Hannah Höch, Untitled (1930) from her series From an Ethnographic Museum. Hoch was born on this day in 1889. A German Dada artist, Hoch was best known for her photomontage works that provoked conversations about gender and identity. — Hannah Höch, *Untitled* (1930) from her series *From an Ethnographic Museum*. Hoch was born on this day in 1889. A German Dada artist, Hoch was best known for her photomontage works that provoked conversations about gender and identity.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

November 01, 2020

I am publishing this post as I return home from a complete day of rest, leisure, and time away from my work, teaching, and research. I rode my beloved motorcycle James up the sea-to-sky highway to Whistler for a lunch date with my husband, listening to my favourite playlist the whole way (1970’s deep funk has been on heavy rotation lately), and reveling in what will likely be the last sunny day warm enough to make this kind of journey. Yes, this a full day off—one where I prioritize myself, my mental health, and uphold the boundary to keep Sundays sacred and off limits to email, grading, work, or any other distraction from pure me-time. Does this sound selfish or impossible? Perhaps to many of you it does, and the reality is it doesn’t matter much to me anymore. I used to care, and care far too much about what others thought of me and my decisions, but these days I am entirely unapologetic about the way I carefully carve out space and time to make these kinds of days, and my own way of prioritizing all facets of my life, possible.

Part of the reason for this share, and at this specific time, is because four years ago this week I finally had to face my own out of control workaholism and tendency to prioritize other people’s (students, colleagues, friends, family, you name it….) emergencies, demands, last minute requests, and other stress-inducing tasks. I got to the point where I simply couldn’t take any more, and I got sick, really sick, and had to suffer for six weeks with a horrible, painful case of the shingles, and right at a time I was trying to finish up an especially challenging semester and publishing deadline (and strangely, just after Trump was elected… but I digress). My doctor looked at me and said, “something has to change for you, or else you will be faced with this again in some other form.” This landed… hard, and I was forced to rest, and forced to take a long hard look at everything. In the years that came after that episode, I started making A LOT of changes—changes in how I organize my time, changes in how I relate to others and accept being treated, and yes, changes in my health—physical, mental, and even spiritual. Long story short, it was a complete overhaul of how I prioritize what is important to me.

So, on this the fourth anniversary of my health emergency wake-up call, I want anyone reading this to know that it is ok, and sometimes even life-saving, to carefully carve out and guard your precious time. It is also ok to say no to workaholism and the need to constantly be doing, performing, striving, and living up to others’ expectations. Listen to your gut, and trust your inner voice to know what really needs your attention. What lies on the other side of upholding your boundaries and championing your health? Happiness, contentment, peace, and the kind of joy that I can only describe as transcendent as you weave along a sun-drenched highway on a motorcycle, up to the mountains for the day, playing Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” on full blast.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

Two books arrived in my mailbox this week that I trust will be helpful as I continue to navigate the online learning environment. I will report back once I get through them, but they may prove useful for other colleagues, grad students who are TAing, and other educators with a stake in this new normal. The first is James Lang’s Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It, and the second one is Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes.
I was reminded when catching up on my art history periodicals from earlier this fall that comedian Hannah Gadsby, a comedian who manages to work art history and her routines, dropped another Netflix schedule sometime during the haze of the early phases of the pandemic. It is called Douglas, and you can read Ben Luke’s take on her subversive uses of art history here.

