Next week the Pulitzer building will resonate with the sounds of intellectual conversation as we host a student symposium for the Flavin exhibition. This private event will pull together graduate students and professors from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, University of Texas-Austin and Washington University, along with Tiffany Bell and Steve Morse from the Dan Flavin Studio and the Pulitzer’s director Matthias Waschek, founder Emily Rauh Pulitzer and curatorial assistant Camran Mani.Over the 2 days the group will wind its way around the galleries, stopping to talk at strategic points. Camran is organizing the program and does a great job of explaining the intent of the event: “The kind of symposium we are hosting is almost an inversion of traditional academic exchanges: the emphasis is not on presenting findings but posing questions that might generate work later on. The program is primarily a series of open-ended conversations about aspects of art, architecture, and exhibitions with our Flavin exhibition as their point of departure.”

For those of you who are nosy and want to know what is discussed during these closed door sessions: never fear, the conversations will be recorded and portions will be posted on our website for your voyeuristic pleasure.

Fast on the heels of last week’s Symphony concert which featured only one piece, Crippled Symmetry by the composer Morton Feldman, we’re already talking with Symphony staff about the particulars for the next symphony concert on April 23rd which features four pieces:

BERIO: Sequenza V for trombone

LIGETI: Sonata for Solo Viola

BERIO: Sequenza VIII for violin

LIGETI: Poème symphonique

I think the most exciting piece will be the final work of the evening, György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique. This piece calls for 100 wind-up metronomes (which the Symphony is now in the process of trying to locate - apparently not an easy task in today’s high-tech age). I spoke with Eric Gaston from the Symphony on Friday and he called to my attention a YouTube video where the metronomes for this piece were all started with a machine. Check it out here.

Instead of using this fancy machine we are going to be using ten people who will be responsible for starting ten metronomes a piece. The goal will be to start each metronome as quickly as possible so that the least amount of time exists between when the first object is started and the last. Eric has given us at the Pulitzer the task of figuring out how to best present these metronomes for the concert. We will be taking into consideration that the setup needs to easily allow the winders (my own technical name for the people who will start the metronomes) access to each object and that they will be waiting in the wings during the other three performances. Maybe we’ll think of a really creative setup that involves different podiums of different heights interspersed around the room or maybe we’ll just setup an 8ft table and call it a day. Feel free to give us your suggestions.

I think my reasons for liking this piece the most out of the four is due its association - at least in my mind - with concepts that were explored in the visual arts. The glorification/transformation of the musical aid brings to mind Marcel Duchamp’s readymade objects.

Okay, despite this work being my obvious pre-concert favorite, there are merits and exciting elements to all of the pieces playing on April 23rd - but I think I’ll wait till a time closer to the concert to figure them all out. ‘Til then!

My name is Lauren and I started working for the Pulitzer in November of ‘07. I am Matthias Waschek’s new assistant and I will also be coordinating events for the Foundation.

I’ve been asked the same question over and over by all of my friends and family during the holidays: “How’s the new job?” Well, my response has been steadfast: I LOVE working for the Pulitzer Foundation.

This may sound too jubilant for some of you but I can’t help it, it’s true! The positive aspects of my job are too many to mention in this short amount of space, so I’ll just name some of the biggies (in no particular order).

1. I get to see amazing artwork everyday. For example, when I look outside my office window, I’m looking at the inspiring Richard Serra creation: “Joe.” Not a bad background to have while I’m clicking away on my keyboard.

2. Working closely with Matthias, I get to see how the whole process of creating an exhibition takes place – how exhibition themes emerge, how artwork is selected, how we go about securing loans, etc. To a regular museum goer, for the most part, none of these things are known and yet I feel having the knowledge gives more weight to the exhibition and makes the experience stronger for me.

3. I am surrounded by fantastic artistic minds. Granted, I’m scared to strike up intelligent artistic conversations, but, for instance, during our last symposium, I picked up Achim Borchardt-Hume (Curator for Tate Modern in London) in my slightly messy vehicle and took him to his hotel. All I did was point out some local landmarks and the trip was over, but still, he was sitting in the passenger seat of my car! It’s just so glamorous to me, and I can’t help but think: “Who’s next, Jasper Johns?”!

I admit, maybe I’m foolishly star struck, but being around artwork and people who hail from the top art institutions around the world – I could be eating garbage off our kitchen’s floor and I think I would still love it - not that I’m comparing my job to eating garbage off of the floor - far from it! Keeping Matthias’s creative mind organized is very satisfying to me because I know it allows him to produce great things and I like being a part of that in my own way. Someone else might bring up the point that I could get this experience at any museum but I would then bring up my final point:

4. The Pulitzer staff is fantastic. Everyone works as one happy, helpful unit to get things done and I think in any profession, that is a rare gift.

Okay reader, you can grab your trash can now if you feel the ole gag reflex acting up, I’m finished with my glowing review. It’s time for me to get back to work! If Rachel will let me, I’ll post again if I have anything of import to share.