Tag: 01.23.19

First Issue: When A Museum Wants To Be Relevant To Its Community – What Does Relevance Mean?

“Our breakthrough moment was when we took ownership of the fact that we didn’t need to write a “social impact statement” (which might be seen as competing with our mission statement). Rather, we simply needed to articulate the problem our community is facing that we are uniquely suited to address, the best solution we believe exists for that problem, and the concrete and tangible outcomes we’re going to measure that will demonstrate our positive social impact.” – Medium

Ice Dancing Is Heavily Reliant On Heterosexual Narratives

Can an ice dance couple – both of whom are out, with one in a same-sex relationship – help break that trope? (See also the sibling Shibutanis, whom some commentators find uncomfortable for that very reason.) “When you have a team that doesn’t portray a romantic relationship for any reason, they’re forced to consider new ways to tell their story. That opens up new doors, new pathways.” – ESPN

Director Michael Greif Reimagines ‘Rent’ For Live TV

Greif staged both the original off-and-then-on-Broadway production (1996-2008) and a 2011-12 Off-Broadway revival, and he’s now directing Rent: Live, airing this Sunday on Fox. Diep Tran talks to director and cast about how they’re reconfiguring the show for a live audience of 1,500 plus a TV audience they hope will be in the millions. — American Theatre

This Really Was An Evil Plot By The Patriarchy: Art Dealers Erased Female Old Masters And Sold Their Paintings As Works By Men

Jordana Pomeroy, director of the Frost Art Museum in Miami and a specialist in the history of women artists, says that some dealers went so far as to paint over a female artist’s signature and replace it with that of a male one “so that you can ask more money for a Frans Hals than you could for a Judith Leyster. And this kind of thing went on for many, many years.” — The Art Newspaper (podcast)

Andy de Groat, Experimental Choreographer Of 1970s And ’80s, Dead At 71

“Mr. de Groat was a significant presence on the New York downtown dance scene and in Paris in the 1970s and ’80s. Introduced to audiences through his work with [Robert] Wilson, he later formed his own company and built a distinctive choreographic identity through his use of spinning, a technique he began to develop for Mr. Wilson’s work.” — The New York Times

Ten-Year Restoration Of Tutankhamen’s Tomb Is Finally Complete

“In 2009, with help from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, the [Getty Conservation Institute] brought in a team of environmental engineers, architects and designers to improve the tomb’s infrastructure, an Egyptologist to conduct background research, microbi­ologists to study the brown spots, and conservators to treat the walls. Together, they carried out the most intensive study and restoration of the tomb since [Howard Carter discovered it in 1922].” — Hyperallergic

Long-Stalled Plans For New Vancouver Art Gallery Back On Track With $40M Gift; Herzog And De Meuron Design Revealed

The project for a new building for the museum, first launched in 2008, has been revived from the Chan family, prominent Vancouver philanthropists who gave the anchor donation for what’s now the Chan Center for the Performing Arts. This new gift is the largest private one for arts and culture in the history of British Columbia. At the announcement, updated designs by Herzog & de Meuron were presented, showing a building clad in vertical glass logs and wood. — Vancouver Sun

Mellon Foundation Gives $1.25M To Increase Diversity In Academic Publishing

“The [four-year] program offers apprenticeships in acquisitions departments at six university presses: the University of Washington Press, the MIT Press, Cornell University Press, the Ohio State University Press, University of Chicago Press, and Northwestern University Press. The grant will provide for three annual cycles of editorial fellows at those presses.” — Publishers Weekly

An Attempt To Archive And Access Early Internet Art

A project called Net Art Anthology, curated by Rhizome, an affiliate of the New Museum, was an attempt to tentatively create a historical understanding of net art. Unveiled online over the course of two years, the effort involved the archiving and restoration of 100 digital artworks— often a laborious process because browsers that could display the pieces no longer existed, or other aspects of the technology had to be preserved or emulated. – The New York Times