Weekly Newsletter
Market, market, market. That’s all we’ve been hearing about lately. First it was the November evening sales in New York, and this week it was the Miami fairs. Here at Hyperallergic, we cover these events critically and keep in mind that there are other, more important things happening in the art community.
It so happens that our Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia is a Miami native who knows the city beyond this once-a-year escapade for art worlders. She was there this week to cut through the BS and see through gimmicks ranging from a revolving library on the beach to Beeple’s robodogs of famous men. I recommend reading her stinging commentary:
"Wake Up, Beeple!
Crypto-backed artworks at Art Basel Miami Beach advance the wealth mechanisms they claim to subvert and make you, the viewer, a participant in the ploy.
Stop Putting Art on Miami Beach
The mere spectacle of Es Devlin’s revolving library on the sand betrays its aim of engaging us in the act of reading.
And while you’re at it, read a report on this year’s edition of NADA Miami from Alexandra Martinez, who’s based in the city.
Hyperrealism Meets Queer Futurism at NADA Miami
The strongest booths at the fair suggested that the future is seeping into the present and that mundane objects can carry the weight of worlds.
In the same week that the American president calls all Somali immigrants "garbage," Pantone chooses a white shade as its color of the year, for the first time in history. Our staff writer Rhea Nayyar has some strong thoughts about that.
Pantone’s Color of the Year Sounds About White
After the year we’ve had, going with Cloud Dancer can easily be interpreted as a piercing dog whistle.
In other must-reads, curator and immigration advocate Erika Hirugami decries the silence of most American curators about Trump’s attacks on democracy, while Leilani Lewis writes about the disheartening fact that Black American art is more welcome in Europe than at home these days.
The Cruelty of American Curatorial Silence
Many of my fellow curators, especially at institutions, have failed to speak out against fascism. What is it about being a curator that offers a free pass for political silence?
As the US Slides Into Tyranny, Europe Champions Black American Artists
It’s a striking contradiction: Four Black American artists get major shows in Europe while the American institutional capacity and constitutional protections collapse in tandem.
A new kid on the blue-chip block in Art Movements, NYC’s latest eyesore in Required Reading, studios from Philadelphia and Yorkshire, England, in A View From the Easel, and remembering the community members we lost this week.
Which famous painting involving a gaping mouth was stolen several times? Test your art history knowledge in this month’s Art Crossword.
Finally, please consider joining as a paid member to help sustain our work. It’s tough out there. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief"
