With all the public feuding between architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs, the public had good reason to fear that the eventual design of New York’s newest skyscraper would turn out to be a monument to ego and greed. Instead, says Herbert Muschamp, maturity seems to have prevailed, and New Yorkers ought to be thankful that it did. “The architects have come close to transcending what’s left of their battered selves. With some shrewd editing, the design could become one of the noblest skyscrapers ever realized in New York.”
Month: December 2003
Kamin: What Happened To Libeskind?
The problem with the new Libeskind/Childs design, says Blair Kamin, is that it’s pretty good. In fact, it’s probably just good enough that no one will seriously object to its being built, thus depriving New Yorkers of a truly great addition to their skyline. “As the banality of the twin towers made clear when they were completed in the early 1970s, there is a critical difference between technical achievement and aesthetic quality.” Chief among Kamin’s complaints about the new design is that master architect Daniel Libeskind’s grand vision seems to have been relegated to the sidelines, and David Childs’ glittery clichès have taken over.
Now, About That “World’s Tallest” Thing…
New Yorkers are fond of leading the world in one thing or another. So it’s no surprise that the new Freedom Tower is being pumped as ‘the world’s tallest building.’ But is it, really? “It will certainly be the world’s tallest cable-framed, open-air, windmill-filled, spire-studded superstructure, rising atop 70 stories of offices, restaurants, a broadcast center and an observation deck,” says David Dunlap, but uninhabitable spires such as the one that will stretch some 625 feet above the tower’s occupied space may not count towards the ‘world’s tallest’ designation. The final decision on such things is left to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which we swear we are not making up.
On Writing Words For Opera
Poet Lavinia Greenlaw recently found herself writing an opera libretto. “Singing is not a casual act. Opera (again, like poetry) works best when it refuses to be embarrassed about its artifice. Libretti work best when the lines are fluent and convincing, but also emphatically styled. As I have begun to learn in my own libretto-writing, it’s a question of texture rather than vocabulary. Rossini once said: “Give me a laundry list, and I will set it.” WH Auden points out that this is not so great a claim, since lists lend themselves to music particularly well. Any words can be used if they contain a space for the music and action and are strong enough to change shape without losing meaning. It’s like making the skin for some fantastical beast based on what it is going to do rather than what it might look like.”
What The Barnes Can Teach Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario is expanding, and simultaneously undergoing a bit of an inner identity crisis, with the recent controversial closing of its Canadian wing, and the announcement that it will begin to integrate such decorative arts as pistols and fountain pens into its collection. “Through the history of museums… idiosyncratic tastes have driven great institutions forward — and hobbled smaller ones in perpetuity.” For a sense of what paths the AGO may wish to explore, and which ones it may need to avoid, Kate Taylor suggests a fresh look at the various melodramas surrounding Philadelphia’s embattled Barnes Collection.
Factory 798 – Turning China Upside Down
Beijing’s Factory 798 is home to an amazing collective of contemporary artists who are remaking modern art in China. “This giant Bauhaus-style collection of workshops somehow manages to confirm the old cultural stereotypes about this nominally communist country, while simultaneously turning them upside down. The setting is a plot of living history.”
Change of Ownership, But No Change of Plans
Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art is in the final planning stages for its new home on the South Boston Waterfront, but everyone involved had to pause this week, when it was announced that the family which owns the land on which the new ICA will sit intended to sell the plot, after deciding not to develop it. ICA officials are saying that the sale should not affect their plans, since any new owner would be required to abide by the terms of ICA’s lease with the current ownership. Still, a new developer could choose to build whatever it wished on the non-ICA portion of the land, and observers are wincing at the possibility of a grand new museum surrounded by parking lots.
Havana Biennale Soldiers On
Many supporters of this year’s Havana Biennale withdrew their support after Fidel Castro jail journalists and allowed some artists to be censored. “But with the Castro government struggling to maintain its place on the world stage, and its population suffering under US sanctions dating back to 1961, the hosting of an art biennial is an important opportunity for Cuba and its artists to engage in six weeks of cultural discourse and exchange, as well as for a much needed injection of foreign spending on the island. And with Cuban artists dominating the display, the exhibition functions as an advertisement for native talent. ‘All third world biennials are a strategy to promote the local art. Cuba is no exception’.”
WTC Tower – It Has To Be Better Than This!
The Libeskind/Childs tower for the World Trade Center site is old-school thinking tied to hidebound out-of-date ideas, writes James Russell. “American Class A buildings are no longer regarded as high-standard buildings in London, Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Japan—not even in supposedly backward China. What’s today’s high-standard tower? One of the most ambitious is Swiss Re, coming to completion in London by Foster & Partners. (You can find it by searching under “projects” in the architect’s site.) It features gardens for idea sharing and for blurring the boundaries between floors, an advanced approach to daylight and ventilation, and a floor configuration that offers almost everyone access to windows or views.”
World Bank Loans St. Petersburg $160 Million
The World Bank is loaning St. Petersburg, Russia $160 million to help improve its cultrual sites and infrastructure. “The loans are part of the St Petersburg Economic Development Project, a joint initiative between the Russian government and the World Bank which will see some $240 million spent to improve the city’s business climate, notorious for its corruption and red tape, and to restore important cultural sites which are not attracting as many tourists as they could.”