CAA News Today

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

Burning Questions: How Can I Promote My Exhibition?

I’ve got an exhibition coming up at a small artist-run gallery space. They don’t have any real budget for promotion or anything like that. So I’m wondering something: What are the best low-cost (preferably free) ways to promote my exhibition? (Read more from Burnaway.)

Islamic Extremist Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Destroying Timbuktu Mausoleums

In an unprecedented move, Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi pleaded guilty to war crimes for ordering the razing of nine mausoleums and the fifteenth-century Sidi Yahia mosque in the ancient city of Timbuktu in northern Mali. The historic verdict marks the first time the international criminal court in The Hague has heard a case about the demolition of cultural heritage. (Read more from the Art Newspaper.)

What Is the Real Impact of Public Art Programs?

The production and introduction of artworks into the public domain started to be regulated and organized by national programs in the 1930s. Although state-sponsored institutions—such as the US Federal Art Project, the USSR’s Ministry of Culture, and the Chinese Communist Party’s art-related efforts—primarily pursued propaganda goals, this laid the foundation for public art programs worldwide. (Read more from Artnet News.)

Racially Charged St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum Show Sparks Outrage

Racially charged works at a Contemporary Art Museum in Saint Louis exhibition have some calling for boycotts and the resignation of the museum’s chief curator. The museum has opted to build walls around the controversial pieces of art. The show will remain up and visitors will have access to all of the work. (Read more from Fox 2 News.)

Gallery Defends Kelley Walker, Artist under Fire in St. Louis Exhibit

The New York City–based gallery representing the artist Kelley Walker has responded to the controversy surrounding a racially charged exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Saint Louis, but with a statement that raises more questions than it answers. (Read more from the Riverfront Times.)

Black Arts Community Expresses Outrage with Kelley Walker

“This is a mess, and I’m uncomfortable,” said Kat Reynolds as she spoke before the capacity crowd at the Contemporary Art Museum on September 22. The panel of artists and educators—who spoke during the Critical Conversations talk presented by Critical Mass for the Visual Arts—didn’t hold back from voicing their disdain about the art that hung in the very space where the discussion was taking place. (Read more from the St. Louis American.)

Who Gets the Credit for Collaboration?

The most important part of your tenure package at a research university is—shockingly!—your research. The tricky part of scholarly evaluation is collaboration. In a tenure case, the external letter writers will be asked to evaluate your contribution to the field, which includes evaluating how much you contributed to the collaborative projects listed on your CV. (Read more from Vitae.)

How to Systemize Your Workflow

Graduate students will argue that because our tasks are so varied and diverse, because research is so unpredictable, because the very nature of good scholarly work is its novelty, nothing we do can actually be systemized effectively. But I would argue that this is exactly where we need to systemize, so that we can spend minimal time on the rote things and spend the majority of our energy and cognitive cycles on the issues that actually matter. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)