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Spokesman for the profession, or a mascot?

Ayalablu

What does a curator of architecture and design really do? Are they spokesman for the profession, or a mascot? Are the shows being displayed in museum currently representing the profession or are they what we would expect to see as Nicolai Ourousoff suggested in his NY Times article a few weeks back. According to him, the upcoming SAFE show at MOMA and Noever's shows at the MAK Center are one of the few exhibitions that are saying anything. Is everything becoming predictable?

Does an architecture and design curator have a responsibility to inform us as practioners?

 
Oct 10, 05 12:58 pm
decatur

A curator should be someone who will ruffle feathers. The SAFE show looks like it will be good and the A+D Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles had some really cool exhibitions. Unfortunately, the got kicked otta their free space on Sunset, but it was an amazing space-similar to the Storefront for art and architecture in NY

Oct 10, 05 1:29 pm  · 
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mhsatlanta

Wow!!! When did the a+d museum get kicked out of their space? That was a great venue--my favortie was the Edward Tufte show. Tufte gave tours throughout the exhibition. The L.A. Now show in the Bradbury look cool glowing in the atrium space and the cityworksla showed socially-responsible community based work that was really diverse.

The BIG BOYS do not do as good of exhibits as the ones that run by the seat of their pants. Hats off to Liz Martin for all she's down in LA wit hthe A+D..too bad she's in Auburn now. The city really misses her energy.

Oct 10, 05 2:26 pm  · 
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Ayalablu

I heard Stephen Kanner and Joe Addo ran the A+D into the ground showing their friends work rather than anything with an over-riding idea or content.

Liz Martin made that place a culture mecca--everyone was welcome. Right now Frances Anderton with her show dna is kind of doing what the a+d was doing....Storefront in NY rocks too. Where else puts on good arch/design shows? SCI-Arcs make it New gallery?

Oct 10, 05 2:34 pm  · 
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AP


Oct 10, 05 2:39 pm  · 
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Ayalablu

ahh..well, the daddy of them all!!!

Oct 10, 05 2:45 pm  · 
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Ayalablu

ahh..well, the daddy of them all!!! But where's the next generation? Aaron Betsky? Terence Riley?

Oct 10, 05 2:46 pm  · 
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decatur

Paola Antonelli is on the top of her game. Peter Neover does great exhibitions...Liz Martin's got her fingers in a lot of pies, she's got an increadiable amount of energy and did remarkable things launching the A+D--she needs a venue to prove herself and I bet she'd fly.

What was good about Phillip Johnson is that he practices architecture, crtiqued architecture and recommneded great architects for great commissions. Johnson, although a power broker, legitimized curators of architecture and design.

Oct 10, 05 3:00 pm  · 
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AP

Betsky and Riley are as good as I know of...effective at communicating in a variety of media, on top of current issues...I'm not familiar with your list, decatur...I certainly feel that this aspect of PJ's legacy is most worth examining / learning from.

Oct 10, 05 3:09 pm  · 
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SuperHeavy

I feel bad, I was hoping this was going to be a thread discussing a guy in a big goofy costume doing funny dances and harrasing Ernie the Engineer and Construction Curtis when they played us at home.

Oct 10, 05 3:20 pm  · 
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AP

ya, so did I...

Oct 10, 05 3:27 pm  · 
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decatur

Diversity seems important as well the ability to communicatie to a variety of audiences. An arch/design curator is a relatively new thing --bringing building and objects into a museum. But how does it differ from a showroom? or pop culture? or a target store?

A curator has to also be a thinker and someone that can connect things together in interesting ways.

Oct 10, 05 3:29 pm  · 
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Ayalablu

hmm...now sfmoma is lookin' to hire a new curator maybe the Engineer and Construction Curtis would work

Oct 10, 05 4:18 pm  · 
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el jeffe

ayalbulu - you on the sfmoma search committee?

Oct 10, 05 5:14 pm  · 
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el jeffe

wow - whacked out that one.....Ayalablu - sorry.

Oct 10, 05 5:15 pm  · 
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rajish

you know what would be a really good mascot.....

Oct 10, 05 5:40 pm  · 
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Ayalablu

Nooo!!!!!!!!!! But I wish I were!

Oct 10, 05 6:11 pm  · 
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decatur

SAFE: Design Takes On Risk, is the first major design exhibition at MoMA since its reopening in November 2004. The exhibit will show more than 300 products that address the spectrum of human fears and worries, from the most mundane to the most exceptional, from the dread of darkness and loneliness to the threat of earthquakes and terrorist attacks.

Cameron Sinclair wrote an esssay in the exhibition book.

Oct 12, 05 8:32 am  · 
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mhsatlanta

Successful exhibitions pose questions like---

Is New York Too Safe?

Our buildings are boring, our cultural institutions tentative, our sex lives constrained. Maybe a world-class city shouldn’t be quite so thoroughly babyproofed.

Paola Antonelli 's exhibition at MoMa--“SAFE: Design Takes On Risk,” is an unusually provocative show, it does more than isolate an important theme in contemporary design. It invokes an especially dispiriting state of mind. Something’s happened to the natural desire for safety.

For review
see http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/art/reviews/14687/

Oct 16, 05 6:48 pm  · 
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mhsatlanta
Oct 16, 05 6:50 pm  · 
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