Books
The Roman Empire Visualized in Infographics
A new book uses graphic design as a way to tell the story of Roman conquests, economy, and culture.
Reviews
Art
Making Mischief in Merry Old England
These rowdy, carnivalesque capers, and all this wild costuming, are about defiant displays of unreason, at odds with the dreary drone of the “voices of authority.”
Art
Tender Snapshots of Philadelphia’s LGBTQ History
Selections from the Archives is itself a kind of artwork, a poetic space that opens new modes for seeing and feeling history.
Film
New York’s Trans Sex Workers Tell Their Stories
The Stroll is not just a chronicle of trans life and activism in the 1980s and ’90s, but also of urban “renewal” in the 21st century.
Art
Edward Hopper’s Views of Isolation
He was interested in a kind of realism, inseparable from the cold structures and isolated people that populate his compositions.
Art
Refreshing Abstraction in Marfa
Though each artist’s work in Vision Pool is distinct in media and style, they share elements that test perception.
Art
What Is Hospitality in an Era of Crises?
I don’t know you like that: The Bodywork of Hospitality goes well beyond the conventional meaning of “hospitality” as generosity and conviviality.
Film
Ondi Timoner Chronicles Her Father’s Quest for Dignified Death
Last Flight Home is a warts-and-all account of assisted death best viewed by the terminally ill and their loved ones.
Art
The Cold Gaze and the Myth of Objectivity
A Copenhagen exhibition offers a rich view into the creative production and daily life in the Weimar Republic, with its glamour and its grotesquerie.
Art
The Tides and Currents of Art From the Caribbean Diaspora
A survey at the MCA Chicago uses the metaphor of weather and wields movement as a critical, mercurial strategy
Art
The Gap Between Things and Their Names
A deep sense of loss, of being cut off or isolated from communication, runs through Elsa Gramcko’s works, imbuing them with inchoate feelings that precede language.
Art
Modest Perspectives on Printmaking
Carried Impressions: Lithographs and Monoprints from the 1960s doesn’t demand the spotlight, but it’s ripe for exploration.