Tagged: art blog

Miscellany. 11.04.13.

Fenomenología a las 7:30 p.m. (codiaeum varegatum) by Melissa Gallaga
Fenomenología a las 7:30 p.m., by Melissa Gallaga. (Image courtesy of the artist.)

**I gave a talk about Art and the Internet at Scripps College last week, and came up with this list of potentially helpful links.**

  • The street dogs of Juarez. Read. This. Story.
  • Germans recover more than 1500 modernist works of art looted by the Nazis. Whoa.
  • TED Talks are lying to you: deconstructing the creativity hype.
  • The corporatizing effects of SXSW: “For at least ten days, downtown Austin becomes privatized, a company town controlled by Miller Lite, Google, Doritos, AT&T, and Pepsi.”
  • A helpful tool for all those tech conference organizers that can never seem to find women speakers.
  • Tired of the tidal wave of high-testosterone dude art showing around New York? ARTnews has a handy guide to interesting lady shows. (To this I would add the Sophie Calle exhibit at Paula Cooper.)
  • The Paris Review has a wonderful piece about Cal Worthington and the L.A. experience he represented.
  • Writer Rebecca Solnit and curator Nato Thompson talk gentrification and the role of culture in cities.
  • A history of the artist statement.
  • Related: ArtSpeak, the guide.
  • Two Banksy pieces worth reading: Jerry Saltz’s critical rant, and Ben Davis on what the Banksy publicity-fest reveals about New York.
  • Museum I’m totally excited to visit: the one housed in Saddam’s former palace in Basra.
  • In other dictatorial architecture news: Apple’s hemorrhoid ring HQ has been approved by the Cupertino city council.
  • Frank Gehry’s Disney Hall turns 10.
  • Revisiting Peter Zumthor’s proposed LACMA scheme.
  • Interesting profile of David Adjaye in the New Yorker. (Subscription required.)
  • How to name a subdivision. This explains Orange County.
  • The Day in Art Merch: LAX Airport Socks. (Gizmodo.)
  • In praise of boredom.
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In Channa Horwitz’s Orange Grid.

Inside Orange Grid by Channa Horwitz at Francois Ghebaly.

I recently spent some quality time inside Channa Horwitz‘s installation at François Ghebaly in Culver City, the last gallery show organized by the artist before her death in April. I liked the installation so much I made a GIF of all its movable parts (in addition to putting together a few words about it). Horwitz also has an interesting personal story. Click through to Hyperallergic to get the scoop — and the GIF.

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Calendar. 05.22.13.

Bridget's Bardo, 2009, by James Turell. (Photo by Florian Holzherr.)
Bridget’s Bardot, 2009, a Ganzfeld space by James Turrell. Part of the artist’s solo exhibition James Turrell: A Retrospective, at the L.A. County Museum of Art. Opens Sunday. (Copyright James Turrell. Photo by Florian Holzherr.)

  • L.A.: A. Quincy Jones, Building for Better Living, at the Hammer Museum. Opens Thursday, in Westwood.
  • Sheboygan, Wisc.: Uncommon Ground, at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Through August 18.
  • Miami: Modern Meals: Remaking American Foods From Farm to Kitchen, at the Wolfsonian Museum. Through September 29, in Miami Beach.
  • NYC: Edward Hopper, Hopper Drawing, at the Whitney Museum. Opens Thursday.
  • NYC: Takuma Nakahira, Circulation: Date, Place, Events, at Yossi Milo Gallery. Opens Thursday at 6pm, in Chelsea.
  • NYC: Jogging: Soon, an exhibition at Still House. Opens Friday at 6pm, in Red Hook.
  • NYC: Lee Arnold, Rick Caruso, Christina Kelly and Michael Krondle, Natural Selection, at Trestle Gallery. Opens Friday, in Gowanus.
  • Milan: Mike Kelley: Eternity is a Long Time, at HangarBicocca. Opens today.
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Miscellany. 05.21.13.

An installation view of the atrium at Gutai: Splendid Playground, at the Guggenheim.
Work (Water), an installation by Motonaga Sadamasa. Part of the exhibition Gutai: Splendid Playground, at the Guggenheim in New York, which closed earlier this month. (Photo by C-M.)

  • Are Cooper Union’s finances fixable? Felix Salmon does some math.
  • MOCA’s New Sculpturalism show is back on track — but a lot of questions remain. My latest in ARCHITECT.
  • When is a Warhol authentic and when is it not? For the authentication committee at the Warhol Foundation, these are serious questions — with some significant legal ramifications.
  • A new book accuses Joseph Beuys of having close ties to Nazis. Draw your own conclusions — I’d need to read the book and see a more thorough explanation of the evidence before I make up my mind on this one.
  • Jack Goldstein, GIF artist?
  • Good read: Ben Davis on Jeff Koons.
  • Plus: Koons’ balloon consultant. Seriously. (Hyperallergic.)
  • Turning guns into art.
  • This piece by Deborah Solomon on WNYC is kind of cockamamie: “Critics have no doubts.” “They specialize in certitudes.” “Their prose is notoriously dense.” Seriously?
  • The Cedar Tavern is reborn as a waxing salon. (My own look back at the bar can be found here.)
  • NYU’s Fales Library has put all of David Wojnarowicz’s papers online.
  • Jörg Colberg’s photography blog, Conscientious, now has a new home. Update your feed readers with the new link!
  • Michal Chelbin’s portraits of juvenile prisoners in the Ukraine.
  • The Day in Art Merch: Laurel Nakadate skate decks.
  • Architect William Pereira’s Oscar-winning giant quid.
  • The U.S. government’s war against…apostrophes.
  • And many thanks to Boing Boing, Andrew Sullivan and Lawrence Lessig for linking to my ARTnews story about photography in museums!!!! Very excited to see this piece getting traction.
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Photo Diary: Lost in L.A.

Lost in L.A. at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery is good for a variety of reasons. Foremost among them: the collection of religious ephemera gathered and displayed by L.A. artist Jim Shaw. The show is in its last weekend. You’ve got through Sunday.

Plus: Here’s my story on the show for ARTnews.

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Miscellany. 12.19.12.


Eko. (Image courtesy of the artist.)

  • I could watch this all day: The Craigslist Assisted Readymade, by Adriana Ramic, showing three free Craiglist items every eight seconds. (@kyle_petreycik.)
  • Damien Hirst has left the building. The Gagosian building, that is.
  • Last month, Jonathan Jones wrote a cranky screed in the Guardian criticizing MoMA’s decision to acquire 14 video games. It was titled, “Sorry MoMA, video games are not art.” It’s an all kinds of ranty thing in which he goes on about why video games can’t possibly be art. (Neglecting to mention that the games were acquired for the museum’s design collection.)
  • Interestingly, in this CBC debate with John Maeda, Jones admits that the last video game he likely experienced was Pong. Glad to see his opinions come from a deep well of considered experience.
  • Not really related, but interesting nonetheless: the Syrian rebel tank that employs a PlayStation controller.
  • Carol Diehl gives Marth Rosler’s MoMA garage sale an atomic knee drop. Worth reading.
  • Nice piece in ARTnews on the ways some arts institutions are engaging military veterans — as both viewers and subject. Makes me wish I coulda seen Krzystztof Wodiczko’s Abraham Lincoln: War Veteran Projection, in Union Square. Looked incredibly moving…
  • Like the use of the word ‘gina in this review of Huma Bhabha’s work at PS1.
  • Some interesting thoughts from the Getty’s James Cuno on how art historians and curators are not quite taking full advantage of the power of the Web.
  • Which brings me to the Closer to Van Eyck project which he describes in his essay. It looks super cool — and I love it when institutions make stuff like this publicly available — but it’d truly be harnessing the power of the web if there were a version that would allow tagging (in the same way Flickr photos or Soundcloud files can be tagged by the public).
  • The NYT runs a vomitous piece on why rich people think the art market is great great great, letting the idea that Art Basel has turned Miami around socially and economically go totally unchallenged. (I guess the reporter missed the Census stats about declining median income in Miami-Dade and the city’s 18% poverty rate.)
  • Speaking of which, a nice response to the rich people mumbo jumbo from Art Fag City…
  • Attention New Yorkers: MoMA is screening Christian Marclay’s The Clock starting this weekend.
  • The Walker has posted its first commissioned video, a piece by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It’ll be online just through December 20, so check it.
  • A history of border walls.
  • Like some bizarre Waterworld nightmare: A story about Hashima, the abandoned island in the latest Bond flick. Watch the embedded video. The footage is worth it.
  • The Day in Art Merch: The Olsen Twins/Damien Hirst handbag, only 35K.
  • And because I’m crafty like that: How to save $34,460 by making your own Olsen/Hirst backpack with a quick and easy visit to Staples and Wal-Mart.
  • Plus: Jeff Koons wine labels. An artful way to drink yourself to death.
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Calendar. 11.14.12.


