Flash Points

ArtPrize 2009, Grand Rapids, MI. Photo courtesy of Brian Kelly.

Last August, I wrote a post on this blog called ArtPrize: An Experiment in Decentralized Curation and Competition. At that time, the team I work with was a month away …

Flash Points

Flash Points: Art & Experience

by Rachel Gagnon | May 13, 2010

Flash Points: Art & Experience

by Rachel Gagnon | May 13, 2010

We each look at the world from our own individual perspectives, within contexts that are constantly shifting. Our unique outlook as viewers, the specific viewpoint of the artist, the curatorial …

Flash Points

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Better Than Ketchup and Vaseline

by Joe Fusaro | May 12, 2010

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Better Than Ketchup and Vaseline

by Joe Fusaro | May 12, 2010

Twice recently I have been contacted by teachers who have run into some trouble sharing Art21 videos with their classes. In both cases these teachers were called by parents (and …

(UC Crisis) Post 1: The Story of a Movement – Overview

by Marc Herbst | May 7, 2010

(UC Crisis) Post 1: The Story of a Movement – Overview

by Marc Herbst | May 7, 2010

To explain the recent investigations into the web-art projects of both Ricardo Dominguez and b.a.n.g. lab collaborators at UC San Diego and Ken Ehrlich of UC Riverside is to tell …

Flash Points

Flash Points Wrap-Up: Art For Life

by Catherine Wagley | May 6, 2010

Flash Points Wrap-Up: Art For Life

by Catherine Wagley | May 6, 2010

A friend of mine dated a composer once. He was a good composer. People found his music “inventive” and “ubiquitous” (in a good way). All of his friends were musicians, …

Flash Points

Call for Writers: New Flash Points Topic

by Rachel Gagnon | May 5, 2010

Call for Writers: New Flash Points Topic

by Rachel Gagnon | May 5, 2010

Our new Flash Points topic, Art and Experience, will be launching soon and we’re inviting you to participate! If this sounds good to you, read on: We each have our …

Flash Points

Some Alternatives to Institutional Critique

by Laura Fried | Apr 30, 2010

Some Alternatives to Institutional Critique

by Laura Fried | Apr 30, 2010

In 1974, Hans Haacke mounted an index of the museum’s corporate sponsors and board of trustees along the Guggenheim’s walls. The work, simply titled, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Board of …

Flash Points

What’s In a Code of Ethics?

by Holly Witchey | Apr 27, 2010

I am not a professor of ethics. I have been a curator and a director of new media at a major art museum, but I am first and foremost an …

Letter from London

Art21 Extended Play

Letter from London: Everything Must Go

by Ben Street | Apr 19, 2010

Letter from London: Everything Must Go

by Ben Street | Apr 19, 2010

John Logan’s play Red, currently playing at the Golden Theater, New York, centers around a perennial ethical conundrum many successful artists face: whether or not to “sell out” to corporate …

Flash Points

Nancy Spero’s Torture of Women

by Catherine Wagley | Apr 16, 2010

Nancy Spero’s Torture of Women

by Catherine Wagley | Apr 16, 2010

“In our day, [when] we came back from war,” said Seymour Hersh to Bill O’Reilly in 2004, “We would take our pictures and hide them behind the socks in the drawer and …

Flash Points

Is the Avenue for Artistic Success Ethical?

by Kate Goyette | Apr 15, 2010

Is the Avenue for Artistic Success Ethical?

by Kate Goyette | Apr 15, 2010

Accepting the trope of the struggling artist, many decide to go ahead and brazenly attempt to carve out a spot for themselves in the art world. You just need to …

Looking at Los Angeles

The Ring Festival and the Confined Deep

by Catherine Wagley | Apr 15, 2010

The Ring Festival and the Confined Deep

by Catherine Wagley | Apr 15, 2010

All my windows look into windows of other apartments and, on warm days like those we’ve had lately, I’m set up for delicious eavesdropping. I like it best when my …

Mural by Sofia Maldonado. Photo by Alex Mateo.

