Ai WeiweiThe only surprise to this story is how Ai Weiwei managed to stay not arrested for so long.So writes Elaine Chow of the Shanghaiist blog (part of the Gothamist network), regarding the news, published by the Chinese dissident artist on his Twitter page, that Chinese police have put him under house arrest. (My above link to Ai's post is to the site of the tumblr-based … [Read more...] about Ai Weiwei Under House Arrest: Chinese Police Crabby about His “Crab Fest” UPDATED TWICE
Uncategorized
Judge Approves Fisk/Crystal Bridges Deal, Restricts Use of Walton’s $30 Million
Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs LyleIn her latest astonishing Memorandum and Order, issued today, Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled that Fisk University can sell a half-share in its Stieglitz Collection to Alice Walton's planned Crystal Bridges Museum for $30 million. But what Lyle giveth with one hand, she taketh away with the other: The financially … [Read more...] about Judge Approves Fisk/Crystal Bridges Deal, Restricts Use of Walton’s $30 Million
AFP Reports: Ai Weiwei’s New Shanghai Studio Faces Demolition
Ai Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds," now at the Tate ModernTate Photography, © Ai Weiwei [More on the Weiwei Fray: here and here.]Speaking of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, this just in from Agence France-Presse:Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says he is offering his supporters 10,000 river crabs---an autumn delicacy---to "celebrate" the government-ordered demolition of his … [Read more...] about AFP Reports: Ai Weiwei’s New Shanghai Studio Faces Demolition
MeTube in China: Tiananmen Square’s Black Smoke Enshrouds Mao
China Journey: The Grrl at The WallI'm back, art-lings, but not exactly better than ever. I had a fabulous time in China---a particularly exciting place to visit right now, thanks to both its increasingly dominant economy and its proliferating architecture-on-steroids:Shanghai's skyline, seen from my hotel windowA tour-bus view of Rem Koolhaas' Beijing headquarters for CCTV … [Read more...] about MeTube in China: Tiananmen Square’s Black Smoke Enshrouds Mao
National Academy No Longer Ostracized: It’s About Time! UPDATED WITH PODCAST
It figures that I'd be halfway around the world (and not blogging) when the Association of Art Museum Directors announced its long overdue decision to lift the sanctions it imposed almost two years ago on the National Academy. As CultureGrrl readers know, I broke the story about the National Academy's stealth deaccessions in late 2008 of two important paintings---a Church … [Read more...] about National Academy No Longer Ostracized: It’s About Time! UPDATED WITH PODCAST
Fisk/Walton Saga: AAMD’s Admonitory Letter Sent to Wrong Recipient
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, construction photo, July 2010 [NOTE: This will be my last CultureGrrl post for about two and a half weeks. I'll be fleeing halfway around the world to pry myself away from computers, e-mail and blogging!] Fisk University on Friday filed in Davidson County Chancery Court its 92-page revised plan for a proposed $30-million sale of a … [Read more...] about Fisk/Walton Saga: AAMD’s Admonitory Letter Sent to Wrong Recipient
“Won’t Pull Crowds”? NY Times’ Perverse Attendance Prediction for “Chaos and Classicism”
Installation shot of the Guggenheim Museum's "Chaos and Classicism" showHolland Cotter, in today's NY Times finds the Guggenheim's current exhibition, Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918-1936, to be "totally engrossing" (as did I, in my much-Twittered CultureGrrl review, published Friday). But he doesn't think that you'll react as he did.Cotter … [Read more...] about “Won’t Pull Crowds”? NY Times’ Perverse Attendance Prediction for “Chaos and Classicism”
Reactionary vs. Revolutionary: Post-World War I & II Shows at Guggenheim and MoMA
Installation shots from the big fall shows at the Guggenheim, left, and MoMA, rightThere's an electric energy in New York right now, zapping between two parallel but sharply contrasting shows that have just opened at Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. MoMA's show, focusing on American art after the Second World War, is beautiful but not too bright. (I've touched … [Read more...] about Reactionary vs. Revolutionary: Post-World War I & II Shows at Guggenheim and MoMA
MeTube: Meandering (at last) Through Maya Lin’s “Storm King Wavefield”
Storm King Art Center's director and curator, David Collens (left) and its chairman, president and co-founder H. Peter Stern (right) look on as president John Stern blows out the sculpture park's 50th-birthday candles.I have always wanted to walk into, rather than gaze down upon, Maya Lin's Storm King Wavefield, her four-acre commissioned earthwork at Storm King Art Center in … [Read more...] about MeTube: Meandering (at last) Through Maya Lin’s “Storm King Wavefield”
NY Times Explores Death of State’s Deaccession Regs; Ignores New Law Subverting Donor Intent
Merryl Tisch, Chancellor, NY Board of Regents Robin Pogrebin's three-weeks-after-the-fact post mortem in the NY Times about the NY Board of Regents' astonishing, inadequately explained about-face on deaccession regulations sheds some light on what went on behind the scenes. Robin includes this quote from the influential letter addressed to the Regents by Glenn Lowry, … [Read more...] about NY Times Explores Death of State’s Deaccession Regs; Ignores New Law Subverting Donor Intent
MeTube: MoMA’s Ab-Ex Show as Curator Ann Temkin Views It
Jackson Pollock's "Number 7, 1950," seen through David Smith's "Australia" (detail), at MoMA's Ab-Ex showWith my typing fingers entangled in ribbons of red tape (related to my late father's estate) I won't have time today to give you my extended take the Museum of Modern Art's artistically rich but interpretively disappointing Abstract Expressionist New York show, which opens … [Read more...] about MeTube: MoMA’s Ab-Ex Show as Curator Ann Temkin Views It
Guggenheim’s Orbiting BMW-Branded Satellites: Watch Today’s Live Launch!
I now have another reason not to set my alarm early today to attend the Guggenheim's roll-out of its new orbiting BMW satellites. Not only has Carol Vogel already done the heavy-lifting for us, but the museum is going to webcast its 10 a.m. news conference live, here.You don't even have to be a journalist to attend the announcement by Richard Armstrong, director of the … [Read more...] about Guggenheim’s Orbiting BMW-Branded Satellites: Watch Today’s Live Launch!
Huff Post’s “Googleheim” Story Pockets My Coinage, Switches Authors UPDATED
This could conceivably be a case of "great minds think alike": Just one day after I posted what I thought was my own cleverly coined one-word critique of the Guggenheim's deal with YouTube---the "Googleheim"---that same hybrid word was deployed in a Sept. 23 article by Rachel Hewitt that appeared on the website of Chicago Art Magazine.But that ain't all. In a puzzling turn of … [Read more...] about Huff Post’s “Googleheim” Story Pockets My Coinage, Switches Authors UPDATED
Scholarly Smackdown: Where are the Best Art History PhD Programs?
My blogging buddy, Jon Lackman of the Art History Newsletter, has a little list that he's extrapolated by crunching the numbers from the National Research Council's just released database assessing U.S. doctoral programs in 62 academic fields.Jon has listed 51 schools in order of their purported rank for art-history PhD programs. Here are his Top … [Read more...] about Scholarly Smackdown: Where are the Best Art History PhD Programs?
The Met’s Timid “Khubilai Khan” Show: No Barbarians at These Gates
Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell, and Asian art chairman James C.Y. Watt, at press preview for "The World of Khubilai Khan"Where are the barbarians when we really need them?The Metropolitan Museum's just opened exhibition of art in China during the period of occupation by Mongol invaders---The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty---is a typically … [Read more...] about The Met’s Timid “Khubilai Khan” Show: No Barbarians at These Gates