The bell-rope that gathers God at dawn
Dispatches me as though I dropped down the knell
Of a spent day – to wander the cathedral lawn
From pit to crucifix, feet chill on steps from hell.
Have you not heard, have you not seen that corps
Of shadows in the tower, whose shoulders sway
Antiphonal carillons launched before
The stars are caught and hived in the sun’s ray? […]
And so it was I entered the broken world
To trace the visionary company of love, its voice
An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled)
But not for long to hold each desperate choice.
My word I poured. But was it cognate, scored
Of that tribunal monarch of the air
Whose thigh embronzes earth, strikes crystal Word
In wounds pledged once to hope – cleft to despair? […]
–Hart Crane / excerpt, The Broken Tower
Welcome to the start of Mercatus Plebeii. Welcome to the 105th edition of Prescriptions. Here is our review of the week in the arts.
Still from Needletail, 2019. Directed by Alice Hamilton, UK. Drama Finalist in ASFF 2019
Aesthetica Short Film Festival / 2019
A hotbed for talent discovery and a key event for filmmakers to meet industry professionals, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival celebrated independent film from around the world, supporting and championing filmmaking last week, November 6–10, 2019 in York, UK.
Marsden Hartley
The Earth Is All I Know of Wonder
The Louisiana Museum embarks in the mission of acquainting the European public with a grand retrospective that gathers over one hundred works of Marsden Hartley, a key figure in American Modernism. On view at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art through January 19, 2020. Review by Paola Paleari.
Analia Saban
Particle Theory / Analia Saban
Asking what the fundamental distinctions are between mediums, Analia Saban’s work dismantles the physical nature of materials and the basic premise of the medium to a near unconscious or particle level. On view through December 28, 2019 at Arario Gallery, Seoul.
Kristina Syrchikova
30 Under 30 Women Photographers / Paris
Earlier this month for its 10th Edition of 30 Under 30 Women Photographers, ARTPIL + MAISON PHOTO presented the 2019 group at Galerie Claude Samuel during Paris Photo (November 8–10, 2019) in Paris. Works can be viewed online, 30 Under 30 Women Photographers / 2019.
Carlos Garaicoa
A Borderless Reality / Carlos Garaicoa
Carlos Garaicoa investigates how the city and its architecture reflect and influence society. Havana’s abandoned construction projects and the lost dreams they represent are at the core of his meditations. At Lunds Konsthall through February 2, 2020.
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
This major exhibition brings together over 200 works from throughout Nam June Paik’s five-decade career, from robots made from old TV screens, to his innovative video works and all-encompassing installations. Through February 9, 2020 at Tate Modern, London.
Mahé Elipe
PROFILES
Mahé Elipe, French photographer and photo journalist with Hans Lucas, based in Mexico; Nam June Paik whose retrospective gathering over 200 works covering five-decades is on view at Tate Modern; Paola Paleari, writer and curator who contributed The Earth Is All I Know of Wonder, a review of Marsden Hartley on view at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Analia Saban, work whose deconstructive approach with sculptural installations in Particle Theory is on view at Arario Gallery; And reintroducing Hart Crane, the American poet of the early 20th century and Guggenheim fellow, to whom we owe the opening verses.
