Art Review: ‘Barry X Ball: Remaking Sculpture’ at Nasher Sculpture Center

Museums are opening, finally, almost everywhere, and what a relief. The COVID-19 hysteria shuttered every performing-arts space and museum in the country in an assault on culture devastating enough to make a Hun blanch. Theaters, alas, can’t overcome the six-foot rule, that social distance diktat pulled from a hat by some boob public-health lifer whose idea of culture is online solitaire. No matter to him that theater, music, dance, and opera are going broke.

Museums, though, are returning to the job of serving the public, with Texas leading the way. There, museums showed civic responsibility. They opened expeditiously, give or take a few whose directors kept pushing the snooze button. While museums across the country talk about “accessibility,” Texans understand it starts with unlocking the doors. “Equity” doesn’t mean keeping everyone out, equally.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Museums are opening, finally, almost everywhere, and what a relief. The COVID-19 hysteria shuttered every performing-arts space and museum in the country in an assault on culture devastating enough to make a Hun blanch. Theaters, alas, can’t overcome the six-foot rule, that social distance diktat pulled from a hat by some boob public-health lifer whose idea of culture is online solitaire. No matter to him that theater, music, dance, and opera are going broke.

Museums, though, are returning to the job of serving the public, with Texas leading the way. There, museums showed civic responsibility. They opened expeditiously, give or take a few whose directors kept pushing the snooze button. While museums across the country talk about “accessibility,” Texans understand it starts with unlocking the doors. “Equity” doesn’t mean keeping everyone out, equally.