Andreas Gursky, Library (Stockholm) 1999. Ah, the library.... I want to spend a lot more time in this kind of space in 2017. Gursky celebrates his birthday today, and to check out his tremendous images, see his website — Andreas Gursky, *Library (Stockholm)* 1999. Ah, the library.... I want to spend a lot more time in this kind of space in 2017. Gursky celebrates his birthday today, and to check out his tremendous images, see his website

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Roundup

January 15, 2017

It is already January 15th and two weeks into the new semester, but I wish you all a very Happy New Year! The last 4-5 months have mostly been a blur of activity, planning, writing, editing, research, and of course teaching and working with students, but I am looking forward to a calmer year ahead (aren't we all?!) and more time for this blog. Over the holidays I spent a good deal of time catching up on many bookmarked and new articles and various circulating statements from artists, critics, academics, journalists and others about the state of affairs with respect to the rising politicization of art and culture worldwide. I am glad to say that I feel a great deal of optimism after taking much needed time for reflection on where the world is heading in this challenging geopolitical climate. That was certainly not the case the last time I posted to my blog, but I see once again the many opportunities that exist to use education (in the classroom and in public forums) as a tool of critical thinking, awareness, and yes, relief and hope, in the year ahead. Focusing on the historical avant-garde in my teaching and research tends to bring out that kind of perspective, but also the constant realization that we have seen this all before in our collective history. I am also thankful to be traveling a great deal in 2017 to some of the world's most powerful art cities, and I am already looking forward to the many conversations and ideas that will be shared with those I meet and travel with. As always, I hope you enjoy the assembled roundup of links and return back on Sundays (and hopefully more often as I kickstart my blogging once again) to share in the expansion of knowledge and information. Enjoy!

"Jim Golden Animates Vintage Devices for Relics of Technology"

designboom.com

"Richard Prince Disowns His Ivanka Trump Portrait, Possibly Increasing Its Value"

hyperallergic.com

"Why More Writers Should Talk About Money"

atlantic.com

"How artists respond to political crises | Modern Art & Ideas (VIDEO)"

moma.com

"Artists and Critics Call for Culture ‘Strike’ on Inauguration Day"

nytimes.com

"Charting The Soul Of A City In The Age Of Google Maps"

fastcodedesign.com

"32,000+ Bauhaus Art Objects Made Available Online by Harvard Museum Website"

openculture.com

"Wannabe art students invited to enrol at Tate Modern school"

theguardian.com

"In a Close, Close Future — in a City Not So Far Away — George Lucas Is Building His $1 Billion Museum in L.A."

vulture.com

"The DoubleX Gabfest “Urine Trouble America” Edition (PODCAST)"

slate.com

Germany's cover for Der Speigel offers one of the best visualizations of the US Election results, The End of the World (As We Know It) — Germany's cover for Der Speigel offers one of the best visualizations of the US Election results, The End of the World (As We Know It)

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

November 13, 2016

Waking up Wednesday morning to the full realization of the US elections, I was immediately reminded of what it felt like turning on the TV to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. A mixture of disbelief, horror, abject fear, and the knowledge that everything globally was about to change. Like many of you, I immediately started looking at my social media feeds and seeing the outpouring of response-- at every conceivable level: personal, national, professional, at the level of family, race, gender, and the deeply philosophical and radically political-- and tried to take in the magnitude of what had happened. Most of the links I am sharing this week are a reflection of that range.

It is far too early to fully express as an educator what I am thinking about this event-- the ripple effects are already spreading the hate, division, and ugly authoritarian rhetoric that shaped the election and are now reflected fully in the public realm both locally and globally-- but as I discussed and heard from many over this week, we all have a responsibility to speak truth to power in the days, weeks, and years to come. This is not the time to become cynical, to despair, or to give up. It is also not the time to think we as Canadians (or any group living outside the USA) are somehow immune to the large shifts that this political event signals. One silver lining to all that has transpired is how quickly conversations have turned to ideas and sharing of information that truly matter. As I wrote to one especially distraught friend in New York this week: "We have to see this moment as an opportunity for all of us to strengthen and protect the core values that shape a tolerant and accepting liberal democracy-- to use our position and privilege to bring critical attention to the abuses of power, and help give voice to those who will be the first targeted victims of the changes that are undoubtedly around the corner." The moment, and urgency around it, is all too real to ignore.