"The Evolution of Instagram Activism"

hyperallergic.com

"Why Do We Think Learning About History Can Make Us Better?"

chronicle.com

"MoMA’s Cheeky Riff on Misguided Kim Kardashian Post Is Going Viral"

hyperallergic.com

"The Gray Market: Why Scarily Low Museum Attendance This Fall Points to an Old Problem"

artnet.com

"Dirty pretty things: air pollution in art from JMW Turner to today"

theguardian.com

"Where Does Protest Art Fit in the “Canon” of Contemporary Art?"

hyperallergic.com

"Ed Ruscha and Jimmy Iovine on How Art Can Help End the Trump Era (PODCAST)"

artnet.com

"Sir Paul Smith on Talk Art (PODCAST)"

talkart

"Deana Lawson Awarded Hugo Boss Prize 2020 (VIDEO)"

guggenheim

"About Time: Fashion and Duration with Andrew Bolton | Met Fashion (VIDEO)"

metmuseum

Pablo Picasso, Le Moulin de la Galette (1900). Picasso was born on this day in 1881. — Pablo Picasso, *Le Moulin de la Galette* (1900). Picasso was born on this day in 1881.

Weekly Round Up... And A Few More Things

October 25, 2020

As I prepared the round up this week, I noted that Picasso’s birthday would correspond with my weekend post. I, along with almost every art historian I have ever known, possess a deep seated love/hate relationship with the artist. We love Picasso because most people come to art history with at least a passing knowledge about him and his life, providing a ready gateway to talk about and introduce modernism and modern art in survey courses. At the same time, we hate that Picasso represents the worst stereotypes about the “genius” male artist embedded in the Western canon of art, and most of us have to work especially hard to bring visibility and ask the critical questions about what the stakes are around these constructions. In this sense, Picasso brings out the best and worst in my discipline, and his legacy continues to cast a long shadow on art history and the means through which artists and the art world define the “rules of the game.”

Having said all this, I wanted to share and feature my very favourite Picasso work, Le Moulin de la Galette, an oil painting from 1900 that is mostly overlooked and rarely taught. Why? Because the painting represents the work of the young Picasso, the “unrefined” artist as a young man trying on existing styles and themes (in this case, of the French Impressionists) long before creating his signature “original” style. But what I love about discussing and teaching this early painting is that it is a work of art that captures a particular rite of passage faced by all artists at various points of their lives—learning, absorbing, and immersing oneself in the current cultural and artistic milieu. It is this willingness to observe, this sheer curiosity and passion to understand and fully embody and creatively explore what is “happening” and contemporary in the world (at the level of art, culture, and the current zeitgeist) that makes one a critical and engaged artist.

In the Guggenheim’s description of this painting (in their collection), we should all recognize something of our present moment, something Picasso also wanted to explore and capture. “In Le Moulin de la Galette, Picasso adopted the position of a sympathetic and intrigued observer of the spectacle of entertainment, suggesting its provocative appeal and artificiality. In richly vibrant colors, much brighter than any he had previously used, he captured the intoxicating scene as a dizzying blur of fashionable figures with expressionless faces.” Importantly, it is not Picasso’s originality or his own celebrity that matters so much here, but more so his ability to be an astute observer of the modern moment and to reflect that back to audiences. In my opinion, we need more of this kind of artist and artistry in the world.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

I have been eager to view the new Borat film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ever since hearing rumours of its existence following news reports earlier this year that Sacha Baron Cohen had crashed Republican events in character. I cannot express enough how much I loved this film, and not necessarily for the humour and various hijinks (which there are plenty), but more so as a film historian understanding how Baron Cohen’s subversive and calculated filmmaking has earned him a place in cinema history alongside the likes of Charlie Chaplin and films like The Great Dictator. This one will stand the test of time and for all of the right reasons (see the NY Times article I include in the round up to learn more about Baron Cohen’s background and education).
I was very honoured to be recognized by my university as an Open Access Learning Champion during International Open Access Week (October 19-25, 2020). I have included here the great graphic KPU Open Education assembled for social media, with my statement about being a United Nations Open Pedagogy Fellow. I hope to blog later this year or early next about my experiences working with an interdisciplinary team of academic peers to develop great OER (Open Educational Resources) for ourselves and other educators. It has been a steep learning curve during Covid times, but well worth the experimentation and outcomes! My full statement reads:
“Art history is among the most disciplined areas of academic study, and Open Access resources remain largely limited and focused on more traditional understandings of visual art and culture. The powerful stakes around how art historians have in the past, and continue today, to historicize, understand, order, and make meanings around art, can therefore remain hidden from view. This is especially the case for art historians, like me, who seek to challenge and subvert the status quo of what can be seen and understood as “art” and to question who gets to make those decisions. It is my goal to demonstrate the critical potential of incorporating open pedagogy into art history courses in ways that proactively lead the conversation around visual literacy and criticism while revealing/unpacking the mechanisms of the art world.”

