Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

My focus this week has been on getting my students and myself to end of this unusual and difficult semester. With final exams just around the corner, the end is somewhat in sight, but only distantly. As such, I will keep my preamble to the round up this week brief, but I did want to follow up on one interesting bit of research that popped up in connection to my discussion about the future of movie theatres in the wake of the global pandemic.

Shortly after I made my post last week, I was curious about how movie theatre owners fared during the 1918 Spanish Flu. From my own understanding of film history at this time, this would have corresponded with the beginnings of the film industry on the West Coast in the wake of the dismantling of the Motion Pictures Patent Company on the East Coast, which had kept monopoly control of the film industry in New York until a group of independent film producers and theatre owners sued the MPPC and moved themselves to California to establish what we know today as “Hollywood.” I found this interesting article in the Hollywood Reporter discussing the threat of the 1918 pandemic to the film industry and then searched a bit more and uncovered this fascinating ad from November 1918.

Charlie Chaplin film promoted in Moving Picture World in November, 1918, at the height of the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Featuring Charlie Chaplin and the promotion of his latest film, Shoulder Arms, the ad was placed in Moving Picture World Magazine by one of the largest movie theatres in New York at the time, The Strand, thanking people for “taking their lives in their hands” to pack the venue to see the film. Notice how at the bottom of the page, there is the clear instruction to “Avoid Crowds” as directed by the New York Board of Health, but then the contradictory message to support Chaplin and his film. Indeed, the more I have read about and researched this period of history, the more I am realizing how much of what we are collectively experiencing is neither unique nor surprising. The good news of course is that the film industry survived the 1918 pandemic, but the sad news is that many died needlessly because of failure to understand or take seriously how the virus was spread and how deadly it would prove to be (in fact, the death rate in New York caused by the pandemic following in the weeks after this ad was placed were record breaking). All of this to say, stay safe, wear a mask, social distance, and maybe avoid movie theatres for a while longer.

"30 Years of the Guerrilla Girls’ Art and Advocacy"

hyperallergic.com

"‘This Planet is Our Spaceship’: An Interview with Cauleen Smith"

nybooks.com

"“Emily in Paris” and the Rise of Ambient TV"

newyorker.com

"Mr. Brainwash and 6 Other People Who Definitely, as Far as We Can Tell, Are Probably Not Banksy"

artnet.com

"Pandemic blues? Online art therapy might help you work through your feelings"

cbc.ca

"Stunt artists who claim they're behind the alien monoliths sell new ones for $45,000"

mashable.com

"Daily Newspapers Are Meticulously Cut into Lace Collages by Artist Myriam Dion"

thisiscolossal.com

"Hollywood’s Obituary, the Sequel. Now Streaming"

nytimes.com

"This Issue: Sovereignty"

canadianart.ca

Ready to Stop Digging? Changing Your Relationship To Academia (PODCAST)

theprofessorisin.com

• 30 Years of the Guerrilla Girls’ Art and Advocacy

• ‘This Planet is Our Spaceship’: An Interview with Cauleen Smith

• “Emily in Paris” and the Rise of Ambient TV

• Mr. Brainwash and 6 Other People Who Definitely, as Far as We Can Tell, Are Probably Not Banksy

• Pandemic blues? Online art therapy might help you work through your feelings

• Stunt artists who claim they're behind the alien monoliths sell new ones for $45,000

• Daily Newspapers Are Meticulously Cut into Lace Collages by Artist Myriam Dion

• Hollywood’s Obituary, the Sequel. Now Streaming

• This Issue: Sovereignty

• Ready to Stop Digging? Changing Your Relationship To Academia (PODCAST)

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

As we wind down this strangest of semesters and prepare for the next, I have been thinking a lot this week about how differently I have had to approach the teaching of one of my courses in particular—Introduction to Film Studies. I was prompted to reflect on this after preparing the final lecture of the semester where I outline how dramatically Hollywood has had to change its business model to compete and meet the challenge of streaming services like Netflix, on the one hand, and Internet piracy on the other. As I was working through these ideas, it occurred to me that the dramatic decline in movie theatre attendance in the past decade (another point of discussion) could now be seeing the final nail in the coffin with the global pandemic. How would this change cinema-going, and how would this show up in my classroom?

