The Conceit Of Pompeii’s Ruins

“What Pompeii presents is thus the ruin of a reconstruction of a ruin, an intellectual nonsense. The visitor sees 20th-century concrete and steel rusting and collapsing. A re-erected column in the House of the Faun looks fit to fall again and is propped by scaffolding. Replicas abound. Ugly temporary roofs are jammed on top of courtyards, stripping them of ancient atmosphere or modern purpose. Only the streets seem fit for purpose.”

Why Doesn’t Australian Aboriginal Art Have Wider Appeal?

“Aboriginal art promoters and enthusiasts, Australian and foreign, have tried repeatedly in the past two decades to overcome the indifference of the fickle, shifting contemporary culture establishment and stage breakthrough shows that would put the indigenous tradition on the map: regularly, a landmark exhibition is held, word spreads, then ebbs away, and all the optimism dies.”