Alex Zivkovic
@alexzivkovic.bsky.social
art, architecture, and media historian
postdoc @ Lauder Center, Met
incoming Asst Prof @ Hunter College, CUNY
thinking about modernism, ecology, queer surrealism
http://aleksazivkovic.com
postdoc @ Lauder Center, Met
incoming Asst Prof @ Hunter College, CUNY
thinking about modernism, ecology, queer surrealism
http://aleksazivkovic.com
Pinned
Alex Zivkovic
@alexzivkovic.bsky.social
· Nov 12
as a brief intro for this platform:
1. currently finishing my diss on imperial environmental history and French modernism 🌴🌵🐠
2. have written on art and ecology, especially surrealism (Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini, Dalí)
3. working on an edited volume of queer/trans surrealism—more soon on that! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
1. currently finishing my diss on imperial environmental history and French modernism 🌴🌵🐠
2. have written on art and ecology, especially surrealism (Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini, Dalí)
3. working on an edited volume of queer/trans surrealism—more soon on that! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I’m honored to be part of the first special issue of @jcmsjournal.bsky.social, “Is it Media?”
the first half of the issue is out now, my article will appear OA next month. In the meantime, read the OA introduction to the issue now! quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...
the first half of the issue is out now, my article will appear OA next month. In the meantime, read the OA introduction to the issue now! quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...
November 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I’m honored to be part of the first special issue of @jcmsjournal.bsky.social, “Is it Media?”
the first half of the issue is out now, my article will appear OA next month. In the meantime, read the OA introduction to the issue now! quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...
the first half of the issue is out now, my article will appear OA next month. In the meantime, read the OA introduction to the issue now! quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/i...
wow! Kara Walker’s Unmanned Drone is incredible, as good as expected with collages and preparatory sketches that are equally fantastic
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
November 13, 2025 at 12:06 AM
wow! Kara Walker’s Unmanned Drone is incredible, as good as expected with collages and preparatory sketches that are equally fantastic
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
absolutely adored Bugonia…run! don’t walk!!!
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
November 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
absolutely adored Bugonia…run! don’t walk!!!
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
thoroughly enjoying Zoe Wallbrook’s History Lessons, a murder mystery novel set at a university, written by a professor of history
feeling very seen!
feeling very seen!
October 30, 2025 at 10:32 PM
thoroughly enjoying Zoe Wallbrook’s History Lessons, a murder mystery novel set at a university, written by a professor of history
feeling very seen!
feeling very seen!
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
Kiyan Williams, "Ruins of Empire II or the Earth Swallows the Master’s House," 2024 www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/a...
October 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Kiyan Williams, "Ruins of Empire II or the Earth Swallows the Master’s House," 2024 www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/a...
fascinated by this piece about Columbus monuments and their afterlives after being removed from public spaces
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/a...
Beheaded and Sent to Watery Graves, Columbus Statues Get New Life
www.nytimes.com
October 13, 2025 at 2:23 PM
fascinated by this piece about Columbus monuments and their afterlives after being removed from public spaces
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/a...
watched Blue Moon at Newfest yesterday, the LGBTQ film festival in the city—such a complex film about Lorenz Hart, just as funny and sad as its protagonist
October 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM
watched Blue Moon at Newfest yesterday, the LGBTQ film festival in the city—such a complex film about Lorenz Hart, just as funny and sad as its protagonist
In London, a California Gallery Shows Expat Mexican Surrealists
www.nytimes.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:41 PM
loved sixties surreal—smart, gorgeous, important! many new to me artworks and artists
much to think about with regards to surrealism’s continued relevance (& see more down the line with the essays in my volume Queer Surrealism, tackling 1920s-present, WWI to the AIDS crisis)
much to think about with regards to surrealism’s continued relevance (& see more down the line with the essays in my volume Queer Surrealism, tackling 1920s-present, WWI to the AIDS crisis)
September 28, 2025 at 9:59 PM
loved sixties surreal—smart, gorgeous, important! many new to me artworks and artists
much to think about with regards to surrealism’s continued relevance (& see more down the line with the essays in my volume Queer Surrealism, tackling 1920s-present, WWI to the AIDS crisis)
much to think about with regards to surrealism’s continued relevance (& see more down the line with the essays in my volume Queer Surrealism, tackling 1920s-present, WWI to the AIDS crisis)
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
It is a new academic year, and there is a new call for proposals by #DoctTalks. The organizers welcome any topic within the broad fields of architectural history and its related disciplines. The deadline is 26 of September, don't miss out!
doctalks.net
doctalks.net
DocTalks
DocTalks is an informal, peer-to-peer, weekly online forum by and for PhD students and early-stage Post-Docs in architectural and urban history.
doctalks.net
September 16, 2025 at 8:27 AM
It is a new academic year, and there is a new call for proposals by #DoctTalks. The organizers welcome any topic within the broad fields of architectural history and its related disciplines. The deadline is 26 of September, don't miss out!
doctalks.net
doctalks.net
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
SCMS highlights the achievement of Pao-chen Tang on the recent publication of his open-access book "The Animist Imagination in East Asian Cinema".
September 5, 2025 at 9:52 PM
SCMS highlights the achievement of Pao-chen Tang on the recent publication of his open-access book "The Animist Imagination in East Asian Cinema".
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
In "Inhabitants of the Deep," Jonathan Howard theorizes blackness as an inhabitance of oceans, rivers, lakes, and other deep spaces where black ecological life can thrive. Read the intro for free now. #BlackStudies #ReadUP buff.ly/22ZokD8
September 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
In "Inhabitants of the Deep," Jonathan Howard theorizes blackness as an inhabitance of oceans, rivers, lakes, and other deep spaces where black ecological life can thrive. Read the intro for free now. #BlackStudies #ReadUP buff.ly/22ZokD8
“Sourcing sensational objects to sell has been the central mission of Sotheby’s since Samuel Baker…”
lovely sounds in that sentence (and an interesting story!)
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
lovely sounds in that sentence (and an interesting story!)
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s
Patrick Drahi made a fortune through debt-fuelled telecommunications companies. Now he’s bringing his methods to the art market.
www.newyorker.com
August 31, 2025 at 1:07 PM
“Sourcing sensational objects to sell has been the central mission of Sotheby’s since Samuel Baker…”
lovely sounds in that sentence (and an interesting story!)
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
lovely sounds in that sentence (and an interesting story!)
How a Billionaire Owner Brought Turmoil and Trouble to Sotheby’s www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
apply by tomorrow!
My friend Paulina Choh and I are running an elemental media studies panel at #CAA2026! we are asking how the insights of media studies can be applied to 19th-century visual culture.
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
August 28, 2025 at 6:45 PM
apply by tomorrow!
never knew there was this Calder here!! surprising to see as I exited the New York Public Library haha
August 26, 2025 at 4:06 PM
never knew there was this Calder here!! surprising to see as I exited the New York Public Library haha
just submitted my CAA proposals to other panels🤞
but I’ll be in Chicago either way—so get your abstracts in to my co-hosted panel!
but I’ll be in Chicago either way—so get your abstracts in to my co-hosted panel!
My friend Paulina Choh and I are running an elemental media studies panel at #CAA2026! we are asking how the insights of media studies can be applied to 19th-century visual culture.
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
August 13, 2025 at 7:47 PM
just submitted my CAA proposals to other panels🤞
but I’ll be in Chicago either way—so get your abstracts in to my co-hosted panel!
but I’ll be in Chicago either way—so get your abstracts in to my co-hosted panel!
“But Nelson’s point seems to be that all efforts to reproduce the natural world, whether motivated by crassly commercial interests or ones that are, ostensibly, more edifying, are much alike in the end.”
The Futility of Simulating Nature www.newyorker.com/culture/phot...
The Futility of Simulating Nature www.newyorker.com/culture/phot...
The Futility of Simulating Nature
In “The Anthropocene Illusion,” the photographer Zed Nelson captures how the natural world has been reproduced, reshuffled, and repackaged, sold to visitors in the form of spectacle.
www.newyorker.com
August 11, 2025 at 3:54 PM
“But Nelson’s point seems to be that all efforts to reproduce the natural world, whether motivated by crassly commercial interests or ones that are, ostensibly, more edifying, are much alike in the end.”
The Futility of Simulating Nature www.newyorker.com/culture/phot...
The Futility of Simulating Nature www.newyorker.com/culture/phot...
took the Boston to Ptown ferry on a “rough seas” day and it felt straight out of this Sargent painting
one of my faves from the Met show, such a weird perspective!
one of my faves from the Met show, such a weird perspective!
August 4, 2025 at 4:04 PM
took the Boston to Ptown ferry on a “rough seas” day and it felt straight out of this Sargent painting
one of my faves from the Met show, such a weird perspective!
one of my faves from the Met show, such a weird perspective!
list of amazing panels for 19th-c art historians at CAA 2026! my panel on elemental infrastructures is included here, so ponder and apply!!
CFP: CAA 2026 - Find our highlights for Long Nineteenth-Century Scholars for next years CAA annual conference. www.ecrfrenchart.com/opportunitie...
July 25, 2025 at 2:23 PM
list of amazing panels for 19th-c art historians at CAA 2026! my panel on elemental infrastructures is included here, so ponder and apply!!
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
Pavel Tchelitchew, Leaf Children, 1940 #artbots #moma
https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136034
https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136034
July 19, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Pavel Tchelitchew, Leaf Children, 1940 #artbots #moma
https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136034
https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136034
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
Of potential interest to our colleagues!
My friend Paulina Choh and I are running an elemental media studies panel at #CAA2026! we are asking how the insights of media studies can be applied to 19th-century visual culture.
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
July 16, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Of potential interest to our colleagues!
Reposted by Alex Zivkovic
Repost to help share my new course! Fall 2025 @huntercollege.bsky.social
I wish I could have taken a lab class on Native American x African American science and history as an undergraduate. So now I’m teaching one as a prof and yes, we’re whale watching in Manhattan. And learning to DJ.
I wish I could have taken a lab class on Native American x African American science and history as an undergraduate. So now I’m teaching one as a prof and yes, we’re whale watching in Manhattan. And learning to DJ.
July 15, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Repost to help share my new course! Fall 2025 @huntercollege.bsky.social
I wish I could have taken a lab class on Native American x African American science and history as an undergraduate. So now I’m teaching one as a prof and yes, we’re whale watching in Manhattan. And learning to DJ.
I wish I could have taken a lab class on Native American x African American science and history as an undergraduate. So now I’m teaching one as a prof and yes, we’re whale watching in Manhattan. And learning to DJ.
incredible WWI image: “The double exposure was accidental but stirring: even in the happiest moments, the war crept in.”
www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...
www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...
July 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
incredible WWI image: “The double exposure was accidental but stirring: even in the happiest moments, the war crept in.”
www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...
www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...
My friend Paulina Choh and I are running an elemental media studies panel at #CAA2026! we are asking how the insights of media studies can be applied to 19th-century visual culture.
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
July 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
My friend Paulina Choh and I are running an elemental media studies panel at #CAA2026! we are asking how the insights of media studies can be applied to 19th-century visual culture.
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!
Paper proposals due Aug 29!
caa.confex.com/caa/2026/web...
please repost and share!