Weekly
January 1, 2022 • View in browser
Happy New Year! 🎉 This week, the first post by one of the Emily H. Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators was published, and Tahnee Ahtone explained what it means to be a Native American curator today and what arts institutions get wrong. It’s a must-read, as she discusses how the sovereignty of Native Sovereign nations is often undermined by what pretends to be a more inclusive framework. Can’t wait for you to see the incredible email exhibition she has planned for Hyperallergic readers, as it will be the first time a series of important Kiowa murals will be widely shown to those outside the Native American community.
Also, we have reports about the plagiarizing of NFTs, an app that tells you the truth about various looted objects at the British Museum, how art went viral in the 16th century, and how one TikToker is poking fun at Western attitudes towards non-Western art.
We’re definitely ready for 2022. How about you?
— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief
The 20 Most Powerless People in the Art World: 2021 Edition
Welcome to our annual list which highlights those who are rendered powerless in a system influenced by the super-rich and the institutions and businesses that serve them.
Hyperallergic's Most Popular Posts of 2021
This year's list shows us Hyperallergic readers have a wide-ranging appetite for news, reviews, and opinions.
NEWS THIS WEEK
Illustration of Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon marbles (courtesy of Dentsu Webchutney & Shaleen Wadhwana)
A new app highlights the history behind ten disputed objects in the British Museum’s collection and explains why they should be repatriated.
DeviantArt users say plagiarized NFTs are plaguing their community and denounce the inadequate responses from OpenSea and other marketplaces.
Dozens of artists ask to withdraw from an exhibition at the Ramat Gan Museum of Israeli Art after a political work by David Reeb is removed.
The Smithsonian Institution temporarily closes four of its smaller museums in Washington, DC, due to a rise in cases of COVID-19 among staff.
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LATEST IN ART
Oklahoma Native Women Artists Discussion in 2019 at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (photo by Monkcunksi Growingthunder, used with permission)
What It Means to Curate for My Native American Community
Emily H. Tremaine Journalism Fellow Tahnee Ahtone introduces her practice and her position as curator for the Kiowa nation.
I have the autonomy to write, speak honestly, and advocate for tribal nations that I did not have while serving more prominent museums. The benefit of shifting to my community museum is that I advocate as a political leader concerning history, art, culture, preservation, and consultation.
Judith Bernstein, "Gaslighting (Red)" (2019, detail), acrylic and oil on canvas, 89 1/2 x 88 1/2 inches (courtesy the artist and Kasmin, New York. Photo by Diego Flores)
Jennifer Coates Communes with the Gods of Nighttime Revelry
Seph Rodney on Lesser Gods of Lakewood, PA at High Noon gallery.
Coates depicts a wildly active forest in a foreshortened picture plane that gleams here and there with crepuscular creatures that likely appear only when the sum total of human consciousness is in repose.
A Philosopher-Painter for Troubled Times
David Carrier on Judith Bernstein: Gasligting Forever at Kasmin Gallery.
Stitched Scenes of Everyday Life in LA’s Boyle Heights
Lauren Moya Ford takes a closer look at the labor-intensive textile works in Erick Medel: Hustling de Sol a Sol at Martha’s Contemporary.
A Contemporary Art Survey Highlights the Multiple Identities of the Indian State of Kerala
Rohini Kejriwal on Lokame Tharavadu across multiple venues in Alappuzha, Kerala, India.
Hans Leonhard Schäufelein, Bundschuh woodcut engraving (c. 1520s) (all images via Wikimedia Commons)
How the First “Viral” Media Spawned a Peasant Uprising in Germany
Billy Anania looks at the revolutionary power of the printing press during the period of the Protestant Reformation.
As Pope Leo X and the aristocracy tightened their financial grip over Germany’s underclasses, a revolutionary peasant uprising dealt a significant blow, fueled by the first mass media of the Modern era.
TikToker Pokes Fun at Western Attitudes Towards Non-Western Art
“The Europeans are a simple people, but perhaps in this complex age we could learn something from their simplicity,” says TikToker Amalia Rubin.
Lifelike Painted Statues Reanimate Museum Many Left for Dead
Roko Rumora on Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh at the Hispanic Museum & Library.
How Dürer’s Travels Reveal His Voracious Appetite for Art
Michael Glover on Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist at the National Gallery in London.
ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC
From Memoria (2021), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (all images courtesy NEON)
A Strange Hallucination Plagues Tilda Swinton in Memoria
Dan Schindel reviews Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's masterpiece of magical realism.
It seems at first to be another tale about a stranger in a strange land, but Weerasethakul senses that in the contemporary world many of us are estranged from each other and the land — but there can be beautiful and unexpected methods of connection.