"Artists Respond with Devastation, Then Determination, to the Election of Donald Trump"

hyperallergic.com

"What Normalization Means"

newyorker.com

"Artist Offers Post-It Therapy in Subway for Grieving New Yorkers After Trump Triumph"

artnet.com

"What Now?"

theprofessorisin.com

"Pussy Riot Offers Encouragement to Dissenters in Trump’s America"

artnet.com

"Not My President!"

newyorktimes.com

"What Do We Do Now?"

slate.com

"Saturday Night Live w/Dave Chappelle Election Night Skit"

snl.com

"The U.S. Media Is Completely Unprepared to Cover a Trump Presidency"

theatlantic.com

"Sting Reopens Bataclan One Year After Paris Attacks"

rollingstones.com

Artists Respond with Devastation, Then Determination, to the Election of Donald Trump
What Normalization Means
Artist Offers Post-It Therapy in Subway for Grieving New Yorkers After Trump Triumph
What Now?
Pussy Riot Offers Encouragement to Dissenters in Trump’s America
Not My President!
What Do We Do Now?
Saturday Night Live w/ David Chappelle Election Night Skit
The U.S. Media Is Completely Unprepared to Cover a Trump Presidency
Sting Reopens Bataclan One Year After Paris Attacks

American artist Mary Cassatt painted the iconic Reading Le Figaro in Paris in 1878. Women of France (shockingly) had to wait until 1944 to be able to vote. — American artist Mary Cassatt painted the iconic *Reading Le Figaro* in Paris in 1878. Women of France (shockingly) had to wait until 1944 to be able to vote.

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

November 06, 2016

Within a few days, one of the most important elections of our lifetime will be over. I cannot even count the number of hours I have devoted to this cycle of the US election, but I along with the rest of the world am feeling anxiety, worry, and yes fear. Being someone who regularly lectures on the history of revolutions and big social and political shifts of nation, I have been having many conversations with students, colleagues, and friends over the past year about all of the potential scenarios of a Clinton or Trump victory, and none of the outcomes seems especially promising or even a bit hopeful. Whatever happens, it is clear that there is something profoundly broken in the way the world's most influential democracy is operating. In my lifetime, I never envisioned a world where people would openly be questioning the values associated with freedom of the press or the need for expertise and education. Nor did I in my wildest dreams expect people to willfully embrace demagoguery and unabashed racism at the degree, and in the numbers, we have seen globally in the past year. The age of populism, anti-intellectualism, and the silencing of opposition appears to be upon us, and it puts educators like me in a very precarious and scary position. Whatever happens this week, I know many more people will be paying serious attention to world affairs--maybe for the first time-- and that alone brings some measure of hope.

"On the Cover: Donald Trump by Barbara Kruger for the Election Issue"

nymag.com

"How important is art history in today’s market?"

nytimes.com

"‘I’m an Artist, Not a Priest’: Ai Weiwei Faces His Fans—and Critics—in Brooklyn"

thedailybeast.com

"5 Powerful Things We Learned From Marina Abramović’s Memoir"

artnet.com

"Lost in an Art Historian’s Annals of 1960s–70s NYC"

hyperallergic.com

"Please Turn On Your Phone in the Museum"

theatlantic.com

"Donald Trump Lookalike Causes a Ruckus on Fifth Avenue With Performance Art Piece"

artnet.com

"Preview: "Vancouver" from Season 8 of ART21 "Art in the Twenty-First Century" (VIDEO)"

art21.com

"In the Media Pen at a Trump Rally | 360 VR Video | The New York Times (VIDEO)"

newyorktimes.com

"Happy 100th, Dada: SF celebrates influential art movement"

sfgate.com

List of links (for quicker linking):

Barry Feinstein, Bob Dylan Birmingham England 1966 — Barry Feinstein, *Bob Dylan Birmingham England* 1966

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

October 23, 2016

After a VERY busy past couple of weeks, I am glad to be getting back to the round up once again. Midterms are stacked high on my desk and many emails need answering, but I wanted to post some great links to material that has been getting my attention the past week or more in my feeds.

