Bot poetry
- An essay on bots and poetry that is so good. “These days people are writing poems about fucking on volcanoes. ‘We fucked on a volcano.’ How does that help? How does it do anything to solve anything?” [n + 1 via The Paris Review]
- The Whitney’s board of trustees has elected a new president, Richard M. DeMartini, and two new co-chairs, Laurie M. Tisch and Neil G. Bluhm. While Tisch has a background in the nonprofit sector—heading her own fund dedicated to increasing access to art education, economic opportunities, and healthy food—DeMartini and Bluhm are both from the world of finance. Bluhm had served as the board’s president since 2008 and is the founder and president of JMB Realty Corporation—a luxury real estate interest that at one point was the largest property developer in the United States. [ARTnews]
- More info about the board of trustees, but not from us: “Also militarizing the Baltimore Police Department is Defense Tech ammunitions, sold by Warren Kanders’ Safariland Group. A vice chairman of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s board of trustees, he is a wealthy investor who for the last 20 years has profited from the suppression of civil unrest.” [Al Jazeera America]
- Thank you, Karen Archey, for bringing up Jackie Wullschlager’s recent article in the Financial Times. Writing about the Tate’s exhibitions of female modernists like Sonia Delaunay, Barbara Hepworth, and Agnes Martin, Wullschlager concludes: “Yet none delivers the visceral thrill or intellectual charge of a great retrospective, because none of these artists really changed how we see or think. Has a woman artist ever done so? The stories here show that female artists tend to assimilate and adapt radicality pioneered by men.” There is absolutely no way that you can prove that female artists have not changed the way we see or think or that they have assimilated and adapted radicality pioneered by men—scientific principles would be welcome in art history—not to mention that plenty of exhibitions have shown the influence of women in art. We don’t even know where to start, but let’s try Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution. Sigh. [e-flux conversations]
- A pair of paintings featuring the Confederate flag has gone on display at the Laguna Art Museum in Ocean County, California. In reference to the flag’s controversy and the wave of racial unrest sweeping the nation, the artist G. Ray Kerciu said, “I thought as an old man, we would be past all this stuff. But we’re not. It’s a great disappointment to me.” [Los Angeles Times]
- While Greece’s economy is in a tailspin, artnet takes the time to notify us that there is absolutely no news about the troubled country’s under-construction Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. [artnet News]
- The Great Wall of China is disappearing. By some accounts, almost 30% of the structure has fallen victim to plundering, erosion, and neglect. People are freaking out. [The New York Times]
- Hyperallergic’s Robin Grearson reviews Stay in New York, Art F City’s affordable workspace conference, and calls it a “crucial first step.” It’s a great summary for those who missed the conference. [Hyperallergic]
- Jerry Saltz explains why everyone should be nicer to gallery attendants…with a picture of Marnie from HBO’s Girls. [Vulture]
- WHOA! For the first time ever, the New York Rent Guidelines Board approved a freeze on one-year leases. There’s a couple of caveats to which leases will be affected, but this is historic. [Curbed NY]
