Once upon a time, there were three kinds of human beings: male, descended from the sun; female, descended from the earth; and androgynous, with both male and female elements, descended from the moon. Each human being was completely round, with four arms and fours legs, two identical faces on opposite sides of a head with […]
In her book The Best Most Useless Dress, published by Badlands Unlimited, Claudia La Rocco writes the following ‘Fable’: When she grew very old the Medusa decided to give her true heart away. It was, of course, made of stone. She was, again very old, and unlovely, though not in an unhandsome way. She saved […]
Today in our Semina Seminar, a lunchtime meeting with MFAs and Classics PhDs before my seminar on Ancient Philosophical Handbooks: Lessons, Lives, Communities, we were talking about death – the death of the artist and the death of painting. Biographical traditions of ancient philosophers, especially Diogenes Laertius’ Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, often focus […]
Today I celebrated International Women’s Day by taking part in artist Melissa Vogley Woods’ first drop-in workshop at the Riffe Gallery. Anyone familiar with Melissa’s work, from her videos (e.g Boxed) or her paintings (e.g. Consequences), would instantly know that these workshops would be messy, tantalizing, thoughtful and inspirational. Planned in coordination with the exhibition […]
I just proposed a so-called ‘First Year Seminar’ (a one credit class for Ohio State freshmen) on the topic of ‘Selfie Culture’. It will examine the history, art and politics of the selfie from ancient Rome to now and I will be discussing artists such as Cindy Sherman, David Hammons and Petra Cortright as well […]
I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, “Take up and read; Take up and read.” – St. Augustine Confessions The story can only be narrated from the posthumous perspective of someone who does not participate in the events. – Adriana Cavarero Relating Narratives: […]
As the M I N T collective prepares to leave their space on 42 W Jenkins and start a new chapter in their story, I asked the members to share their memories of the space so that I could post them on Minus Plato. As a new member I cannot possibly know the mix of […]
The 2012 exhibition Animal Spirits at the DESTE Slaughterhouse was inspired by the economist John Maynard Keyne’s concept of “animal spirits”: Here is the description of the exhibition on the DESTE website: Animal Spirits references a concept coined by the British economist John Maynard Keynes, who argued in his 1936 book, The General Theory of […]
March’s Artforum just landed and it contains the essay “Mounting Resistance” by Nasser Rabbat about new art in Beirut. One of the two solo shows in the Lebanese capital that Rabbat discusses in Randa Mirza’s “El-Zohra Was Not Born in a Day”. The exhibition comprises a series of dioramas that focus on the pre-Islamic myths […]
In their project The Rumors of the World, Lebanese artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khali Joreige investigate the abundance of spamming and scamming on the internet and the resulting questions of trust and the construction of identity in the post-internet world. In addition to installations of video works in which actors play the roles of the […]