Artistic expression is not always free. This was made evident on our visit to the Catalonian National Museum of Art. Each room of the modern art section contained a detailed description of the artistic movement of the pieces that followed. However, to fully understand these art pieces, the descriptions gave explicit detail on the historical … Continue reading Catalonia and the Politics of Art
As I walked through the Museu d’Història de Barcelona Olivia Artés I could not help but notice the striking metal beams dividing each section of the exhibit. The museum was situated inside a hollowed-out factory building from the 1920s, a remnant of Barcelona’s industrial legacy. The focus of the museum was on the development of … Continue reading An Industrial Legacy: Cleveland to Barcelona
For whom should our institutions be built? Who should they ultimately serve? These questions were at the forefront of student’s minds during May ‘68 and were ones that I could not ignore as I stared down the cobblestone streets of the Latin Quarter. Only a few decades prior, students raised these stones at the Sorbonne … Continue reading Reconceptualizing the Modern University
I have always learned of the French Revolution as a story of the reclamation of popular sovereignty over Monarchy. Rule of the people over everything else. However, through our readings and lectures, I have come to understand that this was not necessarily the case. The National Assembly originally reacted negatively to the storming of the … Continue reading Reflecting Upon the Legitimacy of Non-Violence
As I stared down the narrow teal Colonne de Juillet, it was difficult to imagine the size and scope of the original Bastille that once had stood there. Other buildings, such as the elegant Palace of Versailles that we had visited the day before, had been elaborately maintained following the French Revolution, but the Bastille … Continue reading Bastille: Spaces, Emotion, and Recognition
Revolutionary Cities 