These days, museums are increasingly straying from traditional exhibition themes, like anniversaries of an artist’s birth (or death), into more topical themes — and, for the record, I have no problem with this strategy. It all depends, in the end, on the strength of the original idea and the execution.

I wish I were in England right now to see an example of this trend, a show that opened yesterday called Aquatopia: The Imaginary of the Ocean Deep, at Tate St Ives. (I regret to say that I’ve never been to St Ives, but I have been to Cornwall, all the way to Land’s End, in fact.) Here’s the description:

This major exhibition brings together over 150 contemporary and historic artworks that explore how the deep has been imagined by artists, writers and poets through time and across cultures. Its briny depths are populated with ancient sea monsters and futuristic dolphin embassies, beautiful sirens and paramilitary gill-men, sperm whales and water babies, shipwrecks and submersibles, giant squid and lecherous octopuses.

So, is this more of a natural science show, viewed through artists’ eyes? If so, it might be quite boring.

Tate, though, goes on to add:

Throughout recorded history the deep has been the site of shared myths, subconscious fears and unnamed desires. Aquatopia, then, is less about the ocean as it actually is and more about how it lives within us. But our wild imaginings about the ocean aren’t simply escapist. The ocean is the keeper of political histories that continually resurface in the present day. Ocean myths both ancient and modern have been shaped by conquest and colonialism, and more recently by the tide of gender politics.

Among the artists in the exhibition are J.M.W. Turner (above left), Marcel Broodthaers, Oskar Kokoschka, Barbara Hepworth (above right), Odilon Redon, Lucian Freud, Hokusai, Mark Dion, Spartacus Chetwynd, Steve Claydon, Juergen Teller, The Otolith Group, Mikhail Karikis and Wangechi Mutu.

I hope it’s the contemporary artists whose works deal with things like “the tide of gender politics.” It’s usually a mistake to reinterpret past works with an overlay of current politics.

We’ll have to wait for reviews of this exhibition — I could none tonight in the British papers — and, perhaps, for RCA readers to write in, if they see it. There is no mention on the Tate website or in the press release I received of this exhibition traveling to other sites. That’s sounds curious, but I think it is Tate’s normal practice.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of Tate St Ives

 

I don’t know who started it — Steve Wynn in Las Vegas, perhaps — but increasingly I receive notice of hotels getting involved with the visual arts. To cite three:

Since 2006, 21C Museum Hotels has existed — the chain started in Louisville. The founders decided to:

reimagine and rehabilitate a series of 19th century tobacco and Bourbon warehouses along downtown Louisville’s West Main Street into a boutique hotel and a contemporary art museum.

21C also operates hotels in Cincinnati and they jumped into the Bentonville market to accommodate visitors to Crystal Bridges. Take a look at their current exhibitions.

The other day, I got a release from the Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, which also — four years ago — started an art program to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach. It said:

This year, The Betsy 2013 Basel continues to explore new territory in its visual arts space, with interdisciplinary works from international, national and local artists on display throughout the hotel’s public and gallery spaces; and corresponding programming that invites the public to interact with the artists.

Among those artists this year are William Kentridge, who will have 20 works from ‘Universal Archive’ on the Lobby Salon. and Christopher Cozier, a Trinadadian who will show Commissioned Works in the Light Boxes  in the B Bar and who will be there during ABMB. The Betsy has other arts programs as well.

Last spring, the Dolder Grand Hotel (right and left) in Zurich began “offering guests an iPad to guide them through artworks on display in the hotel. With 124 works throughout the luxury address – a remarkable collection including legendary artists such as Andy Warhol, Henry Moore and Salvador Dali – there is plenty for guests to peruse.” It continued:

Artworks from the private collection of majority shareholder Urs E. Schwarzenbach further embellish the Zurich City Resort. Most works are displayed in public areas, but some are seen only by guests as they make their way to their rooms on certain floors.

It’s great to have art in public places. It’s also interesting that these hotels use art as a selling point, to differentiate themselves. They are nowhere near alone in this. How far will it go?

 

OOOPS — An Update. I forgot to mention recent developments at the Ocean House resort in Watch Hill, RI., which last week said:

From the Ocean House’s expansive permanent collections to its seasonally-rotating exhibitions from local galleries and popular Artist in Residence program, this seaside resort seeks to showcase great works of art – a personal reflection on the hotel’s founders. The Ocean House announces the unveiling of five murals from Ludwig Bemelmans, in addition to highly sought after panels that were originally commissioned by Aristotle Onassis in 1953 for his famed Christina O yacht.

Ocean House says that every wall in public areas contains some art, and with regard to the artists in residence adds:

During their stay, the artists host evening meet and greets for guests in the Living Room and complimentary art talks on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Over the course of a weekend, guests can view the artist creating a masterpiece using the Ocean House as the backdrop.