BICA School Lab | 30 Essex Street
Open to All | Free to Join | No Registration Required

Join us at BICA School for a casual, come-as-you-are reading group that welcomes everyone—whether you’ve read the text cover to cover or just want to hear what others have to say. We’ll explore critical and curious texts together in a space that values open conversation, listening, and learning.

Read ahead if you can, but there’s no pressure to be an expert—just bring your thoughts, questions, and curiosity.

→ Ruskin, John. “The Nature of Gothic.” In The Stones of Venice, vol. II. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1853.

→ Riegl, Alois. “Die Stimmung als Inhalt der modernen Kunst.” Die graphischen Künste 22 (1899): 47–56.

We’re kicking off our winter season with two short, spirited texts that ask: What is art for—and what does it reflect about the people who make it?

John Ruskin’s “The Nature of Gothic” is a defense of craftsmanship, labor, and the values of imperfection—part art history, part social manifesto. Paired with that, we’ll read Alois Riegl’s “Mood as the Content of Modern Art,” where the 19th-century theorist suggests that it’s not subject matter or style that makes art “modern,” but the inner feelings it conveys.

Together, these texts open up big questions about ornament, intention, emotion, and the role of the artist in society—questions we’ll be carrying all winter long.