Books: What Should a Museum Look Like in 2020?

Fashion, like many things, is cyclical. But as the stately elders featured in Chinatown Pretty demons

Oct 19, 2020 • View in browser

Fashion, like many things, is cyclical. But as the stately elders featured in Chinatown Pretty demonstrate, whimsical reinventions of past trends aren’t just the domain of younger generations. Check out this excerpt from Andria Lo and Valerie Lu’s new book, which highlights the ingenuity and flair of Chinatown seniors. (The related Instagram account also offers plenty of style inspiration.)Allison Conner also shares her take on Kimberly Drew’s This is What I Know About Art, which she calls “a generous guide” for young people “curious about the intersections of art, resistance, and self-power.”Last but not least, check out this excerpt from Perfidia, an insightful (and stunningly designed) book of poetry by artist-filmmaker Sky Hopinka.– Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews

Kimberly Drew Asks: What Should a Museum Look Like in 2020? In This Is What I Know About Art, Drew uses her own fumbles and triumphs as a frame in which to examine the symbiotic relationship between art and activism. Allison Conner

The Ingenuity and Flair of Chinatown Seniors We started Chinatown Pretty out of admiration for this overlooked community, for both their fashion blog–worthy outfits and their active and independent lifestyles. Andria Lo

Don DeLillo’s Dark Prism In his deftly hewn new novel, The Silence, DeLillo disconnects us from our devices, wreaking havoc on our human fragility. Paul D'Agostino

Poetry That Pulls at the Seams of Colonial Power and Memory Enjoy a sneak peek of Perfidia, a new book from Sky Hopinka, which examines collective memory and the everyday impacts of colonial violence upon Indigenous peoples. Dessane Lopez Cassell

When Japan Reinvented Filmmaking A new book looks at a heady time in the 1960s, when avant-garde Japanese artists explored genre-blending intermedia and expanded cinema. Edward M. Gómez

In case you missed it...

40 Artists and Writers Respond to 40 Objects “Mistaken” for Guns by the Police The book This Is Not a Gun collects personal responses to these objects, which include a cell phone, hairbrush, Wii remote, and underwear. Allison Conner

Lifestyle Over Life: Stephen Wright’s Vision of America Wright’s darkly comic novel burrows into our hollow cravings, and finds more hollowness. John Yau

Jonas Mekas's Diary Reveals His Uncertain Sense of Self This first volume of the filmmaker’s journals charts his progress from immigrant life in Williamsburg to the center of the American avant-garde. Albert Mobilio

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