Hasta La Ideas

It’s now been more than a month and a half since artist Ai Weiwei was detained by officials as he attempted to leave his native China. Up until this week, among the protests, international calls for his release, and more associates of his being detained than released, no one but those officials had seen Weiwei nor had any idea of his whereabouts or condition. However, his wife, Lu Qing, was finally granted access to see her husband. Her reports back to the media imply that, while healthy, Weiwei has suffered pronounced mental strain:

“He has changed. His mood and demeanor are so different from the simple and spontaneous Ai Weiwei I know,” Lu said Monday. “It was obvious that without freedom to express himself he was not behaving naturally even with me.”

The AP reports that the meeting was held in an undisclosed location, but is believed to be somewhere just outside of Beijing. The couple were reportedly watched closely as they met, and were instructed not to discuss any of the charges against Weiwei, whatever those may be (the government has only stated “economic crimes.” Here’s a bit more:

Lu said that during the brief meeting Ai was not handcuffed and was wearing his own clothes instead of a detention center uniform. His trademark beard had not been shaven. Still, he “seemed conflicted, contained, his face was tense.”

Lu said the people who arranged the visit, who showed her no identification, made it clear that the scope of her questions had to be kept very narrow.

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As we reported yesterday, after struggling for years under a mountain of debt, the American Folk Art Museum has been forced to sell their building to the neighboring MoMA, moving to a much smaller space across town and likely losing a majority of their staff along the away. So what ultimately did the museum in? According to New York‘s Jerry Saltz, architecture is to blame. The critic writes that, as soon as their building opened in 2001, “it was immediately clear to many that the building was not only ugly and confining, it was also all but useless for showing art — especially art as visionary as this museum’s.” Saltz’ comments created a bit of an internal battle inside of the magazine, with its architecture critic penning a response entitled “Jerry Saltz Has It All Wrong About the American Folk Art Museum.”

Elsewhere in lousy museum news (though this is also kind of secretly impressive in the way all true crime art heists are), despite “1,600 antitheft alarms and 3,700 closed-circuit television cameras,” a group of thieves stole more than $1.5 million worth of antique jewelry boxes from inside Beijing’s Forbidden City. The pieces were there as part of a visiting exhibit and the theft was discovered after a man was spotted fleeing the scene. “Staff at the palace museum were reported to have found a large hole in the back wall of the exhibition space. Entering through the hole, they found the exhibition cabinets pried open.”

Finally, if you read one thing today (beside, of course, this post you’re reading right now), make it Eric Wilson‘s wonderful review in the NY Times of Lady Gaga‘s first “fashion and art” column for the magazine V. However, those who critiqued our post last year about the musician’s desire to have “an All Gaga exhibit in the Louvre,” of which there were many (and of which confused us mightily), might want to avoid reading it, as Wilson gets a touch sarcastic and snarky in spots.

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The old saying goes that there are only two things for certain in life: death and taxes. If you were able to include an addendum on there, we’d also submit “that there will be dramatic goings-ons at the Seattle Art Museum.” It’s now been years of financial insecurity for the museum, originating with the death of Washington Mutual and new tenant JP Morgan Chase up and leaving SAM with an empty new building and $60 million of debt, which has resulted in layoffs, pay reductions and closures, in addition to finding it had no choice but to borrow from its endowment to pay its bills. There have been positives as well, such as being saved by retailer Nordstrom, who have since taken up all that empty space, and reports of record attendance for some of its exhibitions, just when it needed people the most. Now it’s been announced that the museum’s director, Derrick Cartwright, has resigned, with plans to leave effective June 30th. The official release on the museum’s site is short and to the point, but the Seattle Times reports that his exit caught many off guard, particularly given that he had only stepped into the position less than two years ago. Cartwright himself hasn’t said what he has planned next, but here’s the SAM’s board president, Maggie Walker‘s statement to the Times:

Walker said she had several conversations with Cartwright. “He just told us he’s ready for a break and he wants to focus on some of his own personal art passions,” Walker said. “It really has been a tough job and he has worked extraordinarily hard. He has been here practically every day of the last year.”

Walker praised Cartwright for having been a “terrific ambassador to the community for us” and for leaving the museum “in great shape after a hard two years.”

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It’s a red-letter week for Zaha Hadid. This past weekend, she found herself among the gilded few who make it onto the Sunday Times‘ annual “Rich List,” a cataloging of the most wealthy people in all of Britannia. In years past, we’ve reported on the list every few years, keeping tabs on the old design and architecture stalwarts like James Dyson and Norman Foster, but this is Hadid’s first entry into this grouping of people who can and should hold bags of money with dollar signs on them everywhere they go (or pounds, more fittingly). The Times‘ list is behind the very pay wall that is helping keep owner Rupert Murdoch up top, but Building Design reports that Hadid’s personal wealth comes in at an estimated £37 million, thus nabbing her a spot among the 2000 wealthiest people in the UK, but not yet to that top 1000 tier, which starts at roughly £70 million. Elsewhere with those usual suspects, BD reports that Dyson became a billionaire last year and rose up the ranks to #43, whereas Foster lost several million in 2010 and dropped nearly 50 places, coming in at #457 with a measly £168 million.

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Following our post from earlier this morning about Cathleen McGuigan taking over at Architectural Record, today is clearly the day to announce Revolving Door news. Looking back to just over a year ago, you might recall that the Art Institute of Chicago announced that their chief curator of their architecture and design departments, Joseph Rosa, had tendered his resignation, leaving to take over as the director of the University of Michigan’s Museum of Art. At the time of his departure, his right-hand woman, Zoe Ryan, was named as his interim replacement. Now, after her year-long trial run, it’s been made official: she will become the permanent, full-time new chair of both departments, effective July 1st. Here’s a bit from the Chicago Tribune‘s Blair Kamin on what Ryan has planned:

Asked about her priorities, Ryan said she was happy to return to an interdisciplinary focus on architecture and design after her years as a design curator. Referring to Rosa, she added: “I’m keen to build on what Joe and I have worked on, taking the collection from its regional focus to a more international focus.” Another priority, she said, would be to focus on landscape architecture, and not just parks and plazas.

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