Ok, it’s quite an obscure source for archaeological news of Europe – NEWS.com.au – but they are running a headline at the moment about the discovery of two large sarcophagi in ancient Corinth. The story is that they are so big that ancient Greeks in 900BCE can’t have done it using only human power but…
the academy
Design – a question of form following function? Or much more?
Trouble at the Design Museum in London. This is how The Telegraph describes it The Design Museum in London has been thrown into crisis by the sudden resignation of its chairman, James Dyson, in protest at what he sees as the museum’s misguided pursuit of empty style over substance. In a terse letter to his…
archaeology, Classics and contemporary art – the connections
The interest in the decision to cancel a Stanford acquisition of Dennis Oppenheim’s sculpture “Device to root out evil” is growing.[Link] [Link] Yesterday and today the New York Times has been pressing for interviews and comment – Is this censorship? What does the decision say about Stanford’s commitment to the arts? How does the art…
Origins: how new archaeological thinking is changing the way we understand history
Second session tonight of the new course for Stanford Continuing Studies – seeing how the ideas in my new book come across to a live audience. [Link] Last week I set the scene with the accounts of origins that we accept as lying behind human history: revolutionary events precipitating the emergence of modern humans, agriculture,…
Art and the values of the University
A comment yesterday on Stanford’s decision to abandon the installation of the Oppenheim sculpture “Device to root out evil”. [Link] Why, might I ask, did you invite the Scotty (ed – Stanford’s Dean of Religious Life) into the process? What possible influence should he have on whether a work of art is or is not…
Dennis Oppenheim and the material power of art
I chair the Panel on Outdoor Art at Stanford – we acquire pieces for the sculpture collection and consider offers of donation. Stanford’s collection is one of the best on the west coast. Like Colin Renfrew [Link] I think there is a strong convergence of interest in materialities and time that brings together contemporary art…