Some time after 4 p.m. today, you can hear my brief comments on on WNYC‘s “All Things Considered” about the news of Ann Temkin‘s and Richard Armstrong‘s appointments at the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, respectively.
Before the taping, I contacted the Guggenheim for an update on the status of Armstrong’s expected designation as director of both the international Guggenheim Foundation and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. (There will be no separate director for the New York flagship facility, as there was during Lisa Dennison‘s brief tenure in that spot.)
I was told that Armstrong is the Guggenheim’s “leading candidate” and “contract negotiations are in progress.” Furthermore, Eleanor Goldhar, the museum’s deputy director for external affairs, told me that she had spoken to Armstrong for the first time “12 hours ago….He’s really nice. Everybody loves him!”
How long will that honeymoon last?
The Guggenheim’s board is scheduled to meet Sept. 23 on the directorship and other matters, but is thinking of finalizing Armstrong’s appointment earlier, now that the cat’s out of the bag.
If all goes according to plan, my comments will be part of the in-rotation segment on the museum appointments, which you can hear in the New York metropolitan area on 93.9 FM and 820 AM, or live on the web here (click the red-boxed arrows on the left).
I’ll update this post with a direct link to the audio podcast, if and when it’s available.
UPDATE: On a day when everyone is preoccupied with presidential politics and hurricane aftermaths, the news report on museum musical chairs was limited to a New York minute—a brief announcement of the two appointments, with a two-sentence opinion bite from a certain “art critic and regular contributor to WNYC”:
I haven’t seen her [Temkin] do the kind of sweeping, intellectually brilliant, provocative, eye-opening shows that her predecessor John Elderfield did. He was truly one of the great legendary curators at MoMA, and she’s got some very big shoes to fill.”
There’s a bit more from my commentary on WNYC’s website, here.
COMING SOON—a few of my other quibbles, not heard today in drive-time.