Museum Notes: AFAM goes down, HAM goes dark

First appeared 2/18214 at http://artsfuse.org/100717/fuse-museum-notes-the-american-folk-art-museum-goes-down-harvard-art-museums-go-dark/

Significant changes in the world of the art museum can trigger roiling controversy or transpire in problematic quiet.

In New York City, the imminent demolition of the American Folk Art Museum has triggered an uproar likely to leave echoes and scars. In 2001, the AFAM moved from its small, storefront quarters on Broadway to a building designed by Tod Williams and Billie Stein. AFAM houses the main collection of the works of Henry Darger, who, though he could never have suspected it, having died unknown to the art world, was foundational for the genre to be known as outsider art. The AFAM always had some Darger on display and regularly mounted exhibits such as "Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel", unlikely to be seen elsewhere.

Socchi the Intro: Putin presiding, neither precisely Stalinist nor precisely Romanov

Among the best things to come out of Russia in recent years are Garry Kasparov and Pussy Riot.

Funny, during the ponderous intro to the Socchi games (before the cool hi tech on the ceiling took over) there was no mention of one unquestionable Russian achievement. No, no not vodka. And no, not the Russian Orthodox Church. And no, not the mass emigration to the United States, which, if nothing else,  has enlivened certain otherwise moribund areas of Brooklyn.

SodaStream Part 3:

I approached the current argument about whether to buy a 2 cents plain* maker from SodaStream pretty much decided against doing so, though I consume a fair amount of double bubble h20. But I am opposed to Israeli settlements on the west bank, and always have been. It seemed to me SodaStream had cashed in on the land grab powered by religious fanaticism, noxious nationalism and just plan greed. 

sodastream, the superbowl

here's my response to some of the (facebook & blog) responses to my piece about scarlett johanssen, sodatstream, the boycott divest, sanction (bds) strategy toward israel, the superbowl: