Ahead of Our Times

Compiled by M., with assistance from Andrea Feeser, who teaches art history at Clemson | University, DOJ compliant. She is the co-author, among other works, of Waikiki: A History of Forgetting and Remembering.

For more information on our 2025 Hinternet Summer School, on “Scholarly Fabulation: Theories and Methods”, go here. To explore the other HSS work published so far, go here.

—The Editors

Ⱄ. FBI – INITIAL NOTES FOR PROFILE

Site analysis

1. Heads cut at neck, both genders, largely Caucasian, primarily middle age

2. Many mounted, in drawers and cabinets, hung on walls

3. Domestic rooms, walls bloody red, low light with heads spotlit

4. Orchestrated space – site lines and arrangements produce jolting contrasts

Data

1. Heads acquired from multiple locations – Rome, London, New York

2. Some explanatory writing

3. Dates provided demonstrate years of preparation and execution

Gathered observations

1. Those first present posted multiple photographs

2. Others identified heads, analyzed groupings

3. Specialists debated aesthetic choices

Potential objectives

1. Confirm head as seat of knowledge and power

2. Critique included persons’ dominance over others

3. Encased and hung “trophies” as retribution

Character

1. Highly intelligent, profoundly motivated, patient with high tolerance for pressure

2. Acquired financial and cultural capital to accomplish goals

3. Established network to execute agenda

4. WATCH – increasingly prolific, building reputation

Ask for profile length; describe heads’ conditions and provide available information about the individuals’ lives

Ⰺ. Review Draft

PROFILES IN ART

What’s On this Month: Keeping up with Florence Burgess Ivens

Curator Christine Falling has done it again with her follow-up to last year’s exhibition of Neoclassical sculpture at the Chandler Museum. From July 4, 2025, through July 4, 2026, the museum features her “Cameos from Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century: Portraits of Privilege and Power.” From small scale representations of Caesars set into fine jewelry, to Wedgwood plaques of nobles mounted as wall decoration, the cameos borrowed from collections in Rome, London, and New York impress in their variety and purpose. Falling selected pieces that represent important historical figures, and we learn from wall labels how these individuals defeated enemies, built empires, and amassed great wealth through warfare, colonization, slavery, and industry.

Falling arranged the cameos in drawers, cabinets, and on walls in rooms designed to look like aristocratic Neoclassical domestic spaces. Sharp contrasts produced by tight lines, bold color, and spotlighting arrest the eye and provoke unease. Together with texts that relay terrible histories, these choices make purely aesthetic engagement with