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Avant-Guardian Musings

  • Fall 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
KPU FINE ARTS PARIS + VENICE BIENNALE FIELD SCHOOL (MAY/JUNE 2026)
KPU FINE ARTS PARIS + VENICE BIENNALE FIELD SCHOOL (MAY/JUNE 2026)
about 4 months ago
"No Fun City" Vancouver: Exploring Emotions of Detachment in Palermo, Sicily at AISU
"No Fun City" Vancouver: Exploring Emotions of Detachment in Palermo, Sicily at AISU
about 5 months ago
Making Sense of Art in the Age of Machine Learning—A Suggested Reading List
Making Sense of Art in the Age of Machine Learning—A Suggested Reading List
about 6 months ago
From the Archives | How (And Why) To Take Excellent Lecture Notes
From the Archives | How (And Why) To Take Excellent Lecture Notes
about a year ago
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
Weekly Musings + Round Up... And A Few More Things
about 3 years ago

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Sending love, energy, and resilience to all bad ass women everywhere on this International Women’s Day. Now, perhaps more then ever, be the light, be the change, be your authentic self ❤️🌹🔥✨

“We need a miracle to get out of here. And m
Sending love, energy, and resilience to all bad ass women everywhere on this International Women’s Day. Now, perhaps more then ever, be the light, be the change, be your authentic self ❤️🌹🔥✨ “We need a miracle to get out of here. And miracles are real; they have happened before. Unconditional love, for example, or solidarity, or courageous collective action. Miracles always happen at the right moment in the lives of those with a childlike faith in the triumph of truth over falsehood, of those who believe in mutual aid and live in keeping with the gift economy. You cannot buy the revolution, you can only be the revolution.” ― Nadya Tolokonnikova, Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism @pussyriot . . . #internationalwomensday #womensupportingwomen #motogirl #vancouver
Glimpsing changes, abstractions, experimentation, social transformation, and political will on the road to modernism and the avant-garde— Delacroix, Gericault, David, Goya, Turner, Daumier, Manet, Degas. Looking at the works in person, close up
Glimpsing changes, abstractions, experimentation, social transformation, and political will on the road to modernism and the avant-garde— Delacroix, Gericault, David, Goya, Turner, Daumier, Manet, Degas. Looking at the works in person, close up, and with knowledge transforms critical understanding and connections to our present moment. The first extraordinarily image is a prepatory painting for Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (1830)— something I’ve not seen before and I was captivated. I wonder if he would have wanted this to be closer to the finished work. . . . #arthistory #artinstitutechicago #modernism #modernart #chicago
Cloud Gate ☁️🩶✨📸 Anish Kapoor couldn’t have predicted how selfie and social media culture would totally activate this public art. It brings so much fun, play, and delight ✨
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#chicago #cloudgate #anishkapoor #publicart
Cloud Gate ☁️🩶✨📸 Anish Kapoor couldn’t have predicted how selfie and social media culture would totally activate this public art. It brings so much fun, play, and delight ✨ . . . #chicago #cloudgate #anishkapoor #publicart
Firelei Baez @fireleibaez omg, just WOW!🤩🔥 Having missed the @vanartgallery show last year, I am awestruck with this exhibition in Chicago and Baez’s use of colour and materials and the historical references that whisper and haunt. Just incre
Firelei Baez @fireleibaez omg, just WOW!🤩🔥 Having missed the @vanartgallery show last year, I am awestruck with this exhibition in Chicago and Baez’s use of colour and materials and the historical references that whisper and haunt. Just incredible. From the catalogue: “In her monumental paintings and installations, Báez creates fictional worlds that explore the legacies of colonial rule across the Americas and the African diaspora, in the Caribbean, and beyond. Her exuberant, colorful artworks contain complex and layered uses of pattern, decoration, and abstract gestures alongside symbols rooted in Afro-Caribbean cultures. Drawing on folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and mythology, she often works on top of visual references from the past, such as colonial maps and architectural plans, to challenge our understanding of acknowledged power, suggest alternative histories, and unsettle the often-fixed categories of race, gender, and nationality. Her works are at once fantastical, multilayered, and immersive, inviting viewers into her mythological narratives of struggle and resistance.” . . . #fireleibáez #mca #chicago #contemporaryart
Growing up, Double Fantasy played on repeat in my house, and I memorized all of the lyrics to the songs, hoping one day to experience a love like Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Later, when I became an art historian and understood the profound influence Yoko Ono had on expanding what art can be and what it can do to bring people together, she became someone I looked up to as a feminist trailblazer and avant-grade artist. So glad to have caught this show in Chicago as Ono turned 93 only a few days ago. A remarkable life and legacy— Yoko Ono has always understood the power of art and she will be remembered as truly one of a kind ❤️ #yokoono #contemporaryart #chicago #avantgarde

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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.

