Over the wires and through the buds

Passing along a couple of podcast episodes that I found interesting:

A recent LACMA podcast posted in April featured a conversation between Robert Irwin and Michael Govan. There is a video version (the audio version I listened to was in two parts.) A segment of the talk that centered on the relationship Govan and Irwin developed as they worked on projects at Dia, including Irwin's work in creating the master plan for Dia:Beacon. An interesting anecdote relayed here dealt with a late addition to the museum's landscape of a variety of tree the artist found in a nursery in Jersey, which was later revealed to be a variety of hemlock, originally discovered on Mt. Beacon.



Another worthwhile podcast item was a discussion Brian Andrews and Marc LeBlanc had with curator Joseph del Pesco and artist Scott Oliver about the Collective Foundation from the May 13 Bad At Sports podcast. The conversation begins at about the 20 min. mark, after the review of Miranda July's book. The Collective Foundation is a multifaceted endeavor that is currently existing as an exhibition, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Difficult to explain in short form, the CF is amalgamation of efforts on the part of various folks in the San Francisco area to augment the art scene in the area, support artists the efforts of artists, and doing so within an expression of creative practice.

The Yerba Buena Center's description of the CF:

The Collective Foundation (CF) is a temporary organization. The concept of
curator Joseph del Pesco and artist Scott Oliver, CF relies on the contributions
of numerous people who are working to advance art in the Bay Area. During the
organization's launch at YBCA, The Foundation will set up temporary headquarters
in our galleries. They will hold think-tank discussions, how-to sessions for
navigating the CF Web interface, and Shotgun Review Second Saturdays where
participants will review as many Bay Area art shows as possible. The furniture
for the Foundation’s headquarters will be borrowed from local individuals,
modified for the exhibition, and returned at the close of the show—a generous
illustration of the benefits of networking.

I really can't nail down a concise description of the effort, except to say it sounds like a holistic, assertive and innovative pursuit to imbue the mechanics of supporting artistic activity with meaning and a spirit that is almost performative. The CF embodies the type of activity I hoped to establish with the formation of bau, but which turned out not to be possible for a variety of reasons. I think the CF represents a methodology to consider, particularly in the case of Beacon Studios, where artists there are working to strengthen the prospects of the long term viability of staying in the old high school building.