Editor's Message
Editor's Message
Something’s happening here…
Mayor Bloomberg may not see the war in Iraq as “a local issue,” but most reasonable people disagree. From Cindy Sheehan’s Crawford to right here in our very own New York City, opposition to Mr. Bush’s war has never been greater. As United for Peace and Justice and the other organizers of the upcoming massive demonstration in D.C. have stated, “anti-war sentiment in the country has become the majority sentiment. The September 24 demonstration will be a vivid expression of this new political reality.”
What can we say, other than…peace out!
—The Rail
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Editor’s Note
By Paul MattickJULY/AUG 2023 | Field Notes
Despite constant assurances from officials that the economy is going just great, signs of trouble abound. To take a random sampling: it was just estimated that some 160,000 people are about to be evicted from their apartments in New York; defaults on junk bonds—which provide critical financing for many companies—are surging above 2021 and 2022 levels in response to rising interest rates; New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and other business centers are facing a likely collapse of the commercial real estate market, imperiling mortgage-holding regional banks while destroying local economies dependent on downtowns filled with office workers, many of whom are now working from home or recently fired; arcane indicators like the market for RVs, sensitive to downturns as an expensive discretionary purchase, are falling as before earlier recessions; while unemployment is rising significantly in over a dozen states. And that’s just the United States.
The Business of Art is the Business of People
By Lise K. Ragbir and Julia V HendricksonJUNE 2023 | Critics Page
People of the global majority are being invited into predominantly white art spaces like never before. And, at rates like never before, we’re seeing the ways in which many of these institutions are under-supporting employees. Efforts have been made, but “diversity hires” and DEI fatigue shed light on the ways in which stop-gap measures alone can’t upend a system that wasn’t built for everybody. Even if, in our capitalist society, we’re all seen as human resources.
People of the Otherworld: Ken Kiff in Dialogue
By Alfred Mac AdamJULY/AUG 2023 | ArtSeen
Curated by Kathy Battista, People of the Otherworld introduces Ken Kiff’s work to a New York audience unaware of his existence. This it accomplishes in grand style by amassing twenty works produced between the 1960s and 1990s. It also seeks to show Kiff’s affinities with ten younger artists, including some who are not painters.
Bush Tetras Reemerge at Elsewhere
By Dan JosephJUL-AUG 2022 | Music
By most measures, Bush Tetras are not an emerging outfit. Formed in 1979 in Lower Manhattan, the original iteration of the band lasted only three years. During that time, they helped pioneer a hugely influential style of dance-oriented post-punk, sometimes described as “mutant disco,” that simultaneously emerged on both sides of the Atlantic.
