Author Archives: jolanta

Coreen Simpson emerged within the context of photographers when the medium was still locked within traditional constrictions. It was a strictly male-dominated field?especially among Black photographers where certain groups such as the Kamonge Workshop adhered to some rather restrictive stylistic nuances and thematic boundaries for creating photographic art. Crucially Performative: The Photographic Art of Coreen […]

Even though Belgium is well known in the contemporary art world for its numerous collectors, its capital Brussels is still waiting for an institution capable of promoting today?s art with efficiency. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify: Jota Castro’s "Universal Exhibition" Pierre-Yves Desaive Jota Castro, Oil Shame, 2004. Even though Belgium is well known in the contemporary art […]

A blonde with a chocolate on her face. A little boy alone in a hotel room. Seals sliding from the beach into the sea. Finnish photographer and media artist Heli Rekula sets these images side by side as serial wholes in her mid-career retrospective exhibition: she questions the female body, human desire, minimalist human dramas […]

What Brandon Bird saw on an episode of "Late Night with Conan O’Brien" didn’t break the laws of the State of New York, but more simply those of the universe. Color Me Orbach, A Hue Dunnit Joanna Neborsky Brandon Bird, page five from Law & Order: An Adventure to Color. What Brandon Bird saw on […]

Rirkrit Tiravanija is known for creating art installations that invite viewers to activate the work through their own experience of it, with it, with one another. Instead of filling a gallery with paintings or sculptures, art objects to be sold, Tiravanjia provides a collection of ingredients for an experience the viewers may enact and share, […]

"Art" and "play" are almost impossible to define–both are characterized by infinite variability, risk and invention. Most of us consider adult play as respite or indulgence, but having fun is no trivial pursuit. In fact, it’s crucial to our mental creativity, health and happiness. Unburdened by consciousness or self-consciousness, we act spontaneously. Play restores our […]

Molly Kleiman: In each issue of Artic, numerous artists respond to a given theme with original, innovative, reproducible works. As one of the co-creators of this publication, what would you note as the genesis of this project? Redefining an Active Reader Molly Kleiman courtesy of the artistMolly Kleiman: In each issue of Artic, numerous artists […]

It was no different from any other Carnegie Hall concert. While the solo pianist played waltz after waltz that begged for dancers, the audience stayed decorously still. Jason Freeman’s Othello Principle Dawn Chan courtesy of the artist It was no different from any other Carnegie Hall concert. While the solo pianist played waltz after waltz […]

At the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York, "Digital Play: Reloaded" bleeped and whizzed into its opening–a museum-arcade of nostalgic cabinets (Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Burnout 3: Take Down) alongside Sony’s Eyetoy for Playstation, and a mod of Dance Dance Revolution (known simply as DDR to those in the know) called Stepmania, […]

English?a language clogged with synonyms?is entirely uncreative in describing play. Try a couple that my Encarta suggests: "Recreation" (sounds institutional); "fool around" (too x-rated); "have fun" (vague). Other languages provide many more distinctions. Play! Molly Kleiman An invite to a conceptual art party: 60 participants with synchronized discmen arrived in Central Park and wandered together […]