A comment yesterday on Stanford’s decision to abandon the installation of the Oppenheim sculpture “Device to root out evil”. [Link] Why, might I ask, did you invite the Scotty (ed – Stanford’s Dean of Religious Life) into the process? What possible influence should he have on whether a work of art is or is not…
contemporary art
Dennis Oppenheim and the material power of art
I chair the Panel on Outdoor Art at Stanford – we acquire pieces for the sculpture collection and consider offers of donation. Stanford’s collection is one of the best on the west coast. Like Colin Renfrew [Link] I think there is a strong convergence of interest in materialities and time that brings together contemporary art…
Patrick Roddie at Burning Man 2004 – corporealities categorized
Photographer Patrick Roddie has just posted his images of Burning Man 2004 – [Link]. The categories of this epic exploration of corporeality: blue – chests – children – couples – dust & dance – etc – feet – hands – hips – masks – me – men – meta – music – night – paint…
Bamiyan Buddhas in context
– iconoclasm and closed minds A thoughtful piece in the New York Times today by Roberta Smith Critic’s Notebook: Why Attack Art? Its Role Is to Be Helpful (Thanks to Tom Seligman for the link) In 2001 an international outcry met the Taliban’s destruction of two colossal Buddhas at Bamian in Afghanistan. The Buddhas were…
collecting culture and the new art museum
Saturday – a fine afternoon at the Cantor Arts Center, celebrating 50 years of membership (currently at 3500). [Link] A tent on the lawn by the Rodins and the Oldenberg pink thing (which I far prefer to the Rodins – never mind the lovely chilled sherry and Sam Smith’s in the “Cool Cafe”). It is…
responsive media – improvisation, neosemy, and synaesthesia
Sha Xin Wei visited our New Media group (Mellon funding) yesterday – Wednesday. He is an old friend of many of the group – did his PhD at Stanford. Is now a part of the Topological Media Lab at Georgia Tech. He was talking about his work on “responsive media”. Particularly with the performance group…