An Animated Guide to Using Art to Get in Touch with Your Emotions

Say you visit a highly anticipated exhibition one Saturday afternoon and find yourself in a crowded gallery, shoulder-to-shoulder with a pack of rabid art goers. As you stealthily maneuver toward your viewing target, an over-stimulated (or, depending on the show,...

When Casino Developers Use Museums to Sweeten the Deal 

History museums and blackjack tables might not seem to cater to the same audience. But two developers bet that including cultural institutions in their proposals to open new casinos in New York City would entice community leaders to approve their bids. SL Green...

The Fetishistic Fiction of Museum “Tibetan” Shrines

If American museums were the only source of information about Tibetan Buddhist shrines, one would come away with the impression that shrines are elaborate, pristine environments layered with thangka paintings and silken finery amidst rows of statuary and ritual...

First They Came for Black History

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, we find ourselves at a pivotal crossroads in the national conversation about identity, memory, and who gets to tell our story. This momentous semiquincentennial coincides with the centennial of Negro...

Trump Says US Museums Should Focus Less on Slavery 

In a Truth Social tirade on Tuesday, Donald Trump called the Smithsonian Institution, which his administration has sought to reshape to favor so-called American exceptionalism, “out of control.” The museum and research network, he said, focuses too heavily on “how bad...

Almost Real. From Trace to Simulation

Even though analogue photography has always played with manipulation and fiction, it was perceived as a technology that represented accurately what was in front of the lens at a specific moment. Once printed, the images were regarded as traces of something that exists...