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Weekly Whiskers

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MoMA faces pressure from protestors

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Feb. 10 inside the Museum of Modern Art and outside of the Brooklyn Museum in response to the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict. 

Deconstructing “Deconstructed Anthems”

In the coming days of Feb. 13 through Feb. 17, the thought-provoking and moving immersive art installation, “Deconstructed Anthems: Massachusetts” will be debuted at the Cyclorama in the Boston Center for Arts. “Deconstructed Anthems” is a series of exhibitions created by artist, professor and Director of the Poetic Justice Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab Ekene Ijeoma. Ijeoma, whose background is in technology and interaction design, develops multimedia artwork designed to expose the inequities that riddle the United States and challenge his audience to change them. Through “Deconstructed Anthems,” Ijeoma depicts the immense scale of mass incarceration, as well as the gross racial disparities ingrained in the U.S. carceral system. Each site-specific iteration of “Deconstructed Anthems” uses data from the U.S. Department of Justice, combined with conceptual, multimedia art, to give voice to the over 1.5 million (disproportionately Black) individuals incarcerated in the U.S. since 1925. Ijeoma’s exhibit highlights the hypocrisy of the U.S. being the “land of the free” while having such high incarceration rates by centering the installation around the classic “Star Spangled Banner.” The exhibit combines an algorithmic composition programmed by Ijeoma and numerous musicians who methodically omit notes while playing “Star Spangled Banner” to reflect the escalation in national incarceration rates from 1925 to the present. Ijeoma achieves this by using a custom piano “retrofitted with hardware and software programmed to hold down keys at the same rates in the composition as a pianist is playing it.”

Weekly Whiskers

New Year x Valentines Day crossword answers

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Need a way to celebrate? Try this Lunar New Year x Valentines Day crossword

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Food for thought: An interview with the director of Food Tank’s “Little Peasants”

The fight for fair and equitable treatment of laborers is an ongoing struggle. In 2023, we have seen numerous strikes and strike threats, including those by SAG-AFTRA, United Postal Service workers and Starbucks Workers United. It is amidst this backdrop of labor activism and the pursuit of workers’ rights that the play “Little Peasants” emerged.

Parable of the Sower: A Review

Typically, the imagined setting for a dystopian science fiction novel is the far future — perhaps Earth in the year 3000 or even on an entirely new planet. In contrast, it can be jarring to discover such a novel written in the near future, especially if that near future is this coming summer. Published in 1993, Octavia Butler’s novel “Parable of the Sower” takes place from 2024 to 2027, years that were three long decades in the future but are now the rapidly approaching present. 

Weekly Whiskers

Dumpling recipe

Taylor Swift Announces 15th Album

Wicked Queer Film Festival returns

 On Feb. 1, 2024, Wicked Queer: The Boston LGBTQ+ Film Festival announced the dates for “WQ: 40,” the 40th edition of its annual Queer film festival. Originally created by film programmer George Mansour in 1984, Wicked Queer is entering its fourth decade of platforming LGBTQ+ stories from all over the globe. Through its exclusively volunteer based team, the organization has created a festival for the community, by the community. The organization is sponsored by the Queer Film Institute and partners with various cultural organizations in Boston including the Boston Asian American Film Festival, the Boston Latino International Film Festival, andQueer Muslims of Boston. The 40th anniversary marks a milestone in Wicked Queer’s journey of celebrating Queer identity, diversity, and resilience.

Chinese New Year

Universal Music Group vs. TikTok: Contractual discourse strikes a sour note

Is Jello an art? An exhibit explores media and life through this gelatinous treat.

When walking through the Museum of Fine Arts, I was shocked to see the word “Jello” across a wall next to a small room, and I couldn’t help but venture in. Sometimes curiosity kills the cat, but in this instance the cat gained some perspective. The exhibit “Digital Iridescence: Jell-O in New Media” is unlike any other that I have seen and proves why I continue to venture across the city and explore museums. 

Rembrandt nation unite!

Born in 1606, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, or Rembrandt as he is commonly known, was a self-taught printmaker and painter whose works of the Dutch Golden Age created waves throughout 17th-century Europe. Rembrandt’s paintings, such as “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” or “The Night Watch,” showcase his skill as a painter, but his works in etching and printmaking showcase his skill as an artist throughout multiple mediums.

Jan. 30, 2024 Crossword Answers

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Weekly Whiskers

Whitney Announces 2024 Biennial Artists

Founded in 1930, The Whitney Museum of American Art has focused on showcasing contemporary and modern American art. Gertrude Whitney, the founder of The Whitney, noticed that many American artists with unusual ideas were having trouble exhibiting and selling their work. As a result she herself started buying their art, amassing an impressive collection of modern and contemporary American art. In 1914, Whitney established the Whitney Studio as a place to display her collection. By 1929, she had collected more than 500 pieces of artwork, which she tried to gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but was rejected. Following this rejection, Whitney opened the Whitney Museum in 1931.