The Museum of Modern Art has announced a new initiative, in conjunction with blogging platform Tumblr, to engage younger internet users and introduce them to art through education and exposure.  The project, titled MoMA Teens, was launched on Monday after nine months of work.   “Museums can be very intimidating at times,” Says MoMA’s associate educator Calder Zwicky said.  “The idea was to meet teens where they already are, and it seemed like Tumblr was the platform to use.” (more…)

Signaling a potential sea-change in the landscape of contemporary sound art, a number of major museums are dedicating space in their fall schedule to the medium, including a major survey of the field at the MoMA, opening this Saturday.   “For the public, sound art it still a fairly new and also a very, very accessible medium,” says curator Tom Eccles, who has commissioned a new work by sound artist Susan Philipsz in New York. “On a very basic, basic level, sound is one of our first experiences — in the uterus, in fact.”
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Barry Bergdoll, MoMA’s Architectural Curator for the past six years, has announced that he will be leaving the position to return to Columbia University as chair of the Art History Department.  “The university has now requested that I return to teach full time,” Mr. Bergdoll said in a letter to journalists. “It is for me a great honor that I feel also recognizes the scholarly work that I have continued to pursue most recently in exhibitions and publications here at MoMA.” (more…)

A pair of installations by sculptor Carol Bove are currently on view in New York, including an appointment-only installation on the High Line, as well as a show of works on the Museum of Modern Art’s fourth floor.  Both recent series of works, the installations showcase an evolution of the artist’s practice, moving towards a more refined, cohesive stylistic approach. (more…)

In response to the massive public response drawn by its current Rain Room installation, the Museum of Modern Art will keep the work by Random International open until midnight this Sunday, July 28th, its closing day.  The work has attracted over 65,000 visitors since it opened in May, and has seen wait times of up to nine hours during busy days to stand inside the stream of pouring water. (more…)

CODA, Party Wall (Installation View), via MoMA PS1

The Young Architects Program, presented jointly by MoMA and MoMA PS1, challenges young professionals and recent graduates alike in its annual competition to design an installation for MoMA PS1’s courtyard. Each year, the winning design is fabricated and opened to the public during the summer months. The jury takes environmental sustainability heavily into account when choosing the design, which is an especially relevant criterion considering that EXPO 1, the ecology and politics-focused three-venue event, is currently on view at PS1. This year’s winning entry, Party Wall by the Ithaca-based firm CODA, features a semi-permeable skin made from skateboard manufacturing by-products mounted upon a frame of steel beams.

CODA, Party Wall Rendering, via MoMA PS1 (more…)

The M+ museum in Hong Kong’s developing West Kowloon district has announced that it will appoint Doryun Chong as its head curator.  Mr. Chong is currently serving as the associate curator of painting at MoMA, where he organized shows of work by Ernesto Neto, Bruce Nauman, and Henrik Olesen.  He will also oversee the completion of the M+ project, working under Dr. Lars Nittve. (more…)

MoMA’s PS1 campus in Long Island City, Queens, has received $3 million in funding from the city of New York, needed to purchase an adjacent building for expansion.  The new space, located at 22-01 Jackson Ave., will potentially be utilized for museum office space, freeing the main building up for more exhibition spaces.  “You want dynamic institutions like MoMA PS 1 to continue to change, to progress and to grow, and they can’t do that without the physical expansion,” Said City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer. “I think it’s great for the neighborhood, it’s great for Long Island City.” (more…)

Following MoMA’s announced re-evaluation of its plan to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum, The New York Times has published an editorial examining the Museum’s impact on Midtown, and the distinct design of the Folk Art Museum in contrast with MoMA’s sleek facade, and the problems MoMA’s design currently presents for the art it exhibits. “Economic development encourages the proliferation of glass giants, tourism and ever bigger museums, but not always smart streets or better culture.” says writer Michael Kimmelman. (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art has announced that it will partner with architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro to reevaluate the expansion plan that threatens to destroy the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.  In a statement, released yesterday, MoMA said: “The principals of Diller Scofidio + Renfro have asked that they be given the time and latitude to carefully consider the entirety of the site, including the former American Folk Art Museum building, in devising an architectural solution to the inherent challenges of the project. We readily agreed to consider a range of options, and look forward to seeing their results.” (more…)

In the wake of the Museum of Modern Art’s decision to demolish the former home of the American Museum of Folk Arts, The New York Times has published an exhaustive survey of MoMA’s expansion over its 100-plus year history.  As the article shows, the museum has a long reputation of demolishing surrounding buildings, including the destruction of a former Rockefeller home, and the George Blumenthal mansion, both of which would be considered landmarks by today’s standard. (more…)

EXPO 1, an exhibition of works addressing the ecological and political challenges of contemporary society co-curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach, is set to open at MoMA PS1 this May, presented in conjunction with Triple Canopy.  The large-scale, multiple-module collaborative project will open May 12th with Dark Optimism, a curated show featuring works by 35 artists, including Joseph Beuys, Adrián Villar Rojas, Meg Webster, Agnes Denes, and Anna Betbeze that seeks to explore the dissonance between modernist politics and 21st century society. (more…)

