Defining Lines at the Nasher

Much to see at three thoughtful, absorbing exhibits at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. "Lines of Control: Partition as a Productive Space" is one of them. ". . . [C]o-curated by Iftikahr Dadi and Hammad Nasar, brings together art across many genres . . . that have their common theme a preoccupation [pun intended?] with borders, boundaries and lines that divide and demarcate. . . " The British Empire, for one, "brought in its wake the geographic and cartographic division of much of the inhabited world . . ." Obviously, we're still living in the fallout zones from "the Middle East" to Africa and everywhere else in the world as we know it -- or really know it not. 

"Defining Lines: Cartography in the Age of Empire" takes a similar look at dividing lines, focusing on maps as cultural artifacts that carve up the world in ways that favor certain groups over others. "No matter . . . their claims to 'objectivity,' 'accuracy' and 'authority,' maps never simply show the world as it is; they are . . . 'a construction of reality, images laden with intentions and consequences.'" In the end, it's mostly about culture, power and economics. 

A third exhibit revolves around Doris Duke's spectacular "Shangri La" project in Hawaii, replete with beautiful Islamic-themed signs and wonders.

Very impressive all.

Today's Rune: Journey.   

When You Do Have to Live Like a Refugee

People tend to move or migrate for several reasons, including work opportunity or survival and sometimes to find hope within a nested support system. 

People are refugees or forced into relocation because of the effects of war, revolution and persecution -- the latter including slavery and religious or other cultural attacks on a scale ranging from harassment through coercion to genocide.   

As of mid-2013, the biggest mass refugee movements radiate from just a handful of countries. That is, more than half of all new and recent refugees have been displaced by upheavals in Somalia and Sudan (plus South Sudan), Afghanistan (still), Iraq (still) and Syria. (Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Displacement: The New 21st Century Challenge. Global Trends 2012 [2013]).

All refugees have stories to tell. Anyone can become a refugee. In addition to wild variables such as effects of war, revolution and persecution, we can add natural disasters, global warming, climate change and mass toxic events, or even slow seepage.

Today's Rune: Signals.  

The Ottoman Empire and the Great War of 1914-1918

In developing a mock online class on The Great War and the 1920s for training purposes, it's been interesting to connect the dots between the end of the Ottoman Empire -- and the intention of the Allied Powers to divvy up its territories -- to today's political and cultural developments throughout these same areas. Notice that Syria is smack-dab in the middle of this map of the Middle East.

For starters, all one need do is look at these maps to see the jigsaw puzzling impact of the Great War of 1914-1918 and its aftermath in the region, and on the world.

Here are some of my notes for such a class so far:

Unit 1, Lesson 2. The Ottoman Empire in Context.

Objectives:

To understand what was at stake for the Ottoman Empire in 1914.

To understand why the Ottomans allied themselves to the Central Powers.

To analyze why the Allied Powers sought access to Ottoman territories.

To analyze the strategic importance of geography and natural resources to all players.

Read G.J. Meyer, A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Delacorte Press, 2006), pages  74-79.

What was at stake for the Ottoman Empire in 1914?

Why did the Ottomans ally themselves with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires?

Why did the British, French and Russian Empires want access to territories under the control of the Ottoman Empire?

Consider resources and geography. Petroleum and waterways.

Unit 1, Lesson 3. Gallipoli.

Objectives:

To understand the Allied campaign to capture Constantinople/Istanbul.

To analyze how the Ottoman Turks contained the Allied attack at Gallipoli.

To understand the political and cultural impact of the Gallipoli Campaign.

Gallipoli Disaster. Read G.J. Meyer, A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Delacorte Press, 2006), pages  265-272.

What was the Allied plan to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war?

How did the Ottoman Turks contain the Allied attack at Gallipoli?

Additional reading (primary sources): James Hannah, ed., The Great War Reader (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2000), pages 151-164.

Unit 1, Lesson 4. Armenian Genocide.

Objectives:

To understand why the Ottoman leadership conceived of its Armenian population as enemies.

To analyze the role of the Russian Empire in Ottoman calculation.

To understand the essential details of the Armenian Genocide.

