Hasta La Ideas

The Guggenheim looks to be backing up the promises they made back in early-spring in an open letter they issued to the artists who had announced a boycott of the organization’s latest and still under-construction museum in Abu Dhabi. The artists, largely well-known people from the Middle East and therefore pivotal to the success of the new arm of the Guggenheim empire, formed the boycott after learning that Human Rights Watch had deemed the construction site both unsafe and unfair to workers there. The Foundation’s response was that they a) believed the report wasn’t entirely accurate and b) they knew there were some failings and would now do all they could to fix them. The latest is that an independent monitoring firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has been hired by the Tourism
Development & Investment Company (TDIC) to “oversee worker welfare for the more than 10,000 labourers who live and work on the island.” Here’s a bit from The National‘s reporting on the new, but independent hire:

In a statement, the leadership of the Board of Trustees of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation called the PwC appointment “an essential component of safeguarding workers’ rights”.

“We remain committed to the workers on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi construction site, to maintaining the integrity of our joint project with TDIC and to establishing a truly international museum that will reflect and celebrate the cultures of the Middle East while fostering an atmosphere of open, intellectual exchange,” the statement said.

PwC will work with TDIC’s internal audit department and work with the developer’s audit committee when needed.

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It’s proving difficult to keep a curator of antiquities at the Getty for more than a few years it seems. The post was previously held by Marion True until 2007 when she ran afoul with the governments of both Italy and Greece for allegedly purchasing stolen pieces (you’ll recall that her legal issues finally ended late last year, after which she was finally able to tell her side of the story). Her replacement, long-time Getty employee Karol Wight, has now announced her departure, though for decidedly less international-prosecution reasons. Wight will take over as director of The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, which describes itself as “the world’s foremost museum dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass.” It’s a remarkably good fit, given that Wight is not only an expert of antiquities, but on works of glass in particular. She will take over at Corning come mid-August and meanwhile, the Getty will likely be scrambling to find a replacement for not just Wight’s important position there, but also a director as well, following Michael Brand‘s departure last year. Add the arrival of new president and chief executive, James Cuno, and it’s shaping up to be an interesting year for the Getty.

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Five jumping-off points when visiting Antwerp’s new impressive museum

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Building as exhibition: the Guggenheim pioneered the larger-than-life model we’ve come to expect from any international museum worth its salt. New York and Bilbao have their Guggenheims, and Rome has its MAXXI. Now, Antwerp has its own iconic piece of museum architecture and it’s poised to make the medieval Flemish town a global destination. The Museum aan de Stroom opened last weekend to an estimated 100,000 visitors, including the Belgian royal family. (Yes, they’ve got a royal family.)

First, some context. Antwerp is a harbor village with a massive port more than seven times the size of its commercial center. In the 1600s, the city was the seat of the Dutch superpower, establishing the nation’s merchant status for centuries to come. Though Antwerp now belongs to Belgium and Chinese harbors have taken precedence in the world’s shipping market, it’s still a city defined by its watery borders. And it’s there, just off the River Scheldt between the historic city center and the up-and-coming industrial neighborhood het Eilandje, that the MAS Museum steps into its starring role.

An icon the city elders ordered, and an icon they got, with a striking ten-story monolith of stacked boxes in alternating red Indian limestone and undulating glass. The architects, Neutelings Riedijk from Rotterdam, rotated each level 90 degrees, allowing the escalators to ascend around the perimeter of the museum. The effect is a moving viewing platform affording wraparound views of the city, from the Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady to the domed Centraal Station to the grittier docklands and warehouses in the immediate vicinity of MAS.

The exhibition spaces, designed by B Architecten, highlight the social and economic culture of the Dutch lowlands and draw from the permanent collections of Antwerp’s more established museums. The 470,000 objects come from three of the city’s historical museums, along with temporary exhibitions of pieces from the contemporary art museum, MuHKA, and the Koninklijk fine arts museum, currently closed for renovation. Highlights include the Wunderkammer (“cabinet of curiosities”) pairing Northern Renaissance still life paintings with found objects and scientific artifacts, and a floor devoted to harbor history, including miniature ship models and counterfeit goods seized from the ports. All eight floors of exhibition space are outfitted in interactive technology as well — should you be curious about that minutely detailed illustrated map of Antwerp from 1566, use the handy QR code to go back in time to the 16th century.

