collage by Read My Spine.
What are you thankful for?
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11.29.2009
11.20.2009
Site-Specific: Two Models for the Museum of Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday
Recently, two renowned architects' visions of conceptual museum space have created a buzz
in the art world: zaha hadid's monumental design for the freshly-completed
museo delle arti del secolo ventunesimo (MAXXI) and David Chipperfield's renovation
of the original structure and site at the Neues Museum in Berlin.
Each architect's design ultimately reflects two separate, yet vital directions in which
site-specific architecture is heading in the 21st century. The considerations of
the architects when conceptualizing the space seem tailor-made
for each site, resulting in sound construction that makes sense at the given location.
I. Dream Big, Build Bigger: Zaha Hadid and MAXXI
bend sinister: a detail inside MAXXI
A jolt of much-needed modernity enlivens the "eternal" city notorious for its classical
dimensions and ruins, Roma. Enter Maxxi, or the museo delle arti del xxi secolo,
Zaha Hadid's building-homage to arts contemporary and living,
amidst a setting renowned predominately for its archaeologia.
The project materialized in 1999, when Ms. Hadid beat 273 other architects and won
the international competition to design the publicly-funded, ambitious Maxxi.
231 million dollars --and one museum -- later, and it looks like the Italians are still
crazy for the enigmatic Anglo-Iranian "starchitect" and her futuristic design.
In her own words, Ms. Hadid describes the process of conceptualizing the museum space
as a perfect manifestation of making (the Greek poiesis) transformed into craft (techne):
”It was important to decide that we would keep some of the buildings
but not all of the buildings. And once that was decided we made certain studies
where the geometry which replaces the existing one should be octagonal, parallel, should be diagonal.
What began to appear was that a confluence of lines of many different geometries was operating on the site.
What was initiated was the idea of a very fluid formal interpretation of the programme.”
The result: a poetics of construction, massive, yet intimate, dominated by sensuous, curving lines
that seemingly empty out into the vast arteries of the neighboring streets and thoroughfares,
a reference to the very infrastructure binding us all.
Maxxi, the first museum in Italy dedicated to the art of the 21st century,
opens with a site-specific installation by one of Miuccia Prada's favored artists,
the German Tobias Rehberger.
II. Interpreting the Ruins: David Chipperfield and the Neues Museum
urbane decay: a gallery of the Neues Museum
"I do enjoy order. I think that architecture should be ordered--that is has to be readable."
Thus spoke David Chipperfield in a recent interview when asked if he considered himself a
neoclassicist, especially in reference to his renovation of Berlin's Neues Museum.
The comment proffers a glimpse of insight into the painstaking, six-year process undertaken
by Mr. Chipperfield and his team of reconstructing a site with visible signs of an
unstable past. The architect faced the arduous task of restoring a building severely damaged in WWII,
and subsequently left in disuse by the Eastern German regime, to splendor.
The result? Mr. Chipperfield and his associates have gently breathed new life into the Neues Museum, reconstructing rooms damaged by the blasts, yet also "working around"
certain cracks in the facade, leaving the building with readable traces
of its own traumatic history: the building site as palimpsest.
Ruinous elements of the building are meant to complement the newly constructed attributes: for example,
in the photo above, Chipperfield replaced a stairwell destroyed by a bomb with a simple, white
concrete staircase that takes on the dimensions and physical space of the room.
The building is fascinating, exposing the visitor to multiple narratives of
meaning, especially when viewed in terms of the cultural patrimony inside -- including the 2500+ Egyptian artifacts on display --and also the violent recesses of a country's past evident
on its walls. Let things fall apart, each seems to say.
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11.18.2009
Recipes for Life: How to Welcome Change (in any language)
I had a lot of fun and a pang of nostalgia while composing
an article for a good friend's culinary blog.
The article roughly chronicles my experience studying and living in Sicily,
and also contains a delicious recipe for homemade aranciata.
Its title: "How to Welcome Change (in any language)".
Make sure to meander and look at the other ingenious recipes on the site,
including homemade oreos, fresh beef stock, olive oil cake
and zucchini blossoms prepared three ways.
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11.14.2009
The Secret Life of Shadows: Deborah Turbeville at Ralph Pucci, NYC
Currently at the Ralph Pucci showroom, photographer Deborah Turbeville's soft and sexy series, SILENT FILM, stands on display in full elegance and austerity.
the photographs, all taken using a digital camera, portray the telltale weathered and antique elements which have garnered Turbeville's reputation in fashion photography
as the "Anti-Newton".
Some photos reveal a cast of greek and roman statues in the Versailles gardens and estate, much in the same vein as her portfolio of note, Unseen Versailles. Other works represent pastiches of many photographs combined into one total work, which illustrate the narrative of the Carnival at Venice or Paris on a rainy day, for example.
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11.13.2009
Portrait of a Lady: Mina Loy and Djuna Barnes (Special Double Edition)
Mina Loy and Djuna Barnes
She, a European of cosmopolitan repute engaged in writing, society, the arts and dressmaking.
She, an American of Brit extraction -- with cosmopolitan repute -- engaged in writing and letters, society, and
the art of causing a well-curated ripple of attention wherever she went.
Close friends, colleagues, and confidantes.
Two amazing women ahead of their time.
My style inspirations for the upcoming fall/winter season.