A number of prominent architects have called on the Museum of Modern Art to reconsider its decision to demolish its recent acquisition, the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.  In an open letter to the museum, Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Steven Holl, Hugh Hardy and Robert A.M. Stern, among others, called for the Museum to reconsider razing the building, which it purchased in 2011.  “The Museum of Modern Art—the first museum with a permanent curatorial department of architecture and design—should provide more information about why it considers it necessary to tear down this significant work of contemporary architecture,” the letter says.  “The public has a substantial and legitimate interest in this decision, and the Museum of Modern Art has not yet offered a compelling justification for the cultural and environmental waste of destroying this much-admired, highly distinctive twelve-year-old building.” (more…)

Beginning May 1st, The Museum of Modern Art will remain open 7 days a week, following the recent announcement that The Metropolitan Museum of Art would also be opening its doors every day.  MoMA has usually closed on Tuesdays for cleaning and maintenance. (more…)

Artist Cyprien Gaillard is featured in the New York Times’ T Magazine, talking about his practice, inspiration, and development as an artist, as well as his viewpoints on the cultural processes that inform his work. “For me, decay is a starting point. I don’t just record it or picture it. What I’m interested in is creating a form of equilibrium within the decay.”  He says. (more…)

Visitors to The Museum of Modern Art in New York were treated to a special performance by actress Tilda Swinton yesterday, as the actress launched a month-long performance at the museum called The Maybe.  The artist spent the day sleeping in a glass case in the museum’s lobby, and will return to the case several times during the duration of the performance.  No one knows when Swinton will appear for her performances, emphasizing the unpredictability of the work.  “There is no published schedule for its appearance, no artist’s statement released, no museum statement beyond this brief context, no public profile or image issued,” MoMA stated in a press release. “Those who find it chance upon it for themselves, live and in real-shared-time: now we see it, now we don’t.”

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As part of its new “Artists Experiment” initiative, The Museum of Modern Art has announced Kenneth Goldsmith as the first “poet laureate” of the museum.  Seeking to bring contemporary artists into dialogue with the institution,the initiative has welcomed Mr. Goldsmith, who also runs the online arts archive Ubuweb, to program a series of readings and events at the museum.  “Poets have this idea that what they do is casual, but the minute you get up onstage anywhere, it’s performative. Poets tend to want to show some degree of “authenticity,” and the structural theatrics around the performative gesture are never questioned. That’s something I always do. I’m a bit of a dandy as a result.”  Goldsmith says. (more…)

MoMA PS1 has announced that it will host an exhibition focusing on the current state of the environment, alongside notions of political and social change.  Titled EXPO 1: New York, the exhibition will include a selection of video, art and photo installations at PS1, as well as a component at the new VW dome in the Rockaways.  EXPO 1 “focuses on some of the most pressing issues of the day set against a backdrop of economic and socio-political concerns that have made a dramatic impact on daily life.”  Says Director Klaus Biesenbach. (more…)

After announcing the construction of a performance dome in the Rockaways this spring, MoMA PS1 has taken more steps to aid in the New York neighborhood’s relief, calling for video proposals on how to create a sustainable waterfront.  Twenty-five proposals will be selected by a panel including Klaus Biesenbach, Niklas Maak, and Hans Ulrich Obrist among others, and presented at the new dome in the Rockaways this April. (more…)

The sale of Berthe Morisot’s Après le déjeuner for £6,985,250 at Christie’s Modern Art Auction this week has set a new record for female painters.  The record highlights a major difference in market value between male and female painters, with top sales for male artists far beyond that sales range.  While institutions like the Museum of Modern Art have pushed for more equitable status for female artists, some speculate that monied interests have still not caught up in appreciation of contemporary female artists. (more…)

Cyprien Gaillard, Artefacts (2011), via MoMA PS1

Over the past several years, French artist Cyprien Gaillard has created a body of work that negotiates the complex spatio-political, geographical and cultural maps of contemporary culture.  Continuously revisiting themes of decay, flux, erosion and conflict, his work picks through the saturated visual landscape of modernity, and exposes the interlocking mechanisms of destruction and creation at work, as well as the grey area between these polar states. (more…)

MoMA PS1 is reportedly working with city officials to bring a large-scale performance dome to the Rockaways in an effort to help raise funds for the neighborhood that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.  While little news has been released, funding for the dome has apparently been acquired from Volkswagen. (more…)

Christian Marclay’s film The Clock, recently closed its one month run at the Museum of Modern Art this week, drawing a record 40,000 visitors to the museum.  The number of visitors exceeds the combined counts for The Clock’s two prior New York screenings.  The winner of the Golden Lion at the 2011 Venice Biennale, Marclay’s film literally tells time, using shots of  various clocks from the full range of film history to compile a full 24-hour viewing experience. (more…)

In what will become a permanent installation, artist Xavier Veilhan has installed his sculpture of Jean-Marc Bustamante a few steps from the Museum of Modern Art.  The piece sits at the entranceway for RXR Realty, the company that commissioned its installation, and was created with the use of three-dimensional scanning technology and stainless steel construction.

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