Ward Stare, Resident Conductor for the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, talks about Ingram Marshall’s Fog Tropes, in front of Gordon Matta-Clark’s Bingo. Stare will conduct Fog Tropes for the concert tomorrow, March 10, 2010. (Tickets for tomorrow’s concert are SOLD OUT.)

At this time of year, it’s easy to wax poetic about reconnecting with old friends and family and the joys of the season, but hopefully we can avoid falling into over-sentimentality while still recognizing how important it is to take time to see old friends again and maintain relationships that have made an indelible impact on one’s life. It is in this spirit that we joyously reunited with the actors who participated in Staging Old Masters to see how everyone is faring and to make sure that the bonds of a company that are built through rehearsal and performance aren’t lost in the midst of the trappings of daily living. We were fortunate to be joined by a little more than half of our company last Tuesday evening, and I’m happy to share that all of those in attendance seemed happy, healthy, and doing very well.

One of them, Naheem Houston, is diligently pursuing his dreams of helping youth avoid the path he once followed while finishing up coursework at Florissant Valley Community College. The following are words from Naheem.

Naheem Houston describes what he likes and what he doesn’t really like about Urban Alchemy.

Naheem Houston:

I was looking forward to last Tuesday night since the Pulitzer sent me the invitation. I love and appreciate everybody that had anything to do with the success of the Staging Old Masters ensemble. The experience was truly a blessing that I will forever cherish, and the food was always a plus. I enjoyed meeting up with old friends and conversating about how life has been since we went our separate ways. I wish all the actors and staff could have made it out, just so I could see the look on everyone’s face in unity. We were the first in the pilot program, so we made history.

As you can see in our recent upload of Flickr photos, a throng of art viewers circulated the galleries last Friday for the reception of Urban Alchemy. Equipped with the Flip camera and a tripod, I petitioned a few attendees to share their thoughts on this new exhibition.

Pulitzer visitors talk about Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark. Read the rest of this entry »

Art handlers move a re-creation of Gordon Matta-Clark’s Garbage Wall from a construction space into the Pulitzer galleries, before adding the final touches of trash to its exterior.

Finally, here’s a glimpse at the Garbage Wall we’ve been blogging about for several weeks. Look closely at the video of it being moved into the building, and perhaps you’ll see a sneaker you threw out during bulk trash week.

Visit Transformation’s landing page for a video of the initial assembling of the Wall, which features Jane Crawford talking about its history.

Art handlers install Gordon Matta-Clark’s Wallspaper.

With titles such as “Pier In/Out” and “Reality Properties: Fake Estates,” Matta-Clark is known for his fondness for word play. “Wallspaper” is another example. Wallspaper consists of photographs of the interior walls of dilapidated buildings, which have been reproduced as colored prints and stapled to a wall, playing with the idea of wall paper.

Art handlers install Gordon Matta-Clark’s Bingo for Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark.

Above is a preview to one of Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark’s star pieces, Bingo. In 1974, Matta-Clark severed these hunks of facade from a condemned house along the Love Canal, a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY, which became environmentally infamous for 21,000 tons of toxic waste that was buried beneath it by a chemical company. Matta-Clark moved the facade to Artpark, an important space for the Land Art movement and the site of a previous industrial waste dump.

You can view Matta-Clark’s documentary video of Bingo on UbuWeb Film.

You can view Bingo in person this Friday for our exhibition’s opening reception, 5-9pm.

Manager of Community Engagement Lisa Harper Chang describes ideas behind outreach programs for the past exhibition, Ideal (Dis-) Placements, and for the upcoming Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark.

Looking back on last Spring’s Let’s Look and Staging Old Masters, Lisa Harper Chang considers the transformative power of art and how it will again be harnessed for the highly anticipated Urban Alchemy. The Pulitzer has already begun partnering with schools and artists for this exhibition, which opens October 30, and is planning a series of panel discussions on themes in Matta-Clark’s art. You can learn more about these and other exciting new programs on our budding website Transformation. Read the rest of this entry »

In the video above, Director Matthias Waschek describes how community engagement is incorporated into the Pulitzer’s primary identity as an arts institution. This is the first in what we plan to be a series of “From the Director” clips in which Matthias presents topics unique to the Pulitzer.

If you have a question, please feel free to leave it in a reply. We want to know what you want to know.

Yesterday was the day we published Post 1 and 2 of the A Marathon Metamorphoses blog-have a look please. The notes consist of a welcome from Hannah Fullgraf and, along with a little reiteration on my part, a video of Director Matthias Waschek, explaining the Pulitzer perspective behind the mega-read.

The basic strategy for this blog is to offer some background information and updates related to the event at this month’s conclusion. Throughout August, we’ll sprinkle a few words on Ovid here, some on Wtewael there, and tie everything together with the narration of Hannah, as she’s the event’s manager. But like other aspects of the laboratorial Pulitzer, the blog doesn’t have a cookie-cutter recipe, which makes me, as a web communications assistant using an ever-changing form of documentation, wonder what exactly this web page should be made of.  

