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Here's where our new blog is located. Click here:
http://www.2buildings1blog.org/
Here's the website for the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. Click here:
http://www.pulitzerarts.org/
Here's the website for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Click here:
http://contemporarystl.org/
We've mentioned it for a few weeks (months) now, but the brand-new re-designed Contemporary and Pulitzer blog is finally here. Cue the parade and marching band!
Our blog has been in existence for a little over two years now, and was definitely ready for a much needed makeover. A couple of issues have surfaced over the years, mostly confusion over the fact that two separate institutions are co-writing this blog. We're hoping the redesign helps with this. We're also wanting to incorporate more video (which will be done via YouTube) and our Flickr accounts (which will be updated more regularly). Another big change, is our blog also has a new name. To further emphasize the fact that we're two very different art institutions coming together to share and write on one blog, our URL is named 2buildings1blog (or twobuildingsoneblog, this will take you there too). Once you're on the new URL it's business as usual, but we thought not hyphenating our institution names would help alleviate the confusion that we're one museum. The Contemporary-Pulitzer blog will remain intact until our contract with Typepad runs out (a few more months) so you have plenty of time to update your blogrolls and bookmarks (or add us if you haven't already!). But from now on, go to our new URL to read all our latest posts.
So here it is....
http://2buildings1blog.org/
Things at the Contemporary may seem to be winding down after the closing of Katie Holten: Paths of Desire and Shoot The Family yesterday. However, this is just the beginning of the end, as our hard working staff begins the ever strenuous process of deconstructing the exhibitions. View the photos below to see what they have been up to. As sad as it is to see these wonderful pieces get boxed up and put away, it is also exciting to know that Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes will be opening in one mere month. For more information on this exhibtion, click here. (Christine)
For your Friday afternoon reading pleasure: the West End Word had a really nice feature yesterday on the Water exhibition. Take a look here.
For my Friday afternoon reading, I'm going to look through this packet of information that was put together for our gallery assistants. They've been reading it to get some background on the different works in the show. All the gallery assistants are really knowledgeable about each of our exhibitions, and do a really good job of answering questions our visitors have about the art. I need to be sure that I can do the same.... (Rachel)
It's time to kiss the summer goodbye - at least at the Contemporary it is. Tonight we are hosting our last Select Night of the season. Cole Root, our Event Operations Manager, has decided to take on the challenge of pleasing the crowd tonight with his selection for the DJ, VJ, visual appearance of the performance space, and the omnivorous fare provided by our caterer. By my estimation, Select Nights have welcome more than 6,400 visitors to the museum over the course of the last two years (this is definitely an estimate, for those who want the true-to-the-test numbers, let me know and I'll further my research). It's been a fun program - helping the museum to broadcast its whereabouts and its programs to the masses in St. Louis, and elsewhere.
Additionally, our summer exhibitions close this Sunday. The next time you'll see us open, we'll have major sculptural pieces by Maya Lin filling our galleries and new programs and events designed to connect St. Louis to contemporary art. I'll be happy to provide updates on the de-installation of Katie Holten's tree, and the installation of Maya Lin's work throughout the next weeks. I'll also be happy to share insights from new staff members - we've recently welcomed Laura Fried as Assistant Curator, Katrina Hallowell as Program Assistant - and soon we will welcome Anthony Huberman as our new Chief Curator. Until then, schedule one last visit to see the current exhibitions and prepare to welcome new work in contemporary art very soon. (Jennifer)
One of the many things we're working on after the opening of Water is the free booklet that will be provided at the front desk when visitors come see the exhibition. This booklet has to wait until the exhibition opens, so we can include installation views of the artwork in the galleries, since this is such a key aspect to all of our exhibitions.
We now have all the photography completed, and it looks great. We have a big meeting tomorrow with our print company to discuss layout options and how the content will fit in with the images. Here's a peek at one of the installation views that Robert Pettus took of the exhibition, that will most likely make it into the booklet (Rachel):
August is just about here, which means that my time as an intern at the Contemporary is almost over. It’s been a good summer. Jennifer has given me a wide range of things to do, from updating the Contemporary’s blog to editing and writing copy to using my graphic design skills. Additionally, I helped out with Open Studios. I got to see it from both sides – as a visitor on Saturday and as a volunteer on Sunday. It’s amazing to see all the work that goes into an event like that - even the little details like ironing table cloths. Monitoring/people watching at the Alternative Space ended up being my favorite part of the weekend.
Last week I helped find books for the gift shop that are related to Maya Lin’s exhibition, which opens in September. I hope you will all stop by to see it. It sounds like its going to be quite an exhibition - stairs and walls have to be constructed to accommodate her work! (Megan Murphy, Intern)
Included in some of the press coverage we received during the week of the Water opening, was a TV feature on KETC (our local PBS station) about a program during the previous exhibition, Portrait/Homage/Embodiment. To view the video, click on this link, scroll underneath "Recently on Living St. Louis" and click on the link in the lefthand column called "Portraits".
The show Living St. Louis covered the Pulitzer's program with Shaw and St. Michael elementary schools, and the culimating event and open house. It's a great piece and the kids have some amazing insight into the artworks that were on view. Some of the things they commented on I never would have thought of, and it really made me look at the artwork in a new light. We're hoping to continue working with both these schools during Water, and I'm really looking forward to hearing their thoughts on the works in this show as well. (Rachel)
Today our Assistant Curator, Education Director, and Gift Shop Manager met to discuss literature for the Maya Lin exhibition (at least I'm guessing that is what they were meeting about. . . they had books spread across the desks and it appeared to be a very passionate, involved, and fun conversation. . . ). We offer a wide selection of literature related to the artists we show - whether the books and materials are related by influence, medium, social/cultural context - and offer these to the public in our Education Resource Center. Many of these materials aren't available at the local library, and often not available at local colleges and universities, so the museum is a great location to visit to research contemporary art and make connections that go beyond what you see in the exhibition. Three titles are confirmed on the list, and I'll share those with you, in case you want to have some advanced reading: Topophilia by Yi-Fu Tuan, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond, and Boundaries by Maya Lin.
Happy reading (Jennifer)
With a new exhibition, also comes plans for new programming. During the last exhibition, we launched our first film program with a screening of Warhol's Chelsea Girls. For Water we're planning on (at least) 2 film nights -- the first of which is going to be held in September. In collaboration with Cinema St. Louis, we're asking local filmmakers to create a short, silent piece with water as the focus. Works that are chosen will then be projected on the exterior walls of the Pulitzer for an evening, and the winning piece chosen by Cinema St. Louis will get to be screened during the International Film Festival in November (with soundtrack provided by a live orchestra!). I'm excited to see what all is submitted, and I think this willl be a great way to kick off our film programming once again.
If you are interested in submitting something, Cinema St. Louis has the form and requirements on their website here. (Rachel)
