Here are our top arts and cultural news picks of the week:
1. NYT: Whitney Advances Plans for Museum Near the High Line
Even in a down economy, the Whitney Museum is still trucking on. This week, they announced that they were going ahead with plans to build their downtown branch at the entrance of the High Line on Washington Street in the Meatpacking. The Whitney has a long history of failed attempts at expansion in their Upper East Side neighborhood. I hope that changing neighborhoods will help them reach their goals...
2. LAT: Green Day goes from musical theater to art world
After having produced their own piece of Musical Theatre called "American Idiot," Green Day is getting into the visual arts. On the occasion of the release of their new album, they are commissioning 21 original works to be exhibited at London's Stolen Space Gallery starting October 23. If anyone is in the area please check it out and report back!
3. ArtNews: Bilbao Treatment for Baku?
Thomas Krens, the former director of the Guggenheim and the pioneer of the "Bilbao Effect," has his sites set of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Mr. Krens and the government of Azerbaijan are hoping that getting a star architect, in this case Jean Nouvel, to construct a new museum in Baku will help make them the cultural capital of EurAsia. Well, I don't know about cultural capital, but I think they are on the right path to growing the tourism industry and helping strengthen their local economy. I look forward to seeing what it looks like!
Here is a fun way to find cool stuff in the city. Flavorpill has giveaways for some of the best venues in NYC including the Museum of Moving Images and The Guggenheim...Enjoy!
Nicholas Coblence is the founder of CulturalBlahBlah.com, a web site dedicated to contemporary Arts and Culture. Nicholas has worked in Fashion and the Arts and presently lives and works in New York City as an Arts Consultant.
