Cultural News

 


 

Sept. 2 – Sept. 8, 2011

 


 

Featured Story

"Design Is a Process of Rebirth": Michael Arad on the Making of the 9/11 Memorial

By Andrew M. Goldstein, ARTINFO, 9 September 2011

 

NEW YORK — “Ten years after 9/11, there is nothing unambiguous in the legacy of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon other than the implacable fact of the dead. This is true, too, for the memorial being unveiled at Ground Zero this weekend, which comes to us as the product of conflicting creative agendas, bureaucratic impasses, and the excruciating logistics of appeasing the families of 2,983 victims (a number that also includes those who died in the financial center's 1993 terrorist bombing). It is remarkable then that the finished site — which will finally cost a total of $700 million, plus an additional $60 million per year to operate — still largely hews to the original vision of Michael Arad, the young architect who rose to national prominence when he won the design competition for the site. …”



Cultural News, a free service of Lord Cultural Resources, is released at the end of every week by our Librarians: Brenda Taylor and Danielle Manning. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest digest of cultural news.

Click on the links below to read the articles in the following sections:

 


Our Clients and Lord Cultural Resources in the News

Winning design announced for new $340M Royal Alberta Museum

Elise Stolte, Vancouver Sun, 14 September 2011

 

EDMONTON – “To Royal Alberta Museum architect Donna Clare, sun-speckled aspen leaves tell the story of Alberta.

A recent graduate on her team took a photo of the leaves and wrote a computer algorithm to translate the image into a series of spots, which will be cut into the metal cladding of the new downtown museum by local companies Ledcor Group and Dialog Designs, with Toronto-based Lundholm Associates Architects.

Their winning design for the new $340-million museum was announced Wednesday. …”

[For more commentary on this topic, see also: Winning design for new Royal Alberta Museum to be announced Wednesday: Last, best chance to redesign downtown, says critic, By Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal, 13 September 2011]

 

Tate announces one of the most successful years ever

Recent News, artdaily.org, 12 September 2011

LONDON – “Tate and its family of galleries have had one of the most successful years ever, and have managed to maintain their independent income in the face of recession and government cuts. At its annual press conference today, Tate announced total visitor figures of 7.4 million to its four galleries between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011 and 19 million unique users to its award-winning website. This makes Tate the most popular arts organisation in the world after the Louvre in Paris.
These figures are given in detail in Tate’s Annual Report 2010-11 which is published today. …”

Nashville museum on African American music planned

Travis Loller, Recent News, artdaily.org, 14 September 2011

 

NASHVILLE, TN – “A new museum in the works for Nashville will aim to expand the public's idea of what makes the town Music City. The National Museum of African American Music may sound counterintuitive for a city most closely associated with country music, a genre dominated by white performers. But supporters of the new project say the city played an important role in fostering African American music, which in turn influenced the roots of country and many other American genres. …”

 

They Unpaved Paradise and Took Out a Parking Lot: New parks are opening and old parks are being revitalized at a pace not seen since Robert Moses’s heyday

Fred Bernstein, Architectural Record, 13 September 2011

 

NEW YORK – “The corner of 157th Street and River Avenue in the Bronx, just south of Yankee Stadium, is a good place to examine the results of New York City's decade-long park-building binge. […]

All over New York, new parks are opening, and old parks are being revitalized at a rate not seen since Robert Moses's heyday in the mid-20th century. Indeed, one of Moses's triumphs, Riverside Park, has spawned an archipelago of bold waterfront parks in all five boroughs.

Ten years ago, with smoke rising from the World Trade Center site, parks were the last things on New Yorkers' minds. But during his first year in office, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg lifted the death warrant on the High Line, a railroad viaduct that the city had been planning to tear down, signaling his intent to make parks a priority.

From then on, money for parks projects flowed like Central Park's Bethesda Fountain. Capital outlays reached as much as $500 million a year, dwarfing expenditures by previous administrations. Altogether, Bloomberg and his high-energy parks commissioner Adrian Benepe have spent more than $3 billion on parks renovation and construction. The achievements include adding 700 acres of new parkland (and not, Benepe points out, through Moses's controversial tools of eminent domain and landfill), bringing the city parks acreage to near 29,000. But to New Yorkers, the parks are a necessity. “There are eight million people in the city, and most of them live in houses without backyards,” Benepe says. […]

Benepe has little patience with critics who say that by relying on public-private partnerships, the city is selling its soul, or at least its soil. Of the 5,000 sites the parks department maintains, only about a dozen have significant sources of private funding. The Central Park Conservancy raises $25 million a year, but the park borders some of the world’s most expensive real estate, creating sui generis fund-raising opportunities. The Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn, which has nearly three quarters as many acres to maintain, takes in just $5 million a year. …”

 

Future Projections open door to film as art and installation

Murray Whyte, Toronto Star, 14 September 2011

 

TORONTO – “Every year, the Toronto International Film Festival goes to some effort to signal that festival-going isn’t just about celebrity feeding frenzies — only 95 per cent of it is. For an event such as TIFF, which serves as a staging ground for superstars and blockbusters on the grandest scale, that’s actually not a bad ratio. The other stuff finds its expression most clearly with Future Projections, a collection of off-site film installations and exhibitions sprinkled throughout the city’s private galleries and artist-run centres.

TIFF collaborates with the institutions and foots a portion of the bill, helping to provide some sense, at least, that film isn’t exclusively narrative, two hours long and impossible to get into without waiting in line overnight: Future Projections is open to the public and blissfully free. …”

 

Gallery celebration draws hundreds

By Heather Rivers, Sentinel-Review, 10 September 2011

 

WOODSTOCK — “There were so many people, organizers weren't quite sure if they would all fit.

Fans of the Woodstock Art Gallery and Community Art Centre turned up in droves on Friday evening to show their support for the gallery and rejoice in the official opening of the building they fought so hard for.

"I guess we need a bigger gallery," joked Brad Janssen, the master of ceremonies for the event.

