“As the battles over mammoth-scale development grow more heated, developers and their marketing teams have become extremely cautious about the information they release before a project passes review, for fear of inciting a public outcry. Architects are now regularly asked to sign confidentiality agreements that forbid them to talk to the press, a tactic that was virtually unheard of a few years ago.”
Category: visual
The Sad Sad Shape Of Writing About Art Today
“From the late 19th century to just after World War II, writing about modern art was clear. It had to be. Today, when curators and critics can count on a large audience willing to embrace new art simply because it is new, they don’t have to try as hard.” The result? Sludgy writing that is a pleasure for no one and is purposely obscure.
Of Art, Copies, And Concepts (Which Is Which?)
Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s Inopportune: Stage One is hanging in the Seattle Art Museum. It’s also currently at the Guggenheim in New York. Really? The Guggenheim version of the hanging cars is labeled a “copy.” How do you justify it, wonders Jen Graves.
Why Are Most Airports Architectural Wastelands?
Airports, in short, are a logistical nightmare, and this is surely the reason that most of them today are such depersonalized wastelands.
Artist Wants To Include Dying Person In Performance Piece
The German artist Gregor Schneider is planning the ultimate performance piece: showing a person dying as part of an exhibition.
Best Art Seems Unlikely Addition To Trafalgar Square
“A real destroyed car, from a real war, in the middle of London on a public square that commemorates a famous naval victory? A square connected to Whitehall, leading to the prime minister’s residence and the houses of parliament? Come on, it’s not likely. And yet this is by far the best work of art proposed for the fourth plinth.”
Skyscraper Dreams
With Dubai’s 800-meter-tall Burj Dubai skyscraper almost complete, starry-eyed visions of tomorrow’s cities are more popular than they’ve been in 50 years.” Here’s a gallery of dreams that never got built.
Dumbarton’s Back
Washington’s Dumbarton Oaks Museum, closed for more than three years for renovations, reopened this week. “It’s good to have the old biddy back. Dumbarton, donated to Harvard in 1940 by the wealthy collectors Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, is one of the more eccentric places in the city.”
Bilbao Victimized By Embezzling CFO
“The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao said it fired its finance director after he admitted to embezzling about 487,000 euros ($775,000) since 1998.” The museum has ordered an internal audit of all its accounts.
Tracking One Of The World’s First Photos
“‘The Leaf,’ originally thought to have been made around 1839 or later, has become the talk of the photo-historical world. The speculation about its origins became so intense that Sotheby’s and the print’s owners decided earlier this month to postpone its auction, so that researchers could begin delving into whether the image may be, in fact, one of the oldest photographic images in existence, dating to the 1790s.”