Museum reading rooms often stand as forgotten spaces, filled with books but lacking visitors. Maryam Eskandari, writing for KoozArch, examines an exhibition where the reading room itself becomes the show, redefining its spatial dynamics. At the MAK Center, architect R.M. Schindler’s Kings Road House transforms into a dynamic stage rather than a static gallery. Light illuminates tables laden with journals, zines, and artist books. Here, readers engage deeply with texts, echoing the angular designs of Schindler’s architecture. This environment, brimming with the sounds of rustling pages and whispered words, is more than a repository of publications; it’s a living conversation facilitated by books acting as catalysts.
The exhibition’s curators, Beth Stryker and Robert J. Kett, together with Ryan Preciado’s furniture and Mimi Zeiger’s table residency, use the printed page as an architectural medium. Abandoning traditional exhibition formats like models or display cases, the room itself becomes a hub of intellectual exchange—a choreography of engagement where discourse is physically tangible. Rather than a conventional exhibition, it functions more like an interactive switchboard, connecting ideas and people.
In Los Angeles, Mvskoke artist Kimberly Dawn Robertson’s anti-ICE messages in Peyote-stitched beads are appearing on utility poles, as reported by Susana Canales Barrón for LA Public Press. Robertson reflects on the long history of anti-immigrant enforcement, intertwined with settler colonialism and Native surveillance. She acknowledges the slow nature of her work, emphasizing the ongoing nature of these issues. Her beadwork, unlike mass-produced prints, focuses on singularity and the laborious process, choosing larger pony beads to enhance visibility.
In India, Elle Decor’s Pratishtha Rana explores an exhibition tracing history through chairs, viewing them as cultural artifacts. The collection, consisting of 1,500 to 2,000 furniture pieces, is stored in Wadala and Walkeshwar like sculptures. Chiki reflects on the shift from exploratory sourcing trips to online acquisitions, lamenting the loss of romance in the process. She highlights the team’s expertise in selecting the finest pieces based on wood quality, construction, and historical significance, rather than ornate appearances.
Meanwhile, a North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay $345 million to the Dakota Access Pipeline developer for its involvement in the 2016-2017 protests, writes Mary Steurer for North Dakota Monitor. The protests, initiated by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, attracted thousands to oppose the pipeline. Energy Transfer’s lawsuit claims Greenpeace orchestrated violent attacks and misinformation campaigns against the company.
