December 2010
51 posts
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“Scientists now know that, while introverts have no special advantage in...”
– On being an introvert in an extroverted world, from Psychology Today. (via utnereader)
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Book review - The Cruel Radiance: Photography and... →
We Make Money Not Art reviews “The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence,” published by The University of Chicago Press.
“Contemporary photo criticism has inherited from the likes of Charles Baudelaire and Susan Sontag a distrust and disdain towards documentary photography. Photography, they say, turns us into voyeurs, it often verges on pornography, it ...
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The New Inquiry: In Defense of the Scene →
This is fantastic. Its impact on me lessened somewhat by the fact that I hate physical social scenes even more than online ones, but…there is still much that resonates here.
thenewinquiry:
Saul Steinberg, Techniques at a Party (1953)
“One of the narcotizing blessings of online sociality is that you can ignore when you are ignored and make it feel mutual. People can’t turn their back...
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cablegate comix | HiLobrow →
This is pretty great - a series of comix produced for HiLobrow recounting true stories that came to light on November 28, 2010 — when WikiLeaks published confidential documents of detailed correspondences between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions around the world. An example below:
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Why Is Illinois So Corrupt? →
I consulted 20 or so historians, good-government advocates, and longtime political observers and insiders. Explaining why so many fools rush in to city, county, and state government in Illinois—and then never seem to leave unless led away in handcuffs—is “like finding the cure to the common cold,” says Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “It’s impossible to...
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A guide to the market oligopoly system →
Am taking the liberty of including an image of the drawing.
powhida:
Financial blogger Felix Salmon on my drawing about the economics of the art industry.
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Center Field: Sustaining Practices | Art21 Blog →
My latest post on art:21 blog is up - it is a roundtable discussion on how different Chicago-based cultural practitioners sustain their practices over the long term. Participants include Britton Bertran, Duncan MacKenzie, Caroline Picard, and Philip von Zweck. Somehow it felt right to be talking about this stuff as 2010 draws to a close.
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Richard Hull Interviews Gladys Nilsson and Jim... →
Oooh - three Chicago greats in conversation! Richard Hull interviews Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt for the Winter issue of Bomb Magazine, which hit the stands a few days ago. The interview is online - click the link above to read it.
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5 Questions (for Contemporary Practice) with Nato... →
An interview with curator/cultural practitioner Nato Thompson. In it, Thompson notes that his time in Chicago was a prominent influence on his practice.
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Thomas Edison’s Talking Doll, c. 1890....
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Episode 277: Roger White : Bad at Sports →
On this week’s podcast: Amanda and Tom talk with Roger White about his recent paintings, as well as being an artist/journalist who is a frequent contributor to the Brooklyn Rail and a founder of Paper Monument.
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Polar Bear’s Ginormous Lap Provides Love, Holiday... →
Happy Holidays!
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Chirp, chirp, chirp. Why does the Chicago Tribune’s culture and entertainment section always sound so fuckin’ chirpy? The yearound style of false cheer makes me want to poke my eyeballs out.
Sometimes laundry really is the most important thing on your agenda for the day.
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Ludic Despair: Celebrity Style Psycho Simulation →
If you’re into the celebrity crazy, read this post by Jeffrey Sconce of Ludic Despair. I really, really, like the way this guy writes. I devoured that Vanity Fair article on Randy and Evi Quaid and couldn’t stop thinking about it for a long time afterwards. Sconce gets at the core of the creepy fascination that the Quaids and celebrities like Joaquin Phoenix (and by extension we...
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The British Museum - A History of the World... →
This is really neat: a history of the world through its objects. Interactive and you can add/upload new objects to the collection.
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The Groundswell Blog: Download: Notes for a... →
Groundswell worked with AREA Chicago on this downloadable atlas.
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The billionaire Koch brothers’ war against Obama :... →
Although the Smithsonian flat-out shrugged its shoulders and basically said, ‘don’t care’ when The Warhol Foundation told them they would cease funding any future Smithsonian exhibitions if David Wojnarowicz’s video “Fire in My Belly” was not returned to the Hide/Seek exhibition - the Smithsonian is happy to take the Koch Brother’s money — and to...
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Smart Museum of Art to Screen Wojnarowicz video... →
The University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, January 4-February 6, 2011
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“I was taking care of your dog for you and I picked him up for a quick photo...”
– K8 Hardy, “New Paintings.”
Click to read Hardy’s full text - it’s pretty great.
HUFFINGTON POST: "Doctors believe an HIV-positive... →
Could this be true??
inothernews:
The link to the study is here (subscription to read the whole thing required), with that stunning line in the last of the abstract.
Incredible news.
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“The movement of art and art criticism, as I have come to see it, is a movement...”
– Ben Davis, “Beyond the Art World” - artnet Magazine
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Rise Up People, I Will Buy You Pitchforks and... →
The latest Bad at Sports podcast is up: this week, collector Hubert Neuman is featured. But - best of all - Richard Holland rips on the Smithsonian’s censorship of the David Wojnarovicz video “Fire in My Belly.” Says Richard, “Rise up, people, I will buy you pitchforks and torches.” Here’s one way: a list of people you can email to express your thoughts on the...
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No One Cares About Your Stupid Twitter Account →
I had been formulating a post on how boring Twitter has become - I’m one of the few people out there who tends to use Twitter passively, for its news-gathering and gossip-culling functions rather than for self-promotion (tho I use it for the latter function too) but it has gotten SO. DULL. lately. For every one person that starts following me that’s actually a real person and not a...
The Shifting Aura of Contemporary Art | Art21 Blog →
File under: presence; shifting notions of aura/auratic art. Lots of good links here, tho the writer doesn’t come to any critical conclusions of her own, which is frustrating.
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Campaign Journal - Triple Canopy →
A text project derived from artist Rachel Mason’s recent exhibition “The Candidate.” An excerpt:
At the Take Back America conference in Washington, DC, Governor Bill Richardson reaches into the audience to shake hands, and someone asks for an autograph. I realize that I have my pen and sketchbook with me. Impulsively, I hold out the page with a sketch I’ve made of him, and he...
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The Museum of Broken Relationships | The Economist →
Fascinating:
If it is the shards of ancient Greek pots or oodles of romantically bulging female flesh that interest you then head around the corner to Zagreb’s venerable Klovicevi Dvori gallery. The most exciting addition to the Croatian capital’s cultural scene offers something different, and is a break with tradition. It is a collection of items that everyone can actually identify with....
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WatchSue de Beer. “Making Out with Myself.” 1997.
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Shadow and Reason in William Kentridge’s “The... →
If you’re into the work of South African artist William Kentridge, art:21 has produced an entire website devoted to the artist, in conjunction with their recent documentary film Anything Is Possible. Here’s a link to the essay I wrote for it.
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Via Kiddie Records Weekly.
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Last Exit Detroit: Christian Burkert’s View of... →
A really good blog post by Matthew Newton / Thought catalogue on the trend of Detroit-centric “disaster porn photography” in contemporary art, lodged within a specific critique of German photographer Christian Burkert‘s photo series Last Exit Detroit.
“Burkert does what hundreds, perhaps thousands, of photographers have done in recent years — he went on safari in Detroit and...
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