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.

Art Must Admit the Lesson of Donald Trump’s Election or Face Irrelevance

By now, the shock of Donald Trump’s election is fading, leaving only the horror. But we need to reckon with the shock if we are to combat the horror effectively. Since election night, the cultural sphere has valiantly rallied its opinion-leaders, declaring that art must join the fight against whatever terrors a Trump presidency has in store for us. (Read more from Artnet News.)

Professor Watchlist Is Seen as Threat to Academic Freedom

A new website that accuses nearly two hundred college professors of advancing “leftist propaganda in the classroom” and discriminating against conservative students has been criticized as a threat to academic freedom. The site, Professor Watchlist, says it names those instructors who “advance a radical agenda in lecture halls.” (Read more from the New York Times.)

Activism and Professionalism in the Workplace

Activism to me was, by necessity, subtle. Once, one of my clients said something that made me think he was gay. To prove myself an ally, I wore a rainbow watch the next time I saw him. He saw it. Blushed. Looked away. I tell myself I helped him. Change comes slowly. One person can make a difference. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

The Urgency of Empathy and Social Impact in Museums

How we can start an empathy revolution in museums? How can we more fiercely recognize the meaningful work that museum professionals are doing to enact change around the relevant issues in our communities? How do we radically expand the work of museums in bringing people together and contributing to strong, resilient communities? (Read more from MuseumNext.)

Dealing with Difficult Art in Post-Election America

Over Thanksgiving weekend, an art exhibition at Salem State University was temporarily closed after a group of students complained that they found several of the works hurtful and offensive. After a closed-door meeting with fifty students, the university reopened the exhibition on November 30, but not before making “several modifications.” (Read more from the National Coalition against Censorship.)

How to Fix the Art World, Part 3

Last August ARTnews embarked on an epic project: finding out what inhabitants of the art world think is wrong with their world and how they would fix it. In the ensuing months, the magazine spoke with more than fifty individuals—artists and curators, critics and historians, art dealers and an art-fair director—to gather a range of perspectives. (Read more from ARTnews.)

Is the Destruction of Cultural Property a War Crime?

It is a settled principle in international law that the deliberate targeting or plundering of religious, historic, and cultural sites is prohibited during war. Prosecutors have discretion in the cases that they bring, but the law of war is clear about accountability in cases of cultural destruction. (Read more from Apollo.)

The Art Schools Fidel Castro Built—and Then Neglected

Designed by three architects, the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte were constructed in flamboyant, sinuous forms deliberately reflecting the local landscape. Built in brick and terracotta as a pragmatic response to the US embargo of imported steel and using the Catalan vault throughout, these were a confident repudiation of Western-style international modernism. (Read more from the Art Newspaper.)