January 11, 2010

I know the sun's about to come up
I close my eyes anyway
my mouth is dry and the sheets are cold
and will be still come break of day



Marlene Dumas, Jule-die Vrou, 1985

* Terry Teachout on blockbuster museum shows:

(1) Once a year, every working art critic should be required to attend a blockbuster show on a weekend or holiday. He should buy a ticket with his own money, line up with the citizenry, fight his way through the crowds, listen to an audio tour—and pay close attention to what his fellow museumgoers are saying and doing. In short, he should be forced to remind himself on a regular basis of how ordinary people experience art, and marvel at the fact that they keep coming back in spite of everything.

That one’s easy. This one’s harder:

(2) Every 'civilian' who goes to a given museum at least six times a year should be allowed to attend a press or private view of a major exhibition. The experience of seeing a blockbuster show under such conditions is eye-opening in every sense of the word. If more ordinary museumgoers were to have such experiences, it might change their feelings about the ways in which museums present such exhibitions.

Lastly, I’ll take a flying leap into the cesspool of arrant idealism:

(3) No museum show should contain more than 75 pieces, and no museum should be allowed to present more than one 75-piece show per year. Tyler Green (whose Modern Art Notes is about to become an artsjournal.com blog, by the way) wrote the other day to tell me that Washington’s Phillips Collection, our favorite museum, is putting on a Milton Avery retrospective in February that will contain just 42 pieces. I can’t wait to see it, not only because I love Avery but because that is exactly the right size for an exhibit of that kind—big enough to cover all the bases, but not too big to swamp the viewer and dull his responses."

* 100 things we didn't know last year (linked fixed).

* "There is still a difference between something and nothing, but it is purely geometrical and there is nothing behind the geometry." -- Martin Gardner

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't know that about THE LAST CARGO CULT. What are the other 99?

1:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Forget the above comment. Thought you had posted incorrect link... and the correct answer is:

Go See The Show.

1:45 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home