currents

Louise Bourgeoise at Guggenheim

The Exhibition Confrontation at the Guggenheim is Bourgeoise' foray into installation/performance in the late 1970s. The website has a video to help us understand how the parts move. Through Sept 28
http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/bourgeois/index.html

Os G. is Amazing

One of the most visually interesting and cheerful exhibitions in NYC in mid-July is Os Gemeos at Dietch Projects on Wooster near Canal in SOHO. Take a close look.

Elegy for Rauchenberg

A couple of creative minds at Art21 put together a elegy for Rauschenberg. Nice music.

http://blog.art21.org/2008/05/23/elegy-for-robert-rauschenberg

Art Shows..Yin Yang

The Armory Show and peripheral venues such as VOLTA will be March 27-30. http://www.thearmoryshow.com (Mary Heilmann painting) http://www.voltashow.com

NOLA Prospect.1

To catapult the revitalization of the city of New Orleans and the interesting but struggling arts culture, Prospect.1 is envisioned as new American Biennial. Hopefully, people will flock to see the superstar carpetbaggers with a few local artists added to the mix. http://www.prospectneworleans.org/

Public Art Post-Katrina

A really ambitious archive of new public art projects in New Orleans is at http://artinaction-nola.blogspot.com/ a project by Jessica Blazer pictured here.

Women's Art in NYC

This spring, the Queens Museum and PS1 are featuring women's exhibits. Take a look at the museums' sites
www.queensmuseum.org and http://www.ps1.org/ps1_site/content/view/29/63/ PS 1's show is WACK: Art and the Feminist Revolution. For details on the Queen's show, Making it Together, see below. 

Download making_it_together_march2.pdf

Weiner in the Spotlight

 The Whitney Museum of American Art / Anthology Film Archives is showing
Lawrence Weiner:
Complete Films and Videos
January 23-29, 2008

http://www.whitney.org/weiner
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

Sunday in the Park with George

Beginning January 18, the Roundabout Theater Company will present Sunday in the Park with George, a play that covers a part of Seurat's life in relation to his seminal painting La Grande Jatte...The entire play takes place in the artist's studio. The space at Studio 54 (yes, the old superdisco) should make the experience interesting for audiences. A discussion with the set designer revealed that the scenery will rely heavily on the technology of digital projection.

The exquisite drawings by Seurat at MoMA are only up until the 7th. His drawings on display are evidence of productive and experimental years. His conte crayon on laid paper technique as the vehicle for his many studies of reduced chiaroscuro-esque form...the shapes of a certain age in Paris which is now very romanticized by art viewers.

Seven Propositions about Teaching Art

Asked to present the Städelschule's (Frankfurt) educational philosophy in the 2007 summer issues of Artforum, Mr. Birnbaum presented the following seven propositions:

1. 'Ignorance is a treasure of infinite price' (Paul Valéry). Most of us have a lot to unlearn.

2. Key artists who are also great teachers are rare. Find them, and much else will follow. They don't need to agree on anything and should represent only themselves.

3. Wonderful things can happen between disciplines, but you don't need to tear down the walls. There are doors. (Just leave them unlocked.)

4. Something happens to a thing when it's displayed. An art school is not an exhibition but students should be close to exhibitions.

5. Food can be as important as philosophy, the best teaching may happen during meals. (A good canteen is helpful.)

6. Money is not evil but don't forget: there are much more exciting things than a sold work of art. Is the ideal school a monastery or a bazaar? Yes.

7. There is never just one way to do art. John Baldessari and Thomas Bayrle (my heroes) have shown this in their teaching, and their students around the world keep proving it. (What can be shown cannot be said: 'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.' Just do it!)

If you find these statements interesting (or mystifying), you need to get Teaching Art -- Kunst Lehren.