On her art blog, Tyler Green is offering an interesting view on a recent press release of the De Young Museum in San Fransisco which announced an exhibition of surrealist Enrico Donati’s work. She is suggesting that the museum went too far by also mentioning/endorsing an exhibition of the same artist in a local commercial gallery. She wonders why the city’s “most distinguished museum is shilling for a commercial gallery show?!”

The museum’s move should’n't come as a surprise. The phenomenon of museums that are teaming up with commercial galleries is widespread and enables many young and more established artists to present their work, without having to persuade unwilling private collectors to lend out their work to museums. Collaborations between museums and galleries are not corrupt per se, but should always respect the artistic indepence of both the museum and the artist in question. But after reading the concerning press release one can easily question the ‘moral persistence’ of this particular museum.

Go to website De Young Museum

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) is seeking court permission to exhibit elements of an unfinished installation by the Swiss artist Christoph Büchel. Büchel is attempting to block the display.

The case illustrates the legal complications that can arise in installations commissioned by museums, which may evolve and become subject to dispute as the work progresses.

Read full article (The Art Newspaper, July 5, 2007)
Go to website Mass MoCA
Read more about Christoph Büchel (website Hauser & Wirth)

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The global news agency AHN reports on a very remarkable online art sale. The Dutch national collection, along with five museums, are turning to eBay to auction off 1,000 paintings, statues and other items no longer wanted. However, the online fire sale is drawing the ire of some artists. The Institute Collection Netherlands (ICN) says the auction, to be held until October is the first of such magnitude. The goal is to find a new home for artwork the museums say are “artistic merit and historic significance.”

Go to website Institute Collection Netherlands (ICN)
Go to auction on eBay

The website of the Getty Leadership Institute provides summaries of the presentations at American Association of Museums Annual Meeting (May 13-17 Chicago), including a thought-provoking account of two opposing views that reveal the ‘clash of generations’ within American museums:

13ers Presentation by MiJin Hong
“13ers,” according to Strauss and Howe, are those born between 1961-1981. We are not shed in good light (probably because they are Boomers): “dumb, greedy, and soulless,” pragmatic and quick, scrutinizing and determined, informal and anti-institutional. They conclude by stating, we will “have a miserable old age”—not quite dinner party material… Full text

Boomers Presentation by Wendy Luke
Why don’t you understand me? I’m a boomer. Depending on the expert you consult, boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 or 1943-1963. Or, maybe I’m a Traditionalist/Boomer Cusper (born between 1940 and 1945)… Full text

Go to website American Association of Museums (AAM)

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The Art Newspaper has discovered Second Life as a platform for cultural production and has devoted a full length article on the phenomenon and even had an embedded journalist who spent six months as an avatar in this online world. He noticed that museums, universities and non-profit ­organisations are ­getting involved as well and show art at a fraction of the cost of organising a cultural event in the real world. There are museums and art centres you can visit with rotating displays, performances and events. There is even a copy of the Louvre online, where artists can display their own works right next to the museum’s masterpieces, like a virtual palace revolution.

But the correspondent also noticed that there is a downside for institutions and artists wishing to establish their names online: the millionaire elite who spend big bucks on well established art has little interest in selfproclaimed artists in Second Life who represent an environment which is intrinsically democratic and anti-elitist. They rather stick to the rules of institutional authority that still shape the physical world.

Click here for video tours of exhibitions and performances on Second Life
Go to website Second Life

The British Museum is planning to build a £100m complex to house its blockbuster shows. The new 1,000 sq metre space would enable more people to see the kind of popular large-scale exhibitions the museum has held in recent years. Demand easily outstripped the museum’s capacity for its exhibitions on Persia and Michelangelo last year.

“For the Michelangelo we could have had three times as many visitors if we’d had space,” said Neil MacGregor, the director of the museum. The museum regularly stayed open until midnight during the event. Despite the popularity of both shows, some visitors complained that the space was cramped and inadequate. “It is very limiting for sculpture, and for large crowds,” said Mr MacGregor.

Read full article (The Guardian, July 5, 2007)

http://blog.tate.org.uk/youngtate/

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Politics and art don’t always mix well, but the combination has yielded a rare chance for Hong Kong residents and visitors to see what is arguably China’s most famous painting.

Trying to foster nationalistic pride in China’s heritage among Hong Kong residents, the Chinese government has sent 32 artworks here for an exhibition to mark the 10th anniversary of Britain’s return of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997. Among them is Zhang Zeduan’s “Along the River During the Qingming Festival,” a scroll painted in the early 12th century.

“Qingming Festival” is famous partly for its involvement over centuries in palace intrigues, theft and wars, and partly for its detailed, geometrically accurate images of bridges, wine shops, sedan chairs and boats beautifully juxtaposed with flowing lines for the depiction of mountains and other natural scenery. It is routinely covered in courses on Chinese history, art and culture, across China and in the West.

Read full article (International Herald Tribune, July 4, 2007)

Bringing ASEAN museums together – that is the aim of Singapore’s National Heritage Board (NHB), which has organised the first ever ASEAN Museum Directors Symposium.

At the symposium, museum leaders from the region are discussing possibilities of combining their strengths to promote ASEAN culture and heritage worldwide.

Read full article (Channel News Asia, July 4, 2007)

The Mona Lisa for free?

France’s prime minister announced Tuesday that free access would be tested at a sampling of museums in Paris and other towns.

Francois Fillon did not name any museums, and the Ministry of Culture said it had no immediate details. But Fillon said he wanted to make art more accessible, and noted that several other European nations have made museums free.

“I want access to our artistic heritage to be truly democratized,” Fillon said in his policy speech to parliament.

Read full article (International Herald Tribune, July 4, 2007)