James Rosenquist, President Elect, 1960-61/1964

We are, in fact, not running out of good ideas. There are no short cuts to new ideas, but late-stage capitalism wants 'em quick and is palpably desperate to rip all full, meaningful time from us to feed its machine.

A great day out with @sarahj.bsky.social visiting the Tate Modern permanent collection on her excellent ‘Demystifying the Tate Modern’ course( @citylit.bsky.social ).

The government of Jamaica has set up a portal for contributing to official relief efforts. I will update this thread if anything analogous opens up for Haiti, Cuba, or the DR supportjamaica.gov.jm

Good morning from Berenice Abbott, Jean Cocteau and this robot mannequin head (1927)

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion. As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

Gordon [sic] Under Medical Inspection https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2012.78

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Today: researching Anneke van der Freer (1902-1956), part of the De Nieuwe Zakelijkheid (New Objectivity) in Amsterdam, staunch anti-fascist and feminist. Self-Portrait, 1938

Ed Ruscha, Norm’s, La Cienega, on Fire, 1964. Or, more to the point: Ed Ruscha, Norms on fire, 1964.

A 2 🌟 review, in which, the critic's entire argument hinges on his anger that the British Museum has collected contemporary prints. Even though the British Museum has always held the national collection of prints & drawings, including the contemporary. Critics should sorta know this stuff.

Dorothea Tanning, A Mi-Voix, 1958 https://botfrens.com/collections/14375/contents/1123439

"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits." www.computerworld.com/article/4059...

One of my favourite artworks ever. 'We are a product of the time. . .'

I know Rothko's art is marketed transcendent and spiritual, but I've always felt his colour fields are rage (barely) assuaged by methodical touch. That he painted these to trap rich 'bastards' as they stuffed their faces makes me love the paintings even more.

Great read, and this quote grabbed my attention "In Walker’s treatment, sections of man and horse have been cut apart and resoldered together in a tangle of hooves, haunches, bridles and necks, the parts more or less recognizable but the whole an entirely new, unsettled being." Siddhartha Mitter

Hot potato! We are all Claes Oldenburg's Baked Potato, Thrown in Corner, under Light Bulb (1965) in the NYC heat today. 🥔☀️

Sonia Delaunay, Robe simultanée, 1913 and the artist wearing her creation (via @labnf.bsky.social)

When a bookshop is at the heart of a neighborhood it is the owner who made it so. Sad news in South London.

Send us your work! For both general and folio submissions, we accept poetry, fiction, essays, excerpted larger works, and translations. When you submit, you will have the option to identify your work for general submission or the themes. Submissions close Sept. 30th. kenyonreview.org/submit/

Inconsequential pet peeve: When I see the surrealists referred to as 'whimsical'

Since 2023, translators and interpreters have seen work dry up, rates plummet and their jobs reduced to editing AI-generated output. Some are leaving the field, others are considering bankruptcy. All despite any major upgrade in translation quality. This is how AI is killing translation work:

Another welcome addition to the AI self defence kit:

Turn off AI in search results. I just did this in Chrome and it works. tenbluelinks.org#chrome-windows

teachers! excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone. take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE against-a-i.com

WRYTE WEIRDE BOOKES

I just posted a free workbook that aims to help university workers better understand when and how to take risks in the fight against fascism in higher ed. halperta.com/shalperta%20...

Amy Sherald says the Smithsonian suggested removing a painting of a transgender woman as the Statue of Liberty from her upcoming show at the National Portrait Gallery “to avoid provoking President Trump.” Sherald: “I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship”

make art! if it's the end of the world, you might as well make art! if it's not the end of the world, then the future will be better because people made art right now!

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

I made a piece of software! It’s called the film|minutes video|graphic workstation. It’s pretty niche but cool if you want to take notes or do very close readings of films/videos.

It is Rembrandt's birthday and I will never get tired of looking at this drawing. A self-portrait from 1629 (he's about 23). He's drawn the contour in brown ink and pen and then added grey wash that hasn't been completely absorbed by the paper because he likely used a semi-dry brush.

Third set of proofs for a piece I really, really, really struggled to write, but now am actually very happy with (even if my affiliation, mysteriously, now language-switches between German and English). Part of the Journal of Medieval History's 50th anniversary issue, to be published sooooon.

Pleased to report the long-lived Mexican tradition of political caricature, stretching back at least as far as the great José Guadalupe Posada, is still going strong (as seen in Oaxaca). The poster lists free classes in: -Drawing -Painting/Color -Composition -Marxist Theory

Went to an art history taster today @citylit.bsky.social, run by @sarahj.bsky.social, who is clearly passionate about her subject. Five mini-lectures in 2 hours, going from 13th century Iranian tiles to Yoko Ono, through the lenses of iconography, materiality, historiography and more. Fascinating.

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is on show in its entirety in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern from 12 - 16 June. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Ruth Asawa's 1940s internment camp ID card, from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery npg.si.edu/object/npg_N...

OPEN LETTER: HISTORIANS FOR TRANS RIGHTS Are you a historian in the UK or working on UK history fed up at seeing the history of LGBTQIA+ discrimination repeat itself? Sign this open letter to MPs demanding they stand up for trans rights now! Letter: tinyurl.com/879vuver Sign: tinyurl.com/4p7wktrn

Dr Magnus Hirschfeld protected his transgender patients from harassment by presenting them with a medical certificate that explained their gender expression was aligned with their true nature. This is Gerd Katter's certificate via the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, more here: bit.ly/3RRRPq4

It is what would have been Keith Haring's 67th birthday. 'Untitled Painting' (1989) was painted when he knew he would not survive HIV/AIDS. It is such a beautiful painting, in every sense.

Artwashing AI includes such perverse efforts as this: using a tool whose energy needs are so extractive that it contributes to climate change, which threatens the survival of endangered species...in order to "really make ya think" about endangered species.

Sometimes, the most correct response is sleep.

How the Getty Provenance Index is transforming art research. [🧵1/8]

Lectured on Hiroshige today & could barely keep it together from burn out (it's week 1 of the term), but it is spring and I am lucky to be here so I am holding on to his poem in his print of Red Plum Blossoms (1847): The drowsy air of springtime relaxes our most determined efforts.

The final honor guard for Pope Francis included migrants, prisoners, transgender people, the homeless and others selected by the Vicariate of Rome as a symbol of the late pope’s mission of inclusion and outreach. Read more from the funeral: wapo.st/3YdDGqM

I am now completely obsessed with this painting by Noah Davis, 1975 (1), 2013. Memory, photography, space, light, fiction, perception. . .filled several pages of my notebook.