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Avant-Guardian Musings

  • Spring 2025
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“Art is an outlet toward regions which are not ruled by time and space”
— Marcel Duchamp

Avant-Guardian Musings is a curated space of ideas and information, resources, reviews and readings for undergraduate and graduate students studying modern and contemporary art history and visual art theory, film and photography studies, and the expanding field of visual culture and screen studies. For students currently enrolled in my courses or the field school, the blog and associated social media links also serve as a place of reflection and an extension of the ideas and visual material raised in lecture and seminar discussion.

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Blog
From the Archives | How (And Why) To Take Excellent Lecture Notes
From the Archives | How (And Why) To Take Excellent Lecture Notes
about 10 months ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 2 years ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 2 years ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 2 years ago
Top 10 Modern and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Worth Visiting In 2023
Top 10 Modern and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Worth Visiting In 2023
about 2 years ago

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Delighted to find these iconic Tom Ford Whitney’s deep in my closet over the weekend ✨☀️🕶️Anyone else remember these sunglasses from back in the day? I want to say these are well over 15 years old and they were a very big splurge, but I loved
Delighted to find these iconic Tom Ford Whitney’s deep in my closet over the weekend ✨☀️🕶️Anyone else remember these sunglasses from back in the day? I want to say these are well over 15 years old and they were a very big splurge, but I loved rediscovering and wearing them today. Great design is timeless. Invest in things you love— your future self will thank you✨ . . . #tomford #sunglasses #tomfordwhitney #whatiwore #shamelessselfie
If Seoul was a colour, it would be neon and bright, and if it was a shape, it would be curved and post-structural.
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#artanddesign #odetoacity #urban #seoul #korea #design #contemporaryart #architecture
If Seoul was a colour, it would be neon and bright, and if it was a shape, it would be curved and post-structural. . . . #artanddesign #odetoacity #urban #seoul #korea #design #contemporaryart #architecture
Visited the stunning Leeum Museum of Art today and took in the spatial delights of Korean architecture married to modern art. What I love most is how the familiar European and American “masters” (i.e. Rodin, Giacometti, Rauschenberg, Hess
Visited the stunning Leeum Museum of Art today and took in the spatial delights of Korean architecture married to modern art. What I love most is how the familiar European and American “masters” (i.e. Rodin, Giacometti, Rauschenberg, Hesse, Flavin, Rothko, Andre, Lewitt, Stella, etc…) are curated both in dialogue with Korean modern artists such as Lee Ufan and Kim Chong-yung, but also in juxtaposition to the beautiful natural setting that is showcased through large windows throughout the complex. A must see gallery if you visit Seoul. . . . #seoul #korea #modernart #contemporaryart #koreanart #arthistory
Flaneur for the day in Seoul ✨🇰🇷 A global city of high contrast, beauty, and living history around every corner.
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#seoul #korea #flaneur #daytripping #streetart #contemporaryart #modernart #urbanart #arthistory #urban #globalcity
Flaneur for the day in Seoul ✨🇰🇷 A global city of high contrast, beauty, and living history around every corner. . . . #seoul #korea #flaneur #daytripping #streetart #contemporaryart #modernart #urbanart #arthistory #urban #globalcity
Hello Seoul! 🇰🇷🛬✨안녕하세요 서울 Lucky me, I am incredibly excited to have arrived in South Korea today and staying smack dab in the middle of the stylish Gangnam District at the COEX Conference Centre. It is my first time in this beautiful city and I ca
Hello Seoul! 🇰🇷🛬✨안녕하세요 서울 Lucky me, I am incredibly excited to have arrived in South Korea today and staying smack dab in the middle of the stylish Gangnam District at the COEX Conference Centre. It is my first time in this beautiful city and I cannot wait to begin exploring, especially the contemporary art and design scene. I am here to attend and give a paper at the #IPSA2025 International Political Science Association World Congress, the largest global gathering of researchers and academics working on all things political and international relations oriented. IPSA as an academic association was founded under the auspices of UNESCO in 1949 and is devoted to the advancement of political science in all parts of the world and promotes collaboration between scholars in both established and emerging democracies. The 2025 Conference theme is “Resisting Autocratization in Polarized Societies” and I was invited to present a paper on my ongoing work on Trumpism, the neo avante-garde, and visual culture on a panel examining the role of cultural actors during periods of democratic backsliding. I only had a few hours after I arrived to my hotel to check out COEX, but I had to see the world famous library housed inside the shopping complex. It was a very cool sight for a book nerd like me 🤓 . . . #seoul #korea #southkorea #politicalscience #arthistory #academiclife #conference @kpuarts @kwantlenu

