4SC/AGO/ROM Interior/Exterior Brouhaha

[adma]

There is still a great appreciation for understated, simple, minimalism. But I think there's some unease when it gets applied to everything.

4SC isn't "everything".

 

[Tewder]

Well, the ROM's mandate is the arts through all the ages - including ours.

The ROM is equally about natural history and the natural sciences...

What's more, to consider the purview of the "World Culture" aspect of the museum as a purely artistic or aesthetic one is missing the point. The human culture artefacts are on display there not solely as 'objets' in their own right, but also for the anthropological or socio-historic context and insight they offer, all of which is entirely in keeping with the duality of the word 'artefact'. As such, the difference in mandate of the ROM with respect to the AGO, for example, is not necessarily an issue of *which* object is on display, but *why* it is on display.

...And although Libeskind may be flavour of the month, producing high-fashion shape du jour buildings that will inevitably become horribly unfashionable sooner rather than later, he still understood the basic programmatic requirements of the institution better than the other shortlisted architects - and designed a building to address those issues. So I think that, for quite some time, it will be difficult to argue that the Crystal should be replaced. I think that Gehry, who is also a smart cookie and good problem-solving designer, will have similar success at the AGO.

Well, anything that is fashionable now will appear horribly unfashionable at some point. Even hipster 'minimalism' will have its day, and in fact already has...once it reaches 'City Line' it's over baby!

And whether or not these fashionable 'shape du jour' buildings are considered eternally tasteful or not, they remain significant in that they do speak of our place and time, the same way that other 'shape du jour' buildings, such as the Egyptian pyramids for example, do of theirs. Crystals and drill bits and other flights of fancy will no doubt fall out of style and favour in our time, but will also no doubt come back into style as future generations view them and appreciate them in a different context, for what they are and for what they represent.

Nevertheless, there is cause for celebration here, however, in that your post above acknowledges for the very first time that a building may be considered a success on the basis of its function, yet still be criticised for its external aesthetic. Huzzah!

 

[Urban Shocker]

Tewder: The ROM's mandate, as I've pointed out previously, is carved in stone at the entrance to the 1934 wing and includes both the arts and the natural world. In singling out art, I was responding to the issues that TYKYTAKY admits he has with accepting part of that mandate - the Museum's use of contemporary art in their World Culture galleries as an entry point, and therefore central, to appreciating those collections.

In the Sigmund Samuel gallery, for instance, the visual messages given out by Benjamin West's 1776 painting The Death of General Wolfe are interpreted in print captions by several people living today, including an Aboriginal Canadian who comments on how Aboriginal people are portrayed in the painting. Deconstructing heroic myths created by dominant, conquering groups through their propaganda art in this way brings a reality check and a breath of fresh air. Clearly the controversy created by Into The Heart of Africa nearly 20 years ago is something the institution learned from. I certainly saw that when curator Lisa Golombek explained how the old way of displaying the Islamic collection was wrong, and was abandoned when it was time to display it in the Crystal, during her talk at the Colloquium.

The Gallery of First Peoples, just across the Rotunda from the Sigmund Samuel, has a good display of contemporary Aboriginal art - right up front and to the right as you walk in. And items from the ROM's historical collection have been selected by members of the Aboriginal community, displayed, and interpreted by them for visitors. Again, contemporary art and historical objects are central and used as entry points to the collection.

Though TKYTAKY sees the ROM's inclusion of contemporary art as "tenuous" - only three major institutions should, apparently, be allowed to treat it as central to their mandate ( which three? - he doesn't condescend to explain his restrictive quota system ) - the reality, at the ROM, is thankfully otherwise. Art is out there, it's on the loose, it's powerful ... and it's coming to a cultural institution near you folks!

Also, to pick up on your final point, of course buildings that function successfully can be criticised on the basis of their external aesthetic. All criticism either passes muster or fails on the basis of what it argues, not by the fact that it is being made.

 

[TKTKTK]

Now you're just name-calling? (You're a designer, so you should know the TKTKTK convention.)

Why do you actually contribute here? Is it just for an opportunity to slag others off? What a waste.

Anyone who read my post and then read your post above will see how plainly you're trying to misrepresent what I've said. Why should I even bother replying? Hell, why are you even replying?

 

[Urban Shocker]

Look Dave, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.

 

[adma]

(You're a designer, so you should know the TKTKTK convention.)

 

[Hydrogen]

A good old-fashioned brouhaha.

Gotta love that word.

Brouhaha.