When I began teaching my Intro to Film course nearly ten years ago, one of my absolute pedagogical goals was to ensure that my students would sit together for each of the weekly film screenings and have a robust discussion immediately afterwards. Another goal was for students to attend the Vancouver International Film Festival and experience the energy of cinephiles as they gather for lively screenings and post-film discussions. Emphasizing these moments of shared, undistracted, and non- “time-shifting” viewing has been key to the success of my course, and one that many of my students have commented on as an important and enjoyable element of the communal experience of cinema-going. This past semester, all of that had to change, and I cannot help but think something very important was lost in the process.  

Coincidentally, one of the podcasts I listen to regularly (Slate Culture Gabfest) was also ruminating precisely on this topic and featured film critic Sam Adams discussing a recent editorial about how the “darkened theatre” of 2020 has profoundly changed how people discover and learn about film, and also what the empty cinema may signal for film culture moving forward. In his article, titled “We Have Glimpsed Our Streaming Future, and It Sucks,” Adams concludes: “The world without movie theatres isn’t a world without gatekeepers. It’s just a world where the gatekeepers aren’t human, and instead of urging you to watch what they love, they serve up whatever seems most like the last thing you liked.” The happy accident of finding a random film you weren’t looking for – be it at a film festival, in a video store (remember those?), at a local theatre, or in a film class like mine—is threatened by the tidy algorithms that dictate what shows up next on your Netflix queue. Some food for thought…. and incidentally, I have assigned the reading for my students to reflect upon and included the episode of the Culture Gabfest that sparked more thought on this important topic in the round up below.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

• Now that we are back to a partial lock down here in Vancouver, I am catching up on a few television series that have been on my must-see list. As a big fan of The Americans, I have been enjoying Deutschland 83, a German-American spy-thriller series that is set in 1983 and follows the storyline of a 24-year old East German man who is sent undercover by the Stasi into West Germany. Originally broadcast in Europe back in 2015, with impeccable casting and fantastic cinematography, it is a series that has gone on to win multiple awards and has had two further seasons Deutschland 86 in 2016 and this past year Deutschland 89 to coincide with events related to the fall of the Berlin Wall. If this historical era interests you, I also recommend two films that track along these lines: Good Bye, Lenin (2003) and The Lives of Others (2006)

• I am also revisiting the classic and absolute must-see television series The Wire and have been enjoying working through all five seasons with the accompanying recaps and commentary in the The Wire Re-Up, which is The Guardian newspaper’s collected episode guide to the series. Beginning as a series of blog posts, the collected insights, interviews, and critical discussion on each episode are created (and now assembled) for those who have already watched the series once in its entirety. So this is an important spoiler alert—watch the series first (lucky you if you haven’t!) and then go back and check out the Wire Re-Up.

"Hito Steyerl Brings Us Late Night Public Access Weirdness"

hyperallergic.com

"Did You Catch the Clever Art-Historical Easter Egg in the Netflix Hit ‘The Queen’s Gambit’?"

artnet.com

"Is Contemporary Art Frightened of Fear?"

artreview.com

"A New Movie on Moholy-Nagy, Inspiring Artist and Teacher"

hyperallergic.com

"A 21-year Old’s Collection of Supreme T-Shirts Expected To Sell for $2 million at Christies "

fashionista.ca

"The Gray Market: Why Corporate Collections Are Thriving While Museums Starve"

artnet.com

"When Tracey was Traci: Emin's unseen early paintings published for the first time"

theguardian.com

"What We Can Learn From Solitude"

nytimes.com

"Housing Works "

artforum.com

"Culture Gabfest “Girls on Film Edition” (PODCAST) "

slate.com

• Hito Steyerl Brings Us Late Night Public Access Weirdness

• Did You Catch the Clever Art-Historical Easter Egg in the Netflix Hit ‘The Queen’s Gambit’?

• Is Contemporary Art Frightened of Fear?

