I am actually quite surprised there is this much appetite for articles on the Met's management decisions: Town & Country feature an exclusive interview with President (and boss of the to-be-appointed director) Daniel Weiss. Good to compare to the interview with Tom Campbell from last week's reading list.
I can't figure out how to link directly to embedded video in a tweet, but you should watch this video, on lighting black and brown skin for television.
I am rather taken with this tiny UK town, with is starting a museum of miners art. A fascinating history of 20th century working class art.
Speaking of art and class: this article about the academicisation of poetry in 20th century (don't yawn) in the wake of declining patronage from a class that saw its wealth decimated by the First World War and the Depression, is interesting if you want to think about why so many leading NZ artists are tertiary teachers.
This new funding announcement for Indigenous and First Nation artists and curators in Australia should be a model for Aotearoa (as long as the project funding turns into permanent positions / presence / changed ways of working).
A beautiful NYT story about a cultural camp run by David Severns, a Yurok tribal member, where he teaches traditional ways to make ceremonial regalia.
Belated reading on a love/hate topic: Can Real Life Compete With an Instagram Playground?
Saturday, 16 September 2017
Saturday, 9 September 2017
Reading list, 9 September 2017
From the journalistic world: I loved NYT White House reporter Maggie Haberman's Longform Podcast interview: here she is on The Cut's series 'How I Get It Done'. And Charlotte Graham's impressive piece for The Spinoff on New Zealand women journalists' experiences of and attitudes towards online abuse (which is less traumatising and more instructive than the headline suggests).
British and American museums are to meet in 2018 to discuss returning looted art from Benin to west Africa in a rotating long-term exhibition (not full repatriation).
Andrew Goldstein's two-part interview with previous Met director Thomas Campbell: Thomas Campbell on Why He Became the Met’s Surprise Champion of New Art and Thomas Campbell on the Price of Modernization at America’s Greatest Museum.
The wonderful writer Jenny Uglow on Grayson Perry.
Another update from MIA on their changing approach to managing their membership programme.
British and American museums are to meet in 2018 to discuss returning looted art from Benin to west Africa in a rotating long-term exhibition (not full repatriation).
Andrew Goldstein's two-part interview with previous Met director Thomas Campbell: Thomas Campbell on Why He Became the Met’s Surprise Champion of New Art and Thomas Campbell on the Price of Modernization at America’s Greatest Museum.
The wonderful writer Jenny Uglow on Grayson Perry.
Another update from MIA on their changing approach to managing their membership programme.
Sunday, 3 September 2017
Reading list, 3 September 2017
After the backlash to her essay on Katherine Middleton on her marriage to Prince William, now Hilary Mantel wonderfully takes on the Diana myth.
I'm interested at the moment in the stereotypes that museum reverse-promote about themselves, like this one from the director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, which has just re-opened after an upgrade:
The NYT profiles Elaine Welteroth, editor of Teen Vogue and tasked with "reinventing the glossy magazine for a hyperempathetic generation".
I'm interested at the moment in the stereotypes that museum reverse-promote about themselves, like this one from the director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, which has just re-opened after an upgrade:
Some museum purists may disapprove of the more accessible labels. “The art historians here on campus, they would prefer everything was just a tombstone, because the students come in here and just copy [the] labels down,” Dietrich said. “You can never make everybody happy.”Grutas Park, a sculpture garden in south-west Lithuania, shows one way of dealing with statues and monuments that have been rejected from public places:
The figures are grouped according to their role in Soviet activity: the Totalitarian Sphere depicts key thinkers and prominent leaders; the Red Sphere features members of the resistance; the Death sphere shows the bloody means by which the regimes were kept in place. Indeed, the park allows the spectre of suffering to loom in the background by recreating gulag blocks, guard towers and barbed-wire fences.Honestly, just batshit: Famed architect Frank Gehry to design Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum.
The NYT profiles Elaine Welteroth, editor of Teen Vogue and tasked with "reinventing the glossy magazine for a hyperempathetic generation".
