Though we may be eager to be move past the year’s events, the reality is that they will persist. Artists share practical applications for ritual, deeply introspective thoughts on survival and approaches to remedying inequity.
Category: Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Wonder Woman the Museum Worker Is a Less Convincing Disguise Than Clark Kent’s
Wonder Woman’s use of her ancestor’s objects as they were intended (despite bits of metal feathers breaking off, alert the museum’s conservators!) offers a vision of why museums should exist and continue to keep all these things.
Posted inOpinion
What It’s Really Like to Work at the California Arts Council
I and other arts program specialists found it to be a space that causes fear of retaliation, targeting and silencing, and where leadership lacks accountability.
Posted inOpinion
Representation Alone Will Not Save Us
We love representation, the power of signifying, and the incisiveness of well-argued critique, but by themselves, these tools won’t effect structural change.
Posted inOpinion
Reflecting on a Year of Vulnerability, Discontent, Hiatus, and Refusal
Institutional trauma is real.
Posted inOpinion
How’d You Sleep in 2020?
I developed the bad habit of falling asleep at night to reruns of Governor Cuomo’s daily COVID briefing performances.
Posted inOpinion
I Hope This Essay Finds You Well
Emails started to change toward the end of March: “I hope this message finds you well, despite it all,” wrote people who would otherwise never express any interest in my personal life.
Posted inOpinion
The Vicious Cynicism of Installing Noguchi at the White House
While some imagine that Noguchi would be proud to have his work displayed at the White House under these circumstances, I would bet that he is turning in his grave.
Posted inOpinion
What Winning a Grant for my Art Writing Meant to Me
The money gave me the chance to prioritize my writing — something that I wish didn’t feel like a privilege but does — and it gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going.
Posted inOpinion
Art and Freedom of Expression in Cuba, Throughout the 21st Century
As Cuban authorities continue to target artist Tania Bruguera, Pablo Helguera publishes, for the first time, his 2015 essay on Bruguera’s attempt to stage a public performance on free speech.
Posted inOpinion
Effacing Indigenous History One Obelisk at a Time
The gawking fascination with the Utah obelisk taps into larger, fundamental behavioral problems that are holdovers from colonizing the frontier.
Posted inOpinion
One Nation Under a Groove: Why We Danced in the Streets
Public protests once filled the same streets now transformed into block parties. Photojournalists captured the impromptu gatherings and spontaneous joy that emerged in the distinct style of each city.