Philosophy talk, Praxis, is back. Jason King and Tori Abernathy discuss Seeming & Seamlessness: Martin Heidegger and the Machine, in the context of art. Heidegger had a large impact on the big thinkers in ubiquitous computing, cultural anthropology applied to computer and office work, and artificial intelligence, technology we have now. Heidegger also influenced later philosophers, including the 20th century French, who, in turn have also had a large impact on art theory. So this should be a cool talk. At Place, a gallery on the 3rd floor of the Pioneer Place Mall. 700 SW Fifth. Doors 6:30PM, talk 7-9. Free
Notwithstanding the scandalous state of arts rights and value in the contemporary world, most art in museums is stolen. It's improved under UN agreements that limit exports of antiquities and stealing them in wartime. But the chain of custody and the integrity of each link is vaporous for art or antiquity older than about 100 years, even less for tribal objects. A very few objects have a solid legitimate history, those held continuously in a religious institution or by some dynastic governments.
The Getty fortune obtained from extracting ancient oil from the ground. The great Getty museum also extracted antiquities from the world. They were caught, triggering a cascade of other museums to return artifacts to their cultural countries of origin. That is the story told in the new book, Chasing Aphrodite. The museum purchased the namesake statue illegally in 1988 for $18 million, but were forced to agree to symbolically relinquish it, ultimately establishing the Getty Sicily to which the statue returned about two months ago. Authors Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino present their book at a reading tonight. At Powell's Books www.powells.com 1005 W Burnside 7:30PM Free
