On the mess in the Berkshires

And so it has degenerated to this: Christoph Buchel finally speaks about the MASS MoCA mess. And how? With a childish retort. MASS MoCA speaks too: Through a blog post that should be required reading for any grad student that is considering being a curator. Oh ye young Harv(B)ard-ians, learn from their experiences.

So far most of the pontificating I've read in print and online about the Buchel/MM extravaganza has been about the merits of the legal case or about the 'When Is It Art?' question. Most critics and observers have chosen sides. After all, this is a case that positions the little guy -- The Noble Artist! -- against the big institution -- The Museum as The Man -- and that kind of mano-a-mano set-up lends itself to horse-picking.

But both Buchel and the museum are in the wrong; both sides have behaved badly. More importantly, they've each served the other and their shared public poorly -- but not for the reasons you think. Nevermind whether MASS MoCA should have shown the unfinished whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Honestly? I don't care. Nevermind whether Buchel made unreasonable demands. Creative types have done that since the beginning of time. Museums show things, artists always want more: Both characters are playing true to type.

MASS MoCA's mistake was not saying 'no' or 'stop' before it reached this point. Maybe the mistake was not saying 'no' when Buchel's name came up in a meeting. Every curator or dealer -- every single one -- that I know that has worked with Buchel has found him to be impossible. The museum had to know this going in and still failed to work out an iron-clad agreement with the artist regarding mutual expectations and obligations for the installation. (In fact there's still no agreement about how this thing got started: MASSMoCA director Joe Thompson told me that the museum and Buchel agreed to an iron-clad budget: "It was explicit, and it was agreed upon," Thompson said in email. " Buchel's attorney, Donn Zaretsky says there was no agreement.)

Buchel's mistake was not showing enough respect to the institution and the small army of people who worked to help him realize his vision for the piece. (To put it another way: MASS MoCA's mistake was institutional, Buchel's mistake was lacking humanity.) In the end, he didn't deserve them. An institution and a town were willing to spend time, money, energy and space on him and instead of realizing he was in a situation that near every artist would kill for, he spat on them. He needs to be sent to the corner for some quiet time. And probably will be: What museum would go near him after this?!

Finally, MASS MoCA and Buchel should both read this book. It's called What Makes a Great Exhibition? It was published last year by the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative. It's not just for curators, it's for artists too. It provides wise advice on dealing with institutions, advice that often applies more broadly.