The Easel

15th August 2023

Our great art institutions have reduced British history to a scrapheap of shame

A Londoner, from Hong Kong, laments curatorial politics behind the re-launched National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain. “The curators seem to want to tell only the obvious story: that British history is a scrapheap of shame. Underwhelming artists [are centred] for political reasons. There is a profound crisis within the arts: national institutions have succumbed to the ever-fracturing logic of identity politics and given up on the possibility of [art] creating any sense of commonality.”

8th August 2023

Who is Herzog & de Meuron’s Royal Academy show for?

Herzog & de Meuron are ‘starchitects’. A high profile London show offers a peek into their back office Yes, it reveals the “remarkable trajectory” from austere houses to mega-projects. It also acknowledges H&M’s imaginative use of materials. But architecture is a collaborative endeavour. What is the aesthetic or design philosophy that unites such a remarkable team? This show has an impenetrable quality – “made by architects, just for architects”. Images are here.