Saturday, 26 August 2017
Reading list, 26 August 2017
Last weekend I pulled together a range of articles focused on questions of protest and removal of Confederate monuments in one of my occasional TinyLetter newsletters. Sign up here if you'd like to receive the occasional letter like that.
Robin Pobegrin on NYC's museums:It’s a Diverse City, but Most Big Museum Boards Are Strikingly White.
It doesn't sound like a particularly good show, but it's a surprisingly straightforward acceptance of bias: Asian Museum works to overcome neglect of Filipino art, a review of a San Francisco exhibition by Charles Desmarais.
Chloe Geoghegan reviews The Tomorrow People at the Adam Art Gallery.
Oh god.
Robin Pobegrin on NYC's museums:It’s a Diverse City, but Most Big Museum Boards Are Strikingly White.
It doesn't sound like a particularly good show, but it's a surprisingly straightforward acceptance of bias: Asian Museum works to overcome neglect of Filipino art, a review of a San Francisco exhibition by Charles Desmarais.
Chloe Geoghegan reviews The Tomorrow People at the Adam Art Gallery.
Oh god.
Saturday, 5 August 2017
Reading list, 5 August 2017
This week's must-read: Curator Anne Ellegood on Understanding the Complexities of Jimmie Durham’s Native Identity
National Museums Scotland on taking contactless donations (bloody useful Medium post)
Jerry Saltz acquiesces to MOMA's gallery redesign
Carolina Miranda on Betye Saar's fierce washboard sculptures
More Carolina Miranda: In its 25th year, the Getty's Multicultural Internship Program is changing the face of arts leadership in L.A.
Four art museum directors talk about mission and gallery design (Gensler research)
The Uffizi has changed its ticketing structure to encourage repeat visitation & visits to multiple sites
National Museums Scotland on taking contactless donations (bloody useful Medium post)
Jerry Saltz acquiesces to MOMA's gallery redesign
Carolina Miranda on Betye Saar's fierce washboard sculptures
More Carolina Miranda: In its 25th year, the Getty's Multicultural Internship Program is changing the face of arts leadership in L.A.
Four art museum directors talk about mission and gallery design (Gensler research)
The Uffizi has changed its ticketing structure to encourage repeat visitation & visits to multiple sites
Saturday, 29 July 2017
Reading list, 29 July 2017
The Washington Post breaks down the Smithsonian's Kickstarter campaigns for conservation projects (given the costs involved it's probably important to see them as marketing projects as well as fundraising).
Artsy interviews Tom Campbell for their podcast in the week he leaves the Met.
Protests follow Dana Schutz from the Whitney Biennial to a solo show at the ICA Boston - via the New York Times and Hyperallergic.
Objectspace opened on Thursday, in a new space with a newly expanded mission: director Kim Paton was interviewed by the NZ Herald and Paperboy. (I so badly want a Paperboy for Wellington.)
A Canadian government panel debates whether a gift of 2000+ Annie Leibowitz photos warrants the requested $20m valuation for tax credit purposes.
So many interesting philosophical & museumy questions in this venture: Auschwitz Artifacts to Go on Tour, Very Carefully.
Artsy interviews Tom Campbell for their podcast in the week he leaves the Met.
Protests follow Dana Schutz from the Whitney Biennial to a solo show at the ICA Boston - via the New York Times and Hyperallergic.
Objectspace opened on Thursday, in a new space with a newly expanded mission: director Kim Paton was interviewed by the NZ Herald and Paperboy. (I so badly want a Paperboy for Wellington.)
A Canadian government panel debates whether a gift of 2000+ Annie Leibowitz photos warrants the requested $20m valuation for tax credit purposes.
So many interesting philosophical & museumy questions in this venture: Auschwitz Artifacts to Go on Tour, Very Carefully.
Saturday, 22 July 2017
Reading list, 22 July 2017
As part of my support for our showing of Fiona Clark's photographic series Te Iwi o Te Wāhi Kore at The Dowse, I have been reading the Waitangi Tribunal Motonui-Waitara report (1983). It still ashames me how unaware I have been of the history of the area I was raised in.
