth. Artforum

— Arguments begin before a three-judge panel in Pasadena over a Nazi-looted painting by Camille Pisarro that once belonged to the Cassirer family. Plus, what's it's like to discover that you have a Nazi-looted painting hanging in your house. Fox 32, Los Angeles Times

— Early last month, the Los Angeles Police Department announced it would treat an anti-gallery graffiti in Boyle Heights as a hate crime. But the Boyle Heights Alliance Against Artwashing and Displacement protested that charge in a press conference. "As someone who is white, who has been living in this community for 22 years, I have never experienced any anti-white sentiment," Elizabeth Blaney, co-executive director of Union de Vecinos tells Matt Stromberg. Hyperallergic

— And a key property near Mariachi Plaza will be sold by the city of Los Angeles for development. But it doesn't appear that low-income housing will be part of the program. Urbanize.la

— Santa Ana College is reviving its mural program. OC Weekly

— Stephen Mnuchin has resigned from the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles after being appointed Treasury secretary by Trump. Los Angeles Times

— Lewis McAdams is stepping down as head of the nonprofit Friends of the Los Angeles River, the organization he helped found three decades ago. KCRW

— Photos may offer rare glimpse of Paul Gaugin in Tahiti. New York Times

— Places of liberation: Elle Pérez's intimate images of queer clubs. Aperture

— Honest museum audio tours. New Yorker

— Loving the Persian palaces of Beverly Hills. This is really good. Curbed

— What Western accounts of Kowloon's infamous Walled City left out. ArchDaily

— Priscilla Lovat Fraser, formerly of LACMA, takes over as director of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in West Hollywood. The Architect's Newspaper

— Thing you most definitely need: A profile of Pedro Almodovar. New Yorker

— And last but not least, your moment of humans photobombing a police cam in animal costumes. This is the sort of things that gives me hope for humanity. Gardner, Kan Police Department Facebook (h/t Marnie Weber)