Bigger Canvas, Longer Necks

An artistic intervention enacting a revolutionary desire

From the Public Seminar mission statement: “Confronting fundamental problems of the human condition and pressing problems of the day, using the broad resources of social research, we seek to provoke critical and informed discussion by any means necessary.” This includes provocative art. -Jeff

Either we make history or we stupidly stand ...

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Bigger Canvas, Longer Necks

English Psycho

The third, and perhaps dominant mode was to stick to writing from the male point of view, but to make the male character a nebbish. As if to say: ‘see? How could we possibly be implicated in patriarchy? Men are so hopeless! Jerks, sure, but incapable of dominating their own ...
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Rebooting RoboCop

Comparing 2014 with 1987

As someone who grew up with Paul Verhoeven's original 1987 RoboCop, I can't help but feel the dystopic and critical social commentary of the movie was lost in its reboot. What was once a critical and distopic film exploring the dangers of unchecked corporate power has become a soft endorsement ...

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Rebooting <em>RoboCop</em>

Film and Myth

Analyzing Gravity and All is Lost with some Captain Phillips

Two films frequently cited together on the best films lists for 2013 were Gravity and All is Lost. As many reviewers noted, the films featured isolated individuals up against the cold, impersonal forces of the universe -- the dark void of outer space for Sandra Bullock in Gravity and the ...

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RIP Madeleine Gins

  Approximately Arakawa and Gins      Or, G+A blew me away. McKenzie Wark   1. Not the least merit of this is that here writing resists the weapons of capture of other writing. This can’t be tackled with paraphrases, categories, or comparisons. There’s nothing here interested or interesting in being like something else.   2. This ...
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