Beneath the explicit sex and violence of the latest film from Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven are thoughtful challenges about gender roles and institutional religion.
Catholic Church
Posted inFilm
Six Men Try to Heal Their Trauma with Groundbreaking Collaborative Filmmaking
Hyperallergic speaks to director Robert Greene and three survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests about their new film Procession.
Posted inArt
Sacred Bones and the Catacomb Saint of Manhattan
Catholic churches in Europe host as many bones as a graveyard, with bits of saints and intact incorrupt bodies encased in glass and displayed on ornate altars.
Posted inArt
Another Treasure Lost in Iraq: The Story of Mar Behnam Monastery
Among the most tragic losses of the many antiquities destroyed in Iraq by ISIS has been the destruction of Iraq’s seriously understudied medieval architecture.
Posted inOpinion
With a New Pope, a New Chance for Openness on Art and History Seems Missed
With Catholicism’s long connection with the arts, from Michelangelo making the Sistine Chapel a place of transcendence to the Vatican Museums’ huge troves of artifacts and art, it’s worth looking at how the incoming pope may feel about contemporary visual culture. Yet while the outgoing Pope Benedict XII was surprisingly open about art and even convened artists at the Vatican in order to improve relations, the prospects for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who will now be Pope Francis (he’ll become Pope Francis I once there’s a Pope Francis II), seem less promising.
Posted inNews
The Legacy of a Conservative Catholic Pope Who Was Surprisingly Open-Minded About Art
As the first Catholic Pope to resign from his position since Gregory XII in the 15th century, Pope Benedict XVI has startled the world with his announcement that he will step down by the end of this month. While controversially conservative (and much less benevolent-appearing than his predecessor the grandfatherly Pope John Paul II), the German-born religious leader did have an open mind at least in encouraging a renewed relationship between the Catholic Church and art, viewing the use of beauty as a path to the sacred.
