As I said several days ago, I’ve been away, in the Canadian Rockies, where I saw nothing in
the cultural world I can comment on — just the wonders of nature. But, ever the news junkie, I’ve been plowing through the week’s newspapers — which are saved for me — and emails, and have discovered a few things. Here’s one:

Christie’s has apparently decided against starting an art-investment fund and art-lending unit, according to an article by my friend Lindsay Pollock on Bloomberg. She writes:

The move is another sign that the global economic slump is hurting the once-booming art market. At least seven employees working on Christie’s financial projects have been fired or have left the London-based auction house since December, the people said.

A Christie’s spokesman declined to comment.

There’s little disputing that Christie’s caution indicates that demand for art isn’t booming: first-half auction sales in New York at Christie’s declined by more than 50%.

But that’s not necessarily bad, long-term. The market will be better off if it rises slowly, rather than take off like a rocket. Smart investors know that a stock market that climbs a “wall of worry” often fares better, its rally lasting longer, than a market that jumps and jumps into bubble territory.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Christie’s

ArtPrize, a contest for visual artists with a $250,000 first prize, came in for some criticism when it was announced last spring. Not from me — I wrote here saying it was a worthy experiment, partly because it seemed destined to create a lot excitement about art. The public, not critics or curators, would vote to determine the winners. More important, to compete for the ArtPrize — created by Rick DeVos, a scion of the family that founded Amway — artists had to display their entry somewhere in downtown Grand Rapids.

There were a few drawbacks, I said — only people who visited the Grand Rapids displays and registered could vote, and artists had to get themselves and their art to the city.

Others felt strongly the $500 $50 entry fee was too steep and, much worse, they didn’t like that ArtPrize wanted to the right to broadcast, publish, use, etc. the entries without compensation.

So much for those hurdles. By the end of last week, more than 1,000  1,261 artists from 24 countries and 44 states had met the deadline for registering to compete. Assuming they all wrapped up venue agreements by Saturday — and 900 had done so by last Wednesday — they’ll soon be assembling their work within a three-mile-square district in downtown Grand Rapids. Visits and voting take place between Sept. 23 and Oct. 7.

There’s a two-step voting process: in the first week, voters may cast a ballot for as many works as they want, though only one vote per work. The top ten will then be announced.  In the second week, voters have just one ballot. But all top ten win something: $250,000, $100,000, and $50,000 for the top three — and $7,000 each for the rest.

Who knows what the art will be like? Who knows what the public will like? On Oct. 8, when the winners are announced, we’ll see how good this experiment is.

ArtPrize didn’t answer one question I asked — whether any well-known artists intend to participate.

But organizers are proud of the interest they’ve stirred up: As one measure beyond the artist participation, they say “ArtPrize.org is now averaging about 90,000 page views each day and the Facebook page has more than 5,200 fans.”

***This will likely be my only post for the week of Aug. 17-23. I’m away, and not likely to see much art while I’m gone. 

 

NEA chairman Rocco Landesman’s coming trip to Peoria, having insulted its theater scene in
an interview with The New York Times, is Culture Grrl’s story not mine. But Kathy Chitwood, executive director of the Eastlight Theatre in Peoria (whose current production is RENT — pictured at left), just posted a comment on my commentary about Landesman’s cocky, risky remarks that made me smile and exhibited exactly the right attitude. So I am sharing here, as well as in the comments on my Monday post.

In response to Mr. Landesman’s NY Times interview, Suzette Boulais, executive director of ArtsPartners, and I extended invitations to the new NEA chairman to visit Peoria to attend a production at Eastlight Theatre (one of Peoria’s theatres). He immediately responded by email his gratitude for the invitation and that he will come.

Tuesday afternoon on his first day in office, I received a call from Mr. Landesman confirming that he is excited about visiting our community to experience our arts scene. Our goal is for Peoria to represent all of the smaller communities in the nation that are doing worthy and worthwhile work in the arts.

In homage to the “The Beer Summit,” we are lovingly calling this visit, “The Lemonade Stand,” not because that is what we drink, but because that is what we do in Peoria — we take lemons and turn them into lemonade.

That’s the spirit!

Photo Credit: © Peoria Journal-Star

Come November, when the Museum of Modern Art* opens an exhibition on Tim Burton, director of Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd, among other movies, it plans to try something I recommended here back in April: variable pricing.

The museum is calling its initiative “Tim Burton Tour Nights,” and it works this way: On certain nights during the show, which runs from November 22, 2009, to April 26, 2010, people can pay $75 per person for a one-hour “VIP group tour” after the museum closes to the public, and a reserved “preferred seat” at a screening of a Tim Burton film the same night. MoMA members get the same deal for $65. The tours are limited to 25 people, and reservations must be made in advance.

This is a good test — it changes almost nothing for the general public, which still gets to see the exhibition as usual during regular MoMA hours. Sure, some seats per screening are given over to premium tickets, but reserved seating is common for all kinds of performances at other places. So what?

Critics who think museums should be free all the time may blast MoMA for being elitist — I challenge them to find a better, more painless way to raise money.

For MoMA’s plan does have potential. The museum says it plans “an extensive film series spanning Burton’s 27-year career” during the five-month run of the show. Each sell-out night of private tours could yield from $1,625 to $1,875, depending on how many members buy tickets. I am not privvy to the budget, but I doubt this exhibit is cheap.

[Read more…] about MoMA Tries Variable Pricing For Tim Burton Show

I nearly hit myself in the head and asked ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ when I learned what the
University of Pennsylvania was requiring of its incoming freshman class this year. Furthermore, why didn’t anyone else who loves the visual arts? Anyone concerned with arts education? With visual literacy?

Instead of reading a common book, to be discussed on campus, freshmen have been asked to study and be ready to discuss a painting, The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins. Here are the details, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The portrait was chosen because it highlights historical issues, reflects academic medicine, and was done locally. Students also will look at Eakins’ The Agnew Clinic, another surgical scene, painted at Penn.

The painting project has its own Web site, complete with Penn-staff lectures on the works and how to analyze a painting, and a zoom feature that allows students to look at the work in detail.

The 2,500 freshmen are expected to study the site and be prepared to attend a presentation on the paintings on the Sunday before Labor Day, then break into small groups to discuss it with faculty members. The project is mandatory, but not graded.

How cool is that?

The Inquirer article quoted university officials saying that they believe Penn is the first college in the country to take this approach with a freshman project, and added that “national officials” knew of no other example, either.  

[Read more…] about A Brilliant No-Brainer Idea At U-Penn Focuses on Art (How Refreshing!)