Marsha Lederman writes for the Canadian Mail and Globe about the return of Haida taonga from museums to communities. Read it and weep, Tiffany Jenkins.
An extract from K. Emma Ng's new book Old Asian, New Asian, from BWB Texts, on The Spin-Off. The book has developed from an essay Emma wrote for the Pantograph Punch in 2015.
More from the Barnes Foundation's collection online project - this time, curator Martha Lucy speculating on what new thinking may be derived from computer (mis)analysis of paintings.
I've only started to grok this myself: 'Not Just Money' from the Helicon Collaborative breaks down where philanthropic dollars are committed in support to cultural organisations.
An idea that's brilliant in its simplicity and catchiness - the Seed Vault releases a collection visualisation in the form of a colouring book.
I'm delighted Lana Lopesi is the new editor-in-chief of the Pantograph Punch.
Nobody wants you damn museum app.
Marsha Lederman writes for the Canadian Mail and Globe about the return of Haida taonga from museums to communities. Read it and weep, Tiffany Jenkins.
An extract from K. Emma Ng's new book Old Asian, New Asian, from BWB Texts, on The Spin-Off. The book has developed from an essay Emma wrote for the Pantograph Punch in 2015.
More from the Barnes Foundation's collection online project - this time, curator Martha Lucy speculating on what new thinking may be derived from computer (mis)analysis of paintings.
I've only started to grok this myself: 'Not Just Money' from the Helicon Collaborative breaks down where philanthropic dollars are committed in support to cultural organisations.
An idea that's brilliant in its simplicity and catchiness - the Seed Vault releases a collection visualisation in the form of a colouring book.
I'm delighted Lana Lopesi is the new editor-in-chief of the Pantograph Punch.
Nobody wants you damn museum app.
Thursday, 20 July 2017
Art News New Zealand column, Winter 2017
Public funding
As I write, one of the main art stories coming out of the United States is that the Trump administration's first federal budget plan, which indicates eliminating several federal cultural agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
The NEA and NEH were signed into existence in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act states:
(3) An advanced civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology alone, but must give full value and support to the other great branches of scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve a better understanding of the past, a better analysis of the present, and a better view of the future.
(4) Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens. It must therefore foster and support a form of education, and access to the arts and the humanities, designed to make people of all backgrounds and wherever located masters of their technology and not its unthinking servants.
This is not the first time a Republican government has threatened cuts to, or elimination of, the endowments. It is the first time a Republican government has been in such a strong position to enact these threats. While the administration's budget plan is a signal of presidential priorities and not a draft of the actual budget (which is written by Congress), arts advocates in the U.S. had already prepared their arguments in defence of the NEA, NEH and other agencies such as the Public Broadcasting Service, noting that much of the funding supports communities outside the main artistic centres; that programmes range from art therapy for military veterans to the cataloguing of George Washington's papers; that the average NEA grant is $26,000 and requires matched funding to be secured by the applicant.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reported in March, one of the programmes threatened by the Trump budget plan is the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program, created by President Gerald Ford in 1975 with bipartisan support. The programme enables federal indemnification of insurance on artworks brought into the US for public exhibitions. No money changes hands, but the government pledges to cover any losses. This allows museums to save money on insurance premiums; money that can then be used elsewhere. Outgoing director of The Met Thomas P. Campbell wrote in The New York Times that their upcoming Michelangelo show has an insurance value of $2.4 billion; an amount not even they, one of the richest museums in the world, could afford. The programme underwrites billions of dollars in indemnifications annually, and in 41 years of operation has paid out a single claim of $4,700.
The proportion of the federal budget allocated to the NEA and NEH is approximately 0.01%. As Neil deGrasse Tyson observed in a series of tweets, this equates to Americans' annual expenditure on lipbalm, or 4 hours and 23 minutes of defence spending. As he noted: "Cutting the NEA & NEH to save money on a $3-trillion budget is like thinking 3 days is long relative to an 85-year lifespan."
