Mao Zedong once said that revolution is not a dinner party. Less famously, he said it is not embroidery, either. Interestingly, however, some female contemporary Chinese artists have chosen to work with thread and textiles—and embroidery—in experimental, maybe even revolutionary ways. From Lin Tianmiao’s overt exploration of sexuality, fecundity, and the aging and decay of the body, to Yin Xiuzhen’s use of the embodied memories[…..]

One imagines that Geoffrey Farmer must go through millions of X-Acto knives a year. The Vancouver-based artist is known for his cutouts of images culled from books, magazines, and other printed material, which have been exhibited at Documenta(13) and at the Tate. In his new work Boneyard (2013), currently on view at Mercer Union, Farmer adapts his signature technique—excising  any traces of context through the[…..]

This week, our intrepid Help Desk columnist is on the road, so we bring you some advice from 2012 that still applies to many people: how to navigate the shoals of internships, especially in terms of taking credit for ideas and labor. Help Desk is an arts-advice column that demystifies practices for artists, writers, curators, collectors, patrons, and the general public. Submit your questions anonymously here.[…..]

Today from our partners at Art Practical we bring you an essay on the New York-based LTTR, who describe themselves as “a feminist genderqueer artist collective with a flexible project-oriented practice.” As author Julia Bryan-Wilson notes, “…LTTR rallies people together with ardent enthusiasm.” This article was originally published on December 4, 2013. “It is our promiscuity that will save us,” AIDS activist and art theorist Douglas Crimp asserted in 1987, a[…..]

For our Best of 2013 series, Fan Mail columnist A. Will Brown selected Alex Bigman‘s review of Mike Kelley’s retrospective at PS1. Says Brown, “The untimely death of Mike Kelley is a potent reminder of how important every minute can be, particularly for those exploring and challenging the very mesh of society. This article, while particularly well written, hints at the importance of displaying Kelley’s oeuvre,[…..]

As we continue our Best of 2013 series, today’s pick comes from Bean Gilsdorf, who writes, “As the managing editor of Daily Serving, I get to work with over thirty super-talented authors from around the world, so it’s very hard for me to select just one article for this series. However, I really appreciate the energy that Anuradha Vikram has brought to writing and editing our[…..]

As we continue our look back over the year, today’s Best of 2013 selection comes from Ashley Stull, who writes, “I’ve never been to Poland. I’ve thus far remained shielded from the weight of Communist regimes; and my best protest to date has been limiting my mother on my portion of cauliflower. Succeeding where I have failed, Michal Wisniowski visited the Wrocław Contemporary Museum and[…..]