Art
Art that Slows Down How We Assess Gender
At the center of Smack Mellon’s Dumbo gallery, Gil Yefman’s knitted wrecking ball of genitalia and bodily fluids hangs from the ceiling.
Latest
In Brief
Louisiana Republicans Target State Spending on Public Art
Louisiana, like many states and municipalities in the US, has had a "Percent for Art" law on the books for years.
Art
At the Marrakech Biennale, a Conversation Between Postcolonial Identities
MARRAKESH — Set outside the institutional white cube, in restored ancient sites and the ruins of a 16th-century palace, the sixth edition of the Marrakech Biennale, Not New Now, arrives like a breath of fresh air.
In Brief
1,300 Intimate Images of Midcentury Modernist Structures Go Online
The University of Southern California Libraries have digitized roughly 1,300 rare photographs of midcentury modernism in the American West, as documented by two of its insiders.
Art
A Soviet-Era Kinetic Sculpture Designed to Improve Factory Life
The "Positron" (1976–77) by Latvian artist Valdis Celms operated a bit like a disco ball, flashing various colors of light as the goliath metal orb rotated.
Art
Delirious Architecture Filled with Fractal Trickery
You need to spend half an hour looking at each of these photographs to gather all of what's happening inside it.
Art
Creating a Spatial History of Slavery through Abstraction
Minimalist abstraction of the 20th century often feels placeless. Tony Smith's angular, inky sculptures could have crawled out of a dimension void of organic life; Mark Rothko's repeating black canvases in a Houston chapel reflected the space's lack of specific religion.
Books
A Collection of Creative Cartographers' Madcap Maps
Originally intended purely as tools for navigation, maps have long branched off from this practical function to become an unexpected medium for visual expression.
In Brief
Olafur Eliasson Recruits Refugees to Assemble Symbolic Green Lights
In response to Austria giving migrants a red light, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson decided to create a “Green light,” a crystalline polyhedral LED light made from recycled materials.
Art
Glenn Ligon Deconstructs Richard Pryor’s Stand-Up
When Richard Pryor strode through an audience of fans and celebrities at the Hollywood Palladium on December 9, 1981, the comedian — always renowned for his candor and vulnerability — was exposed in an altogether new way.
Comics
All the Feedback I've Received Over the Years
It never ends.
Opinion
Required Reading
This week, archeology politics, critical thinking and painting, futurist terms, #terroristselfie, how people spend time online, and more.