The cuts then are symbolic, not functional. In turn, museums are staging their own symbolic retorts. They have responded in many ways to the new administration, particularly its January 27 executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim nations. In perhaps the most publicised riposte, MoMA rehung its collection galleries overnight, replacing works by Matisse and Picasso with works by artists including Sudanese painter Ibrahim el-Salahi and Los Angeles-based Iranian video artist Tala Madani. Each has a new wall label:
“This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States, according to a presidential executive order issued on Jan. 27, 2017. This is one of several such artworks from the Museum’s collection installed ... to affirm the ideals of welcome and freedom as vital to this Museum as they are to the United States.”
I follow a US analyst, Colleen Dilenschneider, who works for market research firm specialising in cultural organisations. In March Dilenschneider reported a notable reputational boost for MoMA since the start of 2017, based on an increase in positive responses to statements like 'I admire the Museum of Modern Art'. As Dilenschneider observed, this is correlation, not causation, and yet 'What else could have taken place in the same duration to cause the greatest increase in reputational equities in the last three years for MoMA?'.
So, symbols speak strongly. That the Trump administration can advocate slashing cultural funding agencies suggests a deep disdain for the place of art, artists and art institutions in society. We can only hope that this message too can be turned upon itself, and used to argue for art's utmost relevance.
As I write, one of the main art stories coming out of the United States is that the Trump administration's first federal budget plan, which indicates eliminating several federal cultural agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
The NEA and NEH were signed into existence in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act states:
(3) An advanced civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology alone, but must give full value and support to the other great branches of scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve a better understanding of the past, a better analysis of the present, and a better view of the future.
(4) Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens. It must therefore foster and support a form of education, and access to the arts and the humanities, designed to make people of all backgrounds and wherever located masters of their technology and not its unthinking servants.
This is not the first time a Republican government has threatened cuts to, or elimination of, the endowments. It is the first time a Republican government has been in such a strong position to enact these threats. While the administration's budget plan is a signal of presidential priorities and not a draft of the actual budget (which is written by Congress), arts advocates in the U.S. had already prepared their arguments in defence of the NEA, NEH and other agencies such as the Public Broadcasting Service, noting that much of the funding supports communities outside the main artistic centres; that programmes range from art therapy for military veterans to the cataloguing of George Washington's papers; that the average NEA grant is $26,000 and requires matched funding to be secured by the applicant.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reported in March, one of the programmes threatened by the Trump budget plan is the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program, created by President Gerald Ford in 1975 with bipartisan support. The programme enables federal indemnification of insurance on artworks brought into the US for public exhibitions. No money changes hands, but the government pledges to cover any losses. This allows museums to save money on insurance premiums; money that can then be used elsewhere. Outgoing director of The Met Thomas P. Campbell wrote in The New York Times that their upcoming Michelangelo show has an insurance value of $2.4 billion; an amount not even they, one of the richest museums in the world, could afford. The programme underwrites billions of dollars in indemnifications annually, and in 41 years of operation has paid out a single claim of $4,700.
The proportion of the federal budget allocated to the NEA and NEH is approximately 0.01%. As Neil deGrasse Tyson observed in a series of tweets, this equates to Americans' annual expenditure on lipbalm, or 4 hours and 23 minutes of defence spending. As he noted: "Cutting the NEA & NEH to save money on a $3-trillion budget is like thinking 3 days is long relative to an 85-year lifespan."
The cuts then are symbolic, not functional. In turn, museums are staging their own symbolic retorts. They have responded in many ways to the new administration, particularly its January 27 executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim nations. In perhaps the most publicised riposte, MoMA rehung its collection galleries overnight, replacing works by Matisse and Picasso with works by artists including Sudanese painter Ibrahim el-Salahi and Los Angeles-based Iranian video artist Tala Madani. Each has a new wall label:
“This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States, according to a presidential executive order issued on Jan. 27, 2017. This is one of several such artworks from the Museum’s collection installed ... to affirm the ideals of welcome and freedom as vital to this Museum as they are to the United States.”
