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You are here: Home / Archives for Popular Culture / KULCHA!

KULCHA!

Late Night Open Thread: Even History Is A Remake, These Days

by Anne Laurie|  October 14, 202011:59 pm| 109 Comments

This post is in: KULCHA!, Open Threads

Maybe we’ll at least get another ‘Roaring Twenties’, come 2021?

lmfao and all the bars are closed

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) October 11, 2020

Also, gotta admit this sounds like something recycled from a First Gilded Age ‘penny dreadful’:

Trump has endorsed a falconer's Benghazi conspiracy theory that Joe Biden killed Navy SEALs in a blood sacrifice and that Osama Bin Laden is still alive because Seal Team 6 killed his body double. https://t.co/KIkNJuRXrr

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) October 13, 2020

if there's any bright side to this very-normal-democracy situation, it's that the president doesn't read much, so odds are he just looked at the headline here https://t.co/7BsIZ0dE6i

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) October 14, 2020

Technology changes; people, too often, don’t.

Late Night Open Thread: Even History Is A Remake, These DaysPost + Comments (109)

Catch Our Breaths Open Thread: KULCHA! (Diversity Edition)

by Anne Laurie|  September 9, 20204:44 pm| 18 Comments

This post is in: KULCHA!, Popular Culture, Racial Justice, Something Good Open Thread

Octavia E. Butler, who died in 2006, is a NYT Bestselling author. This was one of her life goals. Thank you all for making it happen! pic.twitter.com/0QNRfcQQ21

— Merrilee Heifetz (@MerrileeHeifetz) September 2, 2020

Somehow I missed this yesterday. Fantastic list, and not just 'cause I'm on it! ?? Honored to be in such good company. https://t.co/5G7fGXQIss

— N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) August 21, 2020

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Why this black drive-in cinema has become a hit https://t.co/SaAi2gS9ju pic.twitter.com/7QxHKysDdM

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 1, 2020

Black-owned bookstores have seen an increase in sales in their businesses. Owners say they not only want to educate their communities, but also encourage people to use what they learn to take action against systemic racism. https://t.co/A6TSFOjNfG

— AP West Region (@APWestRegion) August 23, 2020

Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji was part of a generation of Africans who fought for racial justice in the US – and continue to do so https://t.co/mh19hhzZDy

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 2, 2020

One boldly painted body at a time, a Black D.C. artist is helping women and girls tell their stories https://t.co/QqYfiDewHc

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 6, 2020

Catch Our Breaths Open Thread: KULCHA! (Diversity Edition)Post + Comments (18)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: If They Won’t Give You A Seat At the Table…

by Anne Laurie|  August 25, 20206:43 am| 184 Comments

This post is in: Civil Rights, KULCHA!, Open Threads, Women's Rights

“… Bring your own chair.”

"They are larger than life."

For the first time in its history, New York City's Central Park will have a statue commemorating real-life women featuring women's rights pioneers Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton pic.twitter.com/L1nRVOJDAI

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) August 24, 2020

And here is an image the first statue of a female legislator I can remember seeing — the Pharoah Hatshepsut, in the Metropolitan Museum, abutting Central Park. As the online commentary mentions, “Hatshepsut also wears the false beard and shendyt-kilt that are part of the regalia of a king. Looking at the side of her face it’s possible to see the strap that holds this false beard in place…” Commemorate your triumphs!
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: <em>If They Won't Give You A Seat At the Table... </em>

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: <em>If They Won’t Give You A Seat At the Table… </em>Post + Comments (184)

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Give the People What They Want

by Anne Laurie|  June 16, 20208:03 pm| 127 Comments

This post is in: KULCHA!, Open Threads, Racial Justice

You kept asking so we brought it back! Now available in all sizes, get yours now at https://t.co/KdDVU6UxLJ pic.twitter.com/oORxNmyZhn

— Insane Clown Posse (@icp) June 16, 2020

OK, OK, if you need to keep your monuments to pro-slavery traitors, fine, but they need to include this “decoration”

[Confederate Memorial in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina] pic.twitter.com/ji4Vjlzlor

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 13, 2020

Will no one think of the pigeons? pic.twitter.com/xx5kB5UB1T

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) June 13, 2020

I should mention that now and then Congress approves statues that fall under their own jurisdiction and play games with the placement. There's a Rosa Parks statue that's deliberately positioned so that it looks like Jefferson Davis is glaring at it, disturbed

— Gorilla Warfare (@MenshevikM) June 13, 2020

So why are Republicans complaining? pic.twitter.com/8AyiDLPz2W

— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) June 12, 2020

RWers: bet you libs don’t wanna see a statue of Robert Byrd torn down!

