Category Archives: Journal

My ‘Project 2’ T-Shirt: Swag for a Non-Existent Exhibition

Back in 2018, when I was still Artistic Director of ArtPrize, we announced that following that year’s event ArtPrize would continue on a biennial schedule. This was to make room for a new format of public art exhibitions that would take place in the intervening years. The first one, held in 2019, was called ProjectContinue reading “My ‘Project 2’ T-Shirt: Swag for a Non-Existent Exhibition”

Is ArtPrize Over?

(Image: Ran Ortner views Anila Quayyum Agha’s Intersections) ArtPrize 2020, like so many big events, fell victim to the wave of Covid-19 cancellations. ArtPrize might be known more for big crowds than for art, and gathering crowds in this pandemic is dangerous, so the cancellation wasn’t surprising. The way ArtPrize 2020 was canceled, however, putsContinue reading “Is ArtPrize Over?”

Quarantine Baking and my Master Sourdough Recipe

Near the beginning of coronavirus quarantine, I was invited to write a piece for Rapid Growth about baking bread while stuck at home. The essay includes my master sourdough bread recipe. It was first published on March 31, 2020. The Coronavirus pandemic is here and suddenly we’re all spending a lot of time at home.Continue reading “Quarantine Baking and my Master Sourdough Recipe”

Art is a Waiting Room – thoughts on documenta 14

Last month I attended the professional preview of documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany. The venerated, uber-important exhibition happens only once every five years in an otherwise unremarkable town. This year the artistic director Adam Szymczyk decided to split the exhibition between Kassel and Athens. There have been a lot of reviews published already, and IContinue reading “Art is a Waiting Room – thoughts on documenta 14”

Some Thoughts on ArtPrize in a New Political Reality

(image: Dewitt Godfrey) This is a blog post about ArtPrize, money, and politics. In the past I haven’t addressed these things with this level of clarity, but now is not a time for silence. We put out a statement on the ArtPrize blog about recent political developments (read it here), but I thought I’d addContinue reading “Some Thoughts on ArtPrize in a New Political Reality”

Some thoughts on death, loss, and 2016

I think it’s safe to say that 2016 was a year of loss and death. The news of Carrie Fischer’s passing really drove the point home for me. When I heard the news, I thought back to April, when Prince died. To be honest I’ve never been a very big fan of Prince. I learnedContinue reading “Some thoughts on death, loss, and 2016”

Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2015

I traveled a fair amount this year, and I saw a lot of art. I thought it would be good to record the things that are still sticking with me. This is far from a definitive “best of ” list of major exhibitions, because even though I saw quite a bit, there is so, soContinue reading “Top Ten Exhibitions and Artworks I Saw in 2015”

Reading On Kawara’s One Million Years at the Guggenheim

On Kawara, the conceptual artist whose work marked his own passage through time until his death last summer, has a retrospective on view at the Guggenheim Museum. I’ve always been a big fan of Kawara’s work ever since I encountered his “Today” series of paintings in an art history class in college. The paintings contain onlyContinue reading “Reading On Kawara’s One Million Years at the Guggenheim”