View Full Version : Art News Digest - 7.19.05


pink_ribbon_scars
07-19-2005, 04:16 PM
maybe no one care, but i get these weekly digests from the museum where i volunteer and i thought that this week's was pretty good

Around the World:

1. MUSEUMS SELL OUT: It has now become the norm for museums to sell their art, rent their space for blockbuster exhibitions, and otherwise exercise judgment more indicative of a for-profit corporation than a non-profit keeper of culture and art, says Michael Kimmelman. "A steady corrosion of faith in the integrity of institutions will be the long-term price for short-term wheeling and dealing. With faith goes the delicate ecosystem of charitable contributions and tax-free privileges. Why, the public will ask, do institutions like these reap the benefits of nonprofit status if they service private interests who shape the content of what's on view and/or reap cash rewards?" The New York Times 07/17/05

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/arts/design/17kimm.html?



2. CATTELAN'S CELEBRITY SCANDAL: "Maurizio Cattelan is Italy's most successful contemporary artist. In 2004 after his sculpture of a hanging horse, The Ballad of Trotsky, was auctioned for $1.2m (now £686,000), ArtReview magazine put him at number four on a list of the art world's VIPs. It was the highest ranking for any artist. But the Genoa-born artist Vanessa Beecroft - best known for her disturbing installations of living, almost nude, models - said she had had an affair with Cattelan before either became famous and that she was the source for many of his ideas." The Guardian (UK) 07/19/05

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1531420,00.html



3. CHINA INVESTS IN ASSEMBLY-LINE ART: "China's low wages and hunger for exports have already changed many industries, from furniture to underwear. The art world, at least art for the masses, seems to be next, and is emerging as a miniature case study of China's successful expansion in a long list of small and obscure industries that when taken together represent a sizable chunk of economic activity. China is rapidly expanding art colleges, turning out tens of thousands of skilled artists each year willing to work cheaply. The Internet is allowing these assembly-line paintings to be sold all over the world; the same technology allows families across America to arrange for their portraits to be painted in coastal China." The New York Times 07/15/05

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/business/worldbusiness/15paint.html?hp



4. DEATH OF THE BIENNALE: A trip through this summer's Venice Biennale makes you despair of the whole idea, writes Jerry Saltz. "After a show like this it's tempting to say that biennial culture is over, that these fetes are too big, baggy, and bureaucratic to reflect the state of art. By now it's unclear who they're for: The several hundred thousand who come to see them or the several thousand from the art world. Yet, just when they seem dead, a new age of biennials looms. In roughly 700 days, starting early June 2007, a kind of Harmonic Convergence of super exhibitions is slated to take place when the Venice Biennale, Documenta XII, and the Munster Sculpture Project will open one after the other." Village Voice 07/12/05

http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0527,saltz,65589,13.html



5. THE GUGGENHEIM'S MONEY WOES SPELLED OUT: Earlier this year the Guggenheim's biggest benefactor left the museum's board amid allegations that the Goog's financial house was crumbling. A memo spells out just how crumbly... Vanity Fair 07/13/05

http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/050711roco02



6. DETROIT IS CLOSING ITS ARTS OFFICE: Many cities in Michigan have been "building economic development strategies based on the strengths of vibrant cultural activities." But Detroit has decided to close the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism in an attempt to reduce the city's $300-million budget shortfall. "We all understand that Detroit's policymakers have more demands than they have dollars, but arts and culture pays for itself many times over. And if a stronger economy is the destination we seek, arts and culture in Detroit is one of the best ways to get there." Detroit Free Press 07/18/05

http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/ekratchman18e_20050718.htm



7. WHEN DO YOU TURN CHILDREN ON TO ART: Have we become too protective introducing children to difficult art? "I do worry about exposing children to literature, films and theatre before they are ready - and I am particularly jumpy about violent films. But how do you decide when a child is 'ready' for a film? It is fascinatingly ambiguous. The extraordinary thing is that works of art - especially books - change according to age. A book read at 18, reread at 48, may seem entirely different. Age is part of what we bring to a work of art." The Observer (UK) 07/17/05

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1530109,00.html



8. RISE OF THE VIDEO BLOGGERS: Now that podcasting has gone mainstream, the next big thing is video-blogging, of vlogs. "Anyone can create media and have a distribution outlet for it that bypasses television and mainstream media. It's like slightly curated cable-access. Many of the vlogs have a home-grown, experimental feel. People capture moments in their everyday lives. Some post cooking lessons, short films or videos of local festivals or family events like graduations." Wired 07/13/05