Roughly 1,000 people toured the new $5.5-million gallery, located at 449 Dundas St., whose grand opening was designed to coincide with the start of the 53rd annual juried art show. […]

[Pat] Sobeski said part of council's plan for the facility is to review best practices in other galleries and apply principals from Lord Cultural Resources "and see if we can bring them here." …”

 

National September 11 Memorial & Museum Releases A PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE: Official Book of the National September 11 Memorial

Museumpublicity.com, 12 September 2011

NEW YORK – “To mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, National Geographic has released A PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE: Official Book of the National September 11 Memorial ($19.95), in bookstores.
In concert with the book release, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has also unveiled new displays at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site.
Both the book and the updated displays at the Preview Site, 20 Vesey St., are dedicated to the 2,983 men, women and children killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, and in the Feb. 26, 1993, World Trade Center bombing, and to their families and friends. …”


Museums

 

Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University Announces Opening of New Wing on October 15

Museumpublicity.com, 15 September 2011

 

ITHACA, NY – “On Saturday, October 15, 2011, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum will open renovated spaces in its landmark I. M. Pei building and a 16,000 square-foot extension inspired by Pei’s original museum plan, designed by the original architect-in-charge, John L. Sullivan III (Cornell Class of 1962) of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects LLP.

“The mission of the new wing is to serve the collection and the public by inviting our visitors to use more of the collection more intimately and in new ways,” said Frank Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Johnson Museum from 1992 to 2011. …”

 

Denver Museum of Nature and Science Breaks Ground on New Education and Collections Facility

Museumpublicity.com, 15 September 2011

 

DENVER – “The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has begun construction of its long-anticipated Education and Collections Facility. The Museum is adding 126,000 square feet and five levels of discovery to its south side, providing even more space to engage, delight, and spark visitors’ imaginations.

“This newest addition allows the Museum to continue inspiring generations to come and will leave a lasting positive mark on our community,” said George Sparks, President and CEO of the Museum. “You will experience, firsthand, the important role science plays in your life. We’ll be able to better conduct new research and provide improved preservation of our community’s treasures, while also continuing to make your Museum experience fun, exciting, and engaging.” …”

 

A virtual history of the Rideau Locks

Trevor Pritchard, OpenFile, 14 September 2011

 

OTTAWA – “According to a Carleton University press release, the institution is teaming up with the Virtual Museum of Canada to create an online museum on the history of the Rideau Locks.

The project, which should be completed by next May, will "use digitized artifacts, texts, photos, and architectural and engineering drawings to create a series of intertwined narratives of the building of the canal between 1826 and 1855." …”

 

One masterpiece can go a long way: Why blow the budget on a blockbuster when a single Caravaggio or Titian will bring in the crowds?
Judith H. Dobrzynski, Art Newspaper, 14 September 2011

 

UNITED STATES – “There might be less money to organise exhibitions in many US museums, but by borrowing one masterpiece, putting it on display, and so turning a single work into a star attraction, several are stretching their budgets a long way. […]

Creative use of smaller budgets for exhibitions is one driving force behind this trend. The directors we spoke to said that loan fees, design, insurance and transport costs for a single work are minuscule compared to a big thematic or an in-depth show for a single artist. Marketing tends to be the main expense, leaving museums in control of spending as much or as little as their budget allows. …”

 

Preserving a work by starving it of air: Anoxic storage can slow deterioration

Emily Sharpe, Art Newspaper, 14 September 2011

 

“A cutting-edge area of research, and one that has conservators and museum professionals talking, is anoxic or oxygen-free storage and display. Oxidation has long been associated with the deterioration of light-sensitive materials, so the idea is that the degradation process can be slowed down by eliminating or greatly reducing oxygen levels.

In exploring the possible benefits of anoxic environments on highly light sensitive colourants, scientists at the Tate are using microfaders—devices that measure the rate of colour change—to compare the light-sensitivity of materials in air and in oxygen-free environments. Microfading involves shining a beam of light smaller than a full-stop on an object’s surface and collecting data on the rate of the induced colour change in real time. …”

 

Comox’s history and art move into a new home on main street

Spencer Anderson, Comox Valley Echo, 13 September 2011

 

COMOX – “A new chapter in Comox's cultural scene began with the opening of the new Pearl Ellis Gallery and Comox Archives and Museum location Saturday.

The two organizations threw open the doors to the new space in the top floor of the old library building on Comox Avenue in the heart of downtown.

Natural sunlight lit up the newly renovated space, which featured an indoor replica of the Lorne Hotel and many other exhibits, including photographs and information boards.

On the gallery side of the space, work from several local artists is also being featured. …”

 

North Atlantic Aviation Museum is getting an upgrade

Nicholas Mercer, Gander Beacon, 13 September 2011

 

NEWFOUNDLAND – “The outside of the North Atlantic Aviation Museum looks as it should.

Dotting the landscape surrounding the orange building are numerous airplanes, an obvious connection to

Gander’s history with aviation.

Inside, there is no doubt that you are in a museum.

A black and yellow bi-plane greets visitors as they walk through the front doors.

Everywhere you look there is a homage to aviation history in the town of Gander.

Look closer, and you will see that some of the display cases could use an upgrade.

Pieces of history that are not on display sit behind a divider wall, defeating the purpose of not having them on

display.

However, help is on the way.

On Aug. 5, it was announced the museum would be on the receiving end of a $169,646 contribution from the

Newfoundland and Labrador government.

It is intended to help improve the museum’s viability and its ability to attract visitors. …”

Musée de Pointe-à-Callière: Molson fait un don de 325 000 $
Éric Clément, La Presse, 13 septembre 2011

MONTREAL – “La brasserie Molson Coors a annoncé ce mardi à Montréal avoir remis un don de 325 000 $ à la Fondation Pointe-à-Callière pour aider le musée d’archéologie dans son projet d’expansion.

