Friday, June 1. 2007
Pick 'N Mix - June 2007
Welcome to the June edition of Pick 'N Mix, my monthly annotated list of bite-sized items that have caught my eye recently.
- Art fair season is upon us, though many collectors and curators seem to lament the lack of desirable objects to purchase, even at one of the biggest of them all, Art Basel: ""We don't buy much at the fair,'' said Todd Levin, who oversees the $100 million Sender Collection from New York, in a telephone interview. "Art fairs have morphed into a 'fairorama' and consumer paradise or hell that is not conducive to spending time to investigate a work.''"
- Cynthia Beth Rubin adroitly notes on the iDC mailing list that there is in fact, plenty of quality work to collect, there is simply perhaps not enough that is 'on trend'. Rubin writes: "We know that we live in a curated time, a time in which the interest comes not from the artists but from those who envision and organize exhibits around conceptual movements that they either identify or invent (who knows?). If work falls outside of the parameters of the curatorial mission, then it is not shown. If work is too similar to already selected work, it is not shown. But if work goes too long without being shown, it fall out of view of the curators, and it is difficult to resurrect it." Rubin is reacting to this article in the New York Times, about the hot (or not, if you are an ambitious collector?) market at Art Basel.
- The word "curator" is increasingly coming to mean someone whose taste you trust to sift through mountains of blog posts every day, and present you with the golden nuggets (which is a little bit like what I am doing with these "Pick 'N Mix" posts, I suppose). Björn Jeffery at Good Old Trend explains why he believes journalists need to move from being gatekeepers to being "curators" in the this sense: "Imagine an art curator running a gallery for instance. You donât go to the gallery because you necessarily know the artist exhibiting, but you trust the curator enough to go anyway. You respect his/her taste and choices enough to check it out." Being trustworthy was always part of being a journalist, and now with this expanding definition of curator, journalists are also expected to have taste.
- A rose by another name would smell as sweet, right? Perhaps, but that hasn't stopped the powers that be at the Museum of Television in New York City from renaming it so that it will no longer be known as a museum. â'Museum' was not a word that tests really well with the under-30 and 40-year-olds,â especially in the context of radio and television, Pat Mitchell, the museum's chief executive said. Henceforth, it will be known as the Paley Center for Media, after the late CBS founder William S. Paley.
- And finally, tank.tv has put some interviews with curators from their Fresh Moves project online.
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POSTED_BY Michelle Kasprzak IN Pick 'N Mix AT 05:23 | COMMENTS (0) | TRACKBACKS (0)
Defined tags for this entry: Art Basel, art market, collector, gatekeeper, journalist, museum, New York
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Mon, 29.10.2007 11:01
Hi Alissa, I realise that thi s internship is from last fall , however the position is some thing which sparked my interes t. I am a third year Queen's U niversity art history student, from Toronto [...]
Mon, 22.10.2007 09:02
I dropped off a package regard ing a show I curated, "Through the Night Softly" I will come by a drop off a s.a.s.e. befo re I leave aginn for Vienna th is Thursday the 25TH.
Sun, 21.10.2007 05:56
Actually I find that in most c ases in the art world, not mu ch is "open and transparent" a nd it becomes more arcane the higher up you go. I like the post by Niels Van Tomme, who m akes some poin [...]
Sun, 14.10.2007 20:59
Absolutely! As her sister and co-artist to several of the p rojects she has done. She is one on her own and from nothin g makes new and wonderful crea tives experiences to evolve.
Sun, 14.10.2007 20:58
I can vouch the dedication of Gaynor. She has given many op portunities, including myself to work along side to help my research in my practice. This is a woman and artist wit h so much visi [...]
Mon, 01.10.2007 07:48
To continue to stretch things a bit...Maybe you would be int erested in the book _Everyday eBay: culture, collecting, and desire_. It's an anthology an d many of the essays touch on issues germane [...]
Sat, 01.09.2007 03:02
GRUPPO SINESTETICO (Albertin , Sassu , Scordo) artists Itali an POSSIBLE PARTECIPATION I N SCAPE BIENNIAL ? thanks f or your reponse sassu X Grup po Sinestetico www.grupposine stetico.it
Sat, 21.04.2007 18:28
sheesh, i've broken more than one of those tips!
Sat, 21.04.2007 06:55
That's very true! Do it yourse lf, don't wait for someone els e to do it for you.... exactly what prompted Yael to start t he Upgrade!.
Tue, 17.04.2007 12:23
In part this is the very motiv e of Upgrade, isn't it?
Sat, 07.04.2007 06:40
That collection of youtube lin ks is pretty mixed up. I don't know if youv'e had time but y ou can get Dan Graham 17 yrs h itting his little sister in fr ont of the tv. There are alot of Dan Grahams [...]
Mon, 19.02.2007 12:04
I love Ideas, and have become a heavy listener to Ideas podc asts over the last few months. When I was in Toronto a co uple of weeks ago (InterAccess show) I got interviewed by No ra Young who i [...]
Wed, 07.02.2007 17:47
Howdy! Thanks Tons!
Wed, 03.01.2007 15:15
hi Anu, I can't agree more. W hile it is always a pleasure t o witness how up-and-comers ov ercome roadblocks in innovativ e ways, and enjoy the fruits o f their efforts, we must also ask ourselves [...]
Wed, 03.01.2007 14:29
Though I am always pleased to see independent curators get s ome press, I wonder if the ver y real problem of compensation is addressed. There are alway s opportunities to make great shows if you c [...]