Seems like Mr. Deitch isn’t holding back from bringing his same brand of crazyness and creativity to his new job at MOCA. I’m a big fan of this move and look forward to visiting the museum soon!
NYT: Museum Role Fits a Former Art Dealer
Archive for the 'Museum' Category
An interesting article discussing the history of the Whitney’s plans for expansion. Have a read: NYT: Whitneys That Never Were
Courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Cooper, Robertson & Partners
Yesterday, the board of the Whitney officially voted to break ground on their Renzo Piano designed meatpacking wing next year. This is a big step in the history of the Whiney which has been plagued with failed attempts to expand on their uptown location. In addition, the board announced that once they move into their new downtown location, the Breuer building would be shared with another arts institution such as the Met. For more: Whitney Museum Plans New Building Downtown
The Pompidou Museum‘s new outpost in Metz, France was inaugurated today by French President Sarkozy and will open to the public tomorrow. Designed by famed Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, the local government is hoping that the new museum will have a “Bilbao Effect” on the region, a term referring to the impact that the Guggenheim Bilbao had on the local economy of Bilbao, Spain. This 72.5 Million Euro project is expected to bring 200,000 visitors to the region over the next year. For more on the topic: Guardian: Metz hopes rub of Pompidou’s ‘magic lantern’ will bring tourists and NYT: ‘Smurf House’? ‘Chinese Hat’? Museum Intrigues
Video Wallpaper by Sean Capone of Supernature
Last week was Armory week and I have to admit that it was so enormous that I had trouble getting through the whole thing. That said, the highlight of my week was definitely the opening night benefit at the MoMA. Why you ask? MoMA always throws a good party, especially when they include amazing music by the Walkmen, Human Rights and DJ Justin Miller and “video wallpaper” by Sean Capone of Supernature. This time there was an added bonus: William Kentridge: Five Themes, the large-scale retrospective of nearly three decades of the master’s work.
Kentridge is probably one of my favorite visual artists. An extremely cultured man hailing from South Africa, Kentridge’s medium is mostly charcoal and animation with stints in video and opera. To me, someone who grew up around classical music, the highlight of the exhibition was “Sarastro and the Master’s Voice: The Magic Flute”, a final maquette used for testing the large scale projections created for his production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in 2005 in Belgium. The maquette is a 1:10 scale model of the set and includes projections and models of figures on a miniature scale. For more on the work here is a very informative interview done when it was commissioned for the Deutsche Guggenheim in 2006.
“Sarastro and the Master’s Voice: The Magic Flute”
Another must see is the third theme “Parcours d’Atelier: Artist in the Studio” where Kentridge films his process of creating works with charcoal and then combines live action and animation to show the process.
For more on the Kentridge exhibition at MoMA visit: http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/964 and for a full review of the Armory Show see NYT: Ahoy From Nudes, a Pirate and Scrooge McDuck
Earlier in the week we learned that Jeffrey Deitch, one of the most important dealers of contemporary art today, was being hired as the new director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. As you can imagine, the hiring of an art dealer to the post of director of a museum has understandably stirred quite the criticism from the non profit world. One of those responses is from CultureGrrl. In her article Dealer-to-Director: Why Jeffrey Deitch is Wrong for LA MOCA she points out a number of reasons why she feels that Deitch is the wrong choice. My focus is on when she mentions “time-honored museum management practices” as she discusses how LA MOCA got into the mess they are in now.
Chester Higgins Jr/The New York Times
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City is getting itself a new director and boy is he qualified. Bill Moggridge is the founder of IDEO, one of the most innovative and interesting designs firms today.
From the LA Times
Looks like Michael Govan is continuing with his expansion of the museum and doing it with recent Pritzker winner Peter Zumthor. For more: LAT: Peter Zumthor, Michael Govan plot LACMA’s future Also check out the LA Curbed article: Architecture for Art: Zumthor: The Next Starchitect to Make Over LACMA? and Architect Newspaper’s: A Bolt of Zumthor
Photo: Herzog & De Meuron via the NYT
H&dM just unveiled the plans for the Miami Art Museum which was very well received by the Times. In these plans the architects don’t follow the traditional design model but decide to deconstruct it and reassemble those pieces in order to create an entirely new and fresh model for museum design. For more have a look at the review: NYT: Matching Architecture to the Art in a New Miami Museum
Saumin Patel, Devi Vanquishes Bala, India, 2006, image courtesy of Liquid Comics, Bangalore
Calling all Comic book creators! You want to be featured in an exhibition in one of the most prestigious museums in America? Well, here is your chance! In a contest they just announced, LACMA, is calling for original ideas for an L.A.-set comic book storyline featuring an original superhero or a villain. The winner will be featured in the upcoming “Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India’s Comics,” which opens in the fall. According to Culture Monster, their goal is to “engage the large community of illustrators and designers who are attached to the comic book industry in L.A. and to provide students from the local art schools with a dialogue with the museum.”
For more: LAT-CM: LACMA looking for aspiring comic book artists
Correction: Please note that the best entries will be posted on their Unframed blog on October 19, the first week the show is open. They will not be featured in the Heroes and Villains exhibition as mentioned.
