“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell
Aesthetic Arrest: Mid-Week Libation
Wildstar’s Wednesday Libation: Oinotypo Vino Di Casa, Fumé ‘Orange Wine’ Roditis (Aigialeia, Greece) — Fresh out of the barrel from Cava Oinotypo in Athens, Greece!
“In the aging cellars of OINOTYPO, Roditis Orange from the mountainous slopes of Aegialia ages for almost 5 months in new French oak barrels. This meeting creates something unique, giving a special smoky and mineral character to the taste of the wine.” [Source]
“The vineyards on the mountain slopes of Aegialia extend at an altitude of 300 to 1000 meters (984 to 3200 feet), with a north, northeast orientation, protected from the high summer temperatures by the cool breeze of the Gulf of Corinth, making the area one of the most beautiful wine-making zones, one of the most beautiful vineyards in Greece.” [Source]
Reading: Shakespeare's Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance by Ramie Targoff
“This remarkable work about women writers in the English Renaissance explodes our notion of the Shakespearean period by drawing us into the lives of four women who were committed to their craft long before anyone ever imagined the possibility of ‘a room of one’s own.’ … Targoff carries us from the sumptuous coronation of Queen Elizabeth in the mid-sixteenth century into the private lives of four women writers working at a time when women were legally the property of men … yet against all odds they defined themselves as writers, finding rooms of their own where doors had been shut for centuries.” [Source]
“Targoff brings these women brilliantly to life. . . . This is women’s history at its finest.” — Leah Redmond Chang, BBC History Magazine
Listening #1: A Tribute to the New York Dolls & David Johansen (January 9, 1950 – February 28, 2025)
“He was good-looking, charismatic and the press loved him – Johansen always provided great copy – and he sang in a brash, snotty yowl, the perfect complement to the band’s punk-inspiring edge-of-chaos sound. A former participant in the confrontational avant garde Theatre of the Ridiculous shows put on by directors John Vaccaro and Charles Ludlam – big on drag queens, outrage and cast members covered in glitter – Johansen applied their techniques to New York Dolls’ image, helping make the band an instant underground sensation in early 70s New York.” [Source]
David Johansen, who fronted the New York Dolls, dies at 75 (via NPR)
Wild, waspish and whip-smart, there are few rock stars as great as David Johansen (via The Guardian)
David Johansen: A Life in Pictures (via The Guardian)
Listening #2: Nordic Lights in Persian Sky by Constantinople (Kiya Tabassian, Benedicte Maurseth, Patrick Graham)
“Reflecting the Nordic character of this creation, the musicians immerse themselves in vast sound landscapes of pure, muted colours and rhythms that are by turns contemplative and frenzied, transporting and navigating the listener through enthralling, imaginary worlds without borders, from North to South and East to West.” [Source]
Looking: The Art of Shahzia Sikander in a Major Exhibition across Two Museums! Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior (on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art)
“For more than three decades, Sikander has been reframing South Asian visual histories through a contemporary feminist perspective. Working in a variety of mediums—painting, drawing, print, digital animation, mosaic, sculpture, and glass work—she reimagines the past for our present moment. Sikander emigrated from Pakistan to the United States early in her career. This gave her a transnational perspective, through which she examines diasporic experiences, gender, histories of colonialism, and western relations with the Global South and the wider Islamic world.” [Source]
Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior (works on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art):
Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior (works on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum):
Visit Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior at the Cincinnati Art Museum (on view until May 4, 2025) and the Cleveland Museum of Art (on view until June 8, 2025)!
Shahzia Sikander opens major dual presentations across Ohio museums (via Artsy)
Viewing: Nickel Boys (2024) — directed by RaMell Ross (based on the 2019 novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead)
“With POV (point of view) fidelity, Ross plunges the audience into the viewpoint of these young men, seeing what they see, witnessing what they witness. Audiences find themselves moving restlessly, lyrically, lovingly, tragically, with a subjectivity that the long lens and partial views ensure. Nickel Boys invokes a world of lost innocence, lost life and transcendent redemption.” [Source]
‘Nickel Boys’ establishes a new way of seeing Black characters on screen (via NPR)
The Real Story Behind ‘Nickel Boys’ and the Brutal Florida Reform School That Inspired the Film (via Smithsonian Magazine)
Tasting: Our Delicious Vegan/Vegetarian Dinner at Metaxa2 (aka Utopian Garden) Restaurant/Cooperative in Athens, Greece
“Metaxa2 is a charming street café/bar in Exarcheia, Athens, known for its delicious vegan and vegetarian dishes. Reviewers praise the welcoming atmosphere, fresh and well-presented plates, and affordable prices. The local vibe, great music, and helpful service add to the overall experience.” [Source]
So that’s it for this week! But in the tradition of our Mid-Week Libations, we’d like to end with this week’s words of wisdom, a quotation from author and activist Pauli Murray:
This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Pauli Murray (1910 – 1985)
Thank you for joining us for Season 3 of Aesthetic Arrest!
Cheers to that!
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