Community: bloggers@brooklynmuseum

Terence Koh’s Untitled, a stack of thirty-three glass cases, is a striking presence in the Contemporary galleries.  Almost every case contains an artifact that’s been painted white. Some of these date back to the artist’s childhood while others are from friends and lovers, or flea markets. The sculpture is like a shrine that preserves meaningful relics from various chapters of Koh’s life. Unlike many artists, he embraces the effects of entropy and decay on his work, such as mold, or glass shattered in transit.

Terence Koh (born China, 1977). Untitled (Vitrines), 2006. Mixed media, variable. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Peres Projects, Inc., 2008.34.

The piece is part of a larger body of monochrome work in which Koh explores the meanings of white in different cultures, ranging from purity to mourning. With its investigation of temporality and allusions to eventual death, the Brooklyn Museum’s glass stack provides an introspective counterpoint to Koh’s flamboyant public persona. (See his website) Sex and death are themes that run obsessively throughout all aspects of his work.

As part of Performa 09, Koh will be at the Brooklyn Museum on November 7^th for Target First Saturday to perform Saaqiou. At 9:30 p.m., he will be performing and DJing in the Rubin Pavillion, incorporating the Rodin sculptures.

I am really looking forward to November’s Target First Saturday, which takes place on November 7^th and highlights our special exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present. Rock music and rock journalism are two of my passions and I’m excited to see them coming together with the programming around this exhibit.

As a public programmer I’m always looking for new entry points into an exhibition’s content and how to make that content accessible and engaging for Museum visitors. In conversations about public programming for the exhibit with Gail Buckland, the guest curator, she discussed how one of her goals with the exhibition was to focus on the photographers and the images they have created, not only on the musicians and bands featured in them. She also wanted to have an event that captured what up-and-coming rock photographers are doing now and invite them to participate.

Inspired by Gail’s idea, and because we love Brooklyn photographers, on First Saturday we are inviting local photographers to come and shoot the bands that are playing and post their photos to the Brooklyn Museum’s flickr group. Afterwards, Bob Gruen, a rock photography legend who is featured in the exhibition and has shot the likes of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and The Clash, will look at the photos and blog about his favorites here!

The Beets.  Photo by Aubrey Stallard.  All Rights Reserved.

In addition, I couldn’t be more thrilled about the lineup of bands: The Beets, Grass Widow, and Crystal Stilts. In choosing the bands, my colleagues and I wanted to try to capture the feeling and energy of the Brooklyn indie scene that’s really taken off over the past few years.  To select the bands and capture the feeling of shows in clubs alternative spaces around the borough we teamed up with New York City indie show organizer extraordinaire Todd Patrick (aka Todd P.). I first went to one of Todd’s shows in Portland, Oregon in the late 1990’s, and felt there was something special and community oriented about it. Since then, he and I have both moved to New York and he’s been organizing shows in Brooklyn for years.  He really has his finger on the pulse of the scene here and able to spot talent as it emerges, while keeping that community vibe to his shows.

As a final note, even if you don’t take pictures you can participate by dressing up as your favorite rock star. I look forward to seeing you here with your camera and your outfit! You’ll know me, I’ll be the Brooklyn Museum staff member ensuring the bands have sound checked, the photographers are happy while dressed like a 1960’s French popstar.

When Shelley and I went to visit Cass Bird at her Brooklyn studio last week, we weren’t sure what to expect.  We had known her work via Global Feminisms and our Feminist Art Base and there are some artists that our curators think would be great for the Twitter Art Feed—Cass was one of them. Cass is a photographer, but what we ended up discussing was how photographs and other images (books, advertisements, diagrams, etc), when juxtaposed, can create something really interesting and appealing.

Cass Bird (American, born 1974). I Look Just Like My Daddy, 2004. Chromogenic print, 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Prints and Photographs Council and the Robert A. Levinson Fund, 2005.40.1.

So this month, Cass will be posting to the feed a variety of things including her own photographs, photographs from other photographers she likes, and various other visual and pop culture images. Though she won’t be “curating” the feed, the end result will be a strong collection of pictures that reflect her personality, her artistic process, and her own work. Like Joseph Kosuth’s month on the feed, we really have no idea what to expect from her. One of the reasons we started the Twitter Art feed was so we could give artists an opportunity to experiment with a few vehicle for their work and, in doing so, give 1stfans access to an artist in a new way. I promise that access to Cass for a month will not be dull!

Just a heads-up: Cass’ own work often contains nudity, and 1stfans should expect that to be the case for other work she posts as well.

With the exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll:  A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present, opening tomorrow at the museum, I thought now would be a great time to acquaint our readers with the museum’s vintage collection of psychedelic posters.  I started documenting these posters a few years ago after I noticed a wooden box high up on a shelf in the museum’s Works on Paper storage area.  In this box I found close to three hundred stunning posters.