The Yoko Ono exhibition Growing Freedom opened at the Vancouver Art Gallery on October 9th and runs through next spring. I captured this shot of the exhibition posters on the north side of the gallery this past week.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

October 24, 2021

Midterm mayhem is in full swing, and my silence last week was due to a family emergency that had me scrambling to rearrange my schedule and shift gears to keep my head above water as the tsunami of grading pours in. I kept thinking about that infamous I Love Lucy episode where Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance work on an assembly line and try to keep on top of wrapping chocolates that are coming faster and in larger quantities down the conveyor belt.

Life is full of unexpected events, and these are the times we need to shed any pretense of perfectionism and our original game plan. As I told many of my students this past week, there is no shame in acknowledging when you are in over your head. If that means handing in an assignment that is incomplete and/or maybe not up to your standards, rethinking your expectations for a project, or even dropping a course that you know you are already failing, there is virtue in recognizing and facing the reality of the situation. The most important thing is not to beat yourself up about it. Look forward and carry on. Enjoy the weekly round up 😁

"Welcome To The Age Of Newstalgia"
"Welcome To The Age Of Newstalgia"

refinery29.com

"Lost in translation? The one-inch truth about Netflix’s subtitle problem"
"Lost in translation? The one-inch truth about Netflix’s subtitle problem"

theguardian.com

"Banksy’s “Love is in the Bin,” Explained"
"Banksy’s “Love is in the Bin,” Explained"

arsty.net

"Vienna Museums Are Revealing Their Raciest Art (and Educating the Masses) on the Adult Site OnlyFans"
"Vienna Museums Are Revealing Their Raciest Art (and Educating the Masses) on the Adult Site OnlyFans"

artnet.com

"Is Paris really taking London’s art crown? (PODCAST)"
"Is Paris really taking London’s art crown? (PODCAST)"

artnet.com

"Why Hollywood is Reluctant to Stop Using Real Guns as Props"
"Why Hollywood is Reluctant to Stop Using Real Guns as Props"

slate.com

"The True Cost of Wealth on HBO’s Succession"
"The True Cost of Wealth on HBO’s Succession"

theatlantic.com

"Culture Gabfest “I’ll Be Your Mirror” Edition (PODCAST)"
"Culture Gabfest “I’ll Be Your Mirror” Edition (PODCAST)"

slate.com

"For This Artist, the Medium Is the Body"
"For This Artist, the Medium Is the Body"

nytimes.com

Meret Oppenheim: Mon Exposition / Retrospective at Kunstmuseum Bern (VIDEO)
Meret Oppenheim: Mon Exposition / Retrospective at Kunstmuseum Bern (VIDEO)

vernissagetv

"Welcome To The Age Of Newstalgia" "Lost in translation? The one-inch truth about Netflix’s subtitle problem" "Banksy’s “Love is in the Bin,” Explained" "Vienna Museums Are Revealing Their Raciest Art (and Educating the Masses) on the Adult Site OnlyFans" "Is Paris really taking London’s art crown? (PODCAST)" "Why Hollywood is Reluctant to Stop Using Real Guns as Props" "The True Cost of Wealth on HBO’s Succession" "Culture Gabfest “I’ll Be Your Mirror” Edition (PODCAST)" "For This Artist, the Medium Is the Body" Meret Oppenheim: Mon Exposition / Retrospective at Kunstmuseum Bern (VIDEO)
  • Welcome To The Age Of Newstalgia

  • Lost in translation? The one-inch truth about Netflix’s subtitle problem

  • Banksy’s “Love is in the Bin,” Explained

  • Vienna Museums Are Revealing Their Raciest Art (and Educating the Masses) on the Adult Site OnlyFans

  • Is Paris really taking London’s art crown? (PODCAST)

  • Why Hollywood is Reluctant to Stop Using Real Guns as Props

  • The True Cost of Wealth on HBO’s Succession

  • Culture Gabfest “I’ll Be Your Mirror” Edition (PODCAST)

  • For This Artist, the Medium Is the Body

  • Meret Oppenheim: Mon Exposition / Retrospective at Kunstmuseum Bern (VIDEO)

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© Dorothy Barenscott, 2010-2025