Sequestered by the sea and the A train still out until at least June, the Rockaways and the continued rebuilding there from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy can be easy to overlook. MoMA PS1 along with MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design are holding a call for ideas for what could be a more sustainable waterfront for the Rockaways. The open call is, in large part, an effort to remind people that help is needed, explained Klaus Biesenbach, director of MoMA PS1, and to grab the attention of architects and artists in considering a stable infrastructure for the future of the area.
Klaus Biesenbach
Posted inNews
MoMA PS1’s Klaus Biesenbach Explains Why Rockaway Needs Your Help Now
For the last week, MoMA PS1 director and curator Klaus Biesenbach has been actively tweeting about the devastation in the Rockaways section of Queens, which was hit hard by post-tropical cyclone Sandy. While power returned to most of lower Manhattan late Friday night and 80% of the city’s subway system is back up and running today, some parts of New York continue to pick up the pieces from the Frankenstorm storm that rocked New York, New Jersey, and the surrounding region.
Posted inNews
Art, Music, Film Celebrities Write a Letter to Mayor Bloomberg About the Rockaways
One cluster of the New York art world A-list have contributed their bold-faced name power to an open letter addressed to New York Mayor Bloomberg. The vague letter highlights the plight of the Rockaways while explaining that the letter is to “support the city in your amazing, monumental efforts in all boroughs to save our city and to encourage the creative communities in New York to invent exemplary ways of helping out neighbors and fellow New Yorkers!”
Posted inArt
The Curator Is Present
No, the artist was not present at Film Forum for a screening of her documentary, The Artist Is Present, a couple of weeks ago. The artist is Marina Abramović, and though she wasn’t there — neither was the director of the film, Matthew Akers — I kept expecting her glamorous self to storm in as a last-minute surprise. But who was there was the reason I showed up for the screening: Mr. Klaus Biesenbach, chief curator at large of the Museum of Modern Art and director of MoMA PS1.
Posted inNews
Is Marina Abramović Trying to Create a Performance Art Utopia?
Nearly 150 people gathered in MoMA PS1’s performance dome this morning to hear Marina Abramović present plans for her new museum dedicated to performance art in Hudson, NY. As the crowd took their places on and around the oversize red ottomans filling the space, people gazed at and stuck their heads inside the glowing architectural model set up in front (it features a hole in the center, for peering inside). Within a few minutes, MoMA and PS1 curator Klaus Biesenbach introduced the woman who must be the only celebrity performance artist in the world. “If it wasn’t for Marina,” he said, “I expected 10 guests or so.” (Although free pastries and coffee always help.)
Posted inArt
Klaus Biesenbach Explains Why Kraftwerk Deserves a MoMA Retrospective
Last week, Kraftwerk-loving New Yorkers were in tears as tickets to the German electronic group’s upcoming retrospective at MoMA sold out at lightning speed. One friend told me she was poised with multiple browsers when tickets went on sale, but she was still out of luck, as they disappeared in the blink of an eye. Despite the fact that MoMA welcomes over three million visitors a year, the institution’s outsourced ticket vendor appeared to be caught by surprise, and thousands of fans were left disappointed in the wake of Kraftwerk-gate — OK, not exactly a controversy, but everyone was peeved by the whole process.
Posted inArt
Extreme Makeover: Art World Edition
Since we’ve been running down the most powerless and most f***able art world figures, now we’re seeing which ones are in dire need a makeover. Anyone in the public sphere knows the way they dress reflects greatly on their work, and art people, fortunately or not, are no exception.
Posted inArt
My Own Private Professor Franco
“The museum is a participatory social space,” Klaus Biesenbach, director of MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator at Large for MoMA, said to an eager crown of 200 in his introductory address for this inaugural edition of his Summer School series. Modeled after the salon style teaching more commonly practiced in European arts capitals, PS1’s two-part lecture series was offered free to undergraduates. It featured a classroom experience with James Franco and Gus Van Sant, among others.
Posted inArt
Art Stars Fly Their Freak Flag for Hans Ulrich Obrist’s New Interview Book
Obrist is strange. There, I said it. In an event that often felt like a coffee klatch at Obrist’s house, the art world power broker known as Hans Ulrich Obrist — he’s #2 on Art Review’s Power 100 — had a book reading last Saturday at MoMA’s PS1 in Long Island City for his newest publication, Hans Ulrich Obrist: Interviews, Volume 2. The event venue looked like a cross between a set for the Last Supper and a conference stage thrown together by Leni Riefenstahl and there was coffee and books being served on the periphery of the event.
Posted inArt
The 20 Most Powerless People in the Art World: 2010 Edition
This month we add another 20 to the growing list of the Powerless 20 we published last year to mark the painful rite of passage that is Art Review’s hilarious Power 100 list.
Here’s to hoping you’re not on it!
Posted inArt
MoMA’s Abramović Ends With a Bang
The last day of the Marina Abramović’s “The Artist Is Present” at MoMA was marked by a frenzy of activity both IRL and online. The veteran performance artist has proven that her art form has come of age and it can hypnotize a whole city — and art world — into believing or “unbelieving” that she’s the biggest game in town.
Posted inOpinion
Lady Gaga & Klaus Biesenbach Spotted Together at MoMA
This story keeps getting better and better … first, PS1 chief curator Klaus Biesenbach told David Byrne that Lady Gaga wasn’t an artist, then Byrne retracted the quote, and now today, tweeter @JackRicofficial spotted Biesenbach giving what appears to be a tour of the Museum of Modern Art to Lady Gaga.