Flash Points

“That’s Not Us”

by Anna Daley | Apr 5, 2010

Do artists from underrepresented demographic groups have a responsibility to represent their ethnicity in a positive light? This is not a new question, in fact, it seems to re-enter the …

Flash Points

Chatting with #class Co-Curator Jennifer Dalton about Ethics

by Hrag Vartanian | Apr 1, 2010

Chatting with #class Co-Curator Jennifer Dalton about Ethics

by Hrag Vartanian | Apr 1, 2010

Last week, the #class exhibition at the Winkleman Gallery closed after a month of functioning as New York’s laboratory for art world gripes, think tank for new ideas, and classroom …

Flash Points

Deaccessioning Without Putting Your Mission up for Sale

by Maxwell Anderson | Mar 29, 2010

Deaccessioning Without Putting Your Mission up for Sale

by Maxwell Anderson | Mar 29, 2010

Museums have been disposing of objects since they began acquiring them. The first documented “deaccessioning” may have involved some of the decayed remains of a Dodo bird, destroyed at the …

Flash Points

The Nonexistence of “Unethical Art”

by Edward Winkleman | Mar 26, 2010

The Nonexistence of “Unethical Art”

by Edward Winkleman | Mar 26, 2010

I’ll agree with Ben Street who said in his recent post that there is “no consensus about the difference between ethics and morals, so let’s be broad about it.” This …

'Their relationship was based on preparing absurdly complicated recipes using overpriced ingredients' from unhappyhipsters.com

Letter from London

Letter from London: Ethic Minority (2)

by Ben Street | Mar 22, 2010

Letter from London: Ethic Minority (2)

by Ben Street | Mar 22, 2010

There’s a lot of discussion and almost no consensus about the difference between ethics and morals, so let’s be broad about it: both are proposals about how to live. Those …

Gastro-Vision

Gastro-Vision: In the Land of Plenty

by Nicole J. Caruth | Mar 19, 2010

Gastro-Vision: In the Land of Plenty

by Nicole J. Caruth | Mar 19, 2010

Mr. Creosote, the morbidly obese character of the 1983 comedy Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, is a picture of gluttony never to be forgotten. Upon taking his seat in …

Art21 Extended Play

Jeff Koons: Money & Value

by Wesley Miller | Mar 19, 2010

DOWNLOAD VIA ITUNES | SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS Episode #098: Artist Jeff Koons discusses themes of money, desire, perfection, and moral responsibility. Filmed in his busy New York studio and surrounded …

Flash Points

The Conflation of Ethics and Morality

by William Powhida | Mar 18, 2010

The Conflation of Ethics and Morality

by William Powhida | Mar 18, 2010

I’ve drawn myself into a debate over ethics and morality with my work, How the New Museum Committed Suicide with Banality (view the high-res version here). I threw a brick …

Letter from London

Letter from London: Ethic Minority

by Ben Street | Mar 8, 2010

Letter from London: Ethic Minority

by Ben Street | Mar 8, 2010

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray …

Flash Points

The Process Behind the Portrait

by Rachel Gagnon | Mar 5, 2010

The Process Behind the Portrait

by Rachel Gagnon | Mar 5, 2010

The practice of photographic portraiture is rife with ethical implications – from the subject’s awareness of the project, to the artistic choices made throughout the session, to the work’s resulting …

Flash Points

You Are What You Read

by David Yanez | Mar 4, 2010

Flash Points

You Are What You Read

by David Yanez | Mar 4, 2010

What are the ethical implications of using live animals in art? In 1974, Joseph Beuys caged himself with a live coyote for a performance piece called I Like America and …

Jeff Koons, "Girl with Dolphin and Monkey (The Whitney Museum of American Art 75th Anniversary Photography Portfolio), 2006. Courtesy Whitney Museum

Flash Points

The Puppy Wars

by Catherine Wagley | Feb 17, 2010

Flash Points

The Puppy Wars

by Catherine Wagley | Feb 17, 2010

The eerily small, closely watched world of New York art criticism experienced some infighting earlier this month, following the publication of February’s The Brooklyn Rail. “I think that there are …

Flash Points

Art is Murder

by Brent Burket | Feb 15, 2010

Flash Points

Art is Murder

by Brent Burket | Feb 15, 2010

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3OkEcdOtb0] When I was a kid, Alice Cooper taught me everything I needed to know about art. So, ethics in art? For the most part I’m against it, but certain …

Dan Phillips: Not Merely Vernacular, Pt. 2

by Leanne Gilbertson | Feb 8, 2010

Dan Phillips: Not Merely Vernacular, Pt. 2

by Leanne Gilbertson | Feb 8, 2010

In my estimation, Phoenix Commotion’s ongoing project (founded around 1998 by Dan Phillips) does much more than simply supply a university town with a rich dose of local color. While …

