After getting his second Covid-19 vaccine, Dereck Stafford Mangus takes a reflective walk around Baltimore and photographs the fire-damaged Domino Sugar Refinery. Despite ongoing local and global crises, Dereck is hopeful for the future.
Read MoreArtblog contributor Lacy Murphy interviews Coco Fusco about the significance of her sculpture Tin Man at Art Basel, the use of satire and power in art, and U.S. policy with Cuba.
Read MoreOlivia Jia visits Marginal Utility’s current two-person show, “#WEHAVENOPRESIDENT,” featuring work by Sarah McEneaney and LeRoy Johnson. Here she admires the devotional diligence of their projects and explains why all anti-Trump art is not created equal.
Read MoreCulture workers–artists, curators, museums, galleries, and even collectors–will need to choose their weapons well at this highly charged cultural crossroads. Will a paintbrush, pencil, theater, soup kitchen, computer, parade, YouTube, or even cash suffice to forge meaningful change? My guess is the means of engagement will inevitably evolve to match the challenge, but that won’t include simply “liking” a picture of a naked and pregnant Trump in the arms of Vladimir Putin.
Read MoreI’ve been watching a lot of The Office (U.S.) lately. The heavy heat and caustic politics of the summer demanded a light touch and comedic reprieve. For me, the driving conflict of The Office was always the quiet struggle of the Dunder Mifflin employees to remain human in an inhuman environment. Their work world is formed by a toxic and invisible atmosphere designed to suffocate any and all aspirations to dignity, compassion, and individuality.
Read MoreCould there be a better escape vehicle than a nostalgia-infused augmented reality app populated with cuddly cute fantasy deedle-doos and whippy-wongs? Instead of going outside and actively confronting racial and economic disparities, let’s go outside and confront this Snorlax! Instead of meeting strangers and friends to reflect and discuss our experiences of race, let’s discuss these Pikachus! We are like the scared children on the airplane who refuse to focus on the harsh and seemingly terrifying realities of our situation and instead have been given an iPad by our parents. But as adults, we alone are to blame for this shameful compromise, an indulgence of distraction that immobilizes the raw introspection and societal movement that is our responsibility. All of us Pokémon Go users aren’t looking to catch them all; we are desperate looking to forget them all.
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