Category: visual

Framing A Debate On The Purpose Of Museums In Contemporary Culture

In recent years, we have witnessed public calls to decolonize the museum space: the return of objects taken from other cultures, fierce debates about who has the right to tell whose story, exhibitions of alleged #MeToo offenders deferred or canceled, and artworks memorializing nations’ racist pasts taken down and/or recontextualized. Artists and activists, including hundreds of museum staff, have urged organizational leaders to disavow patrons involved in socially irresponsible investments that perpetuate violence and addiction. These events have shaped contemporary museum culture, motivating a profound questioning of the ongoing relevance and purpose of museums. – American Alliance of Museums

Museum Staffers Ask, If You Can Spend Millions On Expansions, Why Are You Underpaying Us?

“The most noteworthy example may be the New Museum, which is in the midst of an $85m expansion. Despite the institution’s progressive founding values, its staff have never been unionised — until now.” But there are others: MoMA (Manhattan and PS1), Vancouver Art Gallery, SFMoMA, etc. Jillian Steinhauer surveys the current lay of the land. – The Art Newspaper

Michelangelo’s Terracotta Study For ‘Pietà’ Identified

“Presenting a new book on their research, art historians revealed extensive documentation from the Renaissance that appears to prove the [terracotta] statue” — which surfaced about two decades ago in northern Italy — “was made by Michelangelo, as well as striking similarities between the object and other, confirmed masterpieces by the artist.” – The Telegraph (UK)

Parfumerie Tries To Bottle The Scent Of A Museum

The first scent is said to include notes of, among other things, “neon light effect,” “green,” and “animalic”; the other scent is said to include notes of “damp concrete,” “paper,” and “cold.” I was, I admit, won over by the perfumery’s endeavor; there’s something charming about attempting to translate between senses—forging ahead while recognizing the impossibility of the task.  – Artsy

Kara Walker Chosen As Next Artist For Tate Modern’s Turbine Room Commission

Frances Morris, the Tate Modern director, said: “Kara Walker fearlessly tackles some of the most complex issues we face today. Her work addresses history and identity with a powerful directness, but also with great understanding, nuance and wit. Seeing her respond to the industrial scale of the Turbine Hall – and the wider context of London and British history – is a hugely exciting proposition.” – The Guardian

Inside The ‘Magical’ Studio Of Kiki Smith

Smith is “known for her seriality, spinning concepts and images into one work after another, until something new piques her interest. Her sources of inspiration remain in flux, but Smith’s work itself tends to revolve around the body, death, mythology, and nature. Rumpelstiltskin may have been able to weave hay into gold, but there’s no alchemy to Smith’s practice: just hours of making, year after year.” – Artsy

Artists In Argentina Join Protest On International Women’s Day

Violence against women and girls, and lack of access to abortion services, led the list of things activists and artists were protesting. The artists – a group known as Nosotras Proponemos – focused on inequalities in the arts last year, but this year widened their focus to safety for women and girls in Argentina. They created a huge green braid to snake through the protests as they were “singing joyfully, hoping for ‘the patriarchy to go down and Latin America to be feminist.'” – Hyperallergic