Category Archives : Artschmart


light in darkness

In honor of Winter Solstice…make of it what you will! There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. – Edith Wharton (from Vesalius in Zante, 1902) Mona Hatoum, Current Disturbance, 1996 (White Chapel, 2011 installation) I love this the quote, and when I thought of coupling […]


please leave a message after the beep: a day in the life of charlotte moorman’s answering machine

Love this audio tape of answering machine messages left on Fluxus great Charlotte Moorman’s machine in 1971. A perfect Fluxus work in and of itself! Most of the messages relate to a day-old review in the Village Voice (who I started writing for almost 30 years to the day, weirdly enough), and say as much […]


vignettes of the night XX: the new woman

“Lower class prostitutes in Weimar Germany, 1920′s” (that’s all the info. that accompanied this Google searched image….Hate not crediting a photo, don’t understand how people can steal photographs that have attribution) Fascinating article I have my students read every year as we discuss the Weimar era “New Woman”. I highly recommend it. Here’s an excerpt […]


a studio visit with mimi smith or why does the squeaky wheel always get the grease?

It’d been a shamefully long time since I’d been to my Mimi Smith‘s studio. She recalls 1997:( I of course don’t recall at all because I’m terrible with dates. I remember the space instantly though, reconstituting all its contours and nooks the second the door opened. I love that feeling of space. It didn’t seem […]