Posted inArt

William Powhida’s “Surviving the Art World Using the Art of Sorcery” Lecture, May 14

Join us Friday, May 14 at 8pm for a special talk by Brooklyn artist William Powhida on “Surviving the Art World Using the Art of Sorcery.”

Described as a “gadfly in the art establishment” by the New York Times, his talk at Hyperallergic HQ promises to reveal some of the inner-workings of his mind and we’re all excited (and scared) to see what he has in store for us. Space is very limited.

Posted inOpinion

Why You Should Always Caption Your Photos & Videos Properly

Online we encounter more information than ever, but we also lose a hell of a lot. On May 3, the blog WeLoveViral posted a photos and a video titled “Swimming Pool Illusion.” The YouTube video embedded in the post is titled “Amazing Japanese Fake Pool” and has been viewed (as of today) 6,211,210 times!

The problem is that the pool is question is neither a pool, nor Japanese. In fact, it is an artwork by Argentinean artist Leandro Erlich titled “Swimming Pool” (2008).

Posted inNews

Why Does the US Pavilion at Expo 2010 Suck?

If you’ve been looking at the spectacular photos coming out of Expo 2010, which opened in Shanghai last weekend, then you’re probably wondering the same thing everyone else is, “Wow, what a spectacular display of modern architecture and design, but … wait a minute, why does the United States pavilion suck so much?” One word: corruption.

Posted inOpinion

Superheroes & the Modern City

Star Wars Modern has posted an extensive essay on the evolution of American superheroes, particularly Batman and Superman, and their relationship to modernity and urbanism. His post incorporates many figures that loom large in the 20th C. American urban imagination and he focuses mainly on pop culture as a barometer of changing public attitudes. The essay, titled “The Urbanism of Superheroes,” careens across many ideas and suggests there is more that binds these seemingly disparate things than may be evident at first glance.

Posted inOpinion

Germain Greer Reminds Us Landscape Painting is “a concept … it exists only in the mind.”

Who knew the Australian landscape painting world could be a hot bed of scandal. Earlier this month, the Wynne Prize was awarded to Australian painter Sam Leach. Normally bestowed on “the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in oils or watercolours … ” this year it was revealed that the painting wasn’t exactly based on an Australian scene but an image the artist found on the Internet. The horror! Veteran feminist and public intellectual Germaine Greer has jumped to Leach’s defense.