Tag: 07.15.19

Does The Shed Suggest New York Is Looking For Something Different In Its Arts?

“It seems there is a divergence in our artistic landscape, where we value trend and zeitgeist as highly as artistic growth and creative development. The Shed serves as a manifestation of this tension between art and spectacle, highbrow and lowbrow. My suggestion is that we view the construction of the Shed as a call for change on an artistic level—a sign that audiences and funders are ready and searching for new ideas and, more importantly, a new approach to exacting those ideas.” – Howlround

Why One Trustee Quit The Board Of The British Museum

Ahdaf Soueif: “Public cultural institutions have a responsibility: not only a professional one towards their work, but a moral one in the way they position themselves in relation to ethical and political questions. The world is caught up in battles over climate change, vicious and widening inequality, the residual heritage of colonialism, questions of democracy, citizenship and human rights. On all these issues the museum needs to take a clear ethical position.” London Review of Books

Yeah, Lots Of Us Love To Point And Laugh At ‘Florida Man’ — But Is That Really The Right Thing To Do?

“At its most comical, the Florida Man phenomenon encapsulates the wildness of both America and the Internet. At its most salacious, it’s a social-media update on the true-crime TV of America’s Dumbest Criminals and the gallows humor of tabloid headlines. At its most insensitive, Florida Man profits by punching down at the homeless, drug-addicted or mentally ill.” Reporter Logan Hill travels to a Florida prison to meet an actual subject of a Florida Man story — and he talks with the guy who started the Florida Man Twitter feed about the moral qualms he began to feel. – The Washington Post Magazine

Richmond’s Institute For Contemporary Art, Only A Year Old, Lays Off More Than A Fifth Of Its Staff

“Six full-time employees out of 27 are having their positions eliminated as a result of a reorganization, said Dominic Willsdon, executive director of the ICA. … The non-collecting contemporary art museum at Virginia Commonwealth University opened in April 2018 after four years of construction and roughly 15 years of planning.” And ICA has had staffing issues ever since. – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Francoise Gilot Was Picasso’s Muse. When She Left He Predicted Disaster. It Didn’t Turn Out That Way

“For one thing, Gilot ended up happily married to Jonas Salk, who was doubtless secure enough in his own accomplishments to like her for reasons that had nothing to do with Picasso. And she went on to have an admired career as an artist. Gilot is ninety-seven now; she has been painting nearly as long as Picasso did, and is enjoying something of a revival.” – The New Yorker

On The Nature Of Aphorisms

Adam Gopnik: “The aphorism, in the course of history, can be taken as the epitome of the rational or the epitome of the irrational. It can be compressed and self-contained wisdom, or it can be a broken fragment designed to show that ours is an already shattered world. But, whatever it is, it’s always an epitome, and seeks an essence.” – The New Yorker

John Leguizamo On The Difference Between Performing Solo In Comedy Clubs And Theaters

“In a comedy club, you can go nuts and go off and be funny, but you can’t really get emotional, you know? The crowd is there to get in a rhythm of set-ups-and-jokes with you. They don’t really care about stories — stories that last a whole show, I mean. In a theater, though, jokes are not enough. You better have a story, you better have a point. I loved the energy and immediacy of comedy clubs. You can see why it’s so addictive. But you get to a theater, people don’t let you slide.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer