Great moments in GawkerForum

Admin note: I think MAN had some interesting newsy-ish items yesterday, so scroll on down. And at least three US art museums offer free wifi. See here.

Welcome to the first in what will be a monthly offering: Great moments in GawkerForum. As you must know by now, GawkerForum is Artforum's attempt at publishing something blog-like. It is the worst imaginable mix of society reportage, self-infatuated writing, and tangentially-art-related party coverage. In fact, the operating credo of GawkerForum apparently is that art doesn't matter -- the parties that happen between art installations are everything. So without further ado, the April version.  

"Some have criticized [Francesco] Vezzoli as an opportunist whose only talent is for drawing attention. Then why did so many of us show up? Herd instinct? Glamour quotient? Need for love? I'll leave that to art history..." -- Linda Yablonsky. Art history is interested in determining why people showed up to a Larry Gagosian party? I should be nice: At least Yablonsky didn't compare attending a Vezzoli-Gogo party to covering a war.

"I headed inside, picked up a program, seating card, and sugary-sweet lychee martini, and took the lay of the already bustling land." -- Michael Wilson. Bustle: To move or cause to move energetically and busily. If the land really was bustling, either this story is from 1906 or Wilson has a much bigger story than he thought.

"I learned that you haven't really lived until you've been stuck in a small elevator with large personalities like Jack Pierson, PaceWildenstein's Douglas Baxter, and retired JPMorganChase art advisor Manuel Gonzalez; and, second, that you really haven't lived until you've lived." -- Linda Yablonsky. Is being in an elevator with an artist, a dealer and a retired consultant that critical a life experience? Also: Apparently you haven't lived until you've name-dropped -- which, come to think of it, should be GawkerForum's subtitle.

"After the reception, the sluggish elevator to the dinner in Klagsbrun's West Village penthouse gave us time to reflect on Sullivan's success." -- Linda Yablonsky. (What is it with GawkerForum's elevator fascination?) And while an elevator ride isn't much time to 'reflect' on an artist, it's pretty much the closest GawkerForum came to 'reflecting' on art all month.

"The afterparty took place a block away at The Cock, the recently-relocated gay bar on the site of another known as The Hole, where the gallery crowd were squashed against bemused regulars while enjoying the open bar and a chance to flout the city's smoking ban." -- William Pym. If you're going to bars with names like 'The Cock' and 'The Hole' and all the mischief going on is the flouting of the smoking ban: The party is lame.

"I spoke with pinstriped photographer Hollister Lowe, who had braved the second phase of the evening, to find out what he was making of it all. 'Rivington Arms openings are always great because of the people they attract,' he told me, 'I come for the inspiration of the crowd.' " -- William Pym. Another possible GawkerForum subtitle: Who needs art to inspire you when you have the crowd?