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© Dorothy Barenscott, Avant-Guardian Musings, and dorothybarenscott.com, 2010-2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dorothy Barenscott, Avant-Guardian Musings, and dorothybarenscott.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Howie Tsui, detail from Retainers of Anarchy (2017), featured as a YouTube link this week and part of as the Vancouver Art Gallery describes of “a 25-metre scroll-like video installation that references life during the song dynasty (960–1279 CE), bu…

Howie Tsui, detail from Retainers of Anarchy (2017), featured as a YouTube link this week and part of as the Vancouver Art Gallery describes of “a 25-metre scroll-like video installation that references life during the song dynasty (960–1279 CE), but undermines its idealized portraiture of social cohesion by setting the narrative in Kowloon’s notorious walled city—an ungoverned tenement of disenfranchised refugees in Hong Kong which was demolished in 1994.”

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Roundup

April 14, 2019

This was one of those rare weeks each year when all attention, and eyes, turn to a single iconic history-making image. The first-ever photograph of a black hole not only captured global attention, but also raised debate and interest around the individuals and methods that converged to document what many scientists thought was “unseeable.” As usual, I find these moments both fascinating, but also very telling of our culture’s continued obsession with photography, the photographer, and the medium’s promise of truth-telling. It also reminds me of a fantastic book I reviewed many years ago, No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy by Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites. Therein the authors analyze nine iconic photographs while reflecting on how the images way of entering the public discourse impacts both meaning and collective memory that the image triggers for future audiences.  

My choice of links for this week’s roundup run the gamut, from a look at the high-stakes world of academic hiring, and the continued politics of art donors and the art world’s response, to tactics to ward off fascist thought when you see those around you being brainwashed (the Atlantic article was eye-opening indeed!). I also include a great editorial on the arrest of Julian Assange, a look at the controversy over LACMA’s new building (I love a good fight over built space!), and a peek at the recent Art Basel Hong Kong. And since Game of Thrones is back on our screens, I round out the links with a look at one of the production crew whose job it is to make visible and visual what is in the show script. Enjoy the links and have a great week!

The Professor and The Adjunct
The Professor and The Adjunct
Artist Hito Steyerl Made an App That Removes the Sackler Name From the Serpentine Sackler’s Facade
Artist Hito Steyerl Made an App That Removes the Sackler Name From the Serpentine Sackler’s Facade
What Does It Mean to Live a Non-Fascist Life?
What Does It Mean to Live a Non-Fascist Life?
What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News
What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News
Julian Assange Got What He Deserved
Julian Assange Got What He Deserved
LACMA: Suicide by Architecture
LACMA: Suicide by Architecture
‘Game of Thrones’: Meet the Woman Who Is the ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to the Show’ In Praise of Public Libraries
‘Game of Thrones’: Meet the Woman Who Is the ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to the Show’ In Praise of Public Libraries
In Praise of Public Libraries
In Praise of Public Libraries
Art Makes Us | Celebrating Artistic Achievement, Howie Tsui: Retainers of Anarchy (VIDEO)
Art Makes Us | Celebrating Artistic Achievement, Howie Tsui: Retainers of Anarchy (VIDEO)
Art Basel Hong Kong 2019 | Highlights (VIDEO)
Art Basel Hong Kong 2019 | Highlights (VIDEO)
The Professor and The Adjunct Artist Hito Steyerl Made an App That Removes the Sackler Name From the Serpentine Sackler’s Facade What Does It Mean to Live a Non-Fascist Life? What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News Julian Assange Got What He Deserved LACMA: Suicide by Architecture ‘Game of Thrones’: Meet the Woman Who Is the ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to the Show’ In Praise of Public Libraries In Praise of Public Libraries Art Makes Us | Celebrating Artistic Achievement, Howie Tsui: Retainers of Anarchy (VIDEO) Art Basel Hong Kong 2019 | Highlights (VIDEO)
  • The Professor and The Adjunct

  • Artist Hito Steyerl Made an App That Removes the Sackler Name From the Serpentine Sackler’s Facade

  • What Does It Mean to Live a Non-Fascist Life?

  • What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News

  • Julian Assange Got What He Deserved

  • LACMA: Suicide by Architecture

  • ‘Game of Thrones’: Meet the Woman Who Is the ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to the Show’

  • In Praise of Public Libraries

  • Art Makes Us | Celebrating Artistic Achievement, Howie Tsui: Retainers of Anarchy (VIDEO)

  • Art Basel Hong Kong 2019 | Highlights (VIDEO)

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© Dorothy Barenscott, 2010-2025