Issues

From Zoetrope to GIF and Back

by Rachel Heidenry | May 2, 2016

From Zoetrope to GIF and Back

by Rachel Heidenry | May 2, 2016

ART21/CUE Writer-in-Residence Rachel Heidenry explores the zoetrope, a historical predecessor to GIFs.

On View Now

Rodney McMillian’s Sobering, Irreverent Take on Race in America

by Jared Quinton | May 2, 2016

On View Now

Rodney McMillian’s Sobering, Irreverent Take on Race in America

by Jared Quinton | May 2, 2016

ART21 Magazine’s latest contributor reviews two concurrent exhibitions of work by Rodney McMillian on view in New York City.

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor, Jorge Daniel Veneciano

by Jorge Daniel Veneciano | May 2, 2016

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor, Jorge Daniel Veneciano

by Jorge Daniel Veneciano | May 2, 2016

Guest editor and director of El Museo del Barrio introduces the theme of our new issue, “Illusion,” through his current exhibition “The Illusive Eye.”

Art 2.1: Creating on the Social Web

Alter Ego: TRISTAN on Finding Himself Online

by Willa Köerner | Apr 29, 2016

Art 2.1: Creating on the Social Web

Alter Ego: TRISTAN on Finding Himself Online

by Willa Köerner | Apr 29, 2016

In a partnership with multimedia publishing platform NewHive, ART21 Magazine features digital artist TRISTAN, the winner of our #NewRenewal open call.

Looking Beyond the Western Art World

by Ben Valentine | Apr 27, 2016

Looking Beyond the Western Art World

by Ben Valentine | Apr 27, 2016

Ben Valentine writes from Cambodia to share his misgivings with the New York art and Silicon Valley tech worlds, emphasizing that a focus on creativity, not art, allows for a true appreciation and understanding of all cultures.

Looking For Ruins

by Catherine Wagley | Apr 25, 2016

Looking For Ruins

by Catherine Wagley | Apr 25, 2016

In a postcolonial world, the site of the 1907 Colonial Exhibition has become a source of inspiration for artists working against colonial ideologies and structures that still exist today.

To Live, Die, and Come Back to Life on Twitter

by Corinna Kirsch | Apr 22, 2016

To Live, Die, and Come Back to Life on Twitter

by Corinna Kirsch | Apr 22, 2016

An inquiry into three artists continually refining—and re-refining—their identities on Twitter.

E. Jane’s Imagined Future

by Alexis Avedisian | Apr 18, 2016

E. Jane’s Imagined Future

by Alexis Avedisian | Apr 18, 2016

Alexis Avedisian investigates artist E. Jane’s battle against the discrimination that’s been systemically built into how the internet functions.

More than Human: From the Politics of Plastics to Shifting our Species Into the Unknown

by Willa Köerner | Apr 15, 2016

More than Human: From the Politics of Plastics to Shifting our Species Into the Unknown

by Willa Köerner | Apr 15, 2016

Morehshin Allahyari and Daniel Rourke’s project Additivism uses 3D printing to reach untethered ways of thinking and being.

New Kids on the Block

Caitlin Berrigan’s “Unfinished State”

by Jacquelyn Gleisner | Apr 13, 2016

New Kids on the Block

Caitlin Berrigan’s “Unfinished State”

by Jacquelyn Gleisner | Apr 13, 2016

Caitlin Berrigan’s “Unfinished State” investigates the landscape of Lebanon, where abandoned construction projects stand as the casualties of a post-conflict economy.

The New Situationists

Everyone Gets Lighter: On John Giorno, Ugo Rondinone, and the Gift of Exchange

by Erin Sweeny | Apr 11, 2016

The New Situationists

Everyone Gets Lighter: On John Giorno, Ugo Rondinone, and the Gift of Exchange

by Erin Sweeny | Apr 11, 2016

This inaugural article of a new column titled “The New Situationists” investigates the romantic and collaborative relationship between poet John Giorno and artist Ugo Rondinone.

Entropy and Growth: a Museum Reborn

by Tim Svenonius | Apr 8, 2016

Entropy and Growth: a Museum Reborn

by Tim Svenonius | Apr 8, 2016

SFMOMA’s Senior Content Strategist Tim Svenonius shares an inside look at San Francisco’s ever-changing landscape.

