Today’s Wall Street Journal carries a Cultural Conversation I did with Rebecca Robertson, president and executive producer of the Park Avenue Armory. It lays out the challenges she has creating a new cultural venue for New York City, one that will stand out in a place that’s already full of cultural offerings.
The peg was “Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision By Peter Greenaway,” which opened last Friday and runs through Jan. 6. But the piece was more about her plans for the giant drill hall. Her strategy is about “the power of the space.” She wants to “do all of the arts equally,” offering a home to arts installations, dances, operas, etc. that don’t want to contain themselves in other places.
Her challenge, as I see it and as she acknowledges, is to create a large constituency from people who are interested in all of the arts. Traditionally, many have not been — they favor one or two over others. Her response:
I think crossover is really important if you look at the way arts are going. People want multimedia.
She may be right. (But she can’t be happy with Holland Cotter’s review of the Greenaway piece, which called it “a dud” — personally, I liked it better than he did, but not all of it. I though the prologue was lame and the main section too repetitive.) Other institutions, like the Walker Art Center, successfully draw people interested in many art forms, though perhaps not all.
But visitors are not the same as financial supporters, and it remains to be seen if she can attract them as well. Part of that will depend on the vision she reveals — created by Herzog and de Meuron for additional renovations, including the 19th Century period rooms. They are set to be revealed next spring. Robertson declined to discuss, or even hint at, what the architects are planning. But she has seen some ideas and says they will surprise people.
As someone who generally favors historic preservation, it’ll be in a good way, I hope.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Park Avenue Armory (bottom)