I decided to settle in to the second half of my lunch break with a few turns of Scrabulous.
But, my god, it's down! They're trying to work out some "kinks," so please excuse them! So disappointing. So not Fabulous.
ESKIMOS:
- Controversy at the Massachusetts MoCA: Do you side with the museum or the artist? Obviously, the New York Times sides with the artist. I think it was hardly in the museum's best interest (legally and artistically) to let visitors in Building 5 with tarps over all the unfinished installation. Why would they want to let visitors see the clear failure of major project? Museum donors are, obviously, balking at the $300,000 price tag. I doubt it assuages their concerns much to walk into a warehouse of crap collected for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nevertheless, this Christoph Buchel is clearly a head case, and I think the museum's big mistake was, as Tyler Green puts it, not saying 'no' soon enough, or, in a better-case scenario, legally making the artist finish his installation in the initial contract. But give us none of this Visual Artist Rights Act. Buchel, as 1/2 of the artist-museum relationship, should have finished his installation. He had the power to finish it and decide how he wanted it shown. MassMoCA, $300,000 in the hole, was right to seek legal action at Buchel's abandonment but it does make me cringe to hear that they opened it, tarp-covered, BEFORE they went to court.
Here is a rundown of the court case, which Buchel lost. I am not well-versed in the law and how court cases work (I don't even watch lawyer TV shows or movies, so everything I know I learned from To Kill A Mockingbird), so I don't know why the judge is talking about how it's the most moving piece of contemporary art he's ever seen, he woke up at night thinking about it, yadda yadda. Is that his job?
- Paper Monument - A Mr. Kelsey brought his over to our abode last night and I am in love with this publication. The essay from the editors is sassy and smart, and I am particularly gleeful whenever New York is put in its place, as it is by Christopher Hsu. Icing on the cake is the inclusion of some portfolio work by one of my favorites, Jon Pylypchuk. Discovering this made my day feel productive.
- Writer's Rooms - Also brought to my attention by Mr. Kelsey. This is AWESOME. So far: Alain de Botton wins for his explanation; Jonathan Safran Foer loses.
YOUR WEEKEND:
- Friends With You/Judith G. Levy @ SooVAC - AWESOME! SooVAC is becoming my favorite gallery around here...
Lunch time is OVER. Scrabulous, I'm coming back for you later.
