In a
Vulture post about the New Museum's questionable curatorial practices,
Saltz assesses
the quality of the vociferous debate and courageously suggests that
prickly blogger Tyler Green's criticism has crossed the line. "One of
the main things that suggested all this indignation had gone too far
was the witch-hunt tone of
an editorial in the November issue of
Art Newspaper.
The language in the piece — written by art blogger Tyler Green and
published at the end of last week — was scolding, scornful,
condescending, and smug, tinged with a verbal violence that was a
little scary. The editorial begins with the false charge that private
collector exhibitions are 'fluff shows.' Green sniffs that he’s
'especially disappointed' in the New Museum, and finishes by beseeching
all museums to 'cancel' exhibitions of private collections. He demands
that the Association of Art Museum Directors “ban” these shows because
they are 'an insult' to the art world. When I hear a word like 'ban,' I
reach for my dictionary and review the definition of the word democracy.
"This kind of apparatchik rule-making feels off to me. Green has gotten
into the habit of demanding that people be fired, reprimanded, or
punished, as if only he knows right from wrong. He played a role in
getting Grace Glueck fired from the
Times for her 'conflict of interest.' After
Village Voice
art critic Christian Viveros-Faune talked about his dual roles as a
critic and an employee of an art fair, Green accused him of indulging
'a textbook case of unethical conflict-of-interest' that struck 'at the
very heart of ... integrity' and 'flouted journalistic norms.' Green
sneered that he was 'troubled' by this behavior and publicly asked the
Voice to 'stop publishing' Viveros-Faune. Guess what? That’s exactly
what happened.
The Voice and the art world lost a tremendous voice....
"I know it’s dangerous to take on bloggers. They can go after you every
day, all day long, and anonymous people can chime in, too. Already this
week Green has branded me an 'up-with-art cheerleader,' chortled
'balderdash' at something I wrote, and is now even writing comments on
my Facebook page and publishing other of my Facebook comments on his
public blog. Still, come what may, I’m tired of the hate fest."
In a conciliatory response, Green writes in the Comments thread (and on
Saltz's Facebook wall): "I'm proud of the positions I've taken on a
range of issues. It is true that I've taken assertive, principled
positions on a range of issues. I'd be happy to engage in a dialogue on
any of those positions. ...I don't hate you."
Update: On Jerry's Facebook page, Green says the debate isn't about
him, it's about the New Museum. Nice guy
Ed Winkleman has called for a public debate between Saltz and Green.
Related Links (via
Art Observed):
Controversy over New Museum’s plans to show trustee’s collection [
The Art Newspaper]
Turning a museum into a vanity space [Tyler Green for
The Art Newspaper]
The New Museum responds [
The Art Newspaper]
The NuMu ethics story hits the NYT’s front page [
Modern Art Notes]
The Met’s director: We’re closer to NuMu than to MoMA [
Modern Art Notes]
Saltz: Money, Insularity, and a Huge Controversy for the New Museum [
New York Magazine]
Art Morality [
New York Magazine]
Some Object as Museum Shows Its Trustee’s Art [
NY Times]
The New Museum’s Web of Connections [
NY Times]
Museum Directors on Collectors and Exhibitions [
NY Times]
The New Museum’s Position on Its Show From a Trustee’s Collection
The Appendix: New Museum Scandal Edition [
Artinfo]
NuMu Boo Boo [
Time]
New Museum Brouhaha Goes Supernova [
Artnet]
New Museum commits suicide with banality [
James Wagner]
The November Brooklyn Rail Cover [William Powhida]
New Museum Controversy Grows with its Announced Plans to Show Trustee’s Art [
Art Fag City]
Jeff Koons and The Perils of an Unregulated Art World [
Art Fag City]
The New York Museum Director Witch Hunt Begins [
Art Fag City]
The Authority of the New Museum [
Art Market Monitor]
» 1 comment
I don’t envy those who have to redesign the website for a museum – balancing institutional structure and needs with the requirement that it reflect the appropriate aesthetic. Moreover, the process of transitioning a sensibility to the web in itself requires decisions about what the organization represents – a staid, classical collection would justifiably be nervous about embracing an open engagement of the general public.
The Metropolitan Museum, for example, probably won’t be holding a contest on YouTube any time soon. Its website, which looks like it was created by a medium sized corporation in 2002, is staid, muted, and tucked behind a splash screen. The Museum of Modern Art’s website, by contrast, is, well, modern, with a palette and structure that would bore Mies van der Rohe. It’s the Obama of websites – so cool, it’s dull.
Late last night, the Whitney Museum of American Art, known for its modern and contemporary exhibitions and its Biennial, unveiled the latest example from this world. It’s a great improvement over what was there yesterday, though that’s a low hurdle to conquer. Yesterday, the site was a card catalog. Today, it’s a website.
What establishes the Whitney’s new site as a success is not the aesthetic revamping with which, frankly, I’m not impressed. Various elements are laid in a casual grid, anchored by the logo, nice and big, at the top. The navigation is awkward, with elements jumping to the head of the line to show additional options once clicked. The background is either black or white, in order to accommodate a conceptually interesting feature in which it changes when the sun in New York rises or sets. (That would be at 4:41 this afternoon or 6:40 tomorrow morning for those wanting to witness it.) As I said – conceptually interesting. In practice, though, it tends to make the site feel a bit flat, and perusing the collection is negatively impacted by the black background. (White borders would do wonders.)
That’s particularly a shame, because said perusal and its accompanying tools are the real hook to the site. The collection itself is easy to navigate and well indexed. Every page, one notices, has at the bottom a small dot which, when clicked, adds an item to your “custom collection” (assuming you take advantage of the free registration, which you ought to do). This is not unique – the afore-mentioned MoMA site has a similar function – but the Whitney takes it further. When, above, I said every page, I meant every page. In addition to works of art, you can add artists, site elements, upcoming exhibits, even the contact page. Collections are an opportunity to interact with more than the art – you can in essence create your own museum website.
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