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curated by sierra gonzalez 
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Stimulating the arts

Are you suggesting that somehow if you work in [the arts], it isn't real when you lose your job, your mortgage or your health insurance? We're trying to treat people who work in the arts the same way as anybody else.

On Friday, Wisconsin Representative David Obey (a Democrat, unsurprisingly) successfully argued on the House floor to include the arts in the stimulus plan.  Though the earlier plan that passed through the Senate did not include any arts funding, the plan that Obama will sign includes $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, which would be able to pass the money along to museums, theaters and art centers. (Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma had tried to bar these organizations from receiving stimulus money in an amendment that lumped them with casinos, golf courses, and swimming pools as "wasteful, non-stimulative" projects.)

While arts funding has long been a point of contention and a part of the culture war between Democrats and Republicans, the arts industry provides 6 million jobs, $30 billion in tax revenue and $166 billion in annual economic impact; it's also at a 12.5% unemployment rate, according to the NYTimes article that reported NEA's stimulus funding. As in other sectors, the full impact of the current economy on the arts is still unknown, but likewise, the stimulus funding—though it won't be a quick fix—will be a step towards recovery.

Filed under  //   art   economy   museum   politics  

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273 seconds of silence

What is it like to watch—or perform—John Cage's famously "silent" piece 4'33"? SFMOMA gallery attendant Michael Zelenko posted his experience on the museum's blog:

At some point during the third movement, as if orchestrated, all these previously unacknowledged sounds seemed to come together. It felt to me as if the museum itself was performing for us. When it was all over I turned to the audience and heard the pitter-patter of applause, not quite sure who it was for.


The (performance? installation? artwork? all of the above?) was part of SFMOMA's The Art of Participation exhibition, which closed Sunday.

Filed under  //   museum   music   performance   sfmoma  

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MoMA Atlantic/Pacific

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Photo: Chester Higgins Jr. for the New York Times

Until mid-March, Brooklyn's Atlantic/Pacific subway station will host over 50 masterpieces from the MoMA... sort of. The glossy reproductions of Pollock, Picasso, and others (complete with the same wall text seen at the MoMA in Midtown) are part of the museum's ad campaign designed to remind New Yorkers of the masterpieces in their backyard and drive membership sales. The project, which occupies every single ad space in the station, also includes a microsite with video tours, a Flickr-generated gallery, and resources to learn more about the art on display. [NYT]

Filed under  //   advertising   art   brooklyn   museum   new york   public art  

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A new museum in San Francisco's Presidio

Should Gap founder Don Fisher build a museum for his modern art collection in the Presidio?  Jimmy Stamp at Life Without Buildings looks to sci-fi for an answer.

It seems that at some point in this alternate history, San Francisco's preservationists eventually conceded defeat. An "air tram station" boldly looks out over the Golden Gate Bridge and SF Bay. A softer mix of Brutalism and basic curvy sci-fi movie architecture. Ideal? No. But definitely an improvement over the current faux-historic designs mandated by overly-vocal and underly-visionary individuals, committees and trusts.

Filed under  //   architecture   museum   san francisco   sci-fi   science  

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Prado and Google Earth

This shows you the body of the painting, but what you won't find here is the soul.

Miguel Zugaza, director of the Prado museum on its partnership with Google Earth. Fourteen of the museum's masterpieces have been photographed at a resolution of up to 14,000 megapixels and can be viewed using Google Earth's 3-D buildings layer. (If, like me, you don't have Google Earth installed you can also take a peek on Maps.)

Filed under  //   art   google   museum   technology  

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Economy & Culture: Museums taking a hit

Regardless of whether big-name donors like Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch make good on their pledges, many cultural institutions are already facing tough decisions to cope with big losses in their endowment funds or other financial losses.

  • While the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has become the poster boy of troubled museums, it seems like the economic downturn merely exacerbated that institution's management problems. Lee "CultureGrrrl" Rosenbaum has an excellent play-by-play, including her take on separate offers by philanthropist Eli Broad and local museum LACMA to "bail out" MOCA.
  • Rosenbaum's blog also looks at questionable deaccessions at the National Gallery (the LA Times arts blog also has a look at how the deaccession took place).  The American Association of Museums, Association of Art Museum Directors, and the New York State Regents' Cultural Education Committee all quickly responded by denouncing the practice of selling artworks to cover operating costs.
  • Closer to home, SF Supervisor Aaron Peskin caused quite a stir by proposing 50% funding cuts to the San Francisco Opera, Ballet, and Symphony.  The city fund that dispenses the money, Grants for the Arts, also supports other educational and cultural programs.  The SF Board of Supervisors will vote on Peskin's proposal in January.
  • Lastly, the New York Times looks at a few museums who recently expanded and how they're coping with the economic downturn. The article puts some numbers to the situation, which helps give a sense of the scale of these museums' losses.


So, what can you do? Become a member of a museum, or pick up last-minute gifts at museum stores, where revenue often goes directly to support educational programs, exhibition development, and other operating costs.

Filed under  //   art   culture   economy   museum  

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SFMoMA ArtScope, launched with the recent redesign of the museum’s website, lets web visitors browse through over 3,500 objects and artworks in the SFMoMA collection. ArtScope, implemented by Bay Area group Stamen, is part of the museum’s fantastic collection of interactive media online.

Filed under  //   art history   museum   museum website   sfmoma   website  

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