Opinion
Dear Elmgreen and Dragset: How About a Sense of Humor?
“Personal vanity” — really? That’s the argument you want to make?
Alexis Clements
Books
All the Feelings: Jennifer Doyle’s 'Hold It Against Me'
What is included in the field of a work of art? The medium may be painting or performance, the subject matter may be landscapes or the death of a lover, and the aesthetics may come from a particular tradition or vein of art. But beyond that, when we discuss a work of art, what else can or should be
Art
The Private Life of Lorraine Hansberry: Letters, Lists, and Conversations
What excited me about the small exhibition currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum featuring a sampling of letters and lists from the writer Lorraine Hansberry — along with a wonderful audio recording of a conversation between her and Studs Terkel — was the way in which it showcased her voracious i
Art
Roni Horn's Remote Geographies
Roni Horn has been traversing and transcribing Iceland since 1975, when she was still a student of art, first at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), then at Yale University, where she received her MFA in sculpture. Of course, her work is not solely about Iceland, but it seems to be so much a p
Art
Roni Horn's Remote Geographies
Roni Horn has been traversing and transcribing Iceland since 1975, when she was still a student of art, first at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), then at Yale University, where she received her MFA in sculpture. Of course, her work is not solely about Iceland, but it seems to be so much a p
Art
The Many Faces of Eleanor Antin
Let me introduce you to a few of the many selves of Eleanor Antin, as they are represented in the show Multiple Occupancy: Eleanor Antin’s “Selves,” currently on view at the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University.
Performance
No Easy Answers: Jérôme Bel's "Disabled Theater"
Jérôme Bel’s new piece, Disabled Theater, now at New York Live Arts as part of Performa 13, has gotten a fair amount of positive press and reviews, but it felt complicated to me, and not always in good ways.
Art
Five Things I Learned While Teaching a Class on Arts and Labor
In August and September I facilitated a class focused on labor issues within the arts. Specifically, we looked at how and when artists receive or don’t receive payment for their work, and the broader implications of compensating artists. Because there was such a great mix of students in the class wo
Performance
Butoh, the Body, and Perception
There’s a moment in your first life-drawing class where your perception shifts and you start looking at the naked body in front of you differently. At least that was my experience. Instead of feeling uncomfortable with the nudity or paying attention to judgments and assumptions about the person in f
Performance
A Digital Artist Goes Analogue, but the Message Is Fuzzy
Sitting in the audience for the performance of Ann Hirsch’s "Playground" at the New Museum last week, two things came to mind: one, that Hirsch had managed to trick a bunch of art school kids and fans of her often web-based art into coming to a very conventional theater production; and two, that the
Art
Animating the Archive: Black Performance Art's Radical Presence
Radical Presence gives a great taste of some of the work done by black artists working in performance over the past five decades. And one of the best things about it is that it’s not just a static archive.
Art
How Are Artists Getting Paid?
How are artists who have been systematically denied fair wages and access to basic services like healthcare and unemployment protections gaining access to those things today?