Category: visual

“For some time works of stenciled graffiti art and wheat-pasted posters slapped onto walls in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan have been splashed with paint and scrawled with messages of protest. Anonymous claimants have distributed various communiqués taking responsibility for the sabotage, citing the Situationists of the 1950s and ’60s as inspiration. public space and civic justice are difficult issues to which the brouhaha returns our attention.”

“Few people familiar with the Smithsonian in Washington and its various underperforming, weirdly performing and, in some cases, barely existent art and culture museums were much surprised by any of this. The institution has been deteriorating for a while, which has come to seem like part of its musty machinery. Besides, in the grand arena of national politics, why should anyone care about the sins and missteps of a museum complex?”

An early IM Pei-designed building in Atlnta is under threat from developers. “Those involved with the project say they intend to save the historic structure by either building around it or on top of it, though they acknowledge it’s possible only the façade will survive.”

Richard Serra has put tons of steel in the courtyard at the Museum of Modern Art. So what do the massive structures do? Serra: “The space is almost palpable. The steel is just a wrapping skin that compresses the space.”

“Australia’s most famous building, the Sydney Opera House, received World Heritage listing yesterday as a site of international cultural significance, taking its place alongside the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China. The harbourside landmark, completed in 1973, is the youngest building on the list, and one of only 15 or so from the 20th century.”

“The Textile Museum, which has been tucked away in Washington’s Kalorama neighborhood for more than 80 years, is adding a second location, in the bustling Penn Quarter area. Museum officials announced yesterday that early next year they will open an exhibition space on three floors of a historic building owned by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows on Seventh Street NW. The move more than doubles the space of the original museum….”

“Graffiti artist Alan Ket, whose real name is Alain Mariduena, has been criminally charged in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan with various counts including criminal mischief, making graffiti, and possession of graffiti tools. Mr Mariduena, whose work has been displayed in galleries, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and says … that the graffiti was done by copycat artists.”

“The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is close to signing a cultural agreement with Iran which will see the Russian institution collaborating with its Iranian counterparts on a series of joint exhibitions. The agreement will also increase scholarly exchange between the two countries.”

“Sotheby’s, the world’s No. 2 auction house, sold 41 percent more art in the first half as buyers from the U.S., Russia and Asia flocked to London, according to preliminary figures on Sotheby’s Web site. Sotheby’s first-half art auctions amounted to $2.76 billion, compared with $1.96 billion a year earlier….”

“Aren’t these architects a bit too avant-garde for a luxury condo building in the West Village? But Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, the husband-and-wife principals of Asymptote, say the eight-story structure taking shape at 166 Perry Street is intricately related to their ongoing experimental work.”