Sonja Drimmer
@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
Associate Professor, History of Art & Architecture, UMass Amherst. http://sonjadrimmer.com/about-forte (She/her)
Pinned
MACHINE YEARNING
Sonja Drimmer critically examines art historians’ recent embrace of generative AI as a tool for humanities research.
www.artforum.com
For the latest issue of Artforum I wrote about the culture of “AI” in my sector of academia, arguing that a focus on what it does distracts attention away from examining the exploitative conditions that the hopeful rhetoric of its promise upholds. www.artforum.com/features/gen...
You cannot convince me that there is a musical instrument better than a glockenspiel.
December 2, 2025 at 11:30 PM
You cannot convince me that there is a musical instrument better than a glockenspiel.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Once again, ILL remains the purest representation of scholarly community. I use it so much I often write little notes back and forth with the librarians when I’ve borrowed a lot from their library. It’s the closest you can get to those old penpal schemes and I love it.
Requested a book through ILL over break. It arrived today. Libraries man.
December 2, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Once again, ILL remains the purest representation of scholarly community. I use it so much I often write little notes back and forth with the librarians when I’ve borrowed a lot from their library. It’s the closest you can get to those old penpal schemes and I love it.
Re-upping this today, citing the concluding paragraph we wrote as I just responded to a frustrating survey about integrating GenAI into humanities education at my institution.
December 2, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Re-upping this today, citing the concluding paragraph we wrote as I just responded to a frustrating survey about integrating GenAI into humanities education at my institution.
“What sort of art do you make?”
I’m an art historian.
I’m an art historian.
What’s the worst question someone can ask after you tell them your profession? For linguists, it’s definitely “how many languages do you speak?”, but I’m curious what else is happening to the rest of y’all out there?!
December 2, 2025 at 2:12 AM
“What sort of art do you make?”
I’m an art historian.
I’m an art historian.
I had this candied orange slice but didn’t know what to do with it…and the. Genius struck. Aperol spritz!
December 1, 2025 at 11:45 PM
I had this candied orange slice but didn’t know what to do with it…and the. Genius struck. Aperol spritz!
WHO'S READY TO TEACH SOME HILDESHEIM DOORS?!
December 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
WHO'S READY TO TEACH SOME HILDESHEIM DOORS?!
A further way to spin this whole travesty is to point to it as evidence of how manufactured every battle in the culture war against universities is, have don’t with it, and never pay these clowns attention again every time they pretend to have had their speech curtailed.
Condolences to the students at OU who *were* working hard, doing the course work and earning good grades long before the administration there decreed that you only need to say "as the Bible teaches" and be done with it.
I'm sorry your university hates you and hope you can transfer somewhere good.
I'm sorry your university hates you and hope you can transfer somewhere good.
If I was working at OU, I would just start handing out 100's to every student and stop writing comments.
November 30, 2025 at 11:27 PM
A further way to spin this whole travesty is to point to it as evidence of how manufactured every battle in the culture war against universities is, have don’t with it, and never pay these clowns attention again every time they pretend to have had their speech curtailed.
The sheer, *visceral* relief of walking into a room in which opera is playing and having the music changed to Erik Satie.
November 30, 2025 at 11:05 PM
The sheer, *visceral* relief of walking into a room in which opera is playing and having the music changed to Erik Satie.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 30, 2025 at 1:10 AM
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
First, I cannot *wait* to see this blockbuster of an exhibition at the Morgan Library. But, also, second, please admire Roger Wieck talking about these books. This is the how joy in the history of art sings its song!
youtu.be/BWtflCcGWjM?...
youtu.be/BWtflCcGWjM?...
Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life
YouTube video by The Morgan Library & Museum
youtu.be
November 29, 2025 at 10:12 PM
First, I cannot *wait* to see this blockbuster of an exhibition at the Morgan Library. But, also, second, please admire Roger Wieck talking about these books. This is the how joy in the history of art sings its song!
youtu.be/BWtflCcGWjM?...
youtu.be/BWtflCcGWjM?...
Everybody's* got a plan until they get punched with the demand that they translate all their primary sources.
* everybody is me.
* everybody is me.
November 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Everybody's* got a plan until they get punched with the demand that they translate all their primary sources.
* everybody is me.
