Weekend roundup, silly Smithsonian edition

This morning's bit of ham-fisted fundraising comes from the Smithsonian, which is using the 'events-only' email distribution list of at least one Smithsonian museum to beg for money. It's possibly the silliest fundraising solicitation I've ever received.

First, let's remember that for years the Smithsonian has fiddled and spent money on private jets while its facilities rotted. Those museums and storage facilities have rotted to the tune of $2.5 billion. Congress, upset at rampant mismanagement throughout the SI, has long ignored the need. And now the Smithsonian wants to build another $1 billion worth of new museums. This is an old, old story.

But this morning the SI sent out an email saying " The U.S. Congress has challenged us to raise the money needed to address this critical situation immediately. We have 9 days left in our fiscal year to show Congress we have the support of people like you!" The email goes on to say that the SI has to demonstrate it can reach an unspecified goal that Congress will give it an extra $15 million, one two-hundred-and-thirty-third of what the SI says it needs. And there are only nine days! This just became extra super-duper important now, but it's so double-secret important we can't tell you what the goal is!

In a related story, the SI leaked to the NYT the news that former Gates Foundation boss Patty Stonesifer will  be the new chairman of the SI board. The Gates Foundation is America's largest grant-making foundation and has $39 billion in assets. But nevermind that: There are only nine days left!

• Several years ago, when I was working as an art critic for Bloomberg, I wrote about how horribly awful the Damien Hirst 'pill paintings' show at Gagosian was. My editor didn't like that I'd ripped the show, and she told me I had to be wrong. Her rationale? Gagosian claimed that the show sold out before it opened. (Yeah. I departed shortly thereafter.) On Saturday Roberta Smith examined how Damien Hirst toys with the market -- and how he isn't afraid to make horrible art (like pill paintings) to do it. Don't miss the last paragraph. UPDATE: Richard Lacayo cleverly agrees.
  
• Speaking of Smith, how close did she come to saying that Vincent Van Gogh was the greatest Western artist since the mosaicists at Ravenna?
• In the NYT Hilarie Sheets profiles Cathy Opie. Bonus amuseument: Watching the NYT figure out what to call the leather community. Or the S&M community.
  
• SFMOMA's temporary Sol LeWitt murals installation lasted eight years, reports the SF Chron's Sam Whiting. Here's what's next. (Although what their financial value has to do with anything I have no idea. The works are in SFMOMA's collection. They've been permanently demonetized.)
•  The Chron's Kenneth Baker digs a show of (the tres underrated) Frank Lobdell at SF's Hackett-Freedman.
• The SD Union-Trib's Robert Pincus says this show at MCASD (which has an awesome website) makes you think in all the right ways.
• Struggling Detroit has lots of empty space. Why not let artists take advantage of it, posits the Detroit Metro Times' Rebecca Mazzei.
• Over the summer I spent a week discussing the Baltimore Contemporary's Cottage Industries show, an exhibition about communitarianism and art. A Detroit couple, Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert take to the Metro Times to propose a project that would have fit right in. And Berliners Stephane Orsolini and Erika Mayr create a project involving bees and open space. The Baltimore Contemporary picked up on something...