December 17, 2021 • View in browser

Good morning. ⛅ The curators of the Armory Show next year are all experts in Latin American and Latinx art, which will be the focus of the fair. It's a historic first. Biennials also need to do better. In Ela Bittencourt's moving remembrance of the Macuxi artist, curator, and activist Jaider Esbell, who recently took his life, she emphasizes his criticisms of the São Paulo biennial and institutions' failures to integrate Indigenous art. “There is no dialogue,” he said. “The biennial takes your work and forgets you.”

And don't miss John Yau's latest review, which follows John Willenbecher's work since Yau's first encounter in 1975.

— Elisa Wouk Almino, Senior Editor

The Mysteries of the Universe in John Willenbecher’s Early Work

Between 1962 and ’75, Willenbecher made a substantial body of work reflecting his interest in games and the night sky, in the ancient human desire to make order out of the inexplicable. | John Yau

SPONSORED

CCS Bard’s Graduate Program in Curatorial Studies Offers Expansive Resources and a Transformative Education

Located in New York’s Hudson Valley, students have immediate access to the Hessel Museum of Art and the CCS Bard Library and Archives. Apply by February 1, 2022. Learn more.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

2022 Armory Show Will Focus on Latinx and Latin American Art

Carla Acevedo-Yates, Mari Carmen Ramírez, and Tobias Ostrander will head the fair’s curated sections and programs next year. | Valentina Di Liscia

SPONSORED

Vermont College of Fine Arts’s MFA in Graphic Design Celebrates Tenth Anniversary

In 2011, VCFA created the first low-residency master’s in graphic design. Today, this student-centered, inquiry-based program is a leader in design education. Learn more.

Next Month, You’ll Need a Booster Shot to Go to the Met Opera

It’s the first major performing arts venue in New York City to require proof of a third vaccination. | Jasmine Liu

Props from TV Show Dickinson Acquired by Emily Dickinson Museum and Harvard University

Hundreds of period-appropriate set items, costumes, and paper facsimiles of Dickinson’s writings were gifted to the museums. | Cassie Packard

SPONSORED

Open Faculty Positions at School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University

SMFA at Tufts is seeking applications for at least four full-time Professor of the Practice positions in Sound/Sound Installation, Ceramics, Sculpture, and Drawing. Learn more.

ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC

Remembering Jaider Esbell and How His Activism Challenged Art Institutions

Jaider Esbell showed us that future biennials will need to look to art activists and ethnic collectives not as contingent collaborators but as authoring agents. | Ela Bittencourt

SPONSORED

BIENALSUR…Echoes: A World Between the Analogue and the Virtual

BIENALSUR, the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of the South, has returned to Saudi Arabia for an exhibition presenting more than 20 international artists, including Filwa Nazer, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Tony Oursler. Learn more.

Required Reading

This week, Metro Pictures officially closed, tributes to bell hooks, the Wayfair conspiracy, celebrity profiles, and more. | Jasmine Weber

Support Hyperallergic

Your contributions support Hyperallergic's independent journalism and our extensive network of writers around the world.

TRANSITIONS

Tony Matelli is now represented by Nino Mier Gallery.

The estate of Bob Smith is now represented by Martos Gallery.

Crystal Williams was appointed president of the Rhode Island School of Design.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, National Museum of Mexican Art, and Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota have received 2021 grants by the Art Dealers Association of America Foundation.

John Hrehov was awarded the 2021 Recharge New Surrealist Prize.

MOST POPULAR

Ancient Rome and the Myth of the Black Avenger

UK Bans Export on a Rare Painting Featuring a Black and White Woman

A History of Utopian Nudist Clubs in Buttoned-up Britain

A Moving Meditation on Mortality in Brice Marden's Late Paintings

Why Does Instagram Keep Allowing My Images to Be Stolen?