CAA News Today

Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

Surface, Image, Reception: Painting in a Digital Age

Painting has always existed in relation to technology, when the term is understood in its broad definition as the practical application of specialized knowledge: brush, compass, camera obscura, photography, or inkjet printer. Yet it is only now that, through a physical presence and a shared role as content-delivery system, painting is so closely affiliated with the technologies it engages. (Read more from Rhizome.)

The Rise of Pirate Libraries

All around the world, shadow libraries keep growing, filled with banned materials. But no actual papers trade hands: everything is digital, and the internet-accessible content is not banned for shocking content so much as that modern crime, copyright infringement. But for the people who run the world’s pirate libraries, their goals are no less ambitious for their work’s illicit nature. (Read more from Slate.)

Raid the Database 2 with Nafis White

Raid the Database 2 with Nafis White is the second artist-curated digital project inspired by the RISD Museum’s historic exhibition Raid the Icebox 1 with Andy Warhol (1969–70). Each project in the series takes shape as the artist works closely with museum staff to gather materials, navigate the museum’s database and website, and delve into the original show. (Read more from Manual.)

Academic Publishing: Toward a New Model

Academic publishing is one area on which the web’s impact has been modest at best. Though a few open-access journals exist and many academics maintain blogs, journal costs have soared. Our writings remain less accessible, locked behind paywalls while libraries forgo buying print versions. While we understand why this has happened, a solution to it has been elusive. (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

How Does a Museum Sponsorship Deal Really Work?

Museums have needed to diversify revenue streams, and forging deeper ties with corporate sponsors has become widely seen as imperative. These pressures come at a time when there is an increased awareness of contemporary art in culture—allowing museums to offer a certain kind of cred, or cool, even, in addition to the obvious exposure to their moneyed audiences. (Read more from Artspace Magazine.)

Six Things to Keep in Mind When Applying for Art Grants

With governments cutting funding for the arts, it is getting harder for artists and art institutions to obtain art grants, fellowships, or scholarships. The professional grant writer Ethan Haymovitz has put together a list of things to keep in mind when writing your application. (Read more from Art Report.)

Recap of SAH’s 2016 Annual Conference

Seven hundred thirty-eight members participated in the Society of Architectural Historians’ sixty-ninth annual international conference, which took place April 6–10, 2016, in Pasadena, California. Attendees hailed from thirty-six countries and forty-two states. A brief recap of the conference’s events follows. (Read more from the Society of Architectural Historians.)

The Real Threat to Free Expression

The threat to free speech on college campuses has become a crisis, although not the one commonly posited in public debate. How young people armed with smartphones became so skeptical of expression and what to do about it is a fundamental challenge for higher education. The answer will be to change the discourse from what to allow to what to listen to. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)