Le don est associé aux célébrations des 225 ans de la brasserie montréalaise qui participe au développement de la métropole depuis la fondation de l’entreprise de John Molson au bord du Saint-Laurent en 1786.

 

Smithsonian Museums Board of Regents Host Annual Public Forum on September 19

Museumpublicity.com, 13 September 2011

 

WASHINGTON – “The Smithsonian’s governing body, the Board of Regents, will conduct its 2011 public forum Monday, Sept. 19, from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m., in the Hirshhorn Museum. Reporters are invited to attend the public session and ask questions.

Subjects to be addressed include an overview of federal funding, the impact of a weak economy on private fundraising and using technology to do more with less.

There will be a microphone for questions from the audience and an email address (comments@si.edu) for questions before and during the session.

The forum will be webcast live on the Smithsonian’s public website: http://si.edu.”

 

New model ship museum opens its doors

Cheryl Brink, Cornwall Standard Freeholder, 12 September 2011

 

IROQUOIS – “It was like weeks of Christmas for Bert Cunningham as he carefully unpacked his collection of model ships and put them on display, many for the first time.

The Morrisburg native has amassed dozens of boats of all shapes and sizes over the last decade, hand-crafted by professionals and worth thousands of dollars. He has made them available for the public to enjoy as well, by establishing the Doran Bay Ship Museum just outside Iroquois. …”

 

Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Baltimore could close
Jason Tomassini, Recent News, artdaily.org, 12 September 2011

 

BALTIMORE – “Of all the cities that claim a connection to the troubled author Edgar Allan Poe, Baltimore likes to think its case is strongest. Poe's family is from Baltimore, his literary career began in the city, he died a mysterious death at a Baltimore hospital and his body was buried here in 1849.

But the city that named its NFL team after his poem "The Raven" may soon lose a key physical connection to Poe. The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, where the writer lived for four years in the early 1800s, is in danger of closing next year, due to budget cutbacks by the city.

"Everyone is tightening their belt," said Jeff Jerome, the museum's curator and only employee, who also works for the city's planning department.

Cash-strapped Baltimore stopped funding the museum's $85,000 budget two years ago. It now operates on funds raised privately over recent years.

A feasibility study, to be completed by December, will explore ways to make the museum self-sustaining. More likely than not, the museum will close at the end of June 2012. …”

 

Le musée rénové de Gustave Courbet attire les visiteurs

Artclair.com, 12 September 2011

 

ORNANS (DOUBS) – “A Ornans, dans le Doubs, c’est un musée Courbet rénové qui a rouvert en juillet 2011. En septembre, soit deux mois après son inauguration, le musée a déjà accueilli près de 40 000 visiteurs.

Depuis l’inauguration du nouveau musée Gustave Courbet, le 2 juillet 2011, 40 000 visiteurs se sont rendus à Ornans, dans le Doubs. Ce chiffre de fréquentation témoigne du nouveau succès que rencontre l’établissement. Avant les travaux de rénovation, le musée ne recevait que 20 000 visites par an.

Après trois ans de travaux, l’objectif du conseil général était d’atteindre 40 000 à 50 000 visiteurs annuel. « Ce qui correspond à la fréquentation moyenne dans les musées de même envergure consacrés à un artiste de renommée internationale » précise L’Alsace.fr, avant d’ajouter que 50% de ces visiteurs proviennent d’autres départements et de pays étrangers. …”

Vandals go on rampage in the Battlefords
CBC News, 10 September 2011

SASKATCHEWAN – “A museum, school and grocery store in the Battlefords were trashed by vandals overnight, police say.

RCMP said they are investigating three incidents of vandalism that they believe took place late Friday night and early Saturday morning. …”

 

Cold War museum proposal in ‘limbo’

Gordon Kent, Edmonton Journal, 10 September 2011

 

EDMONTON – “The man trying to turn an abandoned Edmonton bomb shelter into a Cold War civil defence interpretive centre says he’s in “limbo” waiting for a city response to his proposal.

Fred Armbruster, who unsealed the doors with a team last May to study and clean the facility, has completed an operations plan for a museum that would show visitors how the structure looked when it was built in 1953.

The local photographer said Friday he has spent $4,000 to $5,000 of his own money buying hundreds of artifacts to put on display in the historic shelter, beside 142nd Street on the north edge of the MacKenzie Ravine. …”

 

Cincinnati Art Museum celebrates record attendance: Third highest on record

Recent News, artdaily.org, 9 September 2011

 

CINCINNATI – “In an all staff meeting today Director Aaron Betsky confirmed what had been rumored for weeks: the Cincinnati Art Museum has just finished it’s last fiscal year with the third highest visitor attendance in the history of the art museum. From September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011, 272,352 people visited the museum to see Wedded Perfection, Arms and Armor, Thomas Gainsborough and the Modern Woman, The Way We Are Now: The 21c Collection, Not Just Pretty Pictures: The Carl Jacobs Collection, and The Amazing American Circus Poster. While they came for our world class exhibitions they stayed for our lectures, educational programs, Museum Shop, and Terrace Café, all of which saw significant increase in attendance and revenue this past year. …”

 

Le musée de Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue en difficulté financière

Myles Dolphin, Cités Nouvelles, 9 septembre 2011

 

QUEBEC – “Jean-Marc Richard recherche désespérément une aide extérieure, afin de garder son musée ouvert. Le musée de Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue a ouvert en juin, mais il est sur le point d'être forcé à la fermeture.