To understand the aspirations of the Armenian and Kurdish peoples.

To analyze the longterm political and cultural impact of the Armenian Genocide.

Read G.J. Meyer, A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Delacorte Press, 2006), pages  289-291.

Why did the leadership of the Ottoman Empire scapegoat the Armenian population?

What was the role of the Russian Empire in Ottoman calculations?

Unit 1, Lesson 5. Palestine Front. Read G.J. Meyer, A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Delacorte Press, 2006), pages  538-541.

Unit 1, Lesson  6. Mesopotamia Campaign, 1915-1918.

Lieutenant General Frederick S. Maude after Allied capture of Baghdad in 1917: “Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators."

Critical thinking. What were the main objectives of the Allied forces in Mesopotamia?

What was the role of disease and the medical corps in the Mesopotamia Campaign?

Unit 1, Lesson 7. Treaty of Versailles, Treaty of Sèvres,  Mandate System. Emergence of Modern Turkey (Greek War, Smyrna). Syria and Lebanon, Palestine, etc. 

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune. Maps: UK National Archives.   

Syria's Turn

Today marks a significant turning point in the Syrian Civil War (2011-present) because the USA will now officially supply armaments to the rebels fighting Syria's Bashar Hafez al-Assad-led government forces. 

Above is an ethnoreligious map courtesy of Wiki Commons (from 2012).

To compare scale, Syria has many more people involved than did the American Civil War of 1861-1865, in which more than 600,000 died. Syria's population (including refugees) is about 23 million strong; so far, probably more than 100,000 people have died in its current civil war (about 93,000 is the official UN estimate as of today, mostly civilians).

A closer equivalent might be the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) -- Spain had a population of about 24-25 million people at the time. An estimated 500,000 died in the course of that internecine war; I'm not sure if the total number includes 150,000 or so executed by the government of Generalissimo Francisco Franco in its wake, or if the total rises to 650,000.

As with Spain, so now with Syria also in the sense of drawing in other nations, volunteers, weapons and additional supplies.

The Spanish Civil War is often depicted as a technological testing ground and precursor to World War II. The Syrian Civil War may be seen within the larger context of the "Arab Spring;" as for other effects, they will unfold with time.  

Today's Rune: Strength.    

Gitmo and "The American People"

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts.  It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed.

Now, Congress determined that they would not let us close it -- and despite the fact that there are a number of the folks who are currently in Guantanamo who the courts have said could be returned to their country of origin or potentially a third country.

I'm going to go back at this. I've asked my team to review everything that's currently being done in Guantanamo, everything that we can do administratively. And I'm going to reengage with Congress to try to make the case that this is not something that's in the best interest of the American people. And it's not sustainable.

The notion that we're going to continue to keep over a hundred individuals in a no-man's land in perpetuity, even at a time when we've wound down the war in Iraq, we're winding down the war in Afghanistan, we're having success defeating al-Qaeda core, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist networks, when we've transferred detention authority in Afghanistan -- the idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.

Now, it's a hard case to make because I think for a lot of Americans the notion is out of sight, out of mind. And it's easy to demagogue the issue. That's what happened the first time this came up. I'm going to go back at it because I think it's important.  

News Conference by the President, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Washington, DC. Link to full remarks just to the right of this colon: News Conference by the President | The White House

So I ask any representatives of "The American People" to weigh in here. Shut Gitmo down or not?  Do something about the prisoners or do nothing and let the chips fall where they may? And: why?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

In the Loop

Amando Iannucci's In the Loop (2009): frenetic like Fawlty Towers, inventively invective-ridden like Deadwood -- imagine Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) and Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) playin' the Dozens. If that doesn't bring it home, maybe you've seen Wag the Dog or Wrong is Right? In the Loop has more snap. More bite. And here, we're talking about a devilishly blistering satire of the Anglo-American policy push for the Invasion of Iraq and resulting debacle, that crazy little thing called the Iraq War (2003-2011).

  



















With In the Loop, we go behind the scenes, then watch with horror as VIPs and their attendants run amok, screaming on mobile phones, bumbling from one cock-up to another while fiendishly plotting behind each other's backs. 

