I am about to explore a world of which I have no part, but one that I bear witness to, though maybe not as much as I should. Actually, now that I think about it, I am not sure theRead more…
You Can Put Marx Back into the Nineteenth Century, but You Cannot Keep Him There: On Our Relationship with Works of the Past
On October 10, 2016, New Yorker talks about “putting Marx back” in his nineteenth century surroundings.” (Louis Menand, “Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today”) On October 17, 2016, New Yorker talks about “modernizing” Shakespeare into the twenty-first century. (Adam Gopnik, “WhyRead more…
Familiar Infidelity, Translated Into a Less Familiar “Black Mirror” World
Today’s more accessible television is a direct response to the technological demands of today’s tech-driven consumers. Streaming services like Netflix and HBO’s online service HBO GO provide subscribers with a more immediate, personalized television experience, which the Internet has madeRead more…
The Two Times When Tseng Kwong Chi was Not in the Mao Suit: A Re-examination of Labeling Through Appearance
Tseng in His Mao Suit The Mao Suit is almost always the first thing you notice in the hundreds of pictures that Tseng Kwong Chi took. It stands out from the crowd who were in extravagant Chinoiserie outfits, fromRead more…
The New Sensibility of the 80’s
The Reagan era sought to reform America based on a heteronormative Christian ideal that was simply not reality for the majority of America. Jerry Falwell, a prominent evangelist, founded the “Moral Majority” in 1979, an organization that aimed to eliminateRead more…
Keep the shadow, Ere the Substance Fade: On the Keeping and Making of Relics
What to remember a loved one with? Something he used. His hat. A black leather hat, wears make it old but do not bring it down. Two metal chains run from the left side to the right. At the topRead more…
A Public Intimacy: Exploring Communal Mourning in the AIDS Crisis
In all the other galleries of the Block Museum I could take pictures, but not this one: “Keep the Shadow Ere the Substance Fade.” Maybe that name is what drew me to it. I was not allowed to visually preserveRead more…
A New Look at Old Ideas
“What do ballistic gel blocks, a television commercial, business logos, a large-scale video production of gunfire, and a discarded Honda Dream motorcycle have in common?” When I walked into the MCA’s exhibition featuring The Propeller Group, this question first greetedRead more…
The Puzzle of Nicolas Jaar’s “Nymphs,” Piece by Piece
It was only natural that Nymphs would be overlooked. And yet… Nymphs is an album. I spell this out so plainly because for years now, that has been something of a mystery. Let me explain: the firstRead more…
Between Humans and the Universe: All We Have are the Connections We Make
What Do We Do with the Universe? We Gaze “Wonder is the beginning of all wisdom,” says Aristotle in Metaphysics. “And looking into the starry sky is the beginning of wonder,” say I. Andrew Yang starts his Interviews withRead more…
Light on Display in Rick Guest’s New Series “Americana”
Photograph by Rick Guest. Image courtesy of East Photographic. Light is consistently the most intentional and care-given aspect of each photograph that British photographer Rick Guest takes. Car manufacturers like Bentley and Ferrari have hired Guest to photograph theirRead more…
The Exquisite Pain of Moving On
No matter how many times I listen to it, hearing the introductory chords to “Tailor” by Anaïs Mitchell is always like biting into oven-warm, homemade chocolate cake. There is decadent richness in the reverb on her acoustic guitar, warmth inRead more…
The Critics: With the Power of Words
1. “[…] an extended use of the adjectival form [cultural] in more specialist and academic languages. And whole fields of knowledge are now described as cultural. If cultural studies and cultural critique led the way here, the fields of culturalRead more…