«J'ai déjà investi 35 000$ de ma poche», explique-t-il. «Je ne peux plus continuer à mettre de l'argent -dedans

Jean-Marc Richard a reçu en avril une subvention de 15 000$ du centre local de développement, Développement économique West-Island. C'était quelques semaines avant l'ouverture de son musée, situé à  la maison Fraser. Ce montant d'argent a presque été entièrement dépensé au moment il a reçu les clés de la bâtisse, le 15 avril dernier. «J'ai acheter de l'équipement, la structure qui soutient les photos exposées, payer pour quelques mois de loyer», dit-il. «C'est parti assez vite

Le gouvernement provincial et le gouvernement fédéral ont tous deux refusé ses demandes de financement. Selon monsieur Richard, Québec a déjà promis une subvention à l'ouverture du musée, mais cette promesse n'a pas été remplie, à un changement de gouvernement.  Québec n'a plus d'argent pour les nouveaux musées, lui  a-t-on dit. …”

 

Tate Modern's Herzog & de Meuron Expansion Delayed for Lack of Funds

Kate Deimling, ARTINFO, 9 September 2011

 

LONDON – “Tate Modern's ambitious expansion plan to provide the museum with 70 percent more space has been partially delayed due to a money shortage amid the economic turmoil in Europe. The first phase of the project — the transformation of two abandoned oil tanks into spaces for performance and installation — will still take place in summer 2012, in time for the London 2012 Festival, a series of cultural events coinciding with the London Olympics. But the second phase, which involves constructing 10 new floors of galleries above the tanks, may not proceed until as late as 2016 to allow sufficient time for fundraising. …”

 

City eyes Olympic museum for oval

Matthew Hoekstra, Richmond Review, 8 September 2011

 

RICHMOND, BC – “The Richmond Olympic Oval Corporation is proposing to build an Olympic museum inside the oval at an estimated cost of $6 million, The Richmond Review has learned.

A delegation of oval and city officials recently pitched the idea to International Olympic Committee brass in Lausanne, Switzerland and received a “very positive” reception, a city spokesperson said.

Dubbed “The Richmond Olympic Experience at the Richmond Olympic Oval,” it would become the first museum in the Americas to join the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Museum Network, which centres around the IOC’s Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

It could open as soon as next year. …”



Architecture

 

Istanbul Reimagined

Shonquis Moreno, New York Times, 14 September 2011

 

ISTANBUL – “‘Design is not about objects anymore; it’s more pervasive,’ says Vasif Kortun, a director of Istanbul’s new arts center Salt (Istiklal Caddesi 136; saltonline.org). ‘Turkey is picking it up belatedly.’ And quickly. Since the opening of Adnan Kazmaoglu’s austerely geometric Yesil Vadi Mosque in Istanbul last year, a design and architecture movement is sweeping through the city. Salt’s Beyoglu building, a columned space by the local architect Han Tumertekin on the boulevard Istiklal, features the work of a different Turkish designer in each room — there’s a cinema by Hakan Demirel, a bookstore by Omer Unal and a cafe by Ali Selcuk and the chef Murat Bozok. Regular symposiums cover everything from urban planning to electronic music, and later this fall a second outpost will open nearby in Galata. …”

 

Nouveau projet pour l’agrandissement du Kunsthaus à Zurich

Artclair.com, 13 September 2011

 

ZURICH – “Le 6 septembre 2011, le nouveau projet pour l’agrandissement du Kunsthaus de Zurich a été dévoilé. Suite aux différentes critiques, l’architecte anglais, David Chipperfield, a modifier ses plans pour mieux intégrer le bâtiment à son environnement. Les travaux, estimés à 206 millions de francs suisses (171 millions d’euros), doivent maintenant être approuvés par la Ville.

Le 6 septembre 2011, le Kunsthaus de Zurich a dévoilé son nouveau projet d’agrandissement. L’architecte anglais, David Chipperfield, responsable du projet, a revoir ses ambitions à la baisse. Le bâtiment qu’il avait proposé en 2008, a été jugé trop imposant par la municipalité. Le nouveau prévoit donc une réduction de 8 % du volume total, ce qui doit permettre de dégager une grande esplanade sur la Heimplatz. …”

 

Montreal Concert Hall designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects opens to the public

Recent News, artdaily.org, 12 September 2011

 

TORONTO – “Music lovers rejoice. Montreal has a new sound: a concert hall for our times where musical expression can be seen and heard in comfort and style. The Montreal Concert Hall adds a new dimension to the city’s dynamic cultural identity and completes the downtown arts complex, Place des Arts, with an inviting and engaging structure that is every bit a part of the life around it.

Diamond and Schmitt Architects with Aedifica Architects, and a team of acousticians and consultants reinterpret the rectangular ‘shoe-box’ theatre configuration with an intimate three-balcony, 1900-seat auditorium designed principally for symphonic use. The new home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and other arts groups is an initiative of the Quebec Government and developed by Groupe immobilier Ovation, a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin. …”

 

Breathing the rarefied air at Centennial College’s new library

Lisa Rochon, Globe and Mail, 9 September 2011

 

TORONTO – “At the corner of Highway 401 and Markham Road, where Toronto is at its most banal and concrete heavy, Centennial College has opened a library and learning centre robustly framed by walls of dark iron-spot brick and lustrous, moody copper. Surprisingly – wonderfully – architecture is making a difference here.

What makes the commute through grinding traffic to the Progress Campus extra worthwhile for the college’s 16,000 students (22,000 are enrolled in continuing studies) is the architectural re-branding of Centennial. The dour series of pre-cast concrete buildings put up in the 1970s are still standing, but now they’re offset by light-filled buildings with lounges equipped with computer bars and hipster seating in shades of cool, cucumber green. At the heart of the new $34-million library by Diamond + Schmitt Architects is a living wall of mesmerizing greenery that’s four storeys high. Even with hundreds of students milling about the library commons, toiling at computers or talking at group study tables, the air feels pristine here; more mountain-like than urban fringe. …”

 

Upward spiral for Taipei's art scene: ZERAFA ARCHITECTURE STUDIO reveal proposal for New Taipei City Museum of Art

World Architecture News, 9 September 2011

 

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – “New-York based firm ZERAFA ARCHITECTURE STUDIO have revealed their proposal for the design of the New Taipei City Museum of Art (NTCArt) in Taiwan.