The Pulitzer has a few other web sites/blogs with the same layout, such as Let’s Look, Sorrento Springs, the French Program, but if you look at those pages linked to on our Collaborative Programming page, you’ll see that the events or programs are different from one another and have been documented in diverse ways. The French Program, periodic visits from Lindenwood, can be posted about per visit. The Sorrento Springs trip was a one-time occurrence and written about from various witnesses’ perspectives.

Now when it comes to A Marathon Metamorphoses, an event which will last just one weekend but include people from all over St. Louis and span art forms and areas of study, we’re working with a whole other animal. What should be recorded in the event planning? How do we make the page worthy in itself aside from the event? Does that matter? How do we tell people about Ovid et cetera without becoming too “educational” and departing “blog”? What will readers want to know? What will the pace be?

 http://www.vimeo.com/5626446

Emily Hickner, a Pulitzer gallery assistant, talks about two different kinds of saints she sees in Ideal (Dis-) Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer.

Emily Hickner, Gallery Assistant, is interviewed by Amy Broadway, Web Communications Assistant:

A: How long have you worked at the Pulitzer, and what exhibitions have you worked?

E: I’ve worked at the Pulitzer for approximately three years now. I started out as a volunteer at the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibition and have since worked Portrait/Homage/Embodiment, Water, Dan Flavin: Constructed Light, and currently, Ideal (Dis-) Placements.

A: How did being a GA change during the different exhibitions?

E: Every week I spend about an hour in each gallery, revisiting the artwork. With exhibits like Portrait/Homage/Embodiment and Water, I found that I discovered more about the artwork over the course of each exhibition. These exhibitions showed works of art that go beyond realism and aesthetics, therefore I spent a lot of time trying to analyze the artist’s intention.

For example, Roni Horn’s Asphere which was on display during the Portrait/Homage/Embodiment exhibition. At first, I saw a dull metallic, misshapen ball on the floor, but after spending more time with it, I contemplated its meaning. Roni Horn called Asphere a self-portrait of sorts. After spending hours in close proximity, I started to understand why. It’s a reflective object, but it lacks sheen. In that sense, Asphere is a muddled reflection of its environment. The object’s shape is slightly warped, hence the name Asphere, displaying imperfection. I feel that Asphere is not just a self-portrait, but a portrayal of what it means to be human. In my opinion, we are distorted versions of our surroundings. Each of us a little misshapen.

To get back to my point, I believe that I fulfilled the intention of the artist by having this conversation with myself. Had I not spent the time in that gallery that I did, I would not have seen beyond what my immediate observation was.

On the other hand, the Dan Flavin did not produce the same results for me. Not only did the lights take a toll on my eyes, but the pieces did not seem to develop for me in the way that Roni Horn’s Asphere did. Flavin’s work has an immediate “wow” factor. I think people are naturally drawn to the colorful, soft electric glow of his works. Beyond my immediate response, I felt that there wasn’t much else to contemplate about his light installations. I enjoyed the way Flavin’s work showcased the building, and as a visitor, it is exciting to see. But as someone who was working around the light installations 5-7 hours a day, it was a little like working at a carnival instead of going to one.

A: What is your favorite station to be at for Ideal (Dis-) Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer? Read the rest of this entry »

A Midsummer Night turned into a magical event the Friday before last. The St. Louis heat and humidity let up until we were only cozy, and by sundown, the moon was a perfect Cheshire Cat smile. Guests filtered in and out throughout the evening, and the general feedback was that they enjoyed themselves. We now have footage from the occasion for you:

In the second to last clip, Director Matthias Waschek remarks how A Midsummer Night’s Dream fits in with the Pulitzer’s current exhibition as an Old Master work with its script, direction, and music. This made me think of other ways particularly the play compares to our current paintings, such as how its ageless themes of human experience (love, dreams, lust, confusion, violence, etc.) make it forever pertinent to society.

Yesterday, I asked people on Facebook and Myspace broadly, “What do you think makes Old Masters relevant to our society today?” and received some thoughtful responses, including that of Facebook fan Paula, who wrote, “…I think every one of those pieces of art speaks to something within the human condition…” Likewise, A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals with the frustrations of desire and how comical humans can be while hooked to their base emotions.

We’ll observe human nature more during A Marathon Metamorphoses, when we read a Classic that must have stirred Shakespeare’s imagination a little. For instance, in Ovid’s story of Cephalus and Procris, we see tragedy associated with one of those seven deadly sins, jealousy. The dysfunctional lovers’ tale is represented in a painting now on display at the Pulitzer, Joachim Wtewael’s Cephalus and Procris (The Death of Procris).