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Journal

Essays & Criticism

Essays on art and the present: writing that approaches questions of resistance, censorship, labour and learning by way of artworks.

8 articles

  • Rembrandt, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    The Age Without Masters: Tutorial Hell

    Knowledge passes on through people, not only through screens. From Rembrandt to Nam June Paik, we look at what is lost when learning happens alone and without a master.

  • Francisco Goya, El tres de mayo en Madrid.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    Eat, Gentlemen, Eat: You Are a Worker, Stay a Worker

    The lie of “I have no choice” and the trap of self-exploitation. An anatomy of modern slavery through Sartre and Salgado, and the legal rights that set us free (Turkish Laws No. 4857 and 6331).

  • Lucian Freud, Self-Portrait.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    Indecision: The Weight of Choices

    “Man is condemned to be free.” From Sartre to de Chirico, we explore through art how indecision is not a weakness but the existential burden of modern life.

  • René Magritte, La reproduction interdite, 1937.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    Absurd Creation: Making Art Without Seeking Meaning

    Art does not console; it confronts. In the light of Albert Camus’s philosophy of the absurd, we look at the absurdity of existence in the works of Louise Bourgeois, Francis Alÿs and Bruce Nauman.

  • Grandma Moses, Sugaring Off.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    See Like a Child: The Power of Naive Art

    We explore naive art, which chooses feeling over technique and simplicity over complexity. From Rousseau to Pirosmani, the aesthetics of a childlike view of the world.

  • Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos, 1799.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    Banned Art, Growing Resistance

    However often it has been banned throughout history, from Goya to Banksy, art has always found a way. We look at works that censorship could not silence and that grew through resistance.

  • Ahmet Öğüt, Bakunin’in Barikatı, 2015.

    Essays & Criticism ·

    Art and Resistance: The Voice of Freedom

    We look at examples of art becoming a tool of resistance through artists such as Ahmet Öğüt and Ai Weiwei. Not an aesthetic but a political stance.

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