Over the last few months, I had a chance to hear and read about institutional struggles of museums – the problems of fundraising to marketing, and the need to educate and familiarize newcomers to museums were all parts of it.Read more…
Treblemakers: the Meaning of “Friendsgiving”
Treblemakers A Cappella, Harris Hall, Northwestern University, 10PM, November 19th, 2016. I left the concert with warmth and comfort. I arrived at Harris Hall around 9:45 pm, picked up a free milk tea (which was quite good) at the lobby,Read more…
Defining Contemporary: From History to Future
What is contemporary? If someone asks me, I cannot help but ask back: in what terms? Do you want the dictionary definition? Philosophical definition? One knows such question of categorization cannot be answered succinctly (unless the person who answers isRead more…
The Critic’s Dilemma: Description and Interpretation
Critics for weekly magazines generally have a limited space to write on; whether they want it or not, they are limited in the number of words. Given this limit, criticism that explicates too much on description of work often failsRead more…
Condom Man v. The AIDS Crisis
As I walk through Block Museum’s Keep the Shadow, Ere the Substance Fade exhibition, I am greeted by sadness of the AIDS crisis and nostalgia for the lost ones. According to Block Museum, this exhibition brings together artworks related toRead more…
Tseng Kwong Chi: Exposing the Power of Perception
Block Museum’s exhibition “Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera” is a collection of the photographs of a photographer-performer Tseng Kwong Chi. Tseng Kwong Chi (1950-1990) is well-known for his photograph that juxtaposes the East and the West and isRead more…
Ghost Producers in Electronic Dance Music: Have We Been Lied To?
With the boom of Electronic Dance Music, also known as EDM, and its overall effort to familiarize itself with general audience since the late 2000s and the early 2010s, many listeners who have previously distanced themselves from electronic music nowRead more…
The Critics: Are They to Teach and Judge?
“For all criticism is based on that equation: KNOWLEDGE + TASTE = MEANINGFUL JUDGMENT. The key word here is meaningful. People who have strong reactions to a work—and most of us do—but don’t possess the wider erudition that can giveRead more…