BY TONY PEAKEBiographer of Derek Jarman On the 19th of February, it will have been 20 years since Derek Jarman died, at age 52, of HIV-related causes. To mark the occasion, a range of activities have been planned in the UK, kicking off with Derek Jarman: Pandemonium, an exhibition at King’s College, London, where Jarman … More ‘Pandemonium’ and the 20th anniversary of Derek Jarman’s passing
“The Figi Cannibals.” Photograph by Mathew Brady, 1872. Courtesy of the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation. BY ROBIN BLYNAssociate professor of English at the University of West Florida Traditionally, Mathew Brady occupies an esteemed place in the history of photography and in the history of the United States. Otherwise known as “Mr. Lincoln’s Camera Man,” Brady stands nobly … More "Mr. Barnum’s Camera Man": Mathew Brady among the cannibals.
Courtyard of the Pan American Union, Washington, DC, 1943. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection (LC-USW36-734). Photograph by John Collier. Among the buildings on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., only the Pan American Union (PAU) houses an international organization. The first of many anticipated “peace palaces”constructed in the early twentieth century, … More Archival analysis and cold war Pan Americanism
“There seems to be a lingering expectation that art should provide consolation – the consolation that terrible things are only happening far away, or that artists unreservedly condemn such things.” What follows here is an interview with Steve Baker about his new book, Artist Animal, in Minnesota’s Posthumanities series (further details about the book at … More Animals, artists, and the question of ethics: A dialogue with Steve Baker.
The New York Times features a slideshow in its piece Wartime Architects: Creating Amid Chaos, on the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal’s exhibit “Architecture in Uniform: Designing and Building for the Second World War.” This slide depicts shots of wartime destruction by the German photographer August Sander. Here, Paul Jaskot discusses his new book … More Visual culture and the Nazi perpetrator
Like money, garments circulate and are exchanged: among people and around the world. One way to make them circulate is by resuscitating them, rescuing them from wardrobes and chests of drawers and giving them a new life by re-wearing them. What motivates this tendency that, breaking with the linear concept of modern time, reintroduces the … More On clothes: Rescued, re-worn, donated, exchanged, and ever on their own journeys around the world.
Half Dome Overlook, Yosemite National Park, California.Photograph by Robert Bednar. Diablo Lake Overlook, North Cascades National Park, Washington.Photograph by Robert Bednar. Wawona Tunnel Yosemite Valley Overlook, Yosemite National Park, California.Photograph by Robert Bednar. Zion Lodge, Utah, 1930s. Colored Lantern Slide.National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection. Watchtower at Desert View, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.Photograph by … More Planning a summer or Memorial Day weekend trip? These beautiful, significant national destinations are primed to spark the intellectually curious adventurer in you.
Heard of Phone Booth Libraries? They’ve been popping up around NYC thanks to the work of architect John Locke. Across the world, libraries struggling with dwindling budgets are finding creative ways to engage their communities. Image source. BY SHANNON MATTERNAssistant professor at The New School It was only a decade ago that America’s public libraries … More How do libraries keep up with their communities as their work changes with the times?
BY RON BROGLIOAssistant professor of English and senior scholar of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University I sat down to write this blog entry but the day got away from me. The morning began with me discussing the death of a beached whale with an artist working on the grammars of touch … More Writing amid the difficulty of reality
BY JENNIFER JOHUNGAssistant professor of art history and director of the Art History Gallery at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee With snow tracing the frozen ground, it is the first week of February in Milwaukee, WI – a high of 15 degrees and a low of -5 (give or take a few) – and I … More On Home: Writing, performing, curating, replacing
