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.
Saturday, 26 August 2017
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'.
Saturday, 27 May 2017
Reading list, 27 May 2017
It's been a while since I focused on museums & digital, so here's a gathering of links:
ACMI's Lucie Paterson writes up the recent US Museums and the Web conference, and also her visit to trial all the flash things at SFMOMA.
Lucie's post introduced me to an aspect of the new SFMOMA that I hadn't heard of, the interactive gallery exploring the photography collection, poised next to a cafe. Check out the video here.
The Knight Foundation announces $1.87 *million* in funding for digital projects at 12 US museums.
This whole thing squiks me out but it's probably the (near) future: Giving art a voice with Watson: Art comes to life with AI for Brazilian museum goers.
ACMI's Lucie Paterson writes up the recent US Museums and the Web conference, and also her visit to trial all the flash things at SFMOMA.
Lucie's post introduced me to an aspect of the new SFMOMA that I hadn't heard of, the interactive gallery exploring the photography collection, poised next to a cafe. Check out the video here.
The Knight Foundation announces $1.87 *million* in funding for digital projects at 12 US museums.
This whole thing squiks me out but it's probably the (near) future: Giving art a voice with Watson: Art comes to life with AI for Brazilian museum goers.
Saturday, 20 May 2017
Reading list, 20 May 2017
I've held off posting a reading list for a few weeks because my reading - or at least, the bits that have stuck - seems to have been so dominated by the New York Times. But maybe it's better just to clear that all out and start again.
One of the contrasts I regularly draw between New Zealand and American art museums is that ours lean very heavily towards the contemporary (bar touring blockbustery shows). Robin Pobegrin looks at how the balance between the now and the thousands of years of culture collected in American museums plays out in ‘Encyclopedic’ Brooklyn Museum Vies for Contemporary Attention.
Seeing the Habitat complex at twilight on a freezing Montreal day, as thin ice plates nudged up against the walls of the harbour, remains one of my most special visual memories. Blake Gopnik reminiscences about Growing Up in a Concrete Masterpiece.
I'm thinking a lot about the Pictures generation right now. Roberta Smith profiles Louise Lawler and her new survey at MOMA in Louise Lawler’s Stealth Aesthetic (and Muted Aura).
Louise Movius's Fake Rain Room gets permanent home in Shanghai looks at unauthorised versions of the Rain Room design experience being produced in China.
The World Cities Culture finance report (link to a PDF) is way more interesting than it sounds, assessing how major 'world cities' support and fund culture.
In The Art of Complaint, Peter Ireland looks at Grahame Sydney's latest interview crying neglect upon his work by the art establishment.
Adrian Luis on Dismantling Diversity in Museums - for another take, Paula Morris's Making noise for more Māori writers, in which she quotes Marlon James's complaint that diversity is ‘an outcome treated as a goal’.
Sitting in the Fashion section for some reason, but Jennifer Miller's Suffering for Your Art? Maybe You Need a Patron gives a good overview of new models of artist & writer patronage.
Keir Winesmith assembles a list of links to Recent readings on diversity, equity and inclusion in museums
Not art or art world, but terrific writing and/or interesting reporting:
Willa Paskin's The Other Side of Anne of Green Gables, on the new tv adaptation of the classic book series.
Susan Dominus's moving, thoughtful and clear-eyed Is an Open Marriage a Happier Marriage? (Also - check out those uncanny-valley portraits)
Lucia Moses on How Jessica Lessin used her reporting chops to build The Information (aka to build a subscription-based news site that's financially successful).
A fascinating long read on fast fashion and why Britain dominates here by Chavie Lieber for Racked.
One of the contrasts I regularly draw between New Zealand and American art museums is that ours lean very heavily towards the contemporary (bar touring blockbustery shows). Robin Pobegrin looks at how the balance between the now and the thousands of years of culture collected in American museums plays out in ‘Encyclopedic’ Brooklyn Museum Vies for Contemporary Attention.
Seeing the Habitat complex at twilight on a freezing Montreal day, as thin ice plates nudged up against the walls of the harbour, remains one of my most special visual memories. Blake Gopnik reminiscences about Growing Up in a Concrete Masterpiece.
I'm thinking a lot about the Pictures generation right now. Roberta Smith profiles Louise Lawler and her new survey at MOMA in Louise Lawler’s Stealth Aesthetic (and Muted Aura).
Louise Movius's Fake Rain Room gets permanent home in Shanghai looks at unauthorised versions of the Rain Room design experience being produced in China.
The World Cities Culture finance report (link to a PDF) is way more interesting than it sounds, assessing how major 'world cities' support and fund culture.
In The Art of Complaint, Peter Ireland looks at Grahame Sydney's latest interview crying neglect upon his work by the art establishment.
Adrian Luis on Dismantling Diversity in Museums - for another take, Paula Morris's Making noise for more Māori writers, in which she quotes Marlon James's complaint that diversity is ‘an outcome treated as a goal’.
Sitting in the Fashion section for some reason, but Jennifer Miller's Suffering for Your Art? Maybe You Need a Patron gives a good overview of new models of artist & writer patronage.
Keir Winesmith assembles a list of links to Recent readings on diversity, equity and inclusion in museums
Not art or art world, but terrific writing and/or interesting reporting:
Willa Paskin's The Other Side of Anne of Green Gables, on the new tv adaptation of the classic book series.
Susan Dominus's moving, thoughtful and clear-eyed Is an Open Marriage a Happier Marriage? (Also - check out those uncanny-valley portraits)
Lucia Moses on How Jessica Lessin used her reporting chops to build The Information (aka to build a subscription-based news site that's financially successful).
A fascinating long read on fast fashion and why Britain dominates here by Chavie Lieber for Racked.
Monday, 8 May 2017
Co-option
Last year I wrote a column for Art News New Zealand about the co-option (possibly flattering, possibly not) of the concepts of 'museum' and 'archive' to brand experiences (such as Glade's 'Museum of Emotions', part of their campaign to promote new room sprays).
Recently two examples of this floated across my feeds. On the one hand, the Museum of Icecream (lying at "the sensory intersection of sweet tooth and Instagram") has migrated from New York to LA, and now includes exhibits tailored to sponsors, including Soylent.
On the other hand, the Adirondack Museum has rebranded as 'The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Lake Mountain' in a move "designed to lure more visitors to its sprawling 121-acre indoor-outdoor campus". Locally, the Wellington Museums Trust has rebranded as Experience Wellington.
Now I'm just waiting for the Museum of Experiences.
Recently two examples of this floated across my feeds. On the one hand, the Museum of Icecream (lying at "the sensory intersection of sweet tooth and Instagram") has migrated from New York to LA, and now includes exhibits tailored to sponsors, including Soylent.
On the other hand, the Adirondack Museum has rebranded as 'The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Lake Mountain' in a move "designed to lure more visitors to its sprawling 121-acre indoor-outdoor campus". Locally, the Wellington Museums Trust has rebranded as Experience Wellington.
Now I'm just waiting for the Museum of Experiences.
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