The design aims to establish a new paradigm for celebrating art in Taipei, one that brings lifestyle, art, recreation and education together to celebrate a vibrant cultural identity for the community. The fusion of art with all aspects of daily experience is driven by ideas about the intrinsic relationship between art and life in Taiwan's popular contemporary culture. …”



Technology

 

 Before Facebook censors us, we’ll do it ourselves: Swedish photography gallery is latest to cover up explicit work

Clemens Bomsdorf, Art Newspaper, 15 September 2011

 

SWEDEN – “Fotografiska, the Swedish-based photography museum, says that it has been forced to censor images on its Facebook pages to avoid them being deleted by the social-media giant.

The museum, which is devoted to contemporary photography, is showing 200 works by Robert Mapplethorpe (until 2 October). His oeuvre presents difficulties because of its focus on the nude; according to the museum’s spokesman, Facebook “dislikes nakedness whether it is in paintings or photography.” …”

 

National Gallery of Art Launches Second Edition of the Gemini G.E.L. Online Catalogue Raisonne

Museumpublicity.com, 14 September 2011

 

WASHINGTON – “A newly expanded version of the Gemini G.E.L. (Graphic Editions Limited) Online Catalogue Raisonné introduces 333 works produced by the acclaimed Los Angeles print and sculpture workshop between early 1997 and late 2005. The online catalogue now represents 2,069 editions, recording Gemini’s creative activity from its 1966 inception through 2005. Since 1981, the National Gallery of Art has been home to the Gemini G.E.L. Archive, which represents an example of virtually every print and edition sculpture produced by this important workshop. The Gallery’s holdings of Gemini works are a cornerstone of its contemporary graphic art collection. …”

 

Introducing Artconnect, the Would-Be LinkedIn of the Berlin Art Community

Ashton Cooper, ARTINFO, 14 September 2011

 

The hippest social networking site of all time may have just been invented, at least if you are just judging by concept: a Web site that caters exclusively to artists living in Berlin. Artconnect Berlin went live at the end of July and aims to create beneficial connections between budding artists in all mediums — putting the underground online.

Notoriously cheap rent and studio space has made Berlin the plat du jour of young artists, but while creative types are flocking to the city, some, of course, find it hard to connect with other members of the artistic community once there. Spanish born artist Julia Mari Bernaus has set out to change that by creating a central meeting place for the artistic community, not in the Berlin Gallery District, but on the Internet.

 

Why some ache to tweet, and others couldn’t care less

Ivor Tossell, Globe and Mail, 13 September 2011

 

TORONTO – “[…] Twitter has done much better in some industries than it has in others. It seems to specialize in fields where influence is traded like a commodity. For instance, a public-relations professional is hardly a public-relations professional unless they have a Twitter account. Journalists, especially the younger ones, are increasingly enmeshed in the medium. Politicians have flocked to it. Arts professionals, musicians, writers, students, celebrities, people who fashion themselves as celebrities, and generically creative types are all a part of the mix. But Twitter has been slower to catch on across the general population.

The reason why might have nothing to do with lunch meat. A recent study from the Harvard Business Review turned up some unsurprising, yet telling statistics about the way the service works. Declaring (perhaps a bit broadly) that “nobody tweets,” the study found that 90 per cent of the content on Twitter comes from the top 10 per cent of users. In fact, the median number of tweets issued by all users is precisely one. The conclusion that many have drawn is that Twitter isn’t a social network at all, but a broadcasting network. …”

 

Authors sue universities over digital libraries

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press, 13 September 2011

 

NEW YORK – “Authors and authors’ groups in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom sued the University of Michigan and four other universities Monday, seeking to stop the creation of online libraries made up of as many as 7 million copyright-protected books they say were scanned without authorization.

The Authors Guild, the Australian Society of Authors and the Union Des Ecrivaines et des Ecrivains Quebecois, or UNEQ, joined eight individual authors to file the copyright infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against Michigan, the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University and Cornell University.

The lawsuit accuses the University of Michigan of creating a repository known as HathiTrust where unlimited downloads could be accessed by students and faculty members of so-called orphan works, which are out-of-print books whose writers could not be located. …”

 

Historypin app lets people create a "time machine"

Natasha Baker, Recent News, artdaily.org, 12 September 2011

 

BANGKOK – “For people who have stood at a monument or scanned a landscape -- the Great Wall of China, for instance, or the U.S. Grand Canyon -- and wondered how it looked 100 or more years ago, there is now an app for you. Historypin, on iOS and Android platforms, strives to create a collection of memories about locations by counting on people to dig up and digitize old photographs and other media of the places, along with personal recollections of the past.

Combined with modern pictures and memories, the app creates a story of a place for people to enjoy -- a sort of "time machine in your pocket," its backers say.

"It's about people coming together to create a web of human history", said Nick Stanhope, chief executive of

We Are What We Do, a United Kingdom-based non-profit organization responsible for the Historypin project. …”



Art and Culture

 

 NEA Head Rocco Landesman Launches ArtPlace, a Venture Capital Fund for Small Arts Groups

Julia Halperin, ARTINFO, 15 September 2011

 

UNITED STATES – “The last time we heard from Rocco Landesman, the plucky chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, he was pissing people off. In editorials and at conferences, the former Broadway producer made the case for "decreasing the supply" of nonprofit arts organizations. Now, Landesman has established a new initiative that may do the opposite: it aims to promote the best new local arts projects across the country in an unprecedented collaboration amongst foundations, corporations, and federal agencies.

The initiative, called ArtPlace, is most easily understood as a venture capital firm that provides seed money to nonprofit arts organizations instead of tech start-ups. The goal is simple: use the arts to enliven communities and spur economic growth. The method is part WPA, part venture capital: ArtPlace will fund projects that incorporate artists and arts groups into local efforts to improve transportation, housing, community development and job creation. What you get, then, are projects like these: the renovation of a vacant Harlem school into a home for 90 artists and their families, or the redevelopment of a rundown city block in Detroit complete with a new music center, pedestrian greenways, and improved museum space. …”

 

Tears flow as Urban Affairs library closes

Michael Woods, Toronto Star, 15 September 2011

 

TORONTO – “Tears ran freely as the city’s Urban Affairs library closed its doors for the last time on Wednesday night.

