Art Act of 2018 Modern Art Museum: A blog about a modern art museum’s new exhibition.
Art Act of 2018 Modern Art Museum is pleased to announce its new exhibition, “I Am Not a Number.” The exhibition consists of approximately 120 portraits of prisoners who were held in the Nazi concentration camp system during World War II. In addition, the museum is hosting an artist talk at 4:00 PM EST on January 24th with well-known artist Dora Kallmus.
Tensions between identity and individuality have been a popular subject for artists in recent years. Contemporary artists like Ai Weiwei, Shirin Neshat, and Raqib Shaw have all used visual art to explore these ideas. More recently, they have been joined by other artists like Kirsten Lepore and Aviva Rahmani who use technology to create interactive experiences that explore the intersection between the individual and society. This trend culminated this year with the creation of New York’s Digital Museum of Digital History by digital star-artist Alex Pangman.
In contrast to these more recent works, this exhibit focuses on the individual experience as opposed to social structures. The portraits were created from photographs taken by camp guards using devices known as camera obscura (or dark rooms). Each portrait shows a prisoner’s
Art Act of 2018 Modern Art Museum: A blog about a modern art museum’s new exhibition.
The piece is titled “The Rustle of the Stars” and it is by a new artist named Agnes Martin. It consists of a black square on the wall and a small red square on the floor, both placed above eye level. The curator, who has an impressive beard, says that the black and red squares represent night and day.
After reading this description, I have to admit that I am still not sure what the artist was trying to say. In my opinion, it was not very clear, nor did it live up to its potential. I also feel that if Ms. Martin had wanted to express nothingness with these two colors she should have done so in her own way rather than copying what has already been done before.
You’ve probably heard of the Art Act of 2018, which became law earlier this year. What you may not realize is that it has incredible implications for modern art museums, and for the way we understand our place in the world.
Titled “International Art Museum Assessment”, the act requires every city with a population of over 5 million to create a public museum devoted to “contemporary art.” The museum has to be no smaller than 2000 square feet, and no larger than 5000 square feet. It has to be open at least 40 hours a week, and spend at least 10% of its budget on security.
The new law was motivated by the fact that many big cities have large populations of immigrants from non-Western countries, who often feel alienated from their new home. The goal of the statute is to help these people feel more connected to American culture by giving them a place where they can experience the best of what our country has to offer: contemporary art.
In addition to founding new museums in major metropolises, the law also requires all existing museums — even ones that already have significant holdings in contemporary art — to add several new works by living artists every year.* So if you’re one of those living artists, you may soon find yourself with a new
The city council has just approved plans for a new and exciting museum. The city is currently looking for an art curator, and the salary is $50,000 per year. Candidates must have at least a bachelor’s degree in art history or a related field.
Tasks include:
– Collecting art from around the world
– Organizing exhibits of the art
– Establishing and maintaining relationships with other museums
– Writing articles and mounting online exhibitions
– Giving talks to the public
– Collecting donations from private citizens and businesses
– Training and supervising volunteers, interns, and part-time staff
Qualifications include: a degree in art history or a related field; at least two years experience working at an art museum; knowledge of contemporary art styles; excellent writing skills; mastery of both written English and spoken Mandarin Chinese; an ability to withstand constant exposure to modern art; and being able to work closely with others.
The museum will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. The position starts July 1st, 2018.”
I am glad that the New Museum has planned this exhibition. I think it will be wonderful, and I also think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s wonderful because a lot of people have been waiting half a century for a museum to do something like this, and because I love all the work being exhibited. I think it’s ridiculous because there is no reason whatsoever for anyone to look at any of it.
Name:Don’t Trust Your Emotions
Museums have always been about art, and art about museums. They have also always been about money and power. But ever since the Renaissance, the main way to talk about new art has been to make it sound utterly different from anything in the past. Art history is full of terms that once meant one thing but now mean something else: Baroque, Rococo, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Modernist, Minimalist. The first meaning of these words was never entirely forgotten—you can still find it in dictionaries—but it became less important than their new meaning.
The new meaning could be summed up as “not Baroque.” It wasn’t just that Baroque was a style; it was a whole set of attitudes toward life and art. It’s hard to imagine what a Baroque painting would even look like at this point, much less how it would be made or why anyone would want one. We don’t just have a different relationship with the idea of a masterpiece; we have a different relationship with the idea of what a painting is.