Writer-in-Residence

Bearing Witness

by Jessica Lynne | Apr 6, 2016

Writer-in-Residence

Bearing Witness

by Jessica Lynne | Apr 6, 2016

In this essay, ART21/CUE Writer-in-Residence Jessica Lynne describes the nuances in Kambui Olujimi’s exhibition, “Solastalgia.”

PROGRESS BE LYK: An Interview with Shawn Huckins

by Lindsey Davis | Apr 4, 2016

PROGRESS BE LYK: An Interview with Shawn Huckins

by Lindsey Davis | Apr 4, 2016

In this interview with Denver-based artist Shawn Huckins, he reveals the motivations behind his contemplative, yet hilarious reinventions of historical paintings.

Affixing Ceremony: Four Movements for Essex | An Interview with Tiona McClodden

by Jessica Lynne | Mar 23, 2016

Affixing Ceremony: Four Movements for Essex | An Interview with Tiona McClodden

by Jessica Lynne | Mar 23, 2016

An interview with filmmaker Tiona McClodden about her digital project memorializing poet and activist Essex Hemphill.

Material Renewal: Four Artists Turning Trash into Art

by Lindsey Davis | Mar 18, 2016

Material Renewal: Four Artists Turning Trash into Art

by Lindsey Davis | Mar 18, 2016

A look at the work of four artists using discarded materials to create sustainable art.

Reviving the Black Arts Movement Through the Speculative Black Imagination

by Nettrice Gaskins | Mar 9, 2016

Reviving the Black Arts Movement Through the Speculative Black Imagination

by Nettrice Gaskins | Mar 9, 2016

Scholar Nettrice Gaskins explores the Black Speculative Arts Movement where artists use futurism and science fiction to “re-see” mythologies and histories.

Center Field: Art in the Middle

The Sensation of Un-thought Thoughts: An Interview with Simone Forti

by Caroline Picard | Mar 1, 2016

Center Field: Art in the Middle

The Sensation of Un-thought Thoughts: An Interview with Simone Forti

by Caroline Picard | Mar 1, 2016

Caroline Picard interviews experimental dancer, choreographer, and writer Simone Forti, who recently held a two-day workshop at Northwestern University entitled “Thinking with the Body.”

Queer Berlin

Dark Art(s), Coven Berlin, and the Queer Erotic Occult

by Ali Fitzgerald | Mar 1, 2016

Queer Berlin

Dark Art(s), Coven Berlin, and the Queer Erotic Occult

by Ali Fitzgerald | Mar 1, 2016

Ali Fitzgerald investigates the emergence of mysticism and the occult in Berlin’s art scene, exploring the cyber-feminist collective Coven Berlin whose goal is to ‘conqueer’ the universe, and a new Berlin bookstore specializing in forbidden books.

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor, Willa Köerner

by Willa Köerner | Mar 1, 2016

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor, Willa Köerner

by Willa Köerner | Mar 1, 2016

Guest editor Willa Köerner delves deep into the theme of our new issue, “Renewal,” highlighting upcoming articles and interviews centered around rebirth and revival.

“Apricots from Damascus” — A Zine and Exhibition Project in Istanbul

by Elizabeth Larison | Feb 29, 2016

“Apricots from Damascus” — A Zine and Exhibition Project in Istanbul

by Elizabeth Larison | Feb 29, 2016

Contemporary movements of exodus and forced migration have sparked global anxiety as the number of displaced people worldwide approaches 60 million. All over, people necessarily cross borders, and in a …

Playing with Numbers: Black Representation in American Art Institutions

by Olubukola Gbadegesin | Feb 26, 2016

Playing with Numbers: Black Representation in American Art Institutions

by Olubukola Gbadegesin | Feb 26, 2016

Art history professor Olubukola Gbadegesin cautions against celebrating the recent trend of art institutions finally collecting work by Black artists.

Hello world: A letter from ART21’s new director

by Tina Kukielski | Feb 24, 2016

Hello world: A letter from ART21’s new director

by Tina Kukielski | Feb 24, 2016

While my friends and colleagues were spending their winter breaks getting some R&R on sandy beaches in the Caribbean, I was happily watching some of ART21’s more than three hundred …

Flight Paths

by Sky Goodden | Feb 19, 2016

Flight Paths

by Sky Goodden | Feb 19, 2016

I know of artists who fly aloft and land like a glance, perpetually abreast of something—patterned renewal. I know of artists; I have sat nearby as they cock their collared …