• A New Movie on Moholy-Nagy, Inspiring Artist and Teacher

• A 21-year Old’s Collection of Supreme T-Shirts Expected To Sell for $2 million at Christies

• The Gray Market: Why Corporate Collections Are Thriving While Museums Starve

• When Tracey was Traci: Emin's unseen early paintings published for the first time

• What We Can Learn From Solitude

• Housing Works

• Culture Gabfest “Girls on Film Edition” (PODCAST)

Courses For Spring 2021: Contemporary Art. Urban and Screen Culture, and Film Studies

As registration for Spring 2021 academic courses is ongoing, I wanted to provide more information about courses I will begin teaching starting January 2021. Please see detailed descriptions below. If you have any specific questions that are not answered here, you can contact me directly. In keeping with Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Covid-19 plan, all of the following courses will be held ONLINE and be asynchronous with non-mandatory and optional synchronous components.

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ARTH 2222: CONTEMPORARY ART & VISUAL CULTURE, 1945-PRESENT 

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #586, 2016/2018 (photo: D. Barenscott)

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (ONLINE). Prerequisites: 6 credits of any 1100-level courses or higher.

How is the world of contemporary art a reflection on our broader culture? What can artists teach us about visualizing the complex world in which we live? This course will investigate social, political, cultural and technological influences on Western art from the mid-twentieth century to the present, exploring modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, architecture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, film, installation art, video art, digital art, performance art and other multi-media practices.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: From photography to video, collage to assemblage, installation to performance, such media have extended notions of what art could materially consist of, but have also affected the anticipation of audiences for that work, having social as well as aesthetic implications. Ultimately, our attention will be on the network where art is made, presented to and reacted to by different parties, and to the ways that portions of the art system―such as art history and cultural criticism―have conceived of and explained the workings of such a system and the society it exists within. 

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ARTH 1140: INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL ART, URBAN, AND SCREEN CULTURE

Eine, Harmony mural in Chicago, 2020 (photo: D. Barenscott)

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (ONLINE). Prerequisites: 6 credits of any 1100-level courses or higher.

Formulated to compliment ARTH 1130: Introduction to Film Studies, ARTH 1140 extends the conversation about screen culture to the world of urban studies and public art. We begin with the question "How do we navigate and make sense of the fast-changing world of new urban visual environments and the emerging world of screen culture?" and explore case studies in street and graffiti art, hip-hop and punk culture, video gaming, anime, new media and Internet art, urban performance art, activist art, grassroots fashion, street photography, and the world of mobile photography and filmmaking.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will study the broad field of contemporary visual art and culture with a specific focus on the role of urban environments and the emerging world of screen culture in shaping new possibilities for global art production and circulation. Students will explore how they can become active agents rather than passive observers through engagement with the diversity of visual art and culture surrounding them. They will investigate interdisciplinary topics connecting the world of visual art with urban and screen cultures through case studies in street and graffiti art, hip-hop and punk culture, video gaming, anime, new media and Internet art, urban performance art, activist art, grassroots fashion, street photography, and the world of mobile photography and filmmaking.

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ARTH 1130: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (2019)

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (ONLINE). Prerequisites: None

The ever popular film studies course is continuing to evolve and update to consider recent developments in the film industry, together with new research that links histories of cinema's past to its present. This is a course that will have you thinking critically about motion pictures long after the final exam.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will study the history and development of world cinema, and the comprehension and theory of film as a visual language and art-making practice from its inception in the late nineteenth century to the present. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the critical interpretation of the cinema and the various vocabularies and methods with which one can explore the aesthetic function, together with the social, political, and technological contexts and developments, of moving pictures. Each week, a full length feature film (chosen by popular class vote) will be screened and serve as a starting point and gateway for discussion about the course’s weekly themes. 

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

An optimist by nature, I try to be the kind of person who finds the silver lining in difficult situations and choose to persevere rather than give up or give in. But this month has been especially hard, on so many levels personal and professional, and for so many people near and dear in my orbit. With my students, I have been trying to find a balance as we finish out this difficult semester. Compassion is called for at these times, and the discussion around mental health and well-being, on many levels, has filled up more of my time than any real conversations about course content. I have to remind myself constantly that we are not living anywhere near “normal” times, and then find a way to mirror that reality as an educator. Compassion is called for in a way that we may not see again in the same way in this lifetime.

