A Parasitic ‘joie de vivre’ in “Viva Arte Viva”
When a curator chooses a title as desperately bubbly as Viva Arte Viva, something is clearly amiss. “Live art live!” – the 57th Venice…
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Momus: The Podcast: The Venice Biennale
Pilot Episode: The Venice Biennale Download Welcome to the pilot episode of Momus: The Podcast! For our first broadcast, we focus on the historic Venice Biennale. As…
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“She Comes in Colors”: A Portrait of Sarah Cain, Painter
This is the first entry in a new series titled “Portraits,” by Momus contributing editor Andrew Berardini. The project is an experiment: Berardini sits…
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Gallerist Virginia Dwan, the Reluctant Legend
“Any ideas of art history or significance were forgotten,” wrote gallerist Virginia Dwan in 1990, remembering the first time she saw one of Yves…
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“The Only Things That are Unchangeable are Tombstones”: Vito Acconci (1940-2017)
Vito Acconci, a towering figure in the history of performance art, and more recently known for his experimental architecture, has died at the age…
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The Tonal Ambivalence of Feminist Land Art Retreat
In 2005, at the Canadian Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, Indigenous artist Rebecca Belmore projected a video installation called Fountain onto a wall of…
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The Enduring Popularity of Fictional Critic “Madame Realism”
Even self-assured egos have their sensitive spots. This was certainly true of Madame Realism, a fictional critic who, from 1984 until 2007, analyzed art…
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An Elegy for Beau Dick (1955–2017)
Beau Dick was given the name “Walis Gwy Um,” which means “big, great whale” in the Kwak’wala language. His carvings tap into the supernatural,…
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How To Write a Review
Go see an exhibition at a museum, a gallery, a studio. See a show skywritten above the arroyo, tucked under a bridge, in virtual…
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Abrasion and Collision: On History’s Steps with Robert Rauschenberg, at the Tate
Three quarters of a lifetime ago, in the early spring of 1964, I saw an exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Who exactly was…
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