Norman Orr (American). [Untitled] (Poco - Siegal - Schwall), 1970. Offset lithograph, Sheet: 21 7/8 x 28 in. (55.6 x 71.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 73.39.266. ©Bill Graham Archives, LLC, www.Wolfgangsvault.com.

I thought it was interesting that these were part of our collection so I did some research.  I found that they had been brought into the museum by the museum’s then print curator, Jo Miller.  At the time they were purchased, in 1972, these posters were relatively unknown outside of San Francisco, although there had been an exhibition of Fillmore posters at the Museum of Modern Art around this same time. Since their purchase, almost forty years ago, these posters have never been shown at the Brooklyn Museum.  You can view a few here and a larger selection on the Museum’s contemporary collections pages.

Left: Bonnie MacLean (American). [Untitled] (The Who / Loading Zone), 1967. Offset lithograph, Sheet: 22 x 14 1/16 in. (55.9 x 35.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 73.39.70.  ©Bill Graham Archives, LLC, www.Wolfgangsvault.com. Right: D. Bread (American). [Untitled] (Janis Joplin…), 1969. Offset lithograph, Sheet: 21 x 14 1/8 in. (53.3 x 35.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 73.39.164. ©Bill Graham Archives, LLC, www.Wolfgangsvault.com.

Between 1966 and 1971 posters were being produced as publicity for dance concerts, or dance parties, at venues such as the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore West in San Francisco. These concerts featured loud, live bands, colorful light shows, often poetry readings or performance art, and were mostly fueled by LSD or acid.  These unique events were part of what became known as the psychedelic experience.

Left: Lee Conklin (American). [Untitled] (Buffalo Springfield / Richie Havens / Chambers Brothers), 1968. Offset lithograph, Sheet: 21 1/8 x 14 in. (53.7 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 73.39.121.  ©Bill Graham Archives, LLC, www.Wolfgangsvault.com. Right: Bonnie MacLean (American). [Untitled] (Blue Cheer / Vanilla Fudge / Sunshine Co.), 1967. Offset lithograph, Sheet: 21 1/4 x 14 3/16 in. (54 x 36 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Designated Purchase Fund, 73.39.84. ©Bill Graham Archives, LLC, www.Wolfgangsvault.com.

Organized respectively by Chet Helms and Bill Graham, major promoters on the West Coast art and music scene in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, these concerts helped introduce performers that would go on to become legendary Rock Stars, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, to name a few.  Amazingly, on these same concert bills were Rhythm and Blues greats such as Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, and veteran Jazz and Blues musicians including Miles Davis and Albert King!  Please stop by next week for more on these posters and the artists that created them.

In an ongoing effort to be as transparent as possible, I want to take a minute to explain the Membership promotion we’re doing for today only with Groupon: a one-year Family and Friends membership (normally $85) for $35. Groupon (the word combines “group” and “coupon”) is a website that offers discounts on products and services in various cities by promising businesses a minimum number of customers. By harnessing collective buying power, Groupon is able to match up customers to businesses so both sides get something out of it.

Though many Museums discount membership (whether because of the economy, or to entice people to join through the mail or in-person), I have heretofore been completely against the idea of discounting the price of membership here at the Brooklyn Museum. The biggest reason discounting doesn’t appeal to me is because we work hard to make our membership levels affordable and are constantly reviewing the value of benefits at various levels. Additionally, I think when you offer membership for a lower price you essentially admit that you think the membership is worth less than what you were charging before. Lastly, I think it undermines the Museum’s current base of generous supporters when they pay the full amount and you let others-first time members, for example-pay less.

That being said, I came to see the partnership with Groupon as a good thing both for the Museum and for members because of its potential to reach new audiences. We’re always looking for ways to make Brooklyn Museum membership appeal to all sorts of folks, and Groupon’s commitment to providing good deals to people who like to get out and support their local communities is something that we agree with.  More to the point, we have a Rock ‘n Roll photography exhibition coming up for which the Members preview will be a really fun party, and we want to give as many people an opportunity to attend this opening event, which will include a performance by Blondie. This opening, at which hundreds of people will come to the Museum to enjoy art and each other’s company, seems like the right occasion to introduce new members to the Museum. It’s also important to keep in mind that we are not spending money on this promotion: we share the revenue with Groupon, but we don’t spend thousands of dollars on printing, mailing, etc. as we do with our direct mail acquisition campaigns.

Fundamentally, Groupon started “in order to make it easier for people to enjoy the great things in their community.” As someone who works at an institution whose mission is to become as accessible as possible for our all segments of our community, that philosophy makes sense to me. As with 1stfans, this one-day promotion is an experiment and we want to be up-front about that. But as with all projects at the Museum, if we can tie them effectively to our mission and communicate effectively with our constituents, everyone can be satisfied. I’ll do a follow-up post after the Member’s opening on October 29^th to let you know how things went.