I’m still away, but the news never stops. Actually, I finished an article on Melissa Chiu’s vision for the Asia Society Museum before I left the U.S., and it was published in today’s Wall Street Journal. Headlined A Society Evolves, it is pegged to the opening this weekend of an exhibition on art created in Iran between 1950 and the 1970s, while the Shah was in control. He allowed, surprisingly, relative freedom in the arts. I am looking forward to seeing the show; so far I’ve looked only at the catalog.
But my article is broader than that, and I hope you’ll have a look.
Chiu said her exhibits are more about history than art history, though they involve both, obviously — they are, she hopes, topical.
The Asia Society Museum is surely different from many other museum, and it was good for us to hear Chiu out and think about that difference.
I am in Ukraine, btw, and have visited some museums. I’d say that someone else might consider an effort parallel to Chiu’s with Asian museum directors here in the former east bloc. (Yes, I know there have been some efforts over the years – but can’t get into that from this far away — and not much computer access.)