The branch, which opened at Metro Hall in 1992, was slated for closure in March after months of budget negotiations between the library board and city council. Its staff and collection are moving to the Toronto Reference Library. …”

 

Court Allows Richard Prince to Appeal Copyright Decision

Randy Kennedy, New York Times, 15 September 2011

 

UNITED STATES – “In a closely watched visual-arts copyright case, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday to permit an appeal by the artist Richard Prince, who was found in March by a lower court to have unlawfully used images by a French photographer to create a series of collages and paintings.

The original decision, by Judge Deborah A. Batts, found in favor of Patrick Cariou, whose book “Yes Rasta,” featuring portraits of Rastafarians he took during several months in Jamaica, was published in 2000. According to the suit, Mr. Prince used 41 or more of the pictures as the basis for a body of work he called “Canal Zone,” which was shown in St. Barts and in a 2008 exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. According to the suit, a gallery that was planning to show Mr. Cariou’s photographs canceled that exhibition after learning that Mr. Prince had already created works based on the photographs. …”

 

Istanbul Biennial

E-flux, 15 September 2011

 

ISTANBUL – “The 12th Istanbul Biennial explores the rich relationship between art and politics, focusing on artworks that are both formally innovative and politically outspoken. It takes as its point of departure the work of the Cuban American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996). Gonzalez-Torres was deeply attuned to both the personal and the political, and also rigorously attentive to the formal aspects of artistic production, drawing in part from post-Minimalism and Conceptualism and in part simply from everyday life.

The biennial is composed of five group exhibitions and approximately 50 solo presentations, all housed in a single venue, Antrepo 3 and 5. Each of the group exhibitions occupies its own space, distinguished from the solo presentations via gray walls, and features a large number of artists' works brought together under a particular theme. Around them the visitor will encounter the solo presentations. Each solo presentation is linked to one or more subjects of the group exhibitions but pushes the themes decidedly further. Artists from every continent are represented, with a specific focus on artistic practices from Latin America and the Middle East. …”

[For more commentary on this topic, see also: From Old Disco to New Media, Istanbul Capitalizes on Biennial, By Susanne Fowler, New York Times, 14 September 2011; and A Simplified and Secretive Istanbul Biennial, By Susanne Fowler, New York Times, 14 September 2011]

 

Houston, We Have an Art Fair: Hamptons Group Launches New Art Bazaar in Texas

Shane Ferro, ARTINFO, 15 September 2011

 

HOUSTON, TX – “New York and Los Angeles are the cultural behemoths of the United States. But what's the third largest art market in America?

Houston, Texas — or so says Rick Friedman, the president of Hamptons Expo Group Management, which is launching the inaugural Houston Fine Art Fair Thursday to bring a roster of international dealers and high-profile clients together in the Texas city, focusing on Latin American art.

"When we talk to the major art galleries in America and the various art auction houses in America, they will tell me that many of their works that are being sold are being shipped into Houston," quipped Friedman. …”

 

New Vancouver Art Gallery site ‘obvious’

Brian Hutchinson, National Post, 14 September 2011

 

VANCOUVER – “[…] most visitors know the VAG for its heritage location, which is prime. For almost 30 years the gallery has been housed inside a former provincial courthouse, a gorgeous, neoclassical pile designed more than a century ago by Francis Rattenbury, the British-born architect who also designed Victoria's iconic legislative buildings and the adjacent Empress Hotel. The VAG occupies the centre of Vancouver's downtown core at Robson Square, a civic plaza that became familiar to millions during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Perfect? No. It won't do. The VAG has outgrown its digs, says director Kathleen Bartels, and it has to move. Since arriving in 2001, Ms. Bartels has been pushing for a new, larger facility, and the city and province have been trying to accommodate her. Former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell identified a site near False Creek three years ago, and his government cut the VAG a cheque for $50million. The site was rejected, but the VAG was able to keep the money.

Earlier this year, the City of Vancouver agreed to reserve another site downtown, an encumbered, city-held parking lot on busy West Georgia Street, where a bus depot once stood. The gallery was given two years to develop a solid business plan for a new venue. Building from scratch will cost at least $300-million, by all accounts. …”

 

Landmark reached at Open City: Open City event in London pushes visitor numbers to Olympic Park past 200,000 mark

World Architecture News, 13 September 2011

LONDON – “Open City is an annual event in London (and more recently extended to Tel Aviv, New York, Dublin, Galway and Barcelona) which throws open the doors to some of the city’s most treasured buildings so that the general public can experience these usually off-limits spaces.
As part of this exciting initiative, the 2012 Olympic Park has allowed the public to take part in a series of bus tours annually for the past five years and this year was no exception. This past weekend, over 4,000 people (including WAN!) took part in tours of the Olympic Site, pushing the total number of visitors to the Park over the 200,000 mark. …”

Algerian Artist Rachid Koraïchi Wins the 2011 Jameel Prize

Coline Milliard, ARTINFO UK, 13 September 2011

 

LONDON – “Last night Algerian-born Rachid Koraïchi was named the winner of this year's Jameel Prize during a ceremony at the Victoria & Albert Museum, receiving the £25,000 ($39,626) honor for "Les Maitres invisibles" ('The Invisible Masters"), a 2008 series of banners paying homage to the 14 great mystics of Islam. These large panels, inscribed with calligraphy and symbols belonging to an array of different cultures, celebrate the religion's quiet spirituality and its poetical tradition, which are often obliterated by representations of the religion in Western news reports. …”

 

Richard Hamilton, British Artist Who Beat Warhol to Pop, Dies at 89

Reid Singer, ARTINFO, 13 September 2011

BRITAIN – “Richard Hamilton, the painter and collagist whose work became a fulcrum of the British Pop art canon, passed away at the age of 89 this morning. The artist's death was announced by the Gagosian Gallery, which represents his work. No cause was released.
Hamilton began studying painting in night courses at St. Martin's School of Art while holding down work as a draftsman and industrial designer. He soon entered the Royal Academy schools and taught at St. Martin's following the Second World War. As a member of the British Independent Group, Hamilton was a leader in the early Pop movement, pioneering the re-appropriation of images from magazines and other forms of print advertising in painting and sculpture. …”
[See also:
Artist interview, Richard Hamilton: Product displacement, By Louisa Buck, Art Newspaper, 13 September 2011].

