PORT AUTHORITY CENSORS SHOW, SMEARS CURATOR
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has abruptly shut down "Terminal 5," the contemporary art exhibition organized by the 27-year-old freelance curator Rachel K. Ward at the landmark TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport [see "Artnet News," Aug. 31, 2004, and Oct. 4, 2004]. According to a report in the New York Times, the move was in response to "a raucous opening night party" that left behind graffiti, broken glass and vomit on the floor. "We pulled the permit because the curator violated her agreement," a PA spokesperson told the newspaper.
Art-world observers responded to the tale with skepticism, however. The exhibition featured several works that were especially made for the site -- and considering New Yorks "Code Orange" mentality, the airport terminal proved to be a provocative theme, to say the least. Vanessa Beecrofts installation, which involved scantily clad black models attached to each other with immigration-style chains, was removed from the show on Monday. Other works likely to offend a bureaucratic mindset -- and the Port Authority has a reputation for paranoia and timidity when it comes to art commissions -- included a pile of padlocks by Kendell Geers, a travelers portmanteau containing a gold-plated vibrator by Toland Grinnell, and "peace bombs" by Tobias Wong in the shows gift shop.
On the "Terminal 5" website, Ward has posted a statement, noting that she and a team of volunteers worked on the exhibition for more than a year, investing time and effort into preserving and publicizing the landmark building. Ward says that she hopes to reopen the show and urges her supporters to email Ralph Tragale, a Port Authority official, at r.tragale@panynj.gov.
ART & DESIGN AT THE ARMORY Brian and Anna Haughtons International Art + Design Fair 1900-2004 opens tonight at the Seventh Regiment Armory at Park Avenue and 67th Street in New York with a preview gala benefiting the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture (tickets are $150; email development@bgc.bard.edu for info). After canceling its 2001 installment in the wake of 9/11, the high-end design fair is definitely back, with about 50 exhibitors (up from 32 last year). Two special shows are featured: "Furnishing Fashion: Material Connections in 20th-century Design," sponsored by the Bard Graduate Center; and a special selling show of Indonesian textiles organized by artist Richard Tuttle with Mary H. Kahlenberg. The shows catalogue also contains an essay on "The History of Bakelite" by Gerardus A. Widdershoven of Maison Gerard.
In addition to such wares as Panton chairs, Patek Phillippe watches, Albert Paley furniture, Chagall tapestries, and Adnet commodes, highlights are a solo show by master miniature-diorama-maker Charles Matton at the Forum Gallery booth; a show of furniture by the Brazilian designer Jose Zanine and terrariums by Paula Hayes at R 20th Century; a selection of bronzes by Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916) at Sladmore Sculpture Gallery; a selection of silver by Georg Jensen at the Silver Fund; and contemporary screens by Maio Motoko and metalwork by Oyama Yasuyuki at Lesley Kehoe Galleries from Melbourne. The fair remains on view Oct. 8-13, 2004; general admission tickets are $16.
TIRAVANIJA PAVILION IN NEW YORK, BRIEFLY
The Guggenheim Museum and American Express have teamed up for a weekend-long installation of a 40 x 20 ft. chrome and stainless steel pavilion by Rirkrit Tiravanija in New Yorks SoHo neighborhood. Housed in the former space of Ace Gallery -- now called Skylight, at 275 Hudson Street -- the pavilion is hosting round-the-clock events from the evening of Oct. 7 through 6 pm on Oct. 11. The offerings include Pilates, tarot card readings, Thai massage, film festivals of work by Jack Smith and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, musical performances, storytelling and special programs for kids. For info, call (212) 423-3500.
Tiravanijas work -- called Untitled 2002 (he promised) -- was originally exhibited in 2002 at the Secession in Vienna. Its acquisition by the Guggenheim -- a priority of Gugg curator Nancy Spector -- is in progress, with funds provided by American Express and the museums International Directors Council. The price? An estimated $300,000.
CURATORS SELECTED FOR INSTANBUL
Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and Vasif Kortun, director of Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center in Istanbul, have been selected as co-curators of the 9th International Instanbul Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts and slated to take place Sept. 16-Oct. 30, 2005. The theme of the show is "Istanbul," considered both as a real and metaphorical location. The biennial is also to have a "parallel project" at the Van Abbemuseum at the same time.
CELEBRATING THE WOMEN OF THE LITTLE MAGAZINES
The Instituto Cervantes in Manhattan is opening a show dedicated to the so-called "Little Magazine Movement" of the early part of the 20th century -- The Dial, Poetry, The Little Review, Story, Twice a Year, Transition and Sur -- titled "America -- Meet Modernism! Fearless Transatlantic Women of the Little Magazine Movement," Oct. 8-Nov. 20, 2004. The exhibition is organized by writer Barbara Probst Solomon and her graduate writing class at Sarah Lawrence College, and focuses on the role that these publications played in introducing Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism, and feminist and Freudian theory to America in the first half of the 20th century. The show also features a film series, including documentaries on Simone de Beauvoir, Marguerite Duras and Anaïs Nin. For more info, see www.cervantes.org.
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