"For Celebrities, Apathy Can Be a Form of Political Credibility"

theatlantic.com

"Meet the New Innovators: 8 Artists Who Are Disrupting the Traditional Way of Buying, Selling, and Valuing Art"

artnet.com

"From the streets to the studio: show explores how Basquiat, graffiti and hip-hop culture stormed the art world in the 1980s"

theartnewspaper.com

"Will 2020 Be a 'Lost Year' for Students?"

chronicle.com

"Banksy confirmed authorship of a new artwork in Nottingham"

artsy.com

"Vandals Attacked 70 Artworks in Berlin Museums in Broad Daylight"

artnet.com

"Open Sky: Portrait of the Canadian Pavilion in Venice (SHORT FILM)"

nfb.ca

"Sacha Baron Cohen: This Time He’s Serious"

nytimes.com

"Watch Every Episode of Bob Ross’ The Joy Of Painting Free Online "

openculture.com

"Professor Is In: Imposter Syndrome When Odds Are Against You (PODCAST)"

professorisin.com

Phillip Sutton, Autumn Flowers (1955) in the Tate Modern Collection. — Phillip Sutton, *Autumn Flowers* (1955) in the Tate Modern Collection.

Weekly Round Up.... And a Few More Things

October 18, 2020

This past week I had a lot of time to reflect on the value and place of academic conferences, both in my own experience as a grad student and professor, but also as a ritual event in the world of academia. In the past, I had wondered if all of the expense and energy used to move hundreds of people across the world to one locale for 3-5 days was worth it. Anyone who has ever delivered a conference paper to a room filled with only the panelists and chairs will know this feeling well!

As with most things disrupted by Covid-19, the annual conference for my discipline—the Universities Art Association of Canada—was held remotely and online this year. I had submitted a proposal to co-chair a panel with my research colleague and friend Dr. Lara Tomaszweska of Openwork Art Advisory on the topic of commerce, aesthetics, and the “value” of contemporary art. The conference was to be held in Vancouver this year, and we were excited to host our panelists and introduce them to our city. Last year I attended UAAC to co-chair a panel in Quebec City, and it was an incredible trip filled with immersion in the local art and culture scene, visits to museums, galleries, and urban sites, and lots of incredible local cuisine. And then of course there were all of the conversations, sharing of ideas, and other impromptu discussions in the conference venue hallways, over meals, and even at the airport— these, among the spontaneous ways that academics communicate and learn from one another.

Once we understood the conference would be moved online, I knew that much of that same energy or hard to describe frisson would be lost, and indeed, despite attempts to reproduce the conference virtually, there was something very much missing, an irreplaceable sense of presence that is impossible to duplicate in a Zoom meeting. Here I want to stress that our session panelists provided excellent presentations and arguments—that was never in doubt, and we were incredibly grateful for the opportunities to meet our participants—but what we were not able to do was engage in all of the kinetic and fully embodied rituals of academic discourse and debate that happen only when people are sitting in a room together.

It is only now that I understand how much I have taken this ritual event for granted, and I realize as well that it is this precise sense of lack and sadness I feel when leading synchronous teaching sessions in my courses over my institution’s version of Zoom (BigBlueButton). We all feel what is missing, students and professors alike, and it is deep and profound. In the end, nothing can take the place of simple human contact and exchange in an academic environment. We can certainly attempt to simulate this world in a virtual online format—and it is the best we can during a global pandemic—but all of this technology cannot be made to replace what many of us know to be the only way to truly engage as academics, students, and human beings.