Libs: Yeah, tear it down

RW: suddenly when it’s someone you love as much as we love Jeff Davis!

Libs: tear it all the way down!

RW: I mean what’s good for the goose…

Libs: Tear. It. Down!

RW: owned

— Michael Huckins (@MichaelEHuck) June 12, 2020

Sidebar from a professional art historian:

Perspective: Pulling down Confederate statues is a powerful statement.

But it won’t erase the shame. https://t.co/z0q9u6DMSW

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 12, 2020

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Give the People What They WantPost + Comments (127)

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Monumental

by Anne Laurie|  June 11, 20206:19 pm| 158 Comments

This post is in: Duck Blogging, KULCHA!, Open Threads, Post-racial America

"When you're smashing statues, save the pedestals. They come in handy."

-Stanislaw Lem

— KA Semenova (@SemenovaKA) June 11, 2020

Hahahahaha islamaphobes looking to find Islamic statues to pull down ahaha hahahahaha good luck, lads

— Nadia Kamil (@NadiaKamil) June 9, 2020

Barring universal conversion to Islam (which is vanishingly unlikely, for reasons) the making of what Terry Prachett referred to as ‘I Can See Your House From Here’ monuments will not perish from human society. That granted, what shall we put up in our public spaces to valorize our strength? Well…

The Make Way for Ducklings statue public gardens Boston, MA

in my home cityhttps://t.co/imFRKhlIng

— BostonStrong2020 (@tlkiawol_1994) June 11, 2020


Nancy Schon’s monument stands across from the Boston Common and not far from the State House. The mother duck is, by design, nicely sized for a toddler to sit on her back. There’s a ‘Make Way for Ducklings’ spring celebration every year, where people bring their kids dressed up as ducks, and the ducks get dressed up for local events, too. There are probably purists who are offended by the objectively pro-cop bias of the original book (a friendly policeman holds up traffic to permit the duck family to cross a busy street), but the ducks themselves are blessedly non-partisan.

I have fond memories of the Central Park Alice in Wonderland and Balto statues, which also have a noble history as climbing structures for small children.

Maybe we should stick to using animal or kiddylit statues for our commemorative sculptures, for a generation or two?

The only statue I will lay down my life to defend is this statue in honor of lab rats at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia. pic.twitter.com/pSLswlvTTw

— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) June 10, 2020

Tombili was a local celebrity cat from Istanbul famous for his very relaxed posture. When he passed, locals erected a statue in his honor. https://t.co/vVqpyIIe7c pic.twitter.com/BJCIoKdn30

— Sam Sykes (@SamSykesSwears) June 10, 2020

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North End state rep says Columbus statue a symbol of Italian heritage and North End persistence, so knock it off with the beheading https://t.co/MYBB7FiOyY pic.twitter.com/SS45ct3Ohg

— Adam Gaffin (@universalhub) June 10, 2020

replace all statues of Columbus with statues of gigantic viking warriors and busty valkyrie ladies: the compromise solution https://t.co/Bi0K2LC5lG

— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) June 11, 2020

Let's replace the statue of Columbus with Leif Erikson, who made it to America, saw there were people here, and went home.

— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) June 10, 2020

Or—work with me here—or, maybe we don’t need to commentate a different European, but commemorate & honor Native Americans instead https://t.co/8FcQtStDzZ

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 11, 2020

Generally not a huge fan of destroying monuments or whatever but looked it up and all of the ones currently getting pulled down are for dudes who were like CEO of SlaveCo or the founding president of the Imperial African Genocide Society so gonna give it a thumbs up

— The Online-Normie Complex (@canderaid) June 7, 2020

New from me: Not everything happening in the U.S. right now is bad. Both black and white politicians are tearing down Confederate monuments in the Deep South, and no one any longer gives a shit about the shopworn “cultural heritage” argument: https://t.co/oEyeiijvBv

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) June 7, 2020

These weirdly beautiful old Soviet statues near Crimea may be proof we should throw all statues in the sea for artistic reasons https://t.co/3A89nBRHkN pic.twitter.com/fyo4sUr40F

— Adam Taylor (@mradamtaylor) June 11, 2020

https://t.co/XxjBOL5mq0

— Cautiously Optimistic (@desertview5) June 11, 2020

Thursday Evening Open Thread: MonumentalPost + Comments (158)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Recreate the Beauty You Want to See in the World

by Anne Laurie|  April 15, 20206:10 am| 141 Comments

This post is in: KULCHA!, Open Threads

The best one I’ve seen so far 😍 @metmuseum pic.twitter.com/eU0soRFsKj

— M.E. Leah (@MorganEllisLeah) April 13, 2020

… to the best of one’s ability, under the current circumstances. Where would we be without our stubborn sense of beauty — and humor?

(Probably helps that I have fond childhood memories of the original Unicorn in Captivity tapestry, which is now in the ‘reimagined’ medieval-castle Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum annex in beautiful Tryon Park, just a bus ride away from my home in the Bronx.)

My favorite at the link below is the artist imitating daVinci’s Lady with an Ermine with the help of her cross-eyed Siamese:

Life imitating art! Check out how people are recreating famous artworks using household items during quarantine. #staysafe #stayconnectedhttps://t.co/8ZGYEBW1VF

— MediaG (@MediaG) April 7, 2020

 
But (semi)srsly:

How people poured their energy into re-creating classic artistic masterpieces to start a movement https://t.co/hydzcHpRu2

— 木原弘喜bot (@kihara_hiroki) April 13, 2020

… As the trend has continued to spread online since starting in March, helped by social media challenges broadcast by institutions including the Getty Museum in California and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, it’s become a welcome distraction and source of humor for audiences and creators alike. Step back, viral TikTok dances, livestream concerts and quarantine memes; this intensive form of expression is a whole new world of creative labor. In the middle of global uncertainty, it’s even become an important anchor for some.

Just take Chiara Grilli, a teacher at the Università di Bari in Macerata, Italy. Grilli, like many in Italy, has been working remotely. “This gives me plenty of time — too much, actually,” she told TIME. She lives in a two-room apartment with her boyfriend — “no balcony, no garden” — and after two weeks, she says she felt “asphyxiated.”

“One day right before lunch I went into my bedroom and I saw this beautiful sunbeam entering the window and stretching over my bed. The first thing I thought was, ‘How I wish I could go out!’ but the second thing was Hopper.” That’s a reference to Edward Hopper, the 20th century American painter known for his dramatic yet minimalist scenes of daily life…

E.Hopper, Morning Sun: very quarantine-like atmosphere, catching these days' mood. This was my very first attempt at my new second job, @quarantinart Follow me!#betweenartandquarantine #gettymuseumchallenge pic.twitter.com/ISP9FXk91G

— quarantinart (@quarantinart) April 3, 2020

“I thought that it represented the quarantine-like condition of many of us without using many words, hashtags or mottos,” she said. Her friends were enthusiastic, and Grilli went on to create social media pages under the name “Quarantinart.” She now has over a dozen photographs up, and intends to continue the project well past the impact of the coronavirus. “I found something that really helps me to have fun, and at the same time express my creative side,” she said…

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… The creativity required — and the fact that you don’t need specific art materials to make these projects happen — is a big reason why it’s been such a global hit, says another creator, Holly Bess Kincaid, an art teacher in Harrisonburg, Va., and the president of the Virginia Art Education Association.