How Movement Becomes Music: Transforming Images into Sound

by Julia Adolphe | Feb 12, 2016

How Movement Becomes Music: Transforming Images into Sound

by Julia Adolphe | Feb 12, 2016

How is a moving image captured in music? How does a melody evoke falling rain or the rustle of leaves in the wind? As a composer, I strive to paint …

“Repellent Fence / Valla Repelente”

by Postcommodity | Feb 4, 2016

“Repellent Fence / Valla Repelente”

by Postcommodity | Feb 4, 2016

Continuing their exploration of contested spaces, Postcommodity recently presented Repellent Fence / Valla Repelente, the largest bi-national land art installation ever exhibited on the US/Mexico border. The temporary, two-mile-long fence …

Janitor for the Nation

by Joseph del Pesco | Feb 1, 2016

Janitor for the Nation

by Joseph del Pesco | Feb 1, 2016

“Imagine that this museum is a nation, and inside this nation is a museum.” That idea inspired this experimental text, in which each exhibition is envisioned as its own sovereign state.

How to use the F-word in 2016: The Guerrilla Girls Twin Cities Takeover

by Megan Johnston | Jan 28, 2016

How to use the F-word in 2016: The Guerrilla Girls Twin Cities Takeover

by Megan Johnston | Jan 28, 2016

Museum director Megan Johnston shares the inside scoop on organizing the Guerrilla Girls Twin Cities Takeover, a series of exhibitions and events throughout Minnesota from January to March 2016.

New Kids on the Block

Gina Siepel’s Listening Trips

by Jacquelyn Gleisner | Jan 26, 2016

New Kids on the Block

Gina Siepel’s Listening Trips

by Jacquelyn Gleisner | Jan 26, 2016

In July 2011, the artist Gina Siepel paddled down the Bronx River with four strangers. This series of excursions in the northernmost borough of New York City, along with four …

Confronting Crisis: An Interview with Syrian Artists Tammam Azzam, Sara Shamma & Kevork Mourad

by Lindsey Davis | Jan 21, 2016

Confronting Crisis: An Interview with Syrian Artists Tammam Azzam, Sara Shamma & Kevork Mourad

by Lindsey Davis | Jan 21, 2016

These three Syrian artists left their homes behind, and their bodies of work have been forever changed by the war that’s tearing their nation apart. In this extended interview we find answers to the question: What is life like as a refugee and artist?

Are We There Yet? A brief history of art and Black Lives Matter

by Sheldon Scott | Jan 18, 2016

Are We There Yet? A brief history of art and Black Lives Matter

by Sheldon Scott | Jan 18, 2016

Artist Sheldon Scott surveys the historical longevity of the Black Lives Matter movement in art, long before the hashtag made the issue trending.

Representing Gender for Ballet’s Next Generation

by Robert Binet | Jan 12, 2016

Representing Gender for Ballet’s Next Generation

by Robert Binet | Jan 12, 2016

Ballet is perhaps the most gendered of all art forms. Male and female dancers are trained differently from an early age and are expected to emerge in the profession with …

Picturing Motion in Photography: When Time Stands Still

by Arthur Shimamura | Jan 4, 2016

Picturing Motion in Photography: When Time Stands Still

by Arthur Shimamura | Jan 4, 2016

UC Berkeley professor Arthur Shimamura shares the history behind the work of early photographers Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and how each used the camera to capture movement.

Movement and Stillness in Nira Pereg’s “Ishmael”

by Talia Heiman | Jan 4, 2016

Movement and Stillness in Nira Pereg’s “Ishmael”

by Talia Heiman | Jan 4, 2016

Nira Pereg’s four-channel video installation Ishmael (2015), was filmed in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city. Holy for both Muslims and Jews, the Cave …

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Chen Tamir

by Chen Tamir | Jan 4, 2016

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Chen Tamir

by Chen Tamir | Jan 4, 2016

“Aptitude for war is aptitude for movement,” said Napoleon, as quoted by Paul Virilio in his book, Speed and Politics.1 Virilio explains that “violence can be reduced to nothing but movement.”2 …

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Classroom Catalysts: Enabling Personal Revolutions Through Art

by Lindsey Davis | Dec 22, 2015

Teaching with Contemporary Art

Classroom Catalysts: Enabling Personal Revolutions Through Art

by Lindsey Davis | Dec 22, 2015

“What is art but a way of seeing?” —Thomas Berger Sometimes the most significant revolutions make no noise at all, happening completely within someone’s frame of mind. These individual transformations might …