Five things I think I think

1.) What is Paul Goldberger's (perpetual) hurry? The New Yorker's architecture critic has raised premature reviews to the level of common practice. Recently he reviewed the Denver Art Museum before there was, well, much art in the museum. And this week he's at Steven Holl's addition to the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City. (The N-A doesn't open for over six weeks.) Sure enough Goldberger's review reads half-done: He mentions that there's some art in the building but what about the N-A's big new photo galleries? Nary a word. (That space is probably not installed yet.) How art exists in art museums is central to the whole enterprise. Patience Paul, patience.

2.) It's Fortune 500 week in American business. I don't know what the top ten American museums are in terms of operating budget for 2006, but here's a guess: Metropolitan, Getty, National Gallery of Art, MFA Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, LACMA, Philadelphia, FAMSF... and then a lot of museums in the $20-30 million range.

3.) Is it Jeff Wall or is it Memorex? [via] And what does that say about Jeff Wall's work?

4.) Rob Storr talks with Time's Richard Lacayo about the Venice Biennale. Storr says to expect something new that's old.

5.) I'm bummed by the LA media/art critical establishment response to Andrea Zittel's show at MOCA. Christopher Knight passed on it at the LAT, and so is Doug Harvey at LA Weekly. (Instead the Weekly has run an ineffectual profileish thing by Arty Nelson.) I think Zittel is a game-changer, the kind of artist who mixes sculpture, performance, conceptualism, community (and post-industrial idealism) together better than anyone -- including M. Barney. There probably aren't more than four living artists about whom I'd want to write a book. Zittel is at the top of the list. (PGWP blogs about the upcoming High Desert Test Sites, and Liale discusses Zittel as a non-Wacky feminist.)