Kincaid’s school closed for the year on March 23, the same day she launched an “#ArtEdPortraits” challenge on social media. She shared her idea on a Facebook group of 9,000 art teachers, all trying to figure out how to teach art to students remotely, and many have picked it up. “I’m getting these little smiles in my message box daily of students who are reenacting artwork and playing and finding joy — just with the things they have around the house,” she told TIME. Kincaid’s own creations draw on her reactions to the conditions of the coronavirus; she’s made a Chagall out of a pile of laundry, drawn on the longing theme of Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World” while reaching toward her school while safely at a distance and used an iPad instead of a sketchpad to reflect our new reliance on video chatting in “Young Woman Drawing” by Marie Denise Villers…

“A Woman Zooming” has become a new constant. I wish I was the woman drawing with her students again, yet we isolate and wait. Inspiration: “Young Woman Drawing” by Marie-Denise Villers #artedportraits #betweenartandquarantine #artfromhome #artathome pic.twitter.com/yR6cUCCLoh

— Holly Bess Kincaid (@ArtLadyHBK) April 6, 2020

Anybody else got a favorite or three in this genre to share?

Masterpieces recreated at home #1 🙂🙂 pic.twitter.com/vCgzD7u68I

— Paul 😂🤣🤪😷🙏🏻 (@PaulLaugh44) February 26, 2020

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Recreate the Beauty You Want to See in the WorldPost + Comments (141)

Friday Morning Open Thread: Year of the Rat – Gong Hei Fat Choy!

by Anne Laurie|  January 24, 20204:27 am| 31 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, KULCHA!, Open Threads, Popular Culture, Readership Capture

The Year of the Rat is the first in the Chinese astrological cycle (as Aries is in the Western cycle), so Rat years are supposed to be times of new beginnings and fresh starts. No matter how devoutly rational one’s framework, you have to admit it would be a *great* omen if that were true in 2020!

From June 2021 to May 2022 @BarackObama and @MichelleObama portraits now at @smithsoniannpg will be on tour at @artinstitutechi @brooklynmuseum @LACMA @HighMuseumofArt @MFAH #ObamaPortraitsTour #touringexhibition #exhibitionexchange https://t.co/oWP8cuEPsy

— ICEE ICOM (@ICEE_ICOM) January 23, 2020

Speaking of pleasant omens, the official Obama portraits are going on tour. Per the Washington Post:

… The paintings of former president Barack Obama — by Kehinde Wiley — and first lady Michelle Obama — by Amy Sherald — have attracted record crowds to the National Portrait Gallery. Starting in June 2021, the portraits will travel to five cities, giving new audiences a chance to experience them.

“We’re a history museum and an art museum, and they are really great representations of both. This tour is an opportunity for audiences in different parts of the country to witness how portraiture can engage people,” said Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, the museum that commissioned the works. “You can use these portraits as a portal to all sorts of conversations.”

The tour will begin at the Art Institute of Chicago (June 18-Aug. 15, 2021) before moving to the Brooklyn Museum (Aug. 27-Oct. 24, 2021), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Nov. 5-Jan. 2, 2022), the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (Jan. 14-March 13, 2022) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (March 25-May 30, 2022).

The cities were selected by the gallery for personal and geographical reasons. The Obamas have deep connections to Chicago, for example, and the works will be there when the former president celebrates his 60th birthday. Sherald grew up in Georgia, and Wiley was born in Los Angeles, so those stops made sense, Sajet said. Wiley’s studio is based in Brooklyn, and its museum has several of his works in its collection.

Thursday’s tour announcement coincides with the publication of “The Obama Portraits,” an illustrated book from the Smithsonian Institution and the Princeton University Press that celebrates the portraits and their influence. Wiley and Sherald are the first African American artists to be selected for the gallery’s portraits of a president or first lady, and their paintings have drawn millions to the gallery since their splashy unveiling in February 2018…

I suspect Chicago is gonna throw quite the party, come August 2021!

I haven’t seen the Obama portraits myself yet, but I’m kinda tempted by a visit to Brooklyn. Cliche as it seems, there is frequently something in original artwork that simply can’t be reproduced, even via today’s technology. I’ve been privileged to see both Whistler’s Arrangement in Grey & Black #1 (at the Clark) and an early print of The Great Wave Off Kanagawa (at the MFA) — two of the more widely reproduced / copied works of our age — and in both cases found new facets that I’d never imagined.

Friday Morning Open Thread: Year of the Rat – <em>Gong Hei Fat Choy!</em>Post + Comments (31)

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