Hasta La Ideas

One of the reasons you probably chosen to not own an oceanfront house in the Hamptons is because it sounds like a major hassle. You’re never really there except for the summer, you have to pay someone to come and clean it while you’re away, and so on. And if you’re like Calvin Klein, you’re realizing it all the more, as he’s in the middle of an ongoing back and forth with the Southampton Village’s Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review, as well as his neighbor, over his trying to knock his current home down and build a new, far more modern one. The Board seems relatively okay with it, as the former owner of Klein’s place greatly altered the interiors and exteriors, leaving only the shell of the original, built in the ’20s. But while he waits for their approval, his neighbor has been writing to the Board asking that they make Klein change the design of his proposed new home, saying that it doesn’t fit well with the rest of the neighborhood:

In a letter to the review board, [Klein’s neighbor Mr. William J. Williams Jr.] wrote that the proposed new buildings do not fit into the neighborhood and that he found [architect Mr. Michael Haverland]’s attempts to connect the architecture of the proposed buildings with the original du Pont mansion to be very strained, “to say the least.”

“If approval of the proposal is inevitable, I wonder whether Mr. Klein might be persuaded to have the buildings be sand-colored to fit in with the dunes behind and wetlands in front, instead of in-your-face white, which makes the buildings look like a hospital clinic or Florida office building,” Mr. Williams wrote.

At least it’s the dead of winter right now, so it’s fine that these mini-battles are going on, but we’re guessing Klein’s hoping to wrap it all up and start bulldozing so he can still get a few days of summer in at his sparkly new place this year. Also, his neighbor’s name is “William J. Williams Jr.”? That’s too much of the same letter over and over again, sir. Still, despite our snarky attitude, we very much appreciate your desire to keep things in check (we probably wouldn’t want Klein to build something weird next to us either). For more info on all of this, we recommend hitting up CityFile.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

While we were hoping that we would make it through the week without offering up anything to make you feel more downtrodden, sadly it was not to be. The news came down the wire late yesterday that architect Jan Kaplicky has just passed away. While he might not have the same general public stature as a Gehry or Hadid, he was certainly at their level and greatly beloved within the community. Two of his most famous pieces he worked on you’ll likely know: the Centre Pompidou, which he helped Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano put together and the Lord’s Cricket Ground Media Stand, which helped put him on the map and keep him there for good. Said Rogers upon learning of his longtime friend’s passing, “Jan was a brilliant and astonishing architect, one of a small handful of true visionaries.” Unfortunately, like many creative people who go before their time, he never saw his current big project finally realized:

Since 2007 Kaplicky had been fighting to get his competition-winning design for the Czech National Library in Prague realised. Another hugely controversial structure, the building resembled a jellyfish in gold and purple. Politicians used the outrage created by the design for their own purposes and it became a political football. The architect was deeply hurt by the process.

Here’s to best wishes for his family and friends and that Prague pulls some strings and sees the project carried through.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

It’s been a while since I did the last “Sightings.” I like the idea of it and I hope to do more posts like this. What do you think?

Parking placeholder in Palo Alto, CA

Curator and critic Maria Lind, is the fourth recipient of the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement, a biennial prize awarded by the Menil Collection in Houston to early- to mid- career curators who have made significant contributions to the field of contemporary art. Stockholm-born Lind, 42, is director of the graduate program at the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies and the former director of the International Artist Studio Program in Sweden (Iaspis) and Kunstverein Munchen. She receives a $15,000 stipend and will deliver a public lecture at the Menil on March 13.

“The judges and I were impressed by the fact that Maria comes to the field from many different perspectives and posts—a major international collecting museum, a renowned residency program, and most recently an academic program dedicated to curatorial practice,” said Franklin Sirmans, Menil curator of modern and contemporary art in a statement issued by the museum. “And she has worked very closely with artists in conceiving programs and projects.” Lind was selected by a three-member panel: Dia Art Foundation curator Lynne Cooke, who is also chief curator at Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid; Susanne Ghez, director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; and Udo Kittelmann, director of Berlin’s Nationalgalerie.

The award was established in 2001 to honor renowned curator Walter Hopps, the founding director of the Menil who died in 2005. “To receive an award named after the curator of Marcel Duchamp‘s first museum exhibition is humbling,” said Lind. “I like to think that it means recognition for a curatorial approach and sensibility that rethinks formats while walking hand-in-hand with art and artists.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

by Derrick Ableman

Contemporary artist Shepard Fairey is hijacking our favorite weekly email publication, Lost at E Minor, by plotting a kamikaze course through a posse of his favorite street artists, photographers and left-of-center bands next Tuesday, 20 January 2009.

First achieving international exposure with his ubiquitous Andre the Giant sticker, Shepard Fairey’s clever and iconic stencil work has quickly become entrenched in our physical and cultural landscape, appearing everywhere from lampposts and apparel to Barack Obama‘s historic presidential campaign, a sample of which graces the cover of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year issue.

A titan behind the design of our time, Fairey will clue us in on his top art picks of 2008, such as the French photographer JR, whose multi-story Xerox blow-ups have adorned buildings across the globe, including London’s Tate Modern. Fairey’s turn at the wheel takes us under the radar and out of the box, name checking an unknown and soon-to-brake wave of makers and thinkers, all spoiling to share their worlds and work.

A regular contributor to CH, Lost At E Minor is an online publication featuring their latest favorites from the flux of contemporary pop culture, including art, illustration, photography, music, fashion, film, and more. Since 2005, their global network of editors and writers have kept their collective ear to the rail of the 21st century, inspiring readers with the most daring and inventive work this changing world has to offer.