arts // no. 8

‘GLUT’ is open at UBC until April

> New exhibition a powerful look at the woman reader and writer

Jillian McMullen
Staff Writer

 

I a long trek from New West, but

the UBC Belkin Art Gallery’s new
exhibition is definitely worth the long
bus ride for those with a keen interest

in feminism and literature. Having
opened on January u, Beginning with the
Seventies: GLUT explores how women
have participated in arts and literature

as subjects, objects, and creators.

The centrepiece is a recreation of the
Vancouver Women’s Bookstore, which
opened in 1973 in response to a growing
desire for feminist books and periodicals
at the time. “Glut” means an excessive
supply or abundance of something—
an excess. GLUT, then, embodies the
wealth of feminist material available in
the archive. Three bookcases adorn the
walls of the gallery, filled with woman-
written titles: From I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou; to
Gender Trouble, by Judith Butler; and A
Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf.
These titles, among others, were chosen
because they were listed in a catalogue for
the bookstore from its inaugural years.

One of the pieces I found most
striking in the collection was a work
dealing with Friedrich Nietzsche’s many
problematic writings on womanhood

 

 

 

and femininity in general. The piece,
which is set up on a tabletop, features
seven paperbacks by the writer, titles
that have become foundational to
literary criticism—including Genealogy
of Morals, The Will to Power, and
Beyond Good and Evil. Whips made
out of printed lines from these texts
are placed above them, reminding the
observer of the verbal lashings some
of his words continue to cause.

Asan English Lit major, I’ve read

ies

 

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theotherpress.ca

 

Photos by Jillian McMullen

excerpts from these works countless times
over the course of my studies. Often, when
working with historically-relevant literary
documents, we have to try to separate the
theory from the prejudice. This exhibition,
however, says “No, no you can’t do that,”

are super welcoming and will check your
bag (free of charge) so you aren't bogged
down while walking through the gallery. I
was also able to snag a free poster during
my visit—it wasn’t a cheesy promotional
poster for the gallery either, but an actual

and the way it exposed this harmfulness
in academia felt very powerful for me.

than the small snapshot I’ve given you,

so you should definitely check it out. The

people working behind the front desk

Google Arts & Culture app
allows you to see wonders of the world.

> Not just a pretty face-swapping tool

Katie Czenczek
Staff Writer

 

Ls“ as “the most viral must-have
app since Pokémon Go” by the
Vancouver Sun, Google Arts & Culture

has taken the number-one spot for most

downloads on Android and iPhone.
The app has been around since 2016,
yet only now has there been a spike
in popularity. What is it that’s been
driving people to download an app
that discusses, well, arts and culture?
The main reason for its newfound
popularity is the recently-added selfie
feature that compares the user’s ugly
mug to famous works of art through
facial recognition technology. However,
this function has been criticized
by those who fear it’s an invasion
of privacy and who question what
exactly Google does with a person’s
selfie long after it’s been matched.
Michelle Luo, Product Manager
for Google Arts & Culture, explicitly
stated in a blog post that “Google
doesn’t use [a person’s] selfie for
anything else and only keeps it for the
time it takes to search for matches.”
Despite people’s wariness over
whether or not to trust the app, over
30 million selfies have been taken
worldwide within just a few days

Portret van James Hamilton, eerst...
Pieter van Lisebetten, Joannes Meyssens

53%

match

of the update. The purpose of the
selfie feature is not only fun (and at
times, terribly inaccurate) it’s also
a learning tool. Once you've been
matched with several paintings, you
can click on the faces and see the
entire painting and its description.
However, Google Arts & Culture
isn't just about mildly offending you by
comparing you to a bearded nobleman
(every single time, no matter what
angle the camera faces you). The app
has access to over 1,000 art gallery
collections from all over the world,
allowing people who can’t afford to
travel to Musée d’Orsay or the Kyoto
National Museum to see the artwork in

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59% Portrait
match Mohammed Al Mazrouie

these collections with a single swipe.
Take a look at Van Gogh’s work up
close and personal, as the app allows
you to zoom in on specific parts of
the image. It’s almost like touching
the painting in real life, with the
added perk of not being immediately
removed from the gallery for doing so.
Also, the app can take you to
cultural landmarks by linking you to
YouTube's 360-degree videos. Places
such as the fireworks of the Festa
del Redentore can be seen with the
360-degree video from the launch
point view of the fireworks. Not
unlike Google Maps’ street view, you
can visit the Taj Mahal, Palace of

The exhibition has a lot more to offer

print of one of the artists involved in
the show, which I think is pretty cool.

The exhibition will run

from now until April 8, and
admission is free—it’s ona

school campus, after all.

82% Portrait of King Gojong

match Crwe Yongsin

Kumail Nanjiani via ET Canada

Versailles, Alcatraz Island, and many
other famous locations. If your phone
is fancy enough, or you've made a
cardboard viewer, you can also take
VR tours of other beautiful art and
cultural sites, including the Christ the
Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
Overall, this app can be used for so
much more than a face matchup with
various paintings around the world.
You might download it for the selfie
comparison, then keep it for other
interesting features that bring you
closer to arts and culture worldwide.

@Whitsie via Twitter