* everybody is me.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
ABC
123
Dance of Death
For You and Me
This Spanish writing book from 1555 REALLY liked Holbein's woodcuts... I double-checked the rare set of initials he also did, but these are definitely reverse copies after the 1538 book! #NewberryLibrary (VAULT Wing ZW 14 .I164 and VAULT Case W 01 .H7017)
123
Dance of Death
For You and Me
This Spanish writing book from 1555 REALLY liked Holbein's woodcuts... I double-checked the rare set of initials he also did, but these are definitely reverse copies after the 1538 book! #NewberryLibrary (VAULT Wing ZW 14 .I164 and VAULT Case W 01 .H7017)
November 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
ABC
123
Dance of Death
For You and Me
This Spanish writing book from 1555 REALLY liked Holbein's woodcuts... I double-checked the rare set of initials he also did, but these are definitely reverse copies after the 1538 book! #NewberryLibrary (VAULT Wing ZW 14 .I164 and VAULT Case W 01 .H7017)
123
Dance of Death
For You and Me
This Spanish writing book from 1555 REALLY liked Holbein's woodcuts... I double-checked the rare set of initials he also did, but these are definitely reverse copies after the 1538 book! #NewberryLibrary (VAULT Wing ZW 14 .I164 and VAULT Case W 01 .H7017)
THIS IS A GOOD HEADLINE.
November 29, 2025 at 5:02 PM
THIS IS A GOOD HEADLINE.
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Moose
Elk
Fox
Humpback whale
Flamingo
Moose
Elk
Fox
Humpback whale
Flamingo
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Coyote
Wild turkey
Northern short-tailed shrew
Humpback whale (probably)
Eurasian eagle owl (RIP Flaco, beloved Central Park resident)
Coyote
Wild turkey
Northern short-tailed shrew
Humpback whale (probably)
Eurasian eagle owl (RIP Flaco, beloved Central Park resident)
November 29, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
kangaroo
wallaby
wombat
kookabura
huntsman spider
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
Boosting this reference to Trish Loughran’s important chapter.
Hell yes. Trish Loughran's "Books in the Nation," in The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book, ed. Leslie Howsam (Cambridge University Press, 2015) is a killer riposte to Anderson on this score.
November 28, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Boosting this reference to Trish Loughran’s important chapter.
And this, boys and girls, is why one cannot rely on translations, esp not 19C ones.
November 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
And this, boys and girls, is why one cannot rely on translations, esp not 19C ones.
Yourewelcomegiving!
November 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Yourewelcomegiving!
Reposted by Sonja Drimmer
The Courtauld has launched an art history teaching fund, following a new report which revealed a sharp decrease in the teaching of the subject to UK teenagers
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
November 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM
The Courtauld has launched an art history teaching fund, following a new report which revealed a sharp decrease in the teaching of the subject to UK teenagers
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/27/c...
Another week another press release for "AI" art history disguised as journalism.
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
November 27, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Another week another press release for "AI" art history disguised as journalism.
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
A true story is that I was a mouse on the Cinderella float for the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade when I was six and I hated every freezing minute of it except when, afterwards, I got to take a photo with Rudy from the Cosby Show (ok, Keshia Knight, but to me she was Rudy).
November 27, 2025 at 2:05 AM
A true story is that I was a mouse on the Cinderella float for the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade when I was six and I hated every freezing minute of it except when, afterwards, I got to take a photo with Rudy from the Cosby Show (ok, Keshia Knight, but to me she was Rudy).
This thread is my walk-up song and touchdown dance. 🔥
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
November 27, 2025 at 2:02 AM
This thread is my walk-up song and touchdown dance. 🔥
Come see the sights at Shit-Hurn Way and Shit-Croft Corner! What are you waiting for?!
November 27, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Come see the sights at Shit-Hurn Way and Shit-Croft Corner! What are you waiting for?!
In the City & the City, Miéville conjures two cities that occupy the same space by means of a disciplinary regime that prevents the inhabitants of each from seeing one another's buildings, signs, & ppl. I feel like part of a secession that refuses to knowingly consume AI-generated images or videos.
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 PM
In the City & the City, Miéville conjures two cities that occupy the same space by means of a disciplinary regime that prevents the inhabitants of each from seeing one another's buildings, signs, & ppl. I feel like part of a secession that refuses to knowingly consume AI-generated images or videos.