First, there is a great deal of conversation and debate in my particular discipline the past several days regarding the UK's decision to remove art history as a subject from the secondary school A-Level exams (equivalent to the Advanced Placement courses in North America). Many prominent art historians, art critics, artists, and others in the art world have come forward since the news broke to share their thoughts on the importance of the field, and art history's many connections to cultural understanding and the current creative economy. It reminds me of the firestorm a few years back when Barack Obama used an analogy about trades training, and questioned the relevance of an art history degree for the job market. So many people ended up writing, tweeting, and speaking up about the value of the discipline that Obama ended up retracting and apologizing for the comment. If you go to Twitter and check out the hashtag #whyarthistorymatters, you will see many fantastic reasons!

The second story that had everyone talking this week was the awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature to Bob Dylan. First, there was the outrage voiced from many in the elite literary community that Dylan simply did not qualify for the award (as a popular musician) and was a poor choice, and then there was the lack of response from Dylan himself upon being notified by the Nobel committee of the award. What I love about this development is how much it reveals about the gap that still exists between what is characterized as "high" and "low" art in the literary world-- something that the art world also likes to pretend doesn't exist as much as it clearly does. Dylan's silence (a radical gesture in and of itself) is not at all a surprise to me. In fact, I kind of love it.

"Lost in an Art Historian’s Annals of 1960s–70s NYC"

hyperallergic.com

" Paul Klee’s Personal Notebooks Presenting His Bauhaus Teachings (1921-1931)"

openculture.com

"UNESCO Report Says Culture Makes Cities Safer"

blouinartinfo.com

"A Fictional Photographer Chronicles A Changing City"

hyperallergic.com

"On Inventing Women Artists in a Post-Truth Era"

canadianart.ca

"Axing A-Level Art History Only Amplifies Class Divides"

theconversation.com

"The Middle Market Squeeze, Part II: Galleries Get a Reality Check"

artnet.com

"Powerhouse Carolee Schneemann on Transcending Criticism and Male Dominance"

artsy.net

"An Evening with Patti Astor, Fab 5 Freddy, Glenn O'Brien, Johnny Dynell, and Michael Holman (VIDEO)"

moma.org

"What Protest Looks Like"

nybooks.com

Lawrence Weiner, Bits And Pieces Put Together To Present A Semblance Of A Whole (1991) — Lawrence Weiner, *Bits And Pieces Put Together To Present A Semblance Of A Whole* (1991)

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

September 25, 2016

Treading water a bit this week.... how about you? I have barely had time to look at my media feeds, but it was hard not to notice all of the Brangelina news mixed in with a million pundits speculating about the big US presidential debate tomorrow night (yes, I will be watching!). I did get out at the beginning of last week to see Oliver Stone's Snowden and I spent most of the film, which in true Oliver Stone style delivered on many visual techniques that incorporated multiple film stocks, odd angles, and genius editing, trying to figure out how he was able to get the film financed and made (researching later, I learned that he had received funding through French and German production companies). Looking ahead next week to the opening of the Vancouver International Film Festival, I am excited once again to note the diversity of filmmakers and controversial topics and themes that will be featured. Whether I have any time to attend more than a few screenings is another question, but I am offering all of my students a bonus assignment to attend and report back to me on what they have seen. Reading these reports is honestly one of the highlights of my fall semester-- the power of film cannot be underestimated, ever. Happy reading and linking!