Flash Points

Flash Points: The Ethics of Art

by Rachel Gagnon | Feb 5, 2010

Flash Points

Flash Points: The Ethics of Art

by Rachel Gagnon | Feb 5, 2010

Today we launch the next Flash Points topic, The Ethics of Art. Ethics are defined as “a system of moral principles” which constantly factor into the choices we make. However, …

Flash Points

Dan Phillips: Not Merely Vernacular, Pt. I

by Leanne Gilbertson | Feb 4, 2010

Flash Points

Dan Phillips: Not Merely Vernacular, Pt. I

by Leanne Gilbertson | Feb 4, 2010

As a northerner recently transplanted to the Greater Houston area, I admit to having reservations about all things Texan. I have found this a tough place to love at first …

Grand Canyon Journal 3: The Painter of Video to Life

by Karthik Pandian | Feb 4, 2010

Grand Canyon Journal 3: The Painter of Video to Life

by Karthik Pandian | Feb 4, 2010

Our previous guest blogger, Karthik Pandian, continues his Grand Canyon journal in the following post. — Ed. [youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2_oWKE13TA] Has there ever been such an elegant dramatization of the power of …

Flash Points

Flash Points: Art + the Environment Wrap-Up

by Mary Cook | Jan 27, 2010

Flash Points

Flash Points: Art + the Environment Wrap-Up

by Mary Cook | Jan 27, 2010

The natural world is a marvel, a playground, an intrinsic adventure, a multi-layered curiosity, an embodiment of fear and absolute wonderment. It is an artists’ gym where one can exercise …

Flash Points

The Island in 100 Acres: An Interview with Andrea Zittel

by Richard McCoy | Jan 21, 2010

Flash Points

The Island in 100 Acres: An Interview with Andrea Zittel

by Richard McCoy | Jan 21, 2010

Andrea Zittel talks with IMA Conservator Richard McCoy about her island project in 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park.

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Wonder-Igniters: An Interview with Abbe Futterman

by Joe Fusaro | Jan 20, 2010

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Wonder-Igniters: An Interview with Abbe Futterman

by Joe Fusaro | Jan 20, 2010

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting The Earth School in New York’s East Village and at one point noticed a science classroom through a small window …

Flash Points

Call for Writers: New Flash Points Topic

by Rachel Gagnon | Jan 14, 2010

Flash Points

Call for Writers: New Flash Points Topic

by Rachel Gagnon | Jan 14, 2010

Our new Flash Points topic, The Ethics of Art, will be launching soon and we’re inviting you to participate. Intrigued? Want to know more? Keep reading! This theme will look …

Flash Points

ArtPrize: Reflecting On and Refining an Open Art Competition

Flash Points

Flash Points

Flash Points: Art & Experience

Flash Points

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Flash Points

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Better Than Ketchup and Vaseline

(UC Crisis) Post 1: The Story of a Movement – Overview

Flash Points

Flash Points

Flash Points Wrap-Up: Art For Life

Flash Points

Flash Points

Call for Writers: New Flash Points Topic

Flash Points

Flash Points

Some Alternatives to Institutional Critique

Flash Points

Flash Points

What’s In a Code of Ethics?

Letter from London

Art21 Extended Play

Letter from London

Art21 Extended Play

Letter from London: Everything Must Go

Flash Points

Flash Points

Nancy Spero’s Torture of Women

Flash Points

Flash Points

Is the Avenue for Artistic Success Ethical?

Looking at Los Angeles

Looking at Los Angeles

The Ring Festival and the Confined Deep

Flash Points

Flash Points

“That’s Not Us”

Flash Points

Flash Points

Chatting with #class Co-Curator Jennifer Dalton about Ethics

Flash Points

Flash Points

Deaccessioning Without Putting Your Mission up for Sale

Flash Points

Flash Points

The Nonexistence of “Unethical Art”

Letter from London

Letter from London

Letter from London: Ethic Minority (2)

Gastro-Vision

Gastro-Vision

Gastro-Vision: In the Land of Plenty

Art21 Extended Play

Art21 Extended Play

Jeff Koons: Money & Value

Flash Points

Flash Points

The Conflation of Ethics and Morality

Letter from London

Letter from London

Letter from London: Ethic Minority

Flash Points

Flash Points

The Process Behind the Portrait

Flash Points

Flash Points

You Are What You Read

Flash Points

Flash Points

The Puppy Wars

Flash Points

Flash Points

Art is Murder

Dan Phillips: Not Merely Vernacular, Pt. 2

Flash Points

Flash Points

Flash Points: The Ethics of Art