Thankfully, the study of art history and visual culture provides ample opportunity to explore and find resonance with the creatives and artists of past eras, and I am seeing some of the most profound and thoughtful ideas coming out of the courses I have taught since the pandemic started. In my round up this week, you will discover something of this sentiment in an art world continuing to find meaning and offer critical reflection as the optimism of recent years is tested.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

I have been writing a few lines a day in my five-year journal (pictured above) since the early days of the pandemic.

• At the beginning of the pandemic, the historian in me knew that a documentation of what lay ahead would someday prove compelling. As I am pretty inconsistent with daily journaling, I wanted something low stakes and analog to meet me where I was. Some Lines a Day Journal has proven to be the perfect journaling companion. It is one of the many five years on a page journals out on the market that prompts a short entry (literally of 4-5 lines tops) each day and allows you to see the comparison of your entries year to year for five years, all on one page. I have been recommending this to my students and I share here as well as a small daily habit that over time will create quite a personal keepsake. I also love the elegant simplicity  and quality of the Leuchtturm1917 journals—they are a dream to write in.

• I am currently working on a paper that will be published in an edited book titled Through a Glass, Darkly: Screening the Art World through Amsterdam University Press later next year. My chapter is tentatively titled “Breaking the Fourth Wall: Exposing the Business of Contemporary Art in Documentary Film” and as part of my research I have been reading recent art theory that deals with art and culture in the era of Trump. Among the literature I am reviewing, I have especially enjoyed Hal Foster’s book What Comes After Farce? (Verso, 2020). I routinely assign Foster for many of my upper level art history courses-- his books were also staple reading when I was a grad student-- and his latest book is already helping me to conceptualize important underpinnings to the arguments I will be making in my paper. Highly recommended text for a broad interdisciplinary readership, but also incredibly accessible for a lay audience interested in what is happening to the arts in a “post-truth” world. And P.S. the book is currently 40% off through the publisher’s year-end sale.

"Yayoi Kusama’s Self-Portrait as a Young Provocateur"

hyperallergic.com

"Life on the Line: 10 Artists Spread Mental Health Awareness Across Toronto’s Subway"

thisiscolossal.com

"How Do You Know When Society Is About to Fall Apart?"

nytimes.com

"Processing Our 2020 Feelings With Patty Chang"

hyperallergic.com

"Fade into Place"

canadianart.ca

"Why the Art World Shouldn’t Be Congratulating Itself on Donald Trump’s Defeat"

artnet.com

"The story you haven’t heard about that viral image of Kamala Harris and Ruby Bridges"

latimes.com

"‘The Crown’: The History Behind Season 4 on Netflix"

nytimes.com

"The Pandemic Clarified Who the Kardashians Really Are"

theatlantic.com

"How mass media representations shape us | Cindy Sherman (VIDEO)"

moma.org

• Yayoi Kusama’s Self-Portrait as a Young Provocateur

• Life on the Line: 10 Artists Spread Mental Health Awareness Across Toronto’s Subway

• How Do You Know When Society Is About to Fall Apart?

• Processing Our 2020 Feelings With Patty Chang

• Fade into Place

• Why the Art World Shouldn’t Be Congratulating Itself on Donald Trump’s Defeat

• The story you haven’t heard about that viral image of Kamala Harris and Ruby Bridges

• ‘The Crown’: The History Behind Season 4 on Netflix

• The Pandemic Clarified Who the Kardashians Really Are

• How mass media representations shape us | Cindy Sherman (VIDEO)

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

In the wake of Remembrance Day, the rising tide of the pandemic globally, and political instability returning to the U.S. after a momentary glimpse of hope and change, it has been a very sombre and introspective week. And it appears that the “dark winter” that many have been predicting is slowly and inevitably upon us…and in more ways than one. No doubt, it is very human to think we are unique in our struggles and anxieties, and living in unprecedented times, but as someone who has spent many years studying the history of failed revolutions and cultural transformations, especially of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, I continue to marvel at how many parallels exist between our present moment and that of the past.

