Weekly This week, check out our top art books and films of the year (so much good stuff!). Also, France approves a not-so-popular Notre-Dame renovation, two artists face charges for pretending to be Native American (yeah, you read that right), and much more. Lauren Moya Ford's beautiful piece on the Colombian sculptor Feliz Bursztyn makes for great weekend reading. — Elisa Wouk Almino, Senior Editor Become a Member From Memoria (2021), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (image courtesy NEON) The Best of 2021: Our Top 10 Films
Amidst another tumultuous year for cinema, Hyperallergic’s favorites include an unconventional musical, experimental meditations on solitude, documentaries about coffee farmers, and a forgotten concert. Your contributions support Hyperallergic's independent journalism and our extensive network of writers around the world. Join Us A compilation of some of our top picks for the year. Best of 2021: Our Top 10 Art Books
Memoirs by Ai Weiwei and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, a biography on Harold Rosenberg, and more are on our top list for art tomes this year. SPONSORED NEWS THIS WEEK Members of Guggenheim Bilbao's cleaning staff outside the museum's entrance as part of the action "Is Everyone’s Work Equally Important?" (photo by Urtzi Canto; courtesy of Art Builders Group) Artist Lorenzo Bussi collaborated with cleaning workers to protest poor working conditions and low pay at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The British government bans the export of a unique 17th-century painting featuring two female subjects of equal social class but different races. Two Washington state artists are facing federal charges for falsely representing themselves as Native American. The Armory Show has announced three curators for its 2022 edition, all of which are experts in the fields of Latinx and Latin American art. France approves a controversial renovation plan for Notre-Dame’s interior, reportedly including modern murals and immersive art experiences. SPONSORED Nancy Rexroth: IOWA, which features 28 photographs from the groundbreaking series, is on view at the New Orleans art space through January 30, 2022. Learn more. LATEST IN ART Feliza Bursztyn in her studio in Bogotá (ca. 1980) (image courtesy Estate of Feliza Bursztyn, photo by Raphael Moure, all images courtesy Muzeum Susch) An outspoken, free-wheeling 20th-century woman living in conservative, Catholic Colombia, [Felizia Bursztyn] created vibrating, noisy kinetic sculptures out of scrap metal and cloth that demanded viewers’ attention with a mix of sensual and disturbing energy. SPONSORED These multimedia works debuting on Voice include a “Death Mechanism” and allow fans to collect the artist’s origin story, told specifically for the metaverse. Learn more. Installation view of Brice Marden: These paintings are of themselves at Gagosian in New York (© 2021 Brice Marden/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo by Rob McKeever. Courtesy Gagosian) I do not think that Marden is trying to make language, but looking at the paintings and drawings I began to think that there is an asemic element to these works that should not be ignored. SPONSORED Driven by the individual interests of each cohort, this program based in Austin, TX promotes intellectual curiosity, visual acuity, and direct engagement with the larger world. Learn more. ALSO ON HYPERALLERGIC Original illustration by Auguste Raffet, engraving by Hébert, “Attack and take of the Crête-à-Pierrot” (March 24, 1802) (image via Wikimedia Commons) Ancient Rome and the Myth of the Black Avenger
Sarah E. Bond examines the profound impact of the Haitian Revolution on the history of the Atlantic world and how abolitionists used ancient Roman figures to articulate their ambitions for the movement. The Humboldt Forum’s Disappointing Ethnographic Collections
Rafael Cardoso: “Despite the abundance of African objects on display, the voices of the continent are hardly heard; its vibrant life is reduced to the totemic stiffness of overstuffed vitrines.” Required Reading
This week, Metro Pictures officially closed, tributes to bell hooks, the Wayfair conspiracy, celebrity profiles, and more. Become a Member | 