A FEW MORE THINGS BEFORE THE ROUND UP

Last weekend I spent 10+ hours in a car traveling for Canadian Thanksgiving and had a chance to listen to the entire season of Wind of Change, a fantastic podcast debuting this summer that tracks the story of how the song “Wind of Change” by the German heavy metal band Scorpions, was connected to CIA efforts to create pro-democracy propaganda in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet Bloc. No spoilers, but if you have ever heard the story in your modern art history class of how the CIA propped up Jackson Pollock and Abstract Expressionism as the global art of freedom in the 1950'-60s, you will find this story both familiar and within the realm of possibility!
Speaking of culture, history, and politics, more than a half dozen people whose opinion on all things cultural and of-the-moment I respect have told me to watch Crash Landing On You — a South Korean television series now on Netflix that tells the story of a South Korean fashion entrepreneur and heiress and her love affair with a member of North Korea’s elite police. Yes, you read that correctly, and it is next up for me once I complete all of my midterm grading.

How Much Do You Really Miss Going to the Movies?

nytimes.com

#MeToo Medusa sculpture to be installed across from New York courthouse where Harvey Weinstein stood trial

theartnewspaper.com

Jenny Holzer launched a new public artwork campaign encouraging voter participation

artsy.net

Think for yourself: how to judge expertise in a time of conflicting opinions (PODCAST)

cbc.ca

Emily in Paris Is the Hate Watch We Can’t Stop Watching

slate.com

3 artists pushing back against colonialism by using the tools of their colonizers

cbc.ca

Feels Good Man, a film that truly gets how things are passed across the Internet

arstechnica.com

The UK government is trying to draw museums into a fake culture war

theguardian.com

UP CLOSE: Mike Kelley at The Broad (VIDEO)

The Broad

Mr Ewok “Game Over", Wall in Wynwood via Museum of Graffiti (VIDEO)

Museum of Graffiti

Joan Brown, Thanksgiving Turkey (1959) in the MoMA Collection. — Joan Brown, *Thanksgiving Turkey* (1959) in the MoMA Collection.

Weekly Round Up... And a Few More Things

October 11, 2020

The practice of gratitude has a very special resonance this Thanksgiving. Who among us haven’t experienced the continuing and relentless disruption and change that causes moments of serious self-reflection, worry, sadness, and fear? On the flipside, however, is the ever-present reality that we are slowly and surely finding our way, getting through this time, and yes, maybe finding new things to be thankful for.

I asked two of my classes this week to reflect on gratitude in a small online exercise. Using a virtual “white board” that invites individuals to make anonymous comments in a shared space, the students shared gratitude both profound and also very personal. Many were thankful for their health (both physical and mental), for their safety and security as Canadians, while others talked about their friendships, the hobbies that sustained them through times of boredom and lockdown, and the kindness of strangers (for those who worked in retail, restaurants, and other essential services). What struck me was how many of the gratitude posts related to human connection. Spending some time this week in the retail district downtown shopping for Thanksgiving gifts, I found myself happy simply to be in the company of other human beings. Even socially distanced and wearing masks, we were groups of strangers experiencing and enjoying one another’s company— “smizing” and giving knowing nods, understanding that this moment may be fleeting with winter and the second wave upon us.

So, as we gather and find responsible ways to celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend, make sure to take that extra time to speak your gratitude aloud, and to maybe write some of your thoughts down. Once we get to the other side of this strange year, you may want to be reminded of what sustained you.

