Opinion
Can Art Make Us Care More?
OAKLAND, Calif. — So much of empathy seems to be determined by the position we occupy in the world.
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Art
Where to See Indie and Classic Films: Online Edition
The good news is that movies are increasingly taking up positions in the ether of the internet, in little corners and crooks; some legal, others quite under the table.
Opinion
Donations to Museums Are Morally Reprehensible, Says Bill Gates
Late last week, the Financial Times published a wide-ranging interview with Bill Gates on the subject of his philanthropic work and relationship with the tech world. During the generally sensible discussion — Gates' critique of Silicon Valley's blinkered solutionism was particularly welcome — one of
Art
Dark Matter Hits White Cube: Excavating India's Coal Miners
KOLKATA, India — Much like an experiential therapist, Prabhakar Pachpute took the viewer inside a coal mine in his first solo show, 2012's Canary in a Coalmine at Clark House Initiative in Mumbai. Upon entering a windowless, unventilated room in a run-down space, one confronted the solid darkness eq
Art
The Water Gardens of Otherworldly Modernism
FORT WORTH, Texas —Some Modernist landscapes are so futuristic, so weirdly alien in their urban surroundings, they look like sets for a sci-fi movie. In the case of the "Fort Worth Water Gardens" designed by Philip Johnson with partner John Burgee, the immense shapes of concrete that rise up topogra
Art
An Encounter With Performance Art's Mole King
Moles have been underrated by art history. They don't flaunt it like baroque peacocks, glow like medieval dragons, or bask in contradictions like post-modern minotaurs. But by burrowing tunnels, they blaze new paths and create alternate worlds under our feet.
Art
Cursed Meteorite, Giant Octopus Models, and Other World's Fair Wonders
The Columbian Exposition of 1893 is almost impossible to imagine: a spectacle of 200 gleaming white neoclassical buildings on over 600 acres in Chicago, a temporary city whose main purpose was instilling a sense of wonder with the world.
Comics
Questions for an Artist
The basic questions can be the toughest.
Art
Chicago Buddhist Freaks Out
CHICAGO — What happens when you make a Buddhist angry? “Aggression,” says artist Diane Christiansen. “I realized in the last year that I’ve been filled with all this aggression, from the political landscape and in some personal things too, and it began to come out in the art.”
Art
Art Rx
This week, art galleries are overrun with karaoke and jacuzzis, plus an exhibition of war photography and the grand reopening of the Queens Museum.
Opinion
Remembering the Value of an Arts Education
Ask a contemporary college student about their average day, and they'll probably tell you they spend it multitasking. Classes here, academic clubs there, maybe a fraternity/sorority event, and then of course community service. No surprises there. But what might be a surprise is that this sort of hec
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