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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Wifredo Lam: The Albissola Years
It was his spirit of collaboration and friendship that first brought my father to the Italian coastal town of Albissola, just west of Genoa….
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“Out There in the Many Miles of Bad Lands”: Georgia O’Keeffe in Her Own Words
“It takes a kind of nerve … and a lot of hard, hard work.” So said Georgia O’Keeffe at the age of 90 when…
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You Are Still Here: The Present Tense and Present Threat of Mona Hatoum
Mona Hatoum’s Grater Divide (2002) is a cheese-grater nearly seven feet high. On the one hand, it’s laugh-out-loud funny. On the other, it’s lethal. It…
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Hold Still: A History of Performing for the Camera from Nadar to the Selfie
The most famous performance photograph of all time must be the one known as Saut dans le vide (Leap into the Void), showing the…
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The Lips of a Wound: Reflections on Doris Salcedo
Suture: A joining of the lips or edges of a wound or the like by stitching. The unexpectedly sensuous definition of the clinical term “stitching”…
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What is the Museum of the Future?
We know that museums the world over are incredibly popular, but how do we keep the visitors coming? In a globalized art economy, the question…
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On the Subtle Joy of Agnes Martin
Agnes Martin began her lecture at Yale University with a deep breath … slowly, in and out. It was the mid-1970s, and Martin (1912–2004) was…
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Chantal Pontbriand Will Not Curate Your Biennial: On “Demo-Graphics,” and Its Potential to Reignite Toronto
There is a bracing moment at the end of my interview with Chantal Pontbriand in early July, where, just as I’m about to leave,…
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