Museum Visits and Assessment
As public school teachers, with all the assessment deadlines, how were you able to utilize museums this year? Did the testing affect how often you take class trips?
Add comment June 17th, 2008 at 01:12pm Cynthia
in the studio: Paul Villinski
I had the chance to visit Paul’s studio with MAD chief curator David McFadden a few weeks back to talk to him about his background, about his work and about his process. This video is the result:
His piece for our Second Lives exhibition is going to be really cool. I highly recommend coming to see it, if for no other reason than to see what records from his collection he chose to destroy for the sake of his art.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to record Paul talking about some of his other creations, like the FEMA trailer / artist studio discussed in the LA Times article, or the giant turbine behind him in this video (an installation piece - the giant fan spins on the outside of an exhibit space to power a tiny fan on the inside), or what I suspect might have been some sort of homemade jetpack which you can just make out over Paul’s left shoulder….
Add comment June 16th, 2008 at 12:09pm Josh
Artist Paul Villinski
You should check out MAD’s media page for the new video on artist Paul Villinski - coming soon.
http://madmuseum.org/INTERACT/media.aspx
The LA Times published a story on Paul Villinski today, who is one of the featured artists in Second Lives - an opening exhibition at MAD’S new home on Columbus Circle for the fall 2008. Our new press person, Heidi Riegler, thought it would be interesting for our blog readers to see. Some of you may remember Paul’s haunting work in the Extreme Embroidery exhibition this past winter - the wings created from discarded gloves, titled Lament from 2001-2006 which the article refers to.
http://madmuseum.org/SEE/past%20exhibitions/PrickedExtremeEmbroidery.aspx
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-trailer13-2008jun13,0,293356.story
Add comment June 16th, 2008 at 11:59am Brian
Deinstallation Video
Better late than never, here’s a nice video to complement Elayne’s post on deinstallation of the 40 West 53rd Street galleries. In this clip, our art handlers are removing Annet Couwenberg’s “Embroidery Penetrates” from the wall of the gallery.
Thanks to Skip La Plante for allowing us to use his music - for those who don’t know Skip’s music, he composes and performs his music on homemade music built from trash (the particular instrument here is a kind of homemade zither called the Kanon). And kudos to Elayne for some excellent narration.
1 comment June 13th, 2008 at 11:23am Josh
Deinstallation of Pricked: Extreme Embroidery
Last week was the deinstallation of our final exhibition at our 53rd Street address. As with installations, the close of exhibitions requires much time spent organizing schedules, wrangling packing materials, talking with artists and lenders, scheduling shipments, and very careful art handling.
Josh will soon post a video clip that will show the deinstallation of one of the “Pricked” artworks, Annet Couwenberg’s Embroidery Penetrates. As you will see, the art handlers take great precaution in protecting this artwork during take down and movement.
The A level gallery with some deinstallation debris.
(More photos after the break)
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Add comment May 8th, 2008 at 01:52pm Elayne Rush
MAD Featured on NY Times
There’s a great interactive feature in the Times this morning about our new museum at 2 Columbus Circle. It covers a brief history of the site, as well as some of the challenges associated with our renovation with interviews with our Director, Holly Hotchner, and architect Brad Cloepfil.
Add comment May 2nd, 2008 at 10:28am Josh
exhibition interactives
Here at MAD we have been working with the design firm Pentagram on a number of projects for our new building, including our exhibition interactives. In its simplest definition, an exhibition interactive would be any element of the exhibition in which the visitor can actively participate. In today’s world, this often involves technology, from computer screens to motion sensors and holograms.
Since this is the first time we have done anything like this at MAD, I have been doing a lot of research into what people think makes for an interesting or useful interactive. I haven’t found any definitive answers. The curatorial team (including myself) has put together a lot of information (mostly in the form of text) about the meanings behind the artwork, or the conceptual or visual connections between artworks in the collection. Perhaps this is what people want or expect from an art museum. But, I can’t help but wonder, maybe this is not what the average person finds interesting and engaging. Especially museum visitors, who have spent all day on their feet, maybe they have small kids they are trying to entertain, maybe they are past the age where they want to do a lot of reading while standing up.
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2 comments April 22nd, 2008 at 11:22am JenScan
2CC
Photo credit: Allied Works Architecture
Spring has arrived in New York! It’s evident throughout the City- but most of all, at its heart in Central Park, where hues of green, white, and violet are filling out the expanse.
At Central Park’s Southwest corner, 2 Columbus Circle (2CC) too is emerging- from 3 years of active construction behind a shroud- to house MAD’s multi-disciplinary arts & design programming in incredibly expanded facilities.
As manager of the New Building Project, I’ve had the unique experience of working with the building’s many team members- from the architects, engineers, construction managers, interior designers, and graphic designers, to city supporters and community partners. We have all waited with baited breath to see the unveiling of 2CC and the realization of a unique material concept for the building façade- which is taking place right now.
1 comment April 16th, 2008 at 03:35pm Lauren
Fan mail for Metropolis
This is a bit of a fan letter. Ever since I started working in the design world, my favorite part of the work-month is my Metropolis magazine delivery. If you’re reading this, you probably already subscribe, but here’s my homage anyway. There is an uncanny resemblance between their content and my daydreams. My obsession with new buildings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi showed up in their November 2007 issue; Palo Samko’s rocking chair, which we featured during our sustainable design program October and which I keep thinking about turned up last month; and this month, it’s kitchen design – a personal preoccupation. But they provide the voyeuristic fulfillment of sneaking a peak into the professional kitchens of Chez Panisse, Stone Barns and others. What a great photo assignment that would have been.
So lucky for us, Martin Pedersen, Metropolis’s Executive Editor, will be joining us as the moderator for Thursday night’s program, Architecture & Recovery. He’ll be carrying on the conversation after Kate Stohr from Architecture for Humanity and Jens Holm from the Rockwell Group speak about their work on The Guardians Institute, an amazing New Orleans community center started by Herreast Harrison. Herreast is also flying up to join us, and to show off what I heard are the incredible beaded-costumes worn during the Mardi Gras festivities. The Guardians Institute was founded to teach this beadwork and other crafts to the local New Orleans community – it will be great to hear more.
Rendering of Guardian Institute, New Orleans, LA
Courtesy of Rockwell Group
Add comment April 15th, 2008 at 10:21am js
Arts in Our City’s Schools
Last month, a survey reported that only 4 percent of New York City’s elementary schools meet the state’s requirement for arts education. Is this the situation in your school? How do we respond to these reports?
3 comments April 14th, 2008 at 04:05pm acb