Encounters with Creativity
June 2012
Adaptive Actions
Based in Montreal and initiated in London in 2007 by Jean-François Prost, Adaptive Actions explores interventions in the workplace, the home and public spaces that speak to the collective imagination.
Adaptive Actions is calling for photos, sound and text to include in their next book Heteropolis.
Atención! Adaptive Actions ha abierto una convocatoria para incluir fotografías, sonido y texto en su próximo libro Heteropolis.
Deadline 4 June 2012. Submission guidelines here.
May 2012
The New Barnes
Contributed by Jonathan Lerner
At a private preview for the new Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, not everyone was happy that the collection had been moved from the founder's historic home.
The new venue is crisply geometrical and soothingly minimal, while richly and subtly textured. A lot of attention was paid to bringing in natural light. Besides Impressionists, Old Masters and early Modernists, Barnes collected early American furniture, ceramics and metalwork, and Native American and African art. Many African motifs were incorporated into the design of the new building.
The structure that houses the art is totally of the moment, but the collection galleries inside exactly reproduce those of their original setting, including Barnes' eccentric and didactic "ensemble" arrangements of the works. At first, I was overwhelmed by the density and quantity, and then, it slowly dawned on me that I was in the presence of greatness.
May 2012
Southwest Road Trip
FAI finds endless creativity in the parched American Southwest.
Miles of Fresh Talk to follow.
March 2012
Jefferson Pinder: Ben-Hur
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
On March 22, 2012, at the Corcoran, six male performers engaged in a performance that tested their stamina and strength . Loosely inspired by the galley scene in the 1959 Hollywood epic Ben-Hur, the re-enaction demanded that artist Jefferson Pinder's crew work themselves to exhaustion. Amy Sherald, FAI Media Director, and the artist share photos from the performance.
Ben-Hur is a time-based endurance piece by Jefferson Pinder in which he continues his investigation of dynamic movement. Ben-Hur not only reflects on the historical, social and political ideas surrounding masculinity and "blackness," but also evokes our collective experience of human predicament and struggle.
Listen to Cathy Byrd and Jefferson Pinder on Fresh Talk.
November 2011
Jonathan Lerner
Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
No letdown.
My experience of Fallingwater was like my experience of the Sydney Opera House. These two icons of modern architecture are among the most photographed structures on earth. Their images had been burned into my consciousness since childhood. Still, when I saw them in real life, each was more beautiful than any photo had conveyed.
The operative phrase being “real life.” Fallingwater, lavish as it is (and was when built, in the depths of the Depression), and while now a house museum, is clearly a well-lived-in home. The building is alive, too, in its continual decay and restoration, and given the subtle modifications (always “in the style of Frank,”) occasionally made so it can survive and welcome up to 1,000 people a day. Then there is the water – sometimes trickling, and sometimes roaring and dripping, as it was on a very rainy day when we visited.
Viðay Island, Reykjavík, Iceland
On November 9th, I ventured to Viðay Island in Reykjavík, Iceland, towitness the lighting of Yoko Ono´s Peace Tower for John Lennon's
birthday. Ono provided free ferry rides for those who wanted to make
the trip. An Icelandic choir sang traditional songs, as well as a
version of a song by Bjðrk, and finished their set with Lennon´s
Imagine. A full moon hung above all of us, and each beam of light from
the tower was lit, one by one. Ono gave a short speech, followed by a
poem, and hot chocolate was served in a nearby hall. As I walked with
the crowd back to the ferry after the event, the most spectacular
display of Aurora Borialis ignited the sky, following with “oohs” and
“aaahs” from below.
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