CAA News Today

Each week CAA News summarizes eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

Defining the Relationship

Dear Students: I think it’s time we had the talk. You know, the one couples who have been together for a while sometimes have to review boundaries and expectations? Your generation calls this DTR—short for “defining the relationship.” (Read more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

What Went Wrong with the Macon Social Practice Residency?

It should have been a dream-come-true artist residency and a template for responsible and holistic community redevelopment. But an apparent breakdown in communication and trust between the Macon Arts Alliance and the artists Ed Woodham and Samantha Hill led to the artists being terminated from their contracts on July 26, just a few weeks into their three- and four-month residencies. (Read more from Burnaway.)

Art World Wants US to Better Protect Artifacts in Iraq and Syria

Art-market experts want the Defense Department to get more involved in preventing the destruction and looting of cultural artifacts in Iraq and Syria, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The recommendation was one of seven suggestions experts gave for ways the United States can better protect artifacts from the Islamic State and other groups. (Read more from the Hill.)

Understanding the Techniques of Pouring Acrylics

While the practice of pouring is certainly not a new way to apply paint, achieving consistent results can be frustrating and costly. Therefore it is vital to the process to conduct experiments to gain the knowledge of what are the most critical controlling factors that preside over paint pours. (Read more from Just Paint.)

In Search of the Lost Empire of the Maya

The ancient city of Holmul isn’t much to look at. To the casual observer it’s just a series of steep, forested hills in the middle of the jungle in northern Guatemala, near the Mexican border. The jungle here in the Petén Basin is thick and warm but drier than you might expect. And silent, except for the drum of cicadas and the occasional calls of howler monkeys. (Read more from National Geographic.)

Seven Vanishing Technologies Making a Comeback through Art

The scope of digital technology has made many things obsolete, from traditional black-and-white film to the homemade cassette mixtape, but it also prevents them from ever disappearing completely. Enthusiasts can congregate online, exploring, preserving, and sharing information on dwindling technologies before they’re ever truly lost. (Read more from Artsy.)

Are Replicas Changing the Way We Experience Art?

Digital reproductions do not have to be copies of existing works. Recently, the Next Rembrandt project saw scientists develop a brand-new painting, complete with an original subject and composition, digitally designed and printed to look like a lost work by Rembrandt. Aesthetically, when viewed on a computer or television screen, it convinces. (Read more from Zócalo Public Square.)

Toward an Art History for Video Games

If video games possess an “official history,” it is predicated primarily on the advancement of technology, the shifting of markets, and the consolidation of multinational corporations. This history prioritizes technological advancement, from computer gaming’s rise as the product of quiet dissent among the engineers of military computers at MIT to the clinking of arcade machines and the ensuing success of the home console. (Read more from Rhizome.)