Outside my regular lunch spot in Brooklyn yesterday, a worker dressed as a giant lettuce leaf was handing out samples in the cold. When I asked him how he was doing, he replied with a smile, "Can't complain." I took it as a reminder to remain grateful for what I have, no matter where life takes me.
Speaking of problematic working conditions, I encourage you to read Amanda Tobin Ripley's plea to art museums to voluntarily recognize their workers' unions. No more forced elections, fear-mongering, and pitting workers against each other. It's a must-read not just for museum leaders, but for everyone in our field.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Museum Leaders, Recognize Your Unions Now
Museum worker and researcher Amanda Tobin Ripley calls on museum leaders to cut their union-busting tricks and voluntarily recognize their workers' efforts to organize.
"Challenging worker eligibility has been a favorite response of museum leaders to this current wave of unionization, as I’ve discovered in my own experience organizing and researching museum unions," she writes. "There is a clear pattern of museum leadership weaponizing the time between campaign announcement and election to challenge the union’s power."
Apply for NXTHVN’s Studio and Curatorial Fellowships
Up to seven artists and two curators will participate in a paid, 10-month intensive residency in New Haven, Connecticut.
News
- A new study finds that seeing original art can help drop cortisol levels and reduce inflammatory load, among other positive effects on the nervous system.
- Art dealer Bertrand Scholler, owner of 55 Bellechasse gallery in Paris, is found guilty of cyberbullying France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, partaking in a conspiracy theory that she was assigned male at birth.
From Our Critics
International Rendezvous at Guatemala’s Paiz Art Biennial
This year’s biennial, The World Tree, was intended to highlight the “archetypal myth central to many ancient cosmogonies.” | eunice bélidor
Anselm Kiefer’s Rustbelt Romanticism
In Becoming the Sea, nostalgia for the Rhine River of Kiefer’s childhood flows into homages to the Mississippi as a symbol of both industry and creative freedom. | Eileen G’Sell
Explore Low and Full Residency MFA Options at Maine College of Art & Design
Apply by January 18 to be considered for a full-tuition scholarship.
In Memoriam
Remembering Lucia Di Luciano, Rosa von Praunheim, and Kathleen Goncharov
An Italian painter, a filmmaker who chronicled queer life, and a beloved museum curator are among the community members we've lost this week.
Member Comment
Jo Ford on Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia's "Five Venezuelan Artists Respond to US Attacks"
ICYMI
British Museum Launches Farcical “Decolonizing” Loan Program
Long-term loans to former colonies are not restitution. They do not acknowledge historical wrongdoing, nor do they restore agency to source communities. |
Emiline Smith