“At The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., there is moving evidence of an earlier, more peaceful time in that now-beleaguered Syrian hub: photographs of 19th century women in gold-trimmed velvet jackets, flowing pants and, on their heads, finely woven skull caps. One such small and brimless cap, made in 1800, is on display at the museum.”
Category: visual
Do Cool Tech Giants Design Cool Homes For Themselves?
“This building (provisionally due to open in 2016) is, like the iPad, iPhone and others, a smooth, seamless and slick product rather than a piece of architecture.”
A Small Museum And Big Changes In The Way It Supports Itself (A New Model?)
“Donors, Dan Monroe says, have been receptive to the idea that it’s far more important to have an impact on people’s lives than it is to put their name on a building.”
Could This Be A New Business Model For US Art Museums?
For most American museums, annual contributions are the biggest source of revenue – and that source tends to dry up when the economy turns sour. At the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., director Dan L. Monroe seems well on the way to making endowment income the biggest revenue source, ahead of both annual contributions and earned income.
Origami-Based Architecture
“Architects love origami because it achieves what buildings rarely do: frame space through extreme economy of means. … Building technologies like 3D modeling and rapid prototyping have made it possible for architecture to mimic the elegant and sometimes complex folds found in origami making with minimal structural interference.”
Tate Britain To Quietly Get Rid Of Room Numbers (They’re Unfriendly)
Tate staff will continue to have their own “secret” numbers for the galleries, but these will not be marked in the rooms or on maps.
Time To Reform Rules Governing Art Auctions?
“Art sales in New York, at galleries or at auction, are estimated at $8 billion a year. Yet the last significant change in the city’s auction regulations took effect more than two decades ago, when the value of transactions was less than half of what it is today.”
The Politics Of Repatriating Art In Museums
“Giving up objects has done little to halt the international trade in looted antiquities, while rewarding the hardball tactics of foreign governments and impoverishing Americans’ access to the ancient world.”
17th-Century Masterpiece Was Just Another Hotel Room Canvas In Paris
“The Hôtel Ritz Paris, famous for its bar, its swimming pool and its assignations, had a treasure hiding in plain sight, an exceptional painting that had been hanging on a wall for decades without anyone paying it the least attention.”
What Do You Do With A Former Dairy? Make It A Gallery, Of Course
“The 12,500 sq ft warehouse was the former milk depot for Express Dairies … Entry will be free and there will be a bar lounge because, in Cohen’s words, ‘we think that art should be for everyone.'”