Art
The Radical, Gender-Bending Photographs of Ulrike Ottinger
In the German artist and filmmaker's work from the '70s and '80s, Glinda the Good Witch becomes a bearded queen in a shopping mall, and that's just the beginning.
Review
Art
Languages as Bridge in the Work of Siah Armajani
Born in Tehran and having made his home in Minneapolis, historical and familial references abound in this artist's body of work that draws in equal measure from the arts and the sciences.
Books
Jaw-Dropping Books in the Making, from Illustrated Fairytales to Limited Edition Poetry
There are some eye-popping books in Kickstarter's Exquisite Objects initiative.
Books
A Brief History of the Books Depicted in Western Painting
The Art of Reading: An Illustrated History of Books in Paint explores centuries of symbiosis between the visual and literary arts through more than 150 paintings.
Art
An Artist Illuminates Our Need to be Seen and Recognized
The indispensability of recognition is simultaneously made both more urgent and more complicated when you realize, as Yelaine Rodriguez does, that we are mutable, never sufficing to be just one person.
Books
Traveling Through Lush Typographic Jungles
The Canadian designer/letterer/artist Marian Bantjes's book I Wonder is a wildly illuminated manuscript of observational philosophy.
Books
Bringing Back from Obscurity a Jamaican Photographer Who Worked with Duchamp
Enacting a posthumous reassessment, the book Percy Rainford: Duchamp’s “Invisible” Photographer has poignantly rescued the neglected artist Percy Rainford from erasure.
Art
Harvard's Complicit History with Slavery
Slavery in the Hands of Harvard is a small but remarkably effective look at the historical ties and intersections between the school and the varied institutions of slavery.
Art
Finding the Best in a Rembrandt Exhibition of a Lifetime
The Rijksmuseum is celebrating the 350th anniversary of the artist's death by exhibiting nearly 400 works by the Dutch painter. Here are our top selections from the show.
Art
An Attempt to Redefine Feminist Art Has Some Surprises
With over 125 pieces on view, Half the Picture could have been refined, showing fewer works without compromising its curatorial punch.
Music
The Odd Comforts of Alternative Rock
Traditionalism often enables quiet triumphs. Or loud triumphs, if you turn the volume up.
Books
Reflections of America in a British's Author's Wall
The nightmares in John Lanchester's The Wall seem like a logical endpoint of the West's recent relapse into chauvinistic nationalism.