Category: visual

“The structure is one of those rough and unremarkable buildings that artists love to claim for their own. A dingy stairwell with an Atomic-Age geometric railing with peeling paint and dusty hallways led to doors that opened onto pristine galleries and makeshift apartments.”

“The Tanks’ purpose is to bring live work and performance art – often, since its origins in the 1960s and 70s, seen as too fragile, fugitive or plain avant garde to be co-opted by museums – into the mainstream. The underground galleries will also provide space for the kind of large, complex film and video installations that the museum has struggled to show in the past.”

“The acoustics of the East Tank (Commission) and the South Tank (Live), two of three underground spaces where the oil that fuelled the power station was once stored, are remarkable. The spaces act as sound boxes … The conversion of the Tanks retains the feel of bunkers, with brutalist concrete columns set at dramatic angles complementing the original industrial architecture. In places there is even a slight whiff of old oil.”

“The National Gallery faces the possibility of partial closures during the Olympics after warders who patrol its rooms announced a fresh series of strikes beginning on the first day of the Games. The warders – officially known as gallery assistants – have been fighting a long-running battle with management over reduced staffing levels.”

“The Department of Transportation has announced that it hopes this “entertainment plaza model” might spread to other squares around the city. I suppose it’s better than tripping over back-up generators and boa-constrictor extension cords, but it also hints at sound-and-light events to come of nightmarish proportions. Cleaner pavements would be more welcome.”

Christie’s International said Monday it sold $3.5 billion of fine and decorative art in the first half of the year, up 11.2% from a year earlier. Rival Sotheby’s said it auctioned off $2.44 billion of art during the same period, down 15.8% from a year earlier despite a record-setting $119.9 million for Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”

“These are fast-changing times for the V&A. The museum has raised £120m over the past decade to transform its galleries, resulting in a three-fold rise in visitors. Now it has already raised £25m out of the £41m needed for the next phase.”

“Kimerly Rorschach, founding director of the Nasher Museum at Duke University, will become the Seattle Art Museum’s new director this fall.”

“It’s an unseemly legal dispute pitting one of young Hollywood’s favorite charities against an entertainment industry entrepreneur and reality television figure.”

“Certainly no institution comes into being or grows into an entity of international stature without a host of important contributing parties. But artists reside at the core of MOCA’s being. They’re the soul inside what sometimes seems to be a soulless institutional life.”