Trois-Rivières acquiert la Maison des Jésuites

Louise Plante, Le Nouvelliste, 13 septembre 2011

 

QUEBEC – “Le comité exécutif de la Ville de Trois-Rivières a adopté, lundi, une résolution acceptant que la Corporation de la Maison de la Madone cède gratuitement à la Ville la Maison des Jésuites (qu’on appelle aussi le manoir) située sur la rue Notre-Dame Est, près du Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap.

Ce faisant, la Ville s’est aussi engagée à restaurer ce bâtiment conformément aux règles de l’art en matière d’immeuble à caractère patrimonial et à utiliser celui-ci à des fins municipales, sociales, culturelles ou patrimoniales. Yvan Toutant, du service des communications à la Ville, a par ailleurs confirmé que le projet de restauration de l’immeuble, d’abord évalué à 500 000 $, (moitié payée par la Ville et moitié par Québec) s’élève maintenant à
700 000 $. …”

 

Case of Los Angeles' stolen Rembrandt drawing intrigues art world with ownership issue

John Rogers (Associated Press), Recent News, artdaily.org, 12 September 2011

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – “On the surface it looked like an open-and-shut case: A pair of thieves drop by an art exhibition at the Ritz-Carlton and, while one distracts a curator, the other snatches a valuable, centuries-old Rembrandt drawing and bolts with it. Apparently finding the small pen-and-ink work by the Dutch master too hot to fence, the thieves have second thoughts. They abandon it, undamaged, at a church on the other side of town. Then the real mystery begins.

Three weeks after recovering the framed, 11-by-6 inch drawing called "The Judgment," authorities aren't sure whether it really is a Rembrandt or if it even belongs to the art dealer that displayed it with other works at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey.

"They have to show us something to prove that they own it, and they haven't been able to do that," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He said authorities are keeping the alleged Rembrandt under lock and key until the ownership issue is resolved. …”

 

Hitler's Atlantic Wall: Should France preserve it?

Hugh Schofield, BBC News, 12 September 2011

 

FRANCE – “Sections of Hitler's Atlantic Wall are being restored by French enthusiasts. But should the Nazi fortification be fully embraced as part of the country's heritage?

Along 800 miles (1,287km) of French coast lie some of the most substantial and evocative vestiges of war-time Europe.

The so-called Atlantic Wall - Hitler's defensive system against an expected Allied attack - stretched all the way from the Spanish border to Scandinavia.

Inevitably, it was in France that the most extensive building took place. Today there are still thousands of blockhouses, barracks and gun emplacements visible along the French shore.

But in France there has been no effort up until now to preserve this extraordinary historical landmark. …”

 

Europe Extends Copyright on Music

Larry Rohter, New York Times, 12 September 2011

 

NEW YORK – “In a victory for the financially troubled recording industry, the European Union on Monday extended the term of copyright on sound recordings to 70 years from 50, while declining to include provisions that would allow artists in Britain and elsewhere in Europe to recoup ownership of their music easily. Had the Council of the European Union not acted, many of the most famous and popular recordings of the British Invasion of the 1960s, including albums by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Yardbirds, would have fallen into the public domain in the coming years. For example, the Beatles’ first hit record, “Love Me Do,” which was released in 1962, could have been treated next year in much the same way as works by classical composers whose exclusive ownership of their music has expired. With multiple versions available at cheaper prices, the four major record labels would be deprived of one of their biggest sources of income. …”

[For more commentary on this issue, see also: L'Europe prolonge de vingt ans les droits des interprètes et producteurs de musique, Le Monde, 12 September 2011]

 

Swedish Art Biennial Evacuated Due to 9/11 Anniversary Terrorist Threat

By Kate Deimling, ARTINFO France, 12 September 2011

SWEDEN – “Suspecting a possible terrorist plot, Swedish police ordered the evacuation of the opening of the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art Saturday night, causing 400 people celebrating the event to hastily leave the Röda Sten Art Center in Sweden's second-largest city. Police also arrested four individuals suspected of terrorist activity. In a statement, the Swedish Security Service said that further details remained under wraps yesterday due to "the ongoing preliminary investigation." But today CNN reports that three of the four men arrested, who range in age from 23 to 26, are of Somali origin, while the fourth is Iraqi.
The art center's managing director, Mia Christersdotter Norman, told the New York Times that the police contacted her again early Sunday morning to say that they had searched the entire building without finding anything. "They didn't say what it was, just that there was a serious threat," she told the paper. The Röda Sten Art Center is located underneath the Älvsborg bridge, a suspension bridge that is half a mile long. Speaking to the AP, security service spokesperson Sara Kvarnström declined to specify whether the bridge or the arts center was considered the target of a potential attack. …”

Why We Desire But Reject Creative Ideas

Freakonomics, 9 September 2011

 

UNITED STATES – “According to a new paper by researchers from Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of North Carolina, creative ideas make people uncomfortable. The paper, which is based on two studies from UPenn involving more than 200 people, is set to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science. …”

[The full article is accessible here: The Bias Against Creativity: Why People Desire But Reject Creative Ideas, By Jennifer S. Mueller, Shimul Melwani, and Jack A. Goncalo, Cornell University ILR School, DigitalCommons@ILR, Articles and Chapters, Paper 450]

