Studio critique of final projects produced in a tight time-frame of under three weeks. Learn more about each project as student bios are published on my blog through the month of June.

Field School | London and Venice Biennale, Here We Come

June 01, 2019

After three intensive weeks of coursework and art/writing projects, the field school students and leaders (me and Elizabeth Barnes) are ready to depart for London and the Venice Biennale!. Here’s a quick snapshot of the final studio critique last week that incorporated dialogue/exchange with individually assigned artists exhibited at the Tate Modern in London (assigned works can be found here).

Follow the KPU Fine Arts London Venice Biennale Field School hashtag #kpulondonvenice on Instagram through June 2019 on Instagram as we journey and document our visits to London museums, galleries, urban spaces, venues, and sites of art interest, and then on to the Venice Biennale to experience one of the most globally anticipated art events of the season. As we travel through the month, each student will introduce themselves through a bio on my blog where they will reflect on their assigned artist, their art projects, and experiences while on the road. Be part of the adventure!

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

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)

Christo, “The Arc de Triumph, Wrapped,” Project for Paris, Place de l’Etoile, Charles de Gaulle. Collage 2018 in two parts, 30 1/2 x 26 1/4” and 30 1/2 x 12″ (77.5 x 66.7 cm and 77.5 x 30.5 cm), Pencil, charcoal, wax crayon, fabric, twine, enamel pa… — Christo, “The Arc de Triumph, Wrapped,” Project for Paris, Place de l’Etoile, Charles de Gaulle. Collage 2018 in two parts, 30 1/2 x 26 1/4” and 30 1/2 x 12″ (77.5 x 66.7 cm and 77.5 x 30.5 cm), Pencil, charcoal, wax crayon, fabric, twine, enamel paint, photograph by Wolfgang Volz, hand-drawn map and tape (Photo: André Grossmann © 2018 Christo).

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Roundup

April 07, 2019

Final classes and the KPU BFA Grad Exhibition wrapped up this past Friday, and now all that is left is next week’s exams and grading before I take a pause and head to Las Vegas, Nevada for the rest of April for a research fellowship at UNLV (more on that in a post later this week). This Sunday’s roundup includes a great mix of content, and I start it off with a radio feature from the CBC that looks at the emergence of artificial intelligence in the art world. I finished up teaching a New Media in Art seminar this term, and one of the student groups focused on this topic for their research. It was a fascinating project, and this interview delves deeper into some of the stakes of this emerging technology. I was also delighted to see that Christo’s plans to wrap the Arc de Triomphe will be realized next year, and I included a link with more details as I think it will likely be one of the most fascinating art projects of the year! Other links include a reflective review of the final season of Broad City, and a podcast discussion of the new horror film Us by Jordan Peele, a look at how Brexit is shaping cultural conversations in the UK, a look at the women of the Bauhaus in the year of the movements 100th anniversary, a look at Nam June Paik at the Whitney, and two videos featuring key moments in the history of women’s art and fashion. Finally, I include an intriguing interview with the founder of Medium: Tings, Stephanie Baptist, a gallery and project space in Brooklyn run out of an apartment. I love hearing about DIY spaces like this and hope it might inspire some of you out there to think about new and out-of-the-box ways to exhibit and promote local artists. Happy Sunday and happy studying to those of you working on those final exams and projects!

Artist shares credit with AI 'collaborator' (RADIO)

Christo to wrap the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

In Pictures: The Forgotten Women of the Bauhaus

How Broad City Encouraged Women to Be Their Grossest, Truest Selves

The Woman Who Opened a Gallery in Her Living Room: Meet Stephanie Baptist.

Not Another Brexit Jeremiad

Nam June Paik at the Whitney: A Work of Dizzying Complexity

What Us Has to Say About the Horror Genre (PODCAST)

Dorothea Tanning – Pushing the Boundaries of Surrealism | TateShots (VIDEO)

Fashion and alienation in 1960s New York, Marisol's The Party (VIDEO)

Francis Picabia, The Spring (1912) — Francis Picabia, *The Spring* (1912)

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Roundup

March 24, 2019

With the end of the semester around the corner and spring in the air, I have been casting my attention forward to planning for the London/Venice Biennale Field School. To that end, this week has been full of coverage on the final list of confirmed participants for the much- anticipated art event of the year, and also to the swirling controversies, linked to discussions around spending and compensation for artists. I have included among my weekly links a report discussing this issue, along with key developments at the Guggenheim and Whitney (linked to further museums facing similar protests) in the face of problematic donors and board members linked to art institutions. I round out my picks with a review of a new book discussing painting in the digital age, a look at Kara Walker as new pick for a commission at the Tate Modern, an unearthed interview with Carolee Schneemann, a close reading of a single painting by Jerry Saltz, a review of Jordan Peele’s latest film Us and two fantastic video picks offering a glimpse at a new exhibition on art and technology at MoMA and a studio visit with Frank Stella. Enjoy the content and breath in the fresh spring air!

Biennials Are Proliferating Worldwide. There’s Just One Problem: Nobody Wants to Pay For Them

How Painting Survives in the Digital Era

Kara Walker chosen for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall showcase

Revisiting Carolee Schneemann’s Candor and Intellect in a Previously Unpublished Interview

The Painting Our Art Critic Can’t Stop Thinking About

Guggenheim Museum Says It Won’t Accept Gifts From Sackler Family

‘We Don’t Want Dirty Money’: Decolonize This Place Protests Warren B. Kanders at Whitney Again, This Time in Warhol Retrospective

Fearful Symmetry: Amy Taubin on Jordan Peele’s Us (2019)

New Order: Art and Technology in the Twenty-First Century | MoMA EXHIBITION (VIDEO)

Studio visit with Frank Stella | Christie's (VIDEO)

Cheryl Donegan, Butt Print, Kiss My Royal Irish Ass, First Performance July 3, 1993 (1993). — **Cheryl Donegan**, *Butt Print, Kiss My Royal Irish Ass, First Performance July 3, 1993* (1993).

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Roundup

March 17, 2019

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Springtime is finally here and my roundup this week reflects a very eclectic week of art news ranging from the announcement of the Canadian representatives to next year’s Venice Biennale of architecture, to a peek at New York’s Spring/Break Art Show, to the sad news of curator Okwui Enwezor’s passing. Also, it was very difficult to ignore the college admission cheating scandal, and the fallout (which I assume we will be talking about for years to come). I’ve also been paying attention this week to the auction of George Michael’s art collection— many will recall his death on Christmas Day in 2016. He was a big art collector, and the auction of his work told the story of his tastes and the support he showed emerging artist— the Youtube click I provide contains the full footage of the event. I’ve also included a fantastic review of the Hilma af klint retrospective exhibition currently running at the Guggenheim in New York. It was one of several exhibitions I attended on my visit to the city a few week’s ago, and the reviewer does a wonderful job reflecting on the painter’s complicated legacy. Finally, I round out my picks with a Guardian article exploring the turn to sadness as a theme in current hip hop music, an examination of “experience” as the new goal of many museums (also a research area I have been delving into a lot for the past few years), and a cautionary interview with one of the inventor’s of the Internet about how the rise of hate speech on the web has come about. As all of us saw with the horrific death of 49 people in the mosque shooting in New Zealand this past week, we all have an obligation to speak up and help bring continuing awareness to subcultures of intolerance and xenophobia globally.