Besides the imagery of a blizzard of mobile phones / cellphones and tsunamis of insults, In the Loop delivers "the emotional truth" of the rush to war, sensible opposition to that rush, and -- if you stick with it all the way through -- a well-timed conclusion. The actors -- including James Gandolfini as an American general dubious of the rising chorus for war exactly because it's based on such a flimsy pretext -- are sharp, with a grand party mix of British and Americans. Welcome to the madhouse or, as Scotsman Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi, pictured in the Shepard Fairey-like "poster" above) puts it rather succinctly early on, watch out for "ass-spraying mayhem."

Today's Rune: Protection. 

The Devil's Double

Lee Tamahori's The Devil's Double (2011) spotlights Dominic Cooper in the twin roles of Saddam Hussein's deranged son Uday and his double, Latif Yahia (on whose memoir the movie is based). It's good, violent in the way mobster movies usually are, with the spectacle of Uday Hussein standing in for all Caligula-type psychopaths thrust into positions of power in various places down through the ages. Caligula (or "Bootsy," 12-41 AD), the Roman Emperor, has a particularly bad reputation due to his excessive cruelty and flippant decision-making (such as appointing a favorite horse to be Proconsul). 

On the one hand, Uday Hussein (1965-2003) represents a universal archetype of unchecked abuse of power vested in individual people. On the other, the moviewatcher may learn more specifically about modern Iraq, the Iran-Iraq War and the Persian Gulf War -- the historical backdrop to the story of Uday and his decoy-double.

The idea of doubles is not new, and Saddam Hussein is said to have had several. In one memorable scene (due to its surreal imagery) in The Devil's Double, two Saddams are seen playing each other in a game of tennis. Creepy, man -- the stuff of doppelgänger nightmares.

Today's Rune: Defense.

The First and Last Casualties

Coverage of wars and poverty, of competing ideas and political conflict is all over the map.  Attention Deficit Disorder and entropy on one hand, pre-existing ideological prejudices and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder on the other.  Avoidance on the one hand, oversaturation on the other.

Some of the most memorable wartime investigative journalism can be epitomized by the work of Seymour Hersch, who has, during his career, written a number of penetrating stories for United Press International (UPI), the Associated Press (AP), The New York Times, The New Yorker, and more. Prime examples: exposing the My Lai Massacre (1968). Investigating the context of what led to the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (1983). Digging into the false pretenses and cynical manipulation of public perceptions by the Bush-Cheney Administation that led to the Iraq War (2003-2011). Delving into the ghoulish facts of the Abu Ghraib POW scandal. And so forth. This is not to say that Hersch is always completely accurate in his reporting, but rather that he's done more good investigative work relating to war and abuse of power than most. Under the banner of the First Amendment, we need more people doing this kind of work.

Today's Rune: Flow.

Lost Command/Les Centurions: Take II

If Mark Robson's Lost Command / Les Centurions (1966) -- like his Peyton Place (1957) and Valley of the Dolls (1967) -- could be tweaked here and there, it could be very sharp indeed. I'd start with a whole new soundtrack, something from the mind of Ennio Morricone (who is still with us) probably. In any case, the Algerian Revolution / Guerre d'Algérie (1954-1962) war scenes are particularly strong. Watching them, I couldn't help but see the real similarities with the Iraq War (2003-2011) and Afghanistan (2001-present).

Together with Gillo Ponecorvo's masterful La battaglia di Algeri / The Battle of Algiers (1966), Lost Command / Les centurions gives a clear picture of how this kind of conflict plays out. It's not a pretty sight.

Surprise, ambushes, reprisals, bombings, assassinations, murder, civilian deaths: it's all there, and we're seeing plenty more of the same reality in 2012.

Today's Rune: Signals.

Bob Sheldon's Legacy

My friend Bob Sheldon was killed during the first weeks of the Persian Gulf War on this date, February 21, 1991, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. 