 

Under a difficult financial situation, Kunstverein Hamburg announces charity auction to save its existence

Recent News, artdaily.org, 9 September 2011

HAMBURG – “In a very difficult financial situation the Kunstverein Hamburg asked 36 artists who had been presented in the Kunstverein Hamburg in the past, to donate a work for the two charity auctions hosted by Sotheby's. The benefit will hopefully save the future of this established institution:
The Kunstverein in Hamburg is one of the oldest art societies in Germany. Since 1817 it has dedicated itself to presenting young, contemporary art. Caspar David Friedrich (1826), Philipp Otto Runge (1836), Arnold Böcklin (1898), Max Beckmann (1912), Paul Klee (1916), Oskar Kokoschka (1919), James Ensor (1932), Pablo Picasso (1948), Jackson Pollock (1958), Francis Bacon (1965), Georg Baselitz (1972), Blinky Palermo (1973), Olafur Eliasson (1995) and other budding artist were presented in solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Hamburg. Rather than housing a permanent collection, the Kunstverein hosts temporary exhibitions in order to remain flexible and able to react to contemporary art trends and social issues, which it explores from an aesthetic perspective. But this could come to an end now. That's why the charity auctions are of great importance for the Kunstverein Hamburg and its future existence. …”

Surviving the Air India tragedy through the arts

Marsha Lederman, Globe and Mail, 9 September 2011

 

VANCOUVER – “Dance saved Lata Pada’s life, twice. Literally, the first time: She had travelled to India ahead of her family to rehearse for a performance there, so she was not with her husband and two daughters on Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, when a bomb exploded on-board. Then, dance rescued her again: She relocated to India and spent years working with her guru, dancing, she says, like a woman possessed.

“Dance was that one thing that kept me from being on the same flight as them, and I was literally in my teacher’s dance studio when I got the news of the tragedy,” Pada said recently from her Mississauga home. “So I just returned to it intuitively, instinctively, instantly, intensely. Because at that moment, that was the only thing I could return to.”

So after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 (which gave Pada unwanted visual imagery for her own loss), when she heard that artists were among the first back at work in Lower Manhattan, it reaffirmed her view of art as saviour.

“They were back in their studios painting, writing, dancing, creating music, because that is the nourishment that we get from the arts at a time like this. And I was so taken by that and it resonated deeply for me, because I know what it did for me.” …”

 

Plans for Ground Zero Islamic centre stalled: Original proposals for a 15-storey building have been scaled back amid opposition

Bonnie Rosenberg, Art Newspaper, 8 September 2011

 

NEW YORK – “Plans have been shelved for the controversial $100m Islamic cultural centre in lower Manhattan, derisively known as the “Ground Zero mosque”. While organisers of the project, Park51, have vowed to create a space for cultural outreach and understanding in the area, as per their original mission, they are reassessing the ambition of their plans. …”



Demographics, Economics, and Tourism

 

The Last Days of the American Male: An interview with journalist Hanna Rosin: Why she'll argue that "men are finished" at the Sept. 20 Slate/Intelligence Squared U.S. debate

Elizabeth Weingarten, Slate, 13 September 2011

 

UNITED STATES – “Hanna Rosin's 2010 Atlantic cover story, "The End of Men," was one of the most talked-about magazine articles in recent years. "Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind," wrote Rosin, an award-winning journalist for Slate and the Atlantic. "But for the first time in human history, that is changing—and with shocking speed."

That shift, she says, hasn't showed signs of slowing in the past year. And that's why she'll debate for the motion that "men are finished" during the Sept. 20 live Slate/Intelligence Squared U.S. debate at NYU. …”

 

5 Reasons the Chinese Art Boom May Not Buoy the Global Art Market After All

Shane Ferro, ARTINFO, 13 September 2011

 

CHINA – “The news has been filled this summer with articles ballyhooing the ascent of the Chinese art market, most recently the glowing New York Times report on the demand for more Western art from Chinese buyers. But while there have been some astonishing sales in China and Hong Kong over the past few years, there are plenty of indicators that point to a market without a firm foundation. It could be that China is just finding its footing — but the country could also be following in the footsteps of Japan in the late 1980s leading up to the art market crash in 1992, when loose money from the huge Japanese property bubble led to astronomical prices for art at auction. Is China really going to live up to the hype? …”

 

Art market jitters over financial turmoil: Nervous investors have rushed to safety in gold and the Swiss franc but art looks more volatile

Melanie Gerlis, Art Newspaper, 12 September 2011

 

“Fears are growing about the potential impact of this summer’s renewed global economic turmoil on the art market. The 2008 financial crisis sharply hit art sales across all sectors, but the market bounced back quicker than many others, particularly for blue-chip works. At issue now are two ­diverging premises: that art is a luxury brand, as sensitive to stock markets as high-end fashion and first-class flights (this is the view of those looking at the art market from the outside); or that it represents a safe investment, sought after in troubled times much like gold and the Swiss franc (the view of those with more vested interests). …”

[For more commentary on this issue, see also: Is art still a safe bet for investors?: As research from the last crisis shows, when investor confidence evaporates, all assets start to correlate, something many art market insiders like to forget, By Anders Petterson, Art Newspaper, Published online 12 September 2011]

 

Google Street View puts Israel on the digital map

Daniella Cheslow, Globe and Mail, 12 September 2011

 

JERUSALEM – “Google's Street View will soon provide virtual visitors a glimpse of the narrow stone-paved alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City and other tourist destinations in Israel.

Google deploys cameras mounted on cars and other vehicles to take Street View's 360-degree images, which users of the Web site can then view by zooming in on any given point on a map.

Outside Jerusalem's Old City walls on Monday, Google Israel's managing director Meir Brand announced that filming will begin in the next few months in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and tourist attractions elsewhere.

“For the first time we can truly say Israel is on the digital map,” Mr. Brand said. …”