A new study on the use of digital technologies in American art museums is set for release this week, an in-depth study that looks at museum projects nationwide and their effectiveness in incorporating new immersive media.  The study covers 41 museum projects, from a “digital census” of French sculpture at Dallas’s Nasher Center to new iPad based wall labeling at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts.   (more…)

Bradford Young, Bynum Cutler (2014), via Art Observed

Founded in 1838, the Brooklyn community of Weeksville was a landmark moment in the history of African-American self-determination.    Just 11 years after the abolition of slavery in New York, Weeksville was founded by free Black landowners, a venture that grew to over 500 households and earned its citizens the right to vote.  As a social project, Weeksville’s impact is vastly significant, allowing a supportive, radical structure for its citizens to define and build their own system of economic and cultural stability.  Weeksville’s powerful history that sits at the center of Creative Time’s newest project, Funk, God, Jazz & Medicine, a series of collaborative on-site projects and initiatives incorporating the communal, radical mission of Weeksville and examining its presence in the contemporary landscape of Central Brooklyn. (more…)

Acknowledging a recent petition that the Manifesta 10 Biennial boycott Russia in light of its recent anti-LGBT laws, the organization has responded, refusing to abandon the festival location, and emphasizing the festival’s role examining contemporary Russian society.  “We are conscious of the political climate and the significant conservative shift taking place in Russia, of which this issue is but one example. It is also helpful to know that the leading LGBT organizations in Russia do not support a boycott of the Olympics or other events. They know engagement is important.”  Said Viktor Misiano, Chair of the Manifesta Foundation. (more…)

The Dia Art Foundation has released the details on artist Thomas Hirschhorn’s Gramsci Monument, a library, performance theatre and monument to the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci, established in the Forrest Houses Projects in the Bronx.  The piece will be the fourth and final work in a series of installations to Hirschhorn’s favorite thinkers, installed temporarily at locations around the world.  Says Philippe Vergne, Director, Dia Art Foundation. “Gramsci Monument reinforces Dia’s commitment to off-site commissions, which is at the center of our mission. I am confident that through this project Dia will become a different, stronger institution — one that is even more engaged with the reality of art today.”  Gramsci Monument will open July 1st. (more…)