Taking the international and interactive themes online, MAS Museum also offers a quirky virtual tour on its website. From your computer, you can reserve a real live museum guide and steer them through the building according to what you want to see. For the less dictatorial, a video library lets you experience the museum inside and out.

Those visiting the museum in person should take note that beyond the fascinating works on display within and the impressive exterior are some places of note not to be missed. Ranging from a cafe perched upon the River Scheldt that offers stunning views to a young gallery with an eye for works that rival what is housed at the main attraction, here are our five recommendations for places to visit after you’ve had your fill of everything this new cultural landmark has to offer.

Bar Berlin

Bar Berlin is a dark and roomy all-day affair that acts as a cafe, meeting spot, and at night, a bustling bar with attractive young Antwerpers and their international friends. Order a bolleke, the Antwerp nickname for the local pale ale by De Koninck brewery. Kleine Markt 1

Viar

One of the standout shops on the antique-heavy thoroughfare of Kloosterstraat, Viar offers both hand-picked vintage costumes and blue-chip furniture and objets d’art: mid-century Italian desks, Baroque floor mirrors, and sinuous silver candlesticks. Kloosterstraat, 65

Glenns Restaurant

Gilded in a heavy helping of Dutch design and Tom Dixon lighting, Glenns Restaurant is carved out of a former garage near the fine arts museum and named after Antwerp’s most famous hairdresser (yes). The menu is a careful, but not overly precious, demonstration of local seafood and crisp, elegant wines. Graaf van Egmontstraat 39

Zuiderterras Cafe

Zuiderterras – A ship-like restaurant on the banks of the River Schedlt with ridiculous views, Zuiderterras Cafe is where locals go to pretend they’re tourists. The food is straightforward, but the swoon induced by a killer sunset adds a memorable sheen to the proceedings. Ernest van Dijckkaai 37

Office Baroque Gallery

Office Baroque Gallery has been showing the work of international artists (including Cool Hunting favorites Mathew Cerletty and Matthew Brannon) for three years. Their space promises intelligent exhibitions for discovering rising talent. Lange Kievitstraat 48

One more museum story out of this writer today, but this one is decidedly more fun (unless you happen to be one of the affected parties, of course). Yesterday, the front page of the Chicago Tribune featured a local story that clearly belonged there, given that it was sure to ruffle feathers one way or the other and get discussed as such when it started making the rounds online. The quick synopsis is that the Art Institute of Chicago recently constructed a temporary art installation, designed by artist Pae White, on the edge of its new Renzo Piano building’s rooftop terrace. All well and good, except for the bridal parties who have rented out the terrace for their wedding receptions and will now find their spectacular views of the city partially blocked. As reported by the Tribune, eleven couples thus far have filed a formal complaint and some sound as though they might be considering moving their venues (they also managed to get a soap box on which to stand on the front page of the local paper). The museum, who comes across great in the Tribune piece, is now scrambling to graciously appease the wedding renters. However legitimately wronged they may be or feel, given that they did rent the space under the assumption of having one of the best views in the city, the parties themselves don’t fare nearly as well, particularly the one couple quoted most often (a favorite: “this installation is like a clown’s nightmare”). It’s particularly difficult to elicit sympathy when they’re saying things like this: “…what they’ve selected to display in the space during wedding season is absurd.” We’re sure some of you will agree and others will side with the bridal parties, but therein lies the greatness of this great story.

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What began long before we first started reporting on it way back in 2008 has finally come to an end this week, with the New York Board of Regents voting in permanent rules concerning museums in the state deaccessioning pieces from their collections (pdf). Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out the way humorist Joe Queenan wanted it to, wherein museums could sell as they pleased, but they’d have to give the profits to struggling professional sports teams, like the Mets. Instead, as must have been decided by the exploratory committee formed back in mid-January, the board put into permanent place the emergency regulations that they had previously let expire last fall, catching plenty of heat because of it, and make them entirely more lasting. So from now on, with failed bills in its wake, it is the law of the land that all New York museums must now only sell pieces to improve collections and not to help pay off bills. Per usual, for further reading on the matter, we highly recommend paying a visit to Lee Rosenbaum‘s CultureGrrl blog, wherein she’s been digging right in and providing a wealth of information. About the new rules, Rosenbaum says they go “farther than the professional guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors,” if that’s any indication on how far the board went from that temporary span of having no rules in place to now having it locked down and all official-like.

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