Anna Oppermann Looks Down
In 1979 at a University of Kansas conference, a remarkably contemporary thesis about the Venus of Willendorf and other similar Upper Paleolithic “goddess” figurines…
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Living Fragments: On Berlin’s Winter of Broken Pieces
I, for one, want to be broken into pieces. The way sappy music breaks its lovers. We bright-lit gallery people are more reserved. But…
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To Better Days: Optimistic Design for an Uncertain Future
If it’s common knowledge among architects, engineers, and urban planners that design determines quality of life, the Designs for Different Futures exhibition, currently on…
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The Weight of Enduring: Miles Greenberg’s Sanguine Devotion
Weeks before the new year, the artist Miles Greenberg staged a seven-hour performance that saw him standing semi-nude, wearing what looked to be a…
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The Apocalypse is Selective, Not Total: Geoffrey Pugen’s Disanthropic Moment
I clung to my ferocious habits, yet half despised them; I continued my war against civilization, and yet entertained a wish to belong to…
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Open Secrets: Gossip and the Reframing of a Canadian Painting Dynasty
The October 12, 2019, edition of CBC Radio’s “Weekend AM Newfoundland with Heather Barrett” begins with a Thanksgiving-themed story about Newfoundland’s love of the…
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After the Afterparty: Alan Belcher and Friends, in Retrospect
Alan Belcher’s Friends at Downs & Ross is an afterparty. The works in the exhibition are a series of mascot-like plush sculptures sitting in…
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The Art We Deserve: Luc Tuymans’s Exhausted Image
After days of historic high water and watching Venice’s warren of shops and restaurants struggle to survive, it was a relief to enter the…
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In the Waiting Room: The Sticky, Slippery Duration of “Sick Time”
It’s my last morning in Detroit, where I’ve come for two days to see an art exhibition. The wind’s picking up as I stand…
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Decolonization is Not a Metaphor: The Toronto Biennial Fights its Frame
The fanfare and the pageantry of press junkets, patrons’ previews, and inaugural performances have long subsided. A reluctant holdout, I belatedly find myself in…
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