I follow a US analyst, Colleen Dilenschneider, who works for market research firm specialising in cultural organisations. In March Dilenschneider reported a notable reputational boost for MoMA since the start of 2017, based on an increase in positive responses to statements like 'I admire the Museum of Modern Art'. As Dilenschneider observed, this is correlation, not causation, and yet 'What else could have taken place in the same duration to cause the greatest increase in reputational equities in the last three years for MoMA?'.
So, symbols speak strongly. That the Trump administration can advocate slashing cultural funding agencies suggests a deep disdain for the place of art, artists and art institutions in society. We can only hope that this message too can be turned upon itself, and used to argue for art's utmost relevance.
Saturday, 1 July 2017
Reading list, 1 July 2017
Ben Eltham looks at the results of the Australia Council’s national arts participation survey for the Guardian, and it suggests a troubling fall in belief in the importance - even validity - of the arts.
Kyle Chayka's latest, on the international blandness of Tyler Brûlé and Monocle.
Alexandra Lange's latest, on Georgia O'Keeffe, Jane Jacobs, and the Marimekko dress.
Anthony Byrt's latest (it's really good) on Luke Willis Thompson's latest work, at Chisenhale Gallery
A few pieces from the architecture files: Will the renovation of Ottawa's Brutalist national art complex undermine its essential nature? Former Paris stock exchange to be reborn as François Pinault's new art museum. When one architecture firm undoes another architect's work: the Albright-Knox edition. Mumbai has the world’s second-largest collection of Art Deco buildings but no one notices them.
Your deep-inside-the-sector read: Chris Michaels, Museum business models in the digital economy (the accidental evolution' of museum business models; surge-pricing for exhibition tickets; Netflix for memberships; more pro-active asking for donations).
Your long read: Charlotte Higgins, How Nicholas Serota’s Tate changed Britain.
Kyle Chayka's latest, on the international blandness of Tyler Brûlé and Monocle.
Alexandra Lange's latest, on Georgia O'Keeffe, Jane Jacobs, and the Marimekko dress.
Anthony Byrt's latest (it's really good) on Luke Willis Thompson's latest work, at Chisenhale Gallery
A few pieces from the architecture files: Will the renovation of Ottawa's Brutalist national art complex undermine its essential nature? Former Paris stock exchange to be reborn as François Pinault's new art museum. When one architecture firm undoes another architect's work: the Albright-Knox edition. Mumbai has the world’s second-largest collection of Art Deco buildings but no one notices them.
Your deep-inside-the-sector read: Chris Michaels, Museum business models in the digital economy (the accidental evolution' of museum business models; surge-pricing for exhibition tickets; Netflix for memberships; more pro-active asking for donations).
Your long read: Charlotte Higgins, How Nicholas Serota’s Tate changed Britain.
Saturday, 24 June 2017
Reading list, 24 June 2017
Sing it, sister: Diane Ragsdale, On “looky-loos” and the institutions who are desperate for them and desperate for them to behave.
A few weekends ago I traced the story of Sam Durant's work Scaffold, which was erected in the Walker Art Center's expanded sculpture gardens and then removed before the expansion was opened after protests by local Dakota people. This week in the Los Angeles Times Durant reflected on this, and dealt with questions around censorship.
There are a bunch of quotes in this Artsy editorial by Anna Louie Sussman that get my back up, but it's wide-ranging coverage of a strong trend: Why Old Women Have Replaced Young Men as the Art World’s Darlings
MIA (the Minneapolis Institute of Art) is blogging about its new audience data and loyalty programmes.
Hilary Milnes for Glossy: The anatomy of a pop-up launch. Interesting when thinking about museum expansions / engagement.
I love the polite ambivalence expressed by the people in this NYT article: Jeff Koons Sent Paris Flowers. Can It Find the Right Vase?
Shelley Bernstein explains why when computers tried to describe the Barnes Foundation's collection, they kept seeing stuffed animals.
A few weekends ago I traced the story of Sam Durant's work Scaffold, which was erected in the Walker Art Center's expanded sculpture gardens and then removed before the expansion was opened after protests by local Dakota people. This week in the Los Angeles Times Durant reflected on this, and dealt with questions around censorship.