Compact Object (Konpakuto obuje), 1962, by Nakanishi Natsuyuki. Bones, watch parts, hair, eggshells and other objects embedded in polyester. Part of the exhibit Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Opens Thursday, in Midtown. (Image courtesy of MoMA.)

  • Boston: This Will Have Been: Art, Love and Politics in the 1080s, at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Opens Thursday.
  • NYC: Martha Rosler, Meta Monumental Garage Sale, at the Museum of Modern Art. Opens Saturday, in Midtown.
  • NYC: George Bellows, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Opens Thursday, on the Upper East Side.
  • NYC: The Art of Scent 1889-2012, at the Museum of Arts and Design. Through February 24, in Midtown.
  • NYC: Sinister Pop, at the Whitney Museum. Opens Thursday, on the Upper East Side.
  • NYC: Ed Ruscha, at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. Opens Saturday at 4pm, on 24th Street.
  • NYC: 13.0.0.0.0, a group show, at RH Gallery. Opens this evening at 6pm, in Tribeca.
  • NYC: As Real As It Gets, organized by Rob Walker, at Apexart. Opens Thursday, in downtown Manhattan.
  • NYC: Transparent Studio: Daniel Ballesteros, at Bose Pacia. Through December 15, in Dumbo.
  • NYC: Yoon Lee, Road to Absolution, at Pierogi Gallery. Opens Friday at 7pm in Williamsburg.
  • NYC: James Huang, The Gospel of Skills, at Auxiliary Projects. Opens Friday at 7pm in Bushwick.
  • Chicago: Color Bind: The MCA Collection in Black and White, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Through April 28.
  • S.F.: APEX, at 941 Geary. Opens Saturday, in downtown.
  • L.A.: Bodies and Shadows, Caravaggio and His Legacy, at LACMA. Through February 10, in the Fairfax District.
  • L.A.: Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance, at the Getty Museum. Through February 10. (This looks like it’s gonna be a bangin’ show…)
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Looking back at MoMA’s ‘Rising Currents.’


A dredging operation in New York Harbor in August of 2010. The regular dredging of the harbor — to allow commercial vessels to navigate the rivers — make the city more susceptible to violent storm surges. (Photos by C-M.)

The more I look at images of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy, the more I think about a startlingly prescient exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art during the summer of 2010. Organized by architecture and design chief curator Barry Bergdoll, Rising Currents examined New York City’s vulnerability to rising sea levels and storm surges. For the exhibit, Bergdoll gathered teams of architects and designers to study the city’s infrastructure and propose changes.

The boat tour was done in conjunction with the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Above right, MoMA exhibition curator Barry Bergdoll.

In August of that year, I joined a group of architects and designers on an evening boat tour to study some of the at-risk sites in question, including Red Hook and the banks of the Gowanus Canal (areas which have since been devastated by Sandy). Many of the proposals that day emphasized “soft” infrastructure, such as the restoration of wetlands and seeding of oyster beds in the harbor, that could filter water and serve as wave attenuators in the event of large storms. (The Harbor was once filled with oyster beds — but overfishing and dredging have destroyed these.) As we discussed the eventual possibility of catastrophic storms and rising sea levels, the air was warm and the water in New York Harbor resembled glass. It was difficult to believe that any of this could happen any time soon. Yet, it did.

As New York rebuilds, it would be wise to go back and examine the findings from this exhibit. According to the New York City Panel on Climate Change, sea levels will rise approximately two feet in the next fifty years. By the end of the century, those numbers could be as high as four to six feet. This could place some areas of the city permanently underwater. And there’s no telling what would happen in the event of a storm.

As Bergdoll says in the short bits of audio I’ve embedded in this post, New York, like Venice, is a city that is in the water. Yet the city, so often, seems to be divorced from this reality. (Something that was made all too clear when I paddled around the city’s waterways with artist Marie Lorenz.) There is water all around, yet access to it is limited. Wetlands struggle to survive at the fringes. Vast tracts of condos were once patches of swamp. In all its fantastic urban artifice, sometimes it can be easy to forget that New York is really just an island — one that is more vulnerable than anyone would like to think.

Find photos from the boat trip after the jump.

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