Art
A Collective Reading at the White House Reenvisions Who Might Be President
One hundred people gathered to adapt Zoe Leonard's 1992 text piece “I want a president...” for 2016.
Washington DC
Art
A Journey from Brutality to Brightness at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
In the heart of what was once known as Chocolate City a new museum has found its place on the National Mall.
Art
A New National Museum Conveys the Pain and Power of the African American Experience
WASHINGTON, DC — After 100 years of lobbying, 10 years of planning, and almost 5 years of construction, the newest member of the Smithsonian family is finally here.
Art
A Lesbian Artist Who Painted Her Circle of Women at the Turn of the 20th Century
WASHINGTON, DC — Tucked into a far corner of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an exhibit showcases the extensive career of artist Romaine Brooks, a turn-of-the-20th-century icon who’s since been largely forgotten by the mainstream.
Art
Corcoran Art School Lays Off Over Half Its Faculty, Sowing Discontent and Distrust
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design’s class of 2016 had its graduation ceremony on May 14. The following week, more than half of the art school’s full-time faculty were told their contracts would not be renewed.
News
US National Cathedral to Excommunicate Stained Glass Confederate Flags
The flags of all 50 states hang in plain sight over the nave of the Washington National Cathedral, but for decades, two Confederate flags went largely unnoticed.
Art
Airships and Reanimated Corpses from the Pages of Early Science Fiction
WASHINGTON, DC — Science fiction rose to prominence in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when authors like H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Mary Shelley imagined the extraordinary possibilities of advances in technology and exploration.
Art
A Cherokee Artist Wrestling with Grief, Colonialism, and False Dichotomies
WASHINGTON, DC — Kay WalkingStick has devoted herself to breaking down perceived dichotomies.
Art
Kevin Spacey Temporarily Joins George Washington at the National Portrait Gallery
WASHINGTON, DC — In February, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled with presidential pomp a portrait of Kevin Spacey as Frank J. Underwood, dark prince of politics in the popular Netflix series House of Cards.
Art
The Inca Rope Bridge That's Woven Across a River Each Year
WASHINGTON, DC — Each June in Huinchiri, Peru, four Quechua communities on two sides of a gorge join together to build a bridge out of grass, creating a form of ancient infrastructure that dates back at least five centuries to the Inca Empire.
Art
A Sprawling Tapestry’s Surreal Visions of Egypt
WASHINGTON, DC — In 2011, the Egyptian-Lebanese artist Lara Baladi began her ongoing project Vox Populi, Archiving a Revolution in the Digital Age, her attempt to archive the flood of documentation that emerged out of the events of Tahrir Square and its aftermath.
Film
A Portrait of an Iranian Artist Who Went Home After 25 Years in Exile
WASHINGTON, DC — In Iran, it’s difficult to know where the artistic and the political are separated, if they can be separated at all.