Required Reading
This week, the Corcoran Museum considers a move to the 'burbs, Caribbean art in New York, a guide to the Serpentine pavilions, Gavras's "disingenuous, superficial, irresponsible" video for Kanye & Jay-Z and more.
This week, the Corcoran Museum considers a move to the ‘burbs, Caribbean art in New York, a guide to the Serpentine pavilions, Gavras’s “disingenuous, superficial, irresponsible” video for Kanye & Jay-Z, an artist makes his dead cat into a helicopter (video) and more.
One of the biggest stories of the week is the announcement that the Corcoran Museum in Washington, DC may sell its landmark building — which is only a block from the White House — and move to the suburbs. Tyler Green is all over the story:
“The Corcoran’s spin can’t mask the truth: For years the Corcoran’s leadership has failed to take bold steps and instead has been diminishing the institution by degrees.”
Kriston Capps, who has also been following the story for the Washington City Paper, has a good story questioning Corcoran leadership’s statement to The Washington Post that a principal problem with the institution’s current Beaux-Arts building is that it’s just too small.
A series of shows on Caribbean art are opening soon in three New York museums and Robin Cembalest of Art News has a report about the serendipity of the whole endeavor:
“The project was launched when staff members of El Museo and the Queens Museum discovered that both institutions were considering shows on contemporary Caribbean art and decided to join forces. They then approached the Studio Museum, and so began the collaboration.”
On May 31, we announced the opening of the Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron pavilion at the Serpentine in London, and this week Dezeen published as a useful guide to the history of the Serpentine pavilions.
Domus magazine explores the architecture of the 2012 London Olympics and what it means for the city:
“The event was one of the first opportunities, explained chair and Director of Tate Sir Nicholas Serota, to reflect on issues this massive renewal project provoked, and the lessons learned. Serota has played the role of design champion, along with Burdett and others at the ODA for over 10 years. There, they have consistently pushed the longer term, evolutionary imperative for this site of “sustainable games”, whose development has cost 11,65 billion euros.”
What is it like being the — or at least one of the — most popular women on YouTube? Mashable talks to Jenna Marbles:
With nearly 3 million people following her weekly videos, Jenna Marbles has built a powerful brand around her off-beat, low-tech humor. Those are rather astonishing numbers for webcam-style videos of a woman in her bedroom talking about farts to her two dogs. It’s even more astounding when you consider that she’s been at this just over two years.
Romain Gavras directed the new Kanye/Jay-Z music video and The Fox is Black takes issue with it’s use of apolitical violence:
Gavras’ video feels disingenuous, superficial, irresponsible and perhaps even misogynistic. This is nothing more then an attempt to capitalize on the ‘revolution dollar’.
Christopher Knight of the LA Times thinks that the Hammer Museum’s Made in LA biennial is a success:
My rule of thumb for a successful biennial is wanting to see a third of the work again. That might not sound like much, but the number actually eludes most such shows. The art world is now so large, the works’ range so vast, that expecting more invites disappointment. The Hammer’s show, where a big chunk of undercooked or derivative art can be ignored, is easily a success.
Blake Gopnik of The Daily Beast was in Kassel, Germany, and he published a post that sings the praises of the new Documenta — though I think it’s a little over the top to call it the world’s most important art exhibition (that’s simply not true). He writes:
Somehow, it’s the act of seeking itself that matters in this show, and the way we’re given such a vastness to do our seeking in.
The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans appears to be in trouble, according to Best of New Orleans:
Critics, including Mackie and Cameron, say CAC management, particularly Weigel, has become less and less concerned with the museum’s three-discipline programming mission — visual arts, performance arts and education — and has spent too much time and emphasis on its secondary role as a rental facility.
Fans of the Mad Men television series can now thank WNYC for creating a useful Google Map with many of the locations mentioned on and cited in the tv show.
Required Reading is published every Sunday morning EST, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts or photo essays worth a second look.
