Alex Greenberger

1 week ago | artnews.com | Alex Greenberger

When she was 12, Claudia Alarcón learned the yica stitch, which doubles as both a loop of yarn and a form of knowledge in the Wichí tradition. For generations, Wichí women in Argentina and Bolivia have taught their daughters and granddaughters the process of creating these stitches; Alarcón learned from her mother and her grandmother. More than two decades on, she still makes yica-based weavings.

1 week ago | artnews.com | Alex Greenberger

The leader of the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the most widely visited museums in the US, is reportedly taking time off amid an investigation into his behavior on a flight last month. CBS News reported late on Friday night that James Rondeau, the president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2016, had voluntarily stepped away from his post while that investigation proceeded.

1 week ago | artnews.com | Alex Greenberger

Dara Birnbaum, a video artist who forever changed her medium with works that rebelled against the mainstream media, has died on Friday at 78. A spokesperson for Marian Goodman Gallery, her longtime representative, confirmed her death but did not specify a cause. Hosts of video artists working today owe a debt to Birnbaum, who found clever ways of upending the one-way stream of information that pours forth in the media, and in particular on television.

2 weeks ago | artnews.com | Alex Greenberger

In 1973, during the opening of her first San Francisco Museum of Modern Art retrospective, Ruth Asawa held what she called a “dough-in,” a communal experience that was part baking, part art, and part fun. Asawa’s recipe for a batch of baker’s clay, a white nonedible substance, went something like this: measure out 4 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt, then combine it with 1½ cups of water and hand it over to a group of kids to do the mixing.

2 weeks ago | artnews.com | Alex Greenberger

Museums may tout themselves as being separate from the market, but the reality is more complicated. As others have observed, in today’s art world, sales lead to fame, fame leads to retrospectives, and retrospectives lead to more sales. There often aren’t price tags attached to what’s held within museum walls, but institutional offerings can be capitalized all the same. You don’t need to be an expert to notice the trend.