There are a bunch of quotes in this Artsy editorial by Anna Louie Sussman that get my back up, but it's wide-ranging coverage of a strong trend: Why Old Women Have Replaced Young Men as the Art World’s Darlings
MIA (the Minneapolis Institute of Art) is blogging about its new audience data and loyalty programmes.
Hilary Milnes for Glossy: The anatomy of a pop-up launch. Interesting when thinking about museum expansions / engagement.
I love the polite ambivalence expressed by the people in this NYT article: Jeff Koons Sent Paris Flowers. Can It Find the Right Vase?
Shelley Bernstein explains why when computers tried to describe the Barnes Foundation's collection, they kept seeing stuffed animals.
Saturday, 17 June 2017
Reading list, 17 June 2017
There will never be a definitive list, but this one is worth browsing if only for the photo of Linda Nochlin teaching at Vassar in 1965: The 10 Essays That Changed Art Criticism Forever.
I found this creepy as all get out: MAGA [Make America Great Again] Hats Are the Newest Form of Pre-Teen Rebellion
Colleen Dilenschneider's latest: Do [Museum] Expansions Increase Long-Term Visitation?
Teju Cole's latest: Getting Others Right
Robert Leonard's latest: Michael Parekowhai: The Empire of Light
One of the most influential books in my life: A brief history of feminist literature in New Zealand: Tessa Duder on her classic novel Alex
The always interesting Maciej Cegłowski: The founder of Pinboard on why fandom is good for business
I found this creepy as all get out: MAGA [Make America Great Again] Hats Are the Newest Form of Pre-Teen Rebellion
Colleen Dilenschneider's latest: Do [Museum] Expansions Increase Long-Term Visitation?
Teju Cole's latest: Getting Others Right
Robert Leonard's latest: Michael Parekowhai: The Empire of Light
One of the most influential books in my life: A brief history of feminist literature in New Zealand: Tessa Duder on her classic novel Alex
The always interesting Maciej Cegłowski: The founder of Pinboard on why fandom is good for business
Saturday, 10 June 2017
Reading list, 10 June 2017
Nina Tonga, curator of Pacific Art at Te Papa, writes about 'Pikipiki hama kae vaevae manava: joining our vaka to share our breath or life stories', the museum's co-collecting initiative with Tongan communities in Auckland.
Read Tom Armitage's introduction (bringing together Sontag and screensavers) before you read Zack Hatfield on the forgotten joys of the screensaver.
Jia Tolentino on the end of the (internet) personal essay boom.
Thought-provoking: Chika Okeke-Agulu, 'Modern African Art Is Being Gentrified'.
I love Roberta Smith's language in this review, plus it introduced me to a plethora of new artists: ‘Midtown’: That Chair’s Charming, but Can I Sit in It?
Seb Chan writes about a project with RMIT students to produce visualisations giving insights into ACMI's collections.
Shelley Bernstein writes about the Barnes Foundation's new partnership with a bike-share initiative to reach new audiences.
And in new sites: Auckland curator Ioana Gordon-Smith has started collecting her writing online; veteran American exhibition-maker Dan Spock has started a 'museum tradecraft journal'.
Read Tom Armitage's introduction (bringing together Sontag and screensavers) before you read Zack Hatfield on the forgotten joys of the screensaver.
Jia Tolentino on the end of the (internet) personal essay boom.
Thought-provoking: Chika Okeke-Agulu, 'Modern African Art Is Being Gentrified'.
I love Roberta Smith's language in this review, plus it introduced me to a plethora of new artists: ‘Midtown’: That Chair’s Charming, but Can I Sit in It?
Seb Chan writes about a project with RMIT students to produce visualisations giving insights into ACMI's collections.
Shelley Bernstein writes about the Barnes Foundation's new partnership with a bike-share initiative to reach new audiences.
And in new sites: Auckland curator Ioana Gordon-Smith has started collecting her writing online; veteran American exhibition-maker Dan Spock has started a 'museum tradecraft journal'.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)