Letter from the editor:

Good Morning.

Today, we introduce you to some thoughts by artist Yevginey Fiks about an emerging Yiddish contemporary art, then we consider a box set of every single Agnès Varda movie, share a sliver of hope as Beirut’s art scene bands together, then report on union calls at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and much more.

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I’ve followed Yevgeniy Fiks’s work for over a decade now and I’m always interested in how he reimagines the world, particularly by looking into Soviet history and finding threads in contemporary society. His essay recognizes and advocates for a more open-ended Yiddish contemporary art. He writes:

I propose we consider “Yiddish contemporary (visual) art” as any contemporary art piece… that are consciously produced by the artist as a project of this new Yiddish culture. This art can either directly employ the Yiddish language, form, subjects, themes of Yiddish/Eastern European Jewish culture or be situated in less straightforward relation to them. 

I love imagining the new worlds that await us in the years ahead.

I don’t think I’m the only Agnès Varda fan that can get excited about a box set of all her films. Anthony Hawley reminds us why Varda continues to be important:

Varda was an extraordinary traveler, be it in her own Paris, on the French Riviera, in the countryside, or in California, Iran, or Cuba. She seeks resonances between her practice and the lives of everyday people, unpacking assumptions about traditional notions of the exotic. 

We also covered some hopeful news out of Beirut. Hakim Bishara reports on how the city’s artists and nonprofits are working together. One initiative, Art Relief for Beirut, has “so far raised $84,000 by selling 32 artworks and 200 prints, exceeding its initial goal of $50,000,” Bishara reports.

Looks like a union is forming at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Over 150 employees are organizing to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the museum’s security guards. 

I’ll end with a fun clip I spotted on Twitter yesterday. Be warned that it’s a clip from Tucker Carlson on Fox News, but it’s absolutely hilarious to see him lose his mind over being asked to pronounce Kamala Harris’s name correctly.

Is There a New Yiddish Contemporary Visual Art?

Since about the 1970s, a new and largely post-vernacular Yiddish culture has started to develop in many, often unexpected, locales around the world. A related visual aesthetic now seems to be emerging.

Yevgeniy Fiks

News

Artists and Art Nonprofits Band Together to Raise Beirut From the Rubble

Initiatives have sprung up in the aftermath of the explosion, with the goal of raising funds for relief efforts in the city and reconstructing its devastated cultural sector.

Milwaukee Art Museum Workers Seek to Unionize

More than 150 employees are organizing to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the museum’s security guards.

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