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Maureen Mullarkey: Studio Matters

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The Vatican at the Venice Biennale

Fearful lest it become relegated to the position of an isolated sect, Christianity seems to be making frenzied efforts at mimicry [of secular society] in order to escape being devoured by its enemies—a reaction that seems defensive, but in fact is self-destructive. ~ Leszek Kolakowski
This summer Vatican City will have its own pavilion in the Venice Biennale. The idea was first floated five years ago and seemed, mercifully, to have been abandoned. But now it is back. The Holy See will debut in the futures market that is the Biennale Arte 2013 alongside eight other first-time players: Paraguay, Nigeria, Bahrain, the Ivory Coast, Kuwait, the Maldives, the Bahamas and the Republic of Kosovo. Continue Reading

View Through the Fallopian Tubes

For connoisseurs of civilizational decline, the delights keep accumulating. Contemporary art is especially generous in building the case that Spengler had it right. If only he had been an art critic. The ignorance and terminal vulgarity of what passes—still—for feminist art disqualifies most of its practitioners from any claim on civilized attention.Newly arrived is a press release from Ceres Gallery, a women’s not-for-profit collective in New York, announcing a not-so-unique exhibition Meet My Uterus. Vaginas have been over-exposed, laid bare every which way from Sunday. Continue Reading

Christo Puts the Wraps on Next Door

There is always time to take time out for trivia. Today’s non-event is Christo’s law suit against 433 Broadway Co. for putting up a 6-story building that ruins his view. Okay, I made up that reason. Officially, Christo—sole proprietor of Depaul Realty Corp., which owns 48 Howard Street, his studio since the 1960s—has taken 433 Broadway to County Court because, since March of this year, his new neighbor “has caused and/or permitted gravely unsafe construction activity to take place at 433 Broadway.” Continue Reading

Lavabo?

I could not believe my eyes at Mass this morning. There in the sanctuary, just behind and to the right (stage left) of the altar, was a bottle of hand sanitizer. It was not tucked discreetly behind a vase of flowers. There were no flowers. Just an economy-sized dispenser of Purell. The Church has distributed the Eucharist for 2,000 years without benefit of ethyl alcohol. But now my parish has it, right up there in a sacred space. The ancient ritual of the priestly Lavabo (“I will wash my hands among the innocent, and will walk around Thy altar, O God.”) Continue Reading
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