Author Archives: Katarzyna Z.

Impending Collapse of American Folk Museum; Tragedy for New York and the World

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According to this article in the Arts section of the New York Times, the American Folk Museum is dangerously close to collapse. This museum has served more or less as the center of folk and outsider art research and development in the country, if not the world for half a century. It has mounted exhibitions of outsider greats such as Martin Ramirez, Adolf Wolfi and Henry Darger, the Chicago recluse who is represented within the museum by a gift of some 5,000 artworks and related materials. Now, it is threatened by erasure from New York’s cultural skyline.

Last spring, the trustees in charge of financing the museum defaulted on a $31.2 million construction bond and sold the museum’s 10-year-old building to its neighbor, the Museum of Modern Art, retreating to the Folk Art Museum’s small, rather grim Lincoln Square branch in the process. Then, last month, word came that the trustees are exploring ways to dispose of the collection and dissolve the 50-year-old institution entirely. They are said to be considering relinquishing the collection to the Smithsonian Institution, the Brooklyn Museum, or some combination of the two.

A number of reasons have been cited for this tragedy, including failures of judgment on the part of the trustees in the choice of interior building design, an uninviting exterior, and an overly discreet building façade in comparison to its widely popular neighbor, the Museum of Modern Art. Another reason cited is the choice of a museum director who is a complete novice and totally inexperienced in folk art. Basically, the inter-related problems are: “failures of vision, leadership, fund-raising, trustee giving and marketing.” Some articles in other newspapers and magazines suggest a failure of glamour—that is, folk and outsider art is not “sexy enough” to the big spenders that the museum boards need to attract.

Whatever the reasons, the Folk Art Museum’s complete erasure from New York’s cultural skyline—which it has shared with the Museum of Modern Art and other museums for many years—would be a tremendous loss, for the city in general and for its role as a center of both art viewing and art making within the context of the world as well. The article suggests that the city officials need to look at the intact museum and collection as a civic and business asset, as well as a cultural one and that the transfer and dispersal of the collection should be fought to the bitter end, “with every ounce of passion and ingenuity that the museum and its supporter can muster.”

Frankly, I agree.

Bob Dylan comes to the Gagosian

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According to this article in the New York Times, the Gagosian Gallery will be exhibiting a series of Bob Dylan’s drawings and paintings chronicling his journeys in Asia. Mr. Dylan’s paintings have previously been shown in Chemnitz, Germany; the Statens Museum in Copenhagen; and on the cover of his “Self Portrait” album but this is the first time his artwork will be exhibited in New York City. The exhibition, which takes place from September 20th through October 22nd, will include works that Mr. Dylan created on trips to Japan, China, Vietnam, and South Korea. Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and painter who has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for the last five decades. His lyrics have always incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences defying existing pop music conventions and appealing to the counterculture movement. He has received numerous awards over the years including Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards and he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. The exhibition of his work is one I will be attending.

Here is a video of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, a six-minute single which many people claim revolutionized perceptions of the limits of popular music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk3mAX5xdxo

9/11 Memorial Concert at Riverside Church

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On September 11, 2011 I attended the charity concert presented by the Japan-USA Friendship Disaster Fund at Riverside Church. The concert was performed in honor of the victims of 9/11 and the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. It began with a brief memorial service during which the people organizing the event introduced themselves, the wife of a firefighter who lost his life on 9/11 spoke out about her experience on that tragic day, and a reverend said a short prayer in honor of all of the victims. The prayer was followed by a performance of Amazing Grace and Hallelujah, both beautifully rendered by the members of the Queens College Orchestra & Chorus. The evening’s program also included a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on the G-string and Wolfgang Mozart’s Requiem KV626—the main event of the evening—and concluded with another beautiful rendition of Ave Vernum Corpus.

The entire program was spectacular but the Requiem was probably my favorite part of the evening. For this piece the Queens College Orchestra and Chorus teamed up with the Japan and U.S. Memorial Orchestra and Chorus to produce a truly spine-tingling and heart-wrenching rendition of Mozart’s masterpiece. The composition is beautiful in itself but the performance of the two orchestras was truly worthy of the people they were commemorating with their music. I am truly grateful to have been part of the small group of people gathered in the church to witness a performance that excelled in honoring the memory of those who lost their lives because of two horrible tragedies, and anytime I look at the beautiful origami crane that I received as a gift for being part of this wonderful event I will remember the beautiful performance. I would definitely not give up an opportunity to see a similar program again in the future.

Anyone who could not attend the memorial concert can listen to a rendition of the Lacrimosa–my favorite part of the Requiem–performed by the Cracow Concert Choir and the New Polish Philharmonic here. Hopefully, this small taste will give people a sense of what they missed.