A Few More Things Before The Round Up

The Art Newspaper’s online event series “New models for new times: Rethinking the art market in a changing world” caught my eye late last month, and the topic is both timely and very much needed. Later this week, I will be co-chairing a panel at UAAC on the topic of commerce, aesthetics, and the value of art, and I continue to research this area with sustained interest, especially as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on all aspects of the art world. As the talk series description reads, “The past year has presented the art trade with unprecedented challenges, but it has also revealed how changes in the way we do business may re-shape the industry into a more collaborative one.” The series has already featured one provocative talk “Is the new spirit of collaboration lip-service or game-changing?” and will have two further events, “Breaking boundaries—local is the new global” on October 15th and “Economist Clare McAndrew in conversation with Georgina Adam” on October 22. Registration is free and can be accessed here.
I was one of the many who devoured Elena Ferrante’s four Neapolitan novels a few years ago and have recommended both the books and the well produced and brilliantly shot My Brilliant Friend television series that follows closely to the spirit of the stories. I am now about halfway through Ferrante’s most recent and very highly anticipated novel The Lying Life of Adults and it is excellent! I was also happy to learn Netflix has optioned the book for another television series and cannot wait to see how this book is brought to the screen. See trailer below.

And as it is Thanksgiving Day long weekend, you can be sure that I will be catching up on the latest season of The Great British Baking Show. Much easier on the waistline, and who doesn’t love a creative competition show that showcases artistic talents and food!

What ‘Bad Art’ Really Means

artreview.com

How To Be At Home, Andrea Dorfman

nfb.ca

What We Mean When We Rant about Digital Art

canadianart.ca

Monopoly Honors The Beloved Bob Ross With A Happy Little Set Based On His Works

designtaxi.com

The Gray Market: Why Trump’s Effect on the Arts Economy Will Live in Infamy

artnet.com

The New Museum Is World Class, but Many Find It a Tough Place to Work

nytimes.com

Saturday Night Live Misunderstands Its Role Right Now

theatlantic.com

Frieze: the show goes on (PODCAST)

artnewspaper.com

Questioning the Future: Rem Koolhaas/AMO at the Guggenheim (VIDEO)

guggenheim

Make a Book with Meat (or other atypical materials) ft. Ben Denzer (VIDEO)

artassignment

A.Y. Jackson, The Red Maple (1914). Jackson, born on this week (October 3, 1882) in Montreal, was a founding member of Canada’s Group of Seven. His modernist paintings have historically forged the association of Canada with its romanticized “wildern… — A.Y. Jackson, *The Red Maple* (1914). Jackson, born on this week (October 3, 1882) in Montreal, was a founding member of Canada’s Group of Seven. His modernist paintings have historically forged the association of Canada with its romanticized “wilderness”— a legacy that is actively subverted by new generations of Canadian artists while still providing important studies and painted records of our shifting natural environment.

Weekly Round Up... And a Few More Things

October 04, 2020

With one month of the fall semester under my belt, I am just starting to find something of a balance and rhythm with the new normal. None of this has been easy—not for myself or my students—and it has only been through a grueling trial and error process gained mostly through teaching this summer that I have figured out what to let go of, and what to amplify. Not unlike what many of us have been experiencing with the pandemic (in terms of the people we want to have relationships with, those we do not, how we want to spend our free time, and realizing what truly matters in the day to day etc…) there has been a collective reckoning. All of this is reflected in an art world that continues to shine a critical light on many of its practices and norms. In this spirit, I turn back to the round up as a way to capture the cultural zeitgeist, if for no other reason than to look back on this time at some future date and wonder how we survived it!

A FEW MORE THINGS… BEFORE THE ROUND UP

The Vancouver International Film Festival continues through October 7th and there are still so many films I want to see! You can check out this useful guide through the Georgia Straight if you need a quick primer and place to start.
I finally stepped foot inside my first art exhibition since the March lockdown and it did not disappoint. I cannot say enough about Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice show on at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, and last week’s artist talk with Monkman (which I attended virtually) is now available for viewing.
I continue to follow the stories connected to the spiraling academic job market (particularly in the US) and I have been recommending The Professor Is In website, and especially the podcast, to grad students and colleagues who are “out in the wilderness” and looking for guidance on how to transition to an alt-academic career. Now, more than ever, we should all have a Plan B.