Reading list, 22 April 2017

Anne Helen Petersen on The Radical Feminist Aesthetic Of "The Handmaid’s Tale" (the tv series); follow it up with the New Yorker's profile of Margaret Atwood by Rebecca Mead.

This show sounds amazing: Adrian Searle reviews Queer British Art 1861-1967 for the Guardian.

A real long read: Helen Rosner argues The Real Legacy of ‘Lucky Peach’ Is How It Looked on Eater.

Holland Cotter on MOMA's Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction for the New York Times:

These shows are invariably moving, surprising and adventurous. The present one certainly is. But they have too easily become a new normal, an acceptable way to show women but keep them segregated from the permanent-collection galleries. In other words, they are a way to keep MoMA’s old and false, but coherent and therefore salable, story of Modernism intact.

Yet another dissection of Thomas Campbell's ejection from The Met - scroll down, it turns out the failing gift store was at the bottom of it.

A truly terrific interview with Kara Walker, by Doreen St. Félix for Vulture.

Philip Kennicott's review of visiting the Kusama exhibition at the Hirschhorn like a normal pleb is less whiny and more thought-provoking than the headline would suggest: I went to Kusama and all I got was this lousy selfie.

The Los Angeles Times is running a series on what L.A. would look like without government arts funding.

Reading list, 15 April 2017

Emma Ng has been commissioned by Design Assembly to write four essays over the time between the American and New Zealand elections - she kicks off with 'What does a fact look like?'.

Calvin Tompkins was clearly writing this New Yorker profile on painter Dana Schutz well before the controversy erupted over her work Open Casket (an interpretation of the famous photo of murdered African American teenager Emmett Till in his coffin) at the Whitney Biennial. His piece helpfully provides more context on the artist and her career up to this point - as well as some insight into her own feelings on the outcry.

New(isH) Auckland free magazine Paperboy is commissioning some great arts writing. Here's Anthony Byrt's piece from their recent issue focused on homelessness, 'How artist Kalisolaite ‘Uhila made a statement by vanishing into the streets'.

Queueing this up for the weekend - Artsy's latest podcast, on the history of the white cube gallery.

This would be comedic, if it weren't so demoralising: 'Jeff Koons’s New Line'.

A fascinating read from Rachel Cooke for the Guardian: 'Eric Gill: can we separate the artist from the abuser?'

Tim Murphy interviews e-Tangata co-founders and editors Tapu Misa and Gary Wilson as BWB Texts publishes a best-of selection of essays from the site.

Reading list, 8 April 2017

The British Museums Association annual survey reveals deep cuts to public funding, accompanied both by closures and increased revenue and philanthropy generation.

Auckland Council will commission an independent review of major cultural institutions and facilities, to address a set of concerns about influence over how Council-provided funding is invested and strategic alignment of the region's cultural asset. The link includes Tim Walker's 2015 report on 'Investing in Auckland cultural infrastructure'.

Gina Fairley outlines the debate over moving the Powerhouse Museum (MAAS) to Parramatta.

Busted by data: Colleen Dilenschneider asks whether mobile apps are worthwhile for cultural institutions (hint: she says no).

Tonya Nelson writes a short but incisive piece on succession planning in museums, based on the current Met melt-down.

I'm fascinated by Damien Hirst's comeback narrative & project.

The University of South Australia plans to open a 'museum of ideas'.

One of my favourite current writers, Kyle Chayka, contributes to The Paris Review's series on artworks that influenced people by talking about invigilating an Anselm Kiefer.

Kris Sowersby of Klim Type Foundry on the new typeface he has designed for Trade Me.

Reading List, 1 April 2017

Hugo Robinson interviews Lana Lopesi on writing art criticism.

Zita Joyce writes on 'The Brooding Elitist Relationship-Wrecker: Tropes of Art and Artists on Narrative Television' for Pantograph Punch.

Hilarie M. Sheets for the NYT - 'Gender Gap Persists at Largest Museums' and the full report from the Association of Art Museum Directors.

ArtNews pulls together a variety of opinion pieces on the controversial inclusion of Dana Schutz's Open Casket, a painting based on photographs of murdered African-American teenager  Emmett Till. Many of the pieces reference Hannah Black's open letter, which has become the wellspring of many published responses. Roberta Smith's article for the NYT references similar criticisms of Kara Walker's early work in the 1990s, a moment I wasn't aware of. Missing from the round up is Antwaun Sargent's editorial for Artsy, Unpacking the Firestorm around the Whitney Biennial’s “Black Death Spectacle”.