He had been visible and vocal, providing rare dissent to the Gulf War on TV; he'd also protested against the U.S.-Vietnam War.  More people showed the same spirit before and during the Iraq, or Second Persian Gulf War, just as there are those now attuned to the possibility of a Third Gulf War, perhaps triggered by Israel-Iran folly or miscalculation.  

I first met Bob when he was working at the University of North Carolina as a sort of medic-nurse in 1981 -- he treated me, a callow undergraduate, for a nasty case of poison ivy, bandaging my arms like a burn victim. I was reading an article about the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and he struck up a conversation. He was impressive and no-nonsense.

Not long afterwards I checked out his new bookstore on Henderson Street, and when he set up shop at 408 West Rosemary Street not far from where I worked at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill a couple of years later, I began working at Internationalist Books, too. We had a lot of pithy conversations over the years, and he was one of the few people I knew to provide moral support for a sit-in protesting American involvement with the Contras in the time of Reagan, in the mid-1980s.

Internationalist Books and Community Center lives on at a third location, right on Franklin Street (405 West Franklin): http://www.internationalistbooks.org/

Much more to write about Bob Sheldon and Internationalist Books and the sit-in, but today is his remembrance day, and in Chapel Hill, it's Bob Sheldon Day. This one goes out to Donna Sheldon, Bob's sister, and the rest of the family.



Today's Rune: Protection.

Zoë Heller: The Believers

Zoë Heller understands people exceedingly well. It's almost eerie how she can see the world from various points of view, with telling detail. In The Believers (2008), the plot revolves around the immediate family of Joel Litvinoff, a high-powered civil rights lawyer mostly at the point where things go awry: Audrey (his English wife), daughters Rosa and Karla, adopted son Lenny, and Joel's mother Hannah. There are others. The main backdrop is post-9/11 New York City, on the verge of the Iraq War.    

As in What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal (2003), Zoë Heller masterfully delves into her characters and milieu. Everything works in tandem as sentences become paragraphs, paragraphs become chapters and chapters become a novel. Heller can set the scene in a single sentence. Here's a married couple on an important day: "When Karla woke at six, Mike was already up and creeping about the room in his underpants." (p. 316). Here's another one: "Audrey looked around, wondering how long Jean was going to talk about nature." (p. 273). Another thing to note about Heller is her lexicon, a compelling mix of British and American English, slang and all. I find her a complete joy to read.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.   

Pat Paulsen in 1968 as Mitt Romney in 2012

Today's Rune: Journey.

Is it Over?

And so the US is seemingly pulling its last combat troops out of Iraq after nearly nine years of invasion and occupation. It's been so long many were born into this debacle and have no idea how it all happened.

After the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 -- in which Iraq's military was badly defeated in response to its invasion of Kuwait -- no fly zones (NFZ map above courtesy of wikimedia) were created by the US, UK and France to keep the battered Saddam Hussein regime's remaining armed forces in check. One aspect of the NFZ: Kurds were to be more protected in the north and Shiites in the south from continued Hussein regime revenge attacks. Hussein's Iraq had earlier fought a brutal eight-year war with Iran and was still its primary enemy, so its eastern flank had to be covered, too. 

Into this mix -- which had the effect of keeping Hussein's government penned in while remaining a counterbalance to Iran -- came the events of 9/11/2001. The George W. Bush administration decided to invade Iraq, even though there was no direct link between Iraq and 9/11; the attacks had been devised and managed from Afghanistan, where bin Laden was based under the auspices of the Taliban. 

France, Turkey and several Arab states refused to participate in the invasion of Iraq (France did and does participate in Afghanistan operations). The US-led invasion of Iraq by a "coalition of the willing" removed Saddam Hussein from power, but emboldened (and made nervous) the Iranian government, which is still even now moving toward a nuclear weapons capability and engaged in a shadow war with its opponents.

Was the 2003 invasion of Iraq a wise move? Could the US afford such an adventure? Was it worth the cost in blood and treasure? Five and half years after the start of the invasion, the US economy took a nosedive, as did the economies of many of its allies. Today, the Obama Administration welcomed home some of the last US troops to be pulled out of Iraq.

