weekend links: restroom art, bipolar appropriation, immigration blankets
Emmett Ramstad, You're Welcome (2016). Image courtesy Hyperallergic/Erin Young.
MS Paint was supposed to be removed from the Windows app store late last month, but due to backlash from the vintage program’s loyal followers, Microsoft decided to keep the app up on their website for free download. Artists look back at the program and trace its influence on their practice, 27 years since its inception. Long live Paint! [Artsy]
There’s been some criticism surrounding the extreme violence in Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit. It’s hard to tell whether the violence portrayed in the film is necessary, if it is filmed in such a way that people can understand the systematic racism behind the scenes and in real life, or if this is just another period drama that fails to go beyond surface-level violence and sensationalism. [New Republic]
Emmett Ramstad, an artist in Minneapolis, has been working on a book named Quasi-Public, Semi-Private that focuses on an especially pressing topic: restrooms. Ramstad discusses restroom-centric sculpture and thoughts on the seemingly banal but complex reality of bathrooms and trans rights in this insightful interview. [Hyperallergic]
Sarah Faber, author of All Is Beauty Now, grapples with the idea of capturing mental illness through writing. Grappling with her mother’s bipolar disorder, she found herself wondering if she had any right to tell and possibly fictionalize her mother’s experience without having the disorder herself. She raises an important question: Can someone who doesn’t have bipolar disorder accurately tell a story from that perspective without further spreading stigma? [Lit Hub]
The Merriam-Webster dictionary released a new feature on their website called Time Traveler that allows people to view all of the words that came into fruition during a certain year. The feature goes all the way back to the 14th century. The compilation of word “births” year by year provides a different lens in which to view history, reminding us that the importance of words in describing events of the past is often overlooked. [The New Yorker]
Jayna Zweiman is best known as a cofounder of the Pussyhat Project, which saw millions of women that participated in the 2017 Women’s March wear pink cat-like hats. Zweiman hasn’t gone away—she’s working of her new project, Welcome Blanket. Once again, she plans to spread a political message, this time tackling immigration through communal crafting and warmth. She hopes to collect around 3,000 blankets, totaling 3,500,640 yards of fabric—nearly equivalent to the length of Trump’s proposed border wall—and eventually give them to refugees and immigrants. [Chicago Reader]
In the latest Thor news, Texans rejoiced this morning at the possibly serious announcement that the man, the myth, the legend will be running for Texas governor. Thor Harris 2018! We’re keeping our fingers crossed. [Pitchfork]
And if you haven't checked out the Google homepage today, be sure to give it a click and learn about the history of hip-hop, which traces its birth back to this date in 1973. Thank you, DJ Kool Herc, for extending those breaks! [Google]
—Natalie Walrath