The artist Georgia O’Keefe, who was born on this day in 1887 and lived to be 98 years old, is a poignant example of an individual who not only survived the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 — she was an art school professor during that period— but also the two world wars that followed, along with participating in the women’s movement. Looking at her artworks spanning this time, one recognizes the rejection of her traditional art training and turn to modernism as part of an internal revolution that mirrored the world she viewed around her. “I said to myself,” writes O’Keefe, “I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down. I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.” What brings me comfort via O’Keefe’s example is the knowledge that most of us will absolutely survive this difficult year, despite facing the truth that so much, and so many, will be lost. The fortunate among us will be rewarded with the opportunity to start anew.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

•  I have reached the American New Wave week of my Introduction to Film Studies class, and as part of my preparation I recently re-watched Dog Day Afternoon (1975), a classic of the period starring Al Pacino and directed by Sidney Lumet. I cannot express how fresh and relevant this film remains to contemporary eyes. Without spoiling the film, let’s just say it was way ahead of its time in exploring themes around media and celebrity, cultures of policing, income inequality, and racial and sexual discrimination underpinning so much of North American society. I cannot wait to see what my students make of the film when they respond to their screening questions, and I hope some of you put this one on your list for lock-down viewing in the coming months.

•  Speaking of the winter and upcoming holidays, I keep waiting for the first sign of the season, which for most of us arrives in the form of Christmas songs and treats of the season (and yes, those Irish Cream Americanos are worth a visit to Starbucks). More specifically though, who doesn’t find Mariah Carey’s super festive and upbeat earworm “All I Want For Christmas Is You” a signal that the holidays are underway. As a teenager of the 1980s and fan of autobiographies, I have been looking forward to Carey’s long awaited book The Meaning of Mariah ever since I first got wind of it last year. I finished it a few weeks ago and I have to say that it was one of the most incredible and conceptual memoirs I have read in recent years. What I love most is the way that Carey invites her readers into her creative process and shares how deeply personal struggles transformed her artistry and approach to making music. Highly recommended and this review gives you some insights and reasons to pick it up.  

• Oh yes, unless you have been living under a rock, The Crown Season 4 dropped this morning on Netflix…. I will slow watch this one between now and the holidays and savour every beautifully shot and scripted episode.

"When Waking Begins"

theparisreview.org

"The Mary Wollstonecraft Monument in London Is Bad Kitsch Feminism"

curbed.com

"Eric Fischl’s Privileged Bubble"

hyperallergic.com

"How Societies Go Backward"

nybooks.com

"How Does the Art World Feel About Joe Biden’s Victory? (PODCAST)"

artangle

"Kara Walker kicks Donald Trump to the curb and more of the best Instagram art responding to the US election"

theartnewspaper.com

"Was Michelangelo a Renaissance Banksy?"

wsj.com

"Lithuania’s Award-Winning Venice Biennale Pavilion Is Coming to an Abandoned Swimming Pool Just Outside Berlin"

artnet.com

"An Impossible Photograph: Jeff Wall (VIDEO)"

art21.org

"Art for Two - Diwali Special Edition: Amish Tripathi x Neil MacGregor (VIDEO)"

thegetty

• When Waking Begins

• The Mary Wollstonecraft Monument in London Is Bad Kitsch Feminism

• Eric Fischl’s Privileged Bubble

• How Societies Go Backward

• The Art Angle Podcast: How Does the Art World Feel About Joe Biden’s Victory?

• Kara Walker kicks Donald Trump to the curb and more of the best Instagram art responding to the US election

• Was Michelangelo a Renaissance Banksy?

• Lithuania’s Award-Winning Venice Biennale Pavilion Is Coming to an Abandoned Swimming Pool Just Outside Berlin

• An Impossible Photograph: Jeff Wall (VIDEO)

• Art for Two - Diwali Special Edition: Amish Tripathi x Neil MacGregor (VIDEO)