Looking back, Turkey's position has risen. Some may not now remember or know that Turkey refused to allow US ground forces to invade northern Iraq through its territory. Now the Turkish government is in a stronger position to influence events in the entire region, including Syria, Israel-Palestine, Egypt and Iraq. The Turks and Kurdish elements continue to fight along the borderlands, as well. The Iraq War -- wiser to avoid than to plunge into.

I was opposed to an invasion of Iraq in 2002 and 2003, protested in the streets along with many many others to no avail and continue to think it was a terrible decision.

Today's Rune: Strength.
    

Serious Midnight

So many conflicts, so little time. If you're in the line of fire, knives and bombs, so much time. The situation in Syria pits protestors against the Bashar al-Assad regime, civilians against soldiers and internal security forces.  Yes, there is war all over the planet, from Sudan to Somalia and spinning all around the globe, and this is just one of them. 

The countries neighboring Syria are being sucked into this particular disaster, too. Syria's population: 23 million -- more than live in New York, fewer than in Texas.

How this Syrian cycle ends, nobody knows yet; but more will be killed by the next sunrise, and, by the following midnight, more will be killed after that. There but for the grace of God or luck or kismet go the rest of us.   

Today's Rune: Joy.

The Tillman Story

Seeing them back to back, one can see how Amir Bar-Lev's The Tillman Story (2010) parallels Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon (2011) and vice versa: documentary format, three brothers, divorced parents, fame; but instead of being raised Pentecostalists like the Followills, the Tillmans are freethinkers; and instead of forming a rock band like the Followills, two of the Tillman brothers (Pat and Kevin) become US Army Rangers, and one of them is killed by his own men.

The Tillman Story is a compelling documentary (with subtle narration by Josh Brolin) about the Tillman family, but it also provides insight into soldiering in Iraq and Afghanistan, and specifically a clear focus on the "friendly fire" death of Pat Tillman in 2004, its subsequent coverup, and distorted reshaping as a propaganda tool.

Today's Rune: Defense.    
     

Afghanistan and Iraq

Afghanistan, June 2011: NATO International Security Assistance Force

Under the Obama Administration, bin Laden has been killed and tonight, the President announced troop reductions in Afghanistan. The US and its NATO-led allies are making a socio-economic and political move that is pragmatic, a compromise solution -- they are all drawing down. The various home fronts have been clamoring for this and in country the majority of Afghans want it, too. Meanwhile, the Libya war ought to play out this summer. If this is surely not the best of all possible worlds, it's better than escalating what are already two (Iraq and Afghanistan) of the longest running wars in US history. Anyone out there disagree with the drawdown? 

Today's Rune: Possessions.  

Libya Revisited

And so begins Operation Odyssey Dawn eight years after the launch of the Iraq War, one week after the sudden onset of the Japanese earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster. I am weary already. How about you?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

Egypt: The Widening Gyre

In interpreting what's going on, it may be useful to know the relative population sizes of the various countries in the greater Middle Eastern region and beyond. Otherwise, it would be as if California was given the same relative weight as Wyoming, or New York the same as Rhode Island. There are differences -- everything is not weighted equally. In fact, world news coverage is often quite skewed in other directions for cultural, political, economic or other reasons.

Demographics/population

Tunisia: 10-11 million
Egypt: 80 million
Israel: 7-8 million
Libya: 6-7 million
Lebanon: 4-5 million
Syria: 22 million
Jordan: 6-7 million
Saudi Arabia: 20-26 million
Iraq: 31-32 million
Iran: 77 million
Turkey: 74 million
Somalia: 9-10 million
Sudan: 44-45 million
Ethiopia: 85-86 million
Algeria: 35 million
Yemen: 24 million

The largest populations of those listed above:
Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Algeria.

The smallest populations of those listed above:
Tunisia, Somalia, Israel, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon.

What will happen if the Tunisia-Egypt convulsions ripple throughout the region?   Should those in power in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan (etc.) be nervous?  

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.   

Los Desastres de la Guerra

It's been about two hundred years since Francisco Goya (1746-1828) began, in his sixties, Los Desastres de la Guerra / The Disasters of War series. Anyone thinking of electively plunging into war might want to study it carefully. Here is a scan of Plate 12, Para eso habéis nacido / This is what you were born for.

