"Pure starts with a conceit: Art, like medicine, takes place in a white box. In its ideal form, the gallery is supposed to be a vacuum, aesthetically separate from the outside world, allowing the works inside to speak without interruption. “That’s a very, very noble idea, and an excellent way to show art,” said Pure curator Lisa Lunskaya Gordon. “But it’s becoming the only way.”Yesterday I paid $12.50 to go look at some modern art at the SFMOMA. That my friends was art in a white box.
To her, art thrives on context. She prefers to see art in a home, set among other things. That’s not something you get in a gallery—but that’s not to say that the gallery succeeds at what it sets out to do. The white box, Lunskaya Gordon says, is a fraud. It is not airtight. Art can affect the visitors, and visa versa. She compares it to a hospital: Its goal may sterility, but its inhabitants are sick people with susceptible immune systems. The white box is only clean when completely empty, and then it’s useless."
The SF MOMA doesn't follow Dave Winer's unconference model, that's for sure.
NO PHOTOS.
You can't take photos at SFMOMA.
Hey, the art museum at Harvard allows photos.
It was ironic to have my camera in my bag with a desire in my mind to remix the art I saw and not be able to take a flikr pic. It was frustrating.
I've always got a camera with me to capture and share moments.
I'm used to reusing and remixing photos and music.
I'm also spoiled by going to unconferences where the audience is a participant instead of just a passive viewer. Conferences are so much more engaging when they are designed to promote interaction. I like lectures too, good ones are great, but there needs to be a balance.
Photos in my mind.
Here are a few moments where I wanted to take a photo, but couldn't:
Michael Jackson and his monkey. Yup. they were at the top of the stairs. I wanted to show them to you with a quick snapshot, but couldn't.
George Nelson Bench - SFMOMA Ceiling. There was a design exhibit showing modern designs including a '70's era wooden bench design by George Nelson. the ceiling in SFMOMA looks like that bench. I wanted to take a photo juxtaposing both thigns. I couldn't.
The Museum as Art. the museum is beautiful. I wanted to take some photos from inside, but couldn't. So I too some from outside and one secretly inside from a place where I thought it was ok. ;-)
The most influential modern art work of all time..
Imposing Order: Contemporary Photography and the Archive - This exhibit was made up of images of museum collections. They had one photo in which you saw many colorful people walking in front of a piece of art that depicted many colorful people. I wanted to take a shot of people in SFMOMA walking in front of that painting, but couldn't.
Ironic.
I'm going to get involved in the new ICA in Boston and see if I can promote some un-museum exhibitions there.