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,68171,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1



9. DECLINING TICKET SALES AT RAVINIA: Ticket sales for the Chicago Symphony's summer season at Ravinia have been down for the better part of a decade now, and while the numbers certainly don't indicate a crisis, they might point to a general malaise. "The apparent defection of a segment of Ravinia's core audience over the last 15 years strikes at the artistic heart of America's oldest music festival even as it tests the goodwill and durability that have marked the Chicago Symphony's long relationship with Ravinia. Business partners during the summer who lead largely independent lives during the rest of the year, Ravinia and the CSO now find themselves in circumstances that call for something they haven't much done before, cooperative problem-solving." Chicago Tribune 07/17/05

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/arts/chi-0507170216jul17,1,362026.story?coll=chi-leisurearts-hed



10. ART STUDENT EXPLAINS HIS FAKE SUICIDE: The UCLA art student who last year faked his suicide with a gun he had carved out of wood has come forward to tell his story. "Deutch, now 26, also knew that gunplay could upset fellow students and get him in trouble with campus authorities. But in his first comments on the incident, he says he never dreamed, as he got up to perform in UCLA's graduate art annex in Culver City, that his phantom gunshot would ricochet and cause the departure of two UCLA professors, roiling the campus for several months." Los Angeles Times 07/12/05

http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-et-ucla9jul09,0,3999098.story

Mayfuck
07-19-2005, 04:24 PM
I read about the Deutch performance in the newspaper. I would liked to have been there to see that.

pink_ribbon_scars
07-19-2005, 04:34 PM
Originally posted by Mayfuck
I read about the Deutch performance in the newspaper. I would liked to have been there to see that.

wow i didn't know ron athey was a teacher there, and was in fact the teacher at hand. he's fucking nuts.

NSFW images by cathy opie:
"Crucified," and "Solar Anus" (2000)
http://www.wildseduction.com/img/wsg_athey_art1.jpg
http://www.wildseduction.com/img/wsg_athey_art2.jpg

DeadSwan
07-19-2005, 07:42 PM
those are some pretty depressing headlines :(


OHHHHHHHHHHHH, what an age to want to be an artist :(

2Marlon2Brando
07-19-2005, 07:44 PM
i am an artist and my medium is life

DeadSwan
07-19-2005, 07:47 PM
Originally posted by 2Marlon2Brando
i am an artist and my medium is life

my medium is XXX-large

2Marlon2Brando
07-19-2005, 07:48 PM
the bigger the better

DeadSwan
07-19-2005, 07:49 PM
Originally posted by 2Marlon2Brando
the bigger the better

that's what your mom says

2Marlon2Brando
07-19-2005, 07:50 PM
god bless her

DeadSwan
07-19-2005, 07:51 PM
Originally posted by 2Marlon2Brando
god bless her

oh, totally


your mom is a pretty neat lady

pee pee colada
07-19-2005, 07:51 PM
Originally posted by pink_ribbon_scars
<img src="http://www.wildseduction.com/img/wsg_athey_art1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.wildseduction.com/img/wsg_athey_art2.jpg"> what is the message here.

2Marlon2Brando
07-19-2005, 07:52 PM
so whats it like being an artist

DeadSwan
07-19-2005, 07:56 PM
Originally posted by 2Marlon2Brando
so whats it like being an artist


i wouldn't know


but from what i hear, it sucks. unless you have rich parents and can ingratiate yourself into the right circles by providing a lot of premium coke at williamsburg loft parties.



even really talented people don't make it. there's a shock.

it's like rain, on your wedding day

Hera
07-19-2005, 07:58 PM
Originally posted by Mayfuck
I read about the Deutch performance in the newspaper. I would liked to have been there to see that.

pink_ribbon_scars
07-19-2005, 11:14 PM
Originally posted by pee pee colada
what is the message here.

good question. i don't know, but to me, it is something like, "the variations on how you can live are infinite, and why take things too seriously? we're all just living and we're all going to die (hence the signs of mortality on his body), so do whatever the fuck you want."


how does that hit you? i really don't know what that crazy man is all about. i give tours of a much more formal, less porno picture of him. it is one of my favorite photos, but i have no link.