The present "low level" "all-volunteer" conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan percolate through the collective American psyche from time to time, but mostly we seem to have adopted an Anglo-Orwellian outlook: stay calm and carry on. Wars and S'mores -- it's all good!  As long as there's no draft, who cares who, why or how we're fighting?

Soon, I'm going to send off a copy of my journal from 1981, covering my first European trip (when I was twenty) with a history class that took a good close-up look at World War I battlefields, among other things. (It'll go to Wilson Library's Special Collections at UNC Chapel Hill). Here's a snippet from the journal about a typical day on the Western Front, six decades after the end of the Great War. Dr. Jim Leutze conducted the class, a double credit summer semester experience I'll not forget anytime soon. 

Off we went through the Somme countryside to the section known by the British and Canadians as the “Battle of Albert.” Dr. Leutze gave a brief lecture about the Great War’s impact on the British Empire atop the Newfoundland Memorial. The cream of a generation fell in the ground in front of us and places like it. It is a rolling pasture interspersed with small forests and crisscrossed with the still visible trenches and lines of barbed wire stakes; the area of No Man’s Land down to the Somme River and over is completely pockmarked with shell holes. Flocks of sheep incongruously roam part of No Man’s Land now, and out in the field stand the shriveled remains of the only tree still left from 1916. That “Age of Innocence” is really appalling to me. I could never submit to the arbitrary whims of a government in peace or war without at least questioning them, though if born a generation ago I’m sure I would do so “patriotically.” Given a cause I believed in, perhaps I’d fight, but for something as stupid and senseless as the First World War, forget it.

Are the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq causes you still believe in or ever believed in? How about the U.S.-Vietnam War?  The Panama Invasion of 1989?  How about the Invasion of Grenada in 1983?   Should universal conscription be re-introduced? Who gains? Who pays? Who loses? The answers to these questions are vital, not pointless: Para eso habéis nacido.

Today's Rune: Warrior.      

The Art of the Steal

Don Argott's The Art of the Steal, revolving around the world-class Barnes Foundation and its art collection, highlights powerful arguments about the place of art in society. Literally -- placement, preservation, ownership, access and original intent. Compelling and fascinating, this documentary evokes the conflicts and struggles over the Barnes Foundation's "assets" -- now "worth" approximately twenty-five billion U.S. dollars.

Albert C. Barnes (1872-1951), a sort of Great Gatsby-like figure but also a  Working Class Hero well ahead of his time, created the Barnes Foundation in 1922 as an educational institution more than as an art museum. Before a consensus was reached in the art world of the value of his collection (actually it was scoffed at in the 1920s), Barnes had snapped up dozens of key works by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso,  "Le Douanier" Rousseau and Van Gogh -- just to name some of the big guns.

Barnes' will clearly specificied that his foundation remain in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, outside the "establishment" zone of the city itself. 

In the 1990s, a movement managed by "charitible trusts" and politicians took shape that would see the Foundation's relocation to along the Benjamin Parkway in Philly proper, on a tract sandwiched between the Rodin Museum and the Free Library, within walking distance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Despite the ensuing power struggle (the movement has been contested by many counter-interests), the relocation plans stand. But this outcome is not anywhere near as tragic as, say, the firebombing of Dresden during WWII or the looting in Baghdad after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Why? Because the Barnes Foundation artworks, moving to a more accessible location (by 2012), will be displayed as arranged in their thematic cluster formations just as Barnes wanted them. And they will be preserved, not destroyed or split up and sold off piecemeal. 

Much more to discuss about all the things brought up by this pithy documentary, perhaps at a later juncture.

In the early 1990s, I had the great joy of walking the grounds and interior spaces of the Barnes Foundation, in its beautiful and original location. The experience left me stunned in amazement, but I remember specifically its intimacy of design and also, its wooden floors. I'd like to get back one more time next year before the relocation is completed.  What I don't know yet is what will happen to the original structures and grounds after the move.

Any thoughts about art and its presentation in public spaces?  

Today's Rune: Wholeness.