View from Av. Río Churubusco, Coyoacán, Mexico City. Photo: Anastasia Antonopoulou
With a total of 140 films produced in 2015, Mexico is home to one of the 20 largest film industries in the world. In addition to well-known Mexican filmmakers who are mainly working abroad, there has been a recent boom in the presence of Mexican productions in international film festivals.
From left: Zayed National Museum construction site, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi; Louvre Abu Dhabi site, Saadiyat Island. Photos: Marily Konstantinopoulou
Since the country’s formation in 1971, the United Arab Emirates—a federation of seven emirates—has undertaken significant social and political reforms in order to both demonstrate openness to international intellectual influence, and become an exemplar of cosmopolitanism in the Gulf region.
From left: John Chamberlain. Sweet William. 1962; Robert Motherwell. Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 100. 1963–75. Installation view, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Photo: Isabel Ross
By simple definition, an art museum is a cultural institution, traditionally known for its efforts to collect, conserve, and display. And it is by this definition that I had come to understand and experience art museums. However, it has become clear to me that, in the digital age, this simple definition has become far more complex.
Mánes Exhibition Hall (Výstavní síň Mánes), Prague. Photo: Anna Blaha
Mánes Exhibition Hall rests above Prague’s Vltava River, connecting the city to a small island. While many art collections in the Czech Republic are currently housed in repurposed homes, churches, and even mills, this functionalist building was erected in 1930 specifically to exhibit recent art. One of the first shows in this space, Poesie 1932, presented the people of Prague with their first major exhibition of the Surrealist movement in Europe.
Photograph taken on the occasion of the exhibition Artists in Exile, Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, March 1942. First row, left to right: Matta Echaurren, Ossip Zadkine, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger; second row: André Breton, Piet Mondrian, André Masson, Amédee Ozenfant, Jacques Lipchitz, Pavel Tchelitchew, Kurt Seligmann, Eugene Berman. A number of these artists were aided by the Museum. Photo: George Platt Lynes. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York
During WWII, The Museum of Modern Art played an integral role in assisting artists, art historians, dealers, and their immediate families in escaping from Europe to America. After the fall of Paris to the Nazis in June 1940 the Museum began to receive numerous requests for help to flee to the U.S.
The view from Mori Tower, looking northeast. Photo: Anna Blair
On my first evening in Tokyo I looked out from the Mori Art Museum, on the 53rd floor of Mori Tower, and saw only the city, stretching to the horizon in every direction. Tokyo doesn’t seem to have any periphery, from this vantage point, but instead has multiple centers—and highways hinting at other centers unseen.
On the wall at Science Museum, London. Photo: Veena Vijayakumar
I remember a high school chemistry teacher of mine singing a song about hydrogen and then asking our class to create our own piece (poem, painting, performance, anything) about our favorite element on the periodic table. Needless to say I will not forget the atomic mass of neon anytime soon. This combination of seemingly disparate disciplines not only allowed appreciation for both, but also lent to an enriched experience for us students.
Anselm Kiefer. Woglinde and Die Reintöchter from the Rheingold series. 1982–2013. Woodcut and paper collage on canvas. Installation view, Anselm Kiefer: The Woodcuts, Albertina, March 18–June 19, 2016. Photo: Genevieve Lipinsky de Orlov
As a New Yorker, one of the most striking differences in visiting museums abroad is how sparsely populated they can be. On any given day at MoMA it is rare for a visitor to find herself alone in a gallery. During my two-week stay in Vienna and Berlin I happily found myself alone, or in the company of very few, in every museum.
Installation view of Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 20–July 31, 2016. Photo: Annikka Olsen
I’m no stranger to Los Angeles. Not only is it where I attended undergraduate school, it’s where my husband’s family lives, and where I had my first museum internship. Last month, as part of MoMA’s 12-Month Internship program, I was offered the invaluable opportunity to revisit my old city from a new perspective: that of researcher. I began my trip with an ambitious laundry list of museums, galleries, and exhibitions, but what sparked my interest the most was the chance to see the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium
A visitor to MoMA’s current Marcel Broodthaers: A Retrospective exhibition must traverse a sea of potted palms to enter the galleries. The palms, along with a series of prints hanging on the surrounding walls, comprise a work entitled L’entrée de l’exposition (The entry to the exhibition).
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