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March 3, 2020

Letter from the editor:

I would like to suggest everyone take some time to read Ariella Azoulay's essay, "Free Renty! Reparations, Photography, and the Imperial Premise of Scholarship," which ponders what the repercussions of imperial crimes should be. Using the daguerreotypes of Renty Taylor, who was an enslaved individual when the images were taken, she peels back the layers regarding the role of empires in art with questionable provenance. She begins:

“Reparations” is the straightforward answer to structural violence. That the necessity of reparations has lost its obviousness and “the case for reparations” has to be written once and again, cannot be explained without asking about the complicity of academic institutions. Many scholars in different disciplines write about imperial crimes as their object of study — that is, as something sealed in the past that can be separated from the reparations due. Scholars’ acceptance of imperial categories of knowledge is one symptom of how scholarship is shaped more broadly along the spatial, temporal, and political terms first set by imperialism.

I think you'll find the whole essay fascinating.

And I have to say I'm a little confused (and somewhat concerned) about MoMA PS1's reaction to the protest action at the Gulf Wars exhibition. While artist Ali Yass gave permission to tear down his drawings in the exhibition, the museum removed them after they got wind of the action, which makes me wonder why the museum wouldn't respect the wishes of the artist. Hakim Bishara has a complete report from the action.

Free Renty! Reparations, Photography, and the Imperial Premise of Scholarship

Many scholars write about imperial crimes as their object of study — that is, as something sealed in the past that can be separated from the reparations due.

Ariella Azoulay

Your Concise Guide to Armory Week 2020

Your useful guide to the fairs and exhibitions of interest this week.

Valentina Di Liscia

Rethinking What Passes for Normal Amid the “Trump Revolution”

A yearlong series at the Bronx Documentary Center shows how nativist US immigration policies have affected people from many different walks of life.

Dan Schindel

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Claremont Graduate University Redefines Arts Education for the 21st Century

The Center for Business and Management of the Arts at CGU is redefining education in art making, markets, and management through its innovative interfield programs, entrepreneurial thinking, honest self-reflection — and oh, Los Angeles.

News

Protesters Occupy MoMA PS1, Calling Museum “Complicit in Global Violence”

For the closing reception for The Gulf Wars exhibition, one of the participating artists, Ali Yass, planned a guerrilla action to tear his drawings off the walls.

130 Film Professionals Pledge to Boycott the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival

“[W]e understand that our liberation is intimately connected to the liberation of all oppressed peoples and communities,” the pledge reads.

Dominican Artists Organize “Vigil for Democracy” in Times Square, Joining Protests Worldwide

After Dominican Republic’s municipal elections were abruptly halted, protesters gathered in New York City and around the world to demand electoral transparency and accountability.

Is This Microreactor the Future of Nuclear Architecture?

The 50-foot-tall Aurora plant, designed by Oklo, bridges old and new aspects of nuclear power.

Sarah Rose Sharp

A Lyrical Ode to the Vernacular Art of the American South

At the California African American Museum, Dust My Broom convenes a group of largely self-taught artists from the American South, and other Black artists profoundly influenced by it.

Jasmine Weber

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