Posts tagged curatorial
Artists Point the Way Toward a New Queer Aesthetic (NSFW)
Alicia Eler writes for Hypperallergric: “The Great Refusal focuses mostly on an academically minded queer aesthetic. It successfully accomplishes what it sets out to do — investigate how queerness intersects with race, gender, class, and sexuality, and consider how these intersections could form a new queer aesthetic. What the exhibition sidesteps, however, are the warm fuzzies — community, love, utopic futures, and semblances of spiritualized queerness. In refusing to accept current readings of queerness, the show accomplishes much, but unfortunately the softer themes of acceptance are mostly lost amid the overwhelming supply of concept-heavy, theory-based works of art.”
Art Leaks
“Created by a crew of curators, artists, art historians, and critics, and modeling its title on the infamous WikiLeaks, ArtLeaks is trying to bring that same level of whistle-blowing transparency to the art world. They function in a similar way to WikiLeaks, too, asking people to submit (anonymously or not) reports on situations at cultural institutions with accompanying evidence — firsthand reports, email correspondence, official documents, etc. But now the group is going one step further — or backwards, depending on how you view the act of publishing an art journal — and creating the ArtLeaks Gazette. The gazette will be dedicated to the same core themes and issues, but with an open invitation to any writers who have something to say.” via HyperAllergic.
Qatar’s Murakami Exibition: Fair Billing Or Not? -“It’s fine for the curators to choose works that will respect the local culture, and I respect them for that. What I think may be wrong is billing the show as his ‘distinct perspective on contemporary culture.’ That, to me, would include his most popular, or most valuable, works. If ‘My Lonesome Cowboy,’ a large sculpture of an anime manga-boy masturbating that fetched some $15 million at auction, isn’t “a look inside his mind,” a lot of other people have been fooled about that. His nudes are clearly sexual. These works are, largely, what he is famous for. How can they be left out, without an explanation?”
Creating an Online Collaboration Tool for Scholars
Susan Edwards and Tina Shah of the Getty gave a presentation at the annual Museum Computer Network (MCN) conference in Atlanta about an online collaboration tool for scholars, (view our presentation here). The project is experimental, and since they only have a proof of concept working at this point, they share the process of developing the site, and what they’ve learned so far with colleagues working in other museums and archives.
The Excavator: “De Kooning” Curator John Elderfield on Lost Themes, the Misunderstood Late Work, and the Pleasures of Google - “The Museum of Modern Art’s “de Kooning: A Retrospective” is a mammoth rethinking of Willem de Kooning oeuvre and career, and as such is the latest master class in curation by John Elderfield, the museum’s chief curator emeritus of sculpture and painting.”
Smithsonian Air-Clearing Forum on 'Hide/Seek' Exhibition Is Anything But
“…expect a two-day exercise in misdirection, generalized obfuscation and CYA posturing…Not on the agenda: the organized protest, based on anti-gay animus from conservative Christians, that led to the censorship”
Digital Fonts: 23 New Faces in MoMA’s Collection
“MoMA has just acquired 23 digital typefaces for its Architecture and Design Collection. Some are of everyday use, like Verdana; others are familiar characters in our world, like Gotham, which was used in President Obama’s election campaign, or OCR-A, which we can find at the bottom of any product’s bar code; and others are still less common, but exquisitely resonant, like Walker or Template Gothic.” See also: MoMA acquires digital typefaces; what does that mean?
An Exodus of Artwork from L.A - “The collections of Dennis Hopper and others are largely headed for auction, not museums. Why? The reasons are many, experts say, including art prices, a need for cash and the owners’ wishes.” see also Museums not all smiles as close to $100 million worth of art from local estates heads to Christie’s.