- A silver Lucifer
- serves
- cocaine in cornucopia
- To some somnambulists
- of adolescent thighs
- draped
- in satirical draperies...
- --Mina Loy, from her poem, Lunar Baedecker
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11.11.2009
Sense & Sensibility
nighthawk at the diner: Paul Simonon, Bassist, The Clash
Today, a friend of mine educated me on the softer, more cerebral side of a punk rocker's heart.
I refer specifically to Paul Simonon, the bassist of a little band known formally
as The Clash, and his following quote:
"The Buzzcocks were very Mondrian, and we were Pollock.
As a painter, though, I'm essentially old-fashioned.
Conceptualism just doesn't do it for me.
I love Walter Sickert, Samuel Palmer, Rubens and Constable. That's just the way I am."
The qualities I find most attractive in a man
are the same that I appreciate in a Constable painting:
inwardly spiritual, moody, romantic, characterized by equal parts darkness and light.
John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, 1831.
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11.10.2009
Slash & Burn: Burri/Fontana in Catania
l: Alberto Burri, Rossa Plastica, 1962.
r: Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, Attesa, 1960.
Burri/Fontana -- Materia/Spazio
curated by: Bruno Corà
15 Novembre 2009 --14 Marzo 2010
Fondazione Cosentino Puglisi
at Palazzo Valle
via Vittorio Emanuele 122
CATANIA
Per tutti quanti che abitano a quella città sotto il vulcano Etna, una mostra da non perdere.
I due maestri dell'arte italiana dopoguerra, Alberto Burri e Lucio Fontana,
insieme in questa mostra-omaggio.
Per più informazione visita il sito web della Fondazione Cosentino Puglisi.
For all those who call the city under Etna home,
an exhibition not to miss.
The two masters of Italian postwar art,
Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana,
together in this exhibition-homage.
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All Hail Evangelista
Currently enjoying Maurizio Cattelan's portfolio in W Magazine's Art Issue, which
features Linda Evangelista as the actor/icon of sin and sainthood.
Who better to toy with the sacred and the profane than Cattelan?
Who better to express it than Evangelista?
concept: Maurizio Cattelan
photographed by: PierPaolo Ferrari
styled by: Camilla Nickerson
curated by: David Freedman
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11.08.2009
Saying goodbye to summer, pt. II
Saying goodbye to summer, pt. I
Nothing like a cup of tea
and Tom Waits singing "All the World is Green"
to wile away a beautiful Sunday.
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11.07.2009
Get Lost
l: Blind Spot, 2003. Weatherproof Steel
r: Open Ended, 2007-2008. Weatherproof Steel
In case you haven't already,
check out the Richard Serra Exhibition at the Gagosian on W. 21st Street.
Although not recommended for the claustrophobic or faint of heart,
the exploration of the sculptures themselves
almost rivals their appeal as objets d'art.
Read More
11.05.2009
Update on Fauvism
in the flesh: Sotheby's Co-Chairman of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide, David Norman, with Kees Van Dongen's Jeune Arabe
At the Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art sale on Tuesday night,
Kees Van Dongen's colorful 1910 canvas Jeune Arabe, easily outsold its estimate of 7-10 million dollars.
It was acquired by an anonymous phone bidder for a surprising $13,802,500.
The overall feeling of the night seemed to reflect the fervor and electricity in the air of former times,
notwithstanding the global economic crisis. The sale netted an incredible total of
$181,760,000 for the auction house, a sum far more comely than that of the
Christie's Impressionist & Modern evening sale held on the same night.
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11.03.2009
The Skeletons
l: photographer unknown, 0172 (unidentified prisoner; 1975-9)
r: photographer unknown, 0144 (unidentified prisoner; 1975-9)
both photos, property of the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide
“thus, when traveling in Ersilia,
you come upon the ruins of the abandoned cities, without the walls that do not last,
without the bones of the dead which the wind rolls away:
spiderwebs of intricate relationships seeking a form”
-- Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
Gli Scheletri
C’è una guerra accesa
sulla pagina bianca.
Le parole muoiono.
Le parole si ammazzano
nel campo.
un soffio, un colpo—
e la sangue delle parole accende.
Le parole bruciano
Come la croce
Come la pelle
completamente commestibile al foco.
Che resti?
Della cenere e dell’osso
Che resta?
Si fa un resoconto,
si presta la vigilia della lingua
avvolgendo gli scheletri in un lenzuolo del bimbo.
Si recita la scena delicata dalla Pietà
Con un sacco delle parole morte.
Si fa,
Un poeta.
The Skeletons
There is a war raging
on the white page.
The words die
They kill each other
On the field.
one blow, one blow,
And the blood of the words
Ignites
Like the cross
Like the skin
Completely consumed by flame.
What remains?
Bone and ash
What remains?
One makes a report.
Lends the vigil of the tongue.
Folds the skeletons in swaddling cloth.
Recites the tender Pietà scene
With a sack of dead words.
One makes,
One poet.
A new website, memoryandjustice.org,
will serve as a forum for discussions
centered around art and cruelty,
i.e. memory sites and their accompanying issues:
their use and abuse, design, meaning, function, destruction and damage.
What they impart to the living,
what secrets they harbor of the dead.
photograph of Choeung Ek Center of Genocide Crimes, by Louis Bickford
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11.01.2009
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