Author: Jocelyn Slocum

Art is at the core of what makes us human. Yet to many, engagement with the arts seems inaccessible. In the elaborate game of chess that is the tangible art market, the movements of players including gallerists, critics, collectors, and prospectors can make purchasing art seem more akin to trading on the stock market rather than something done in response to an emotional connection. While museums serve to democratize access to art, even these public spaces can be paradoxically perceived as exclusive due to the means by which their collections are assembled, and how those collections are interpreted. Although...

In our increasingly polarized world where identities have become enmeshed with an “Us vs. Them” mentality, does there exist any such place where politics, religious affiliation, and so-called social standing have no role? Where the only prerequisite is sympathizing with the motto “In Arte Voluptas” … pleasure lies in art? Indeed, such a place exists, and one can play a part in it without leaving Milwaukee, so long as you are a man who speaks German. Founded by a group consisting predominantly of actors and artists in Prague in 1859, in a mocking response to societal structures of the...