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.

→ Adorno, Theodor W. “Valéry Proust Museum.” In Prisms, translated by Samuel and Shierry Weber, 175–185. London: Neville Spearman, 1967.

What happens to art when we lock it in a museum?

In this short and layered essay, Theodor Adorno takes on two of the 20th century’s major thinkers—Paul Valéry and Marcel Proust—and their opposing takes on what museums do to art. Is the museum a mausoleum? A memory palace? A space for spiritual preservation or cultural disintegration?

This final winter session invites reflection on the role of museums in modern life and the ways institutions shape our encounters with art. Bring your thoughts, critiques, or questions about that one painting you keep visiting—or avoiding.