Juliet Kinchin with Martha Stewart on the set of The Martha Stewart Show last week (October 6)

Here’s a fun update: Counter Space Curator Juliet Kinchin recently made an appearance on The Martha Stewart Show! The episode that aired on Wednesday, October 6, was dedicated to modern kitchens and kitchen organization, and Juliet starred in a seven-minute segment to discuss the exhibition, with a focus on the Frankfurt Kitchen. You can watch the video on Martha’s website, and read her review of the show in the Observer.

King Kong. 1933. USA. Directed by Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

These notes accompany the screenings of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s </i>King Kong, October 13, 14, and 15 in Theater 3.</p>

I was reticent about including Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong in this series. True, we’ve already shown the filmmakers’ classic documentary, Grass (1925), but, in the eight intervening years, the filmmakers seem (at least superficially) to have moved in a very different direction.

Rising Currents exhibition entrance.The exhibition's graphic design was made to appear similar to blueprints, the mode of graphic communication among architects and builders. Photo: Jason Mandella

Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront is a unique exhibition for its subject matter, but also because of the process of putting together the exhibition. As graphic designers, it was heartwarming to have the full support of both the curator and the exhibition designer throughout the entire process. We were particularly gratified to be given the opportunity to take take our creativity beyond the title wall and into the individual displays—yeah!

How well do you know your MoMA? If you think you can identify the artist and title of each of these works—all currently on view in the Museum as part of the Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition—please submit your answers by leaving a comment on this post.

Main Street, Newbern, Alabama. Image: Timothy Hursley

The Rural Studio, currently one of eleven teams highlighted in MoMA’s exhibition Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement, is an undergraduate program of the School of Architecture at Auburn University. Based in Western Alabama’s Hale County, in a region known as the Black Belt, the Studio focuses on educating students while assisting an underserved population.

The end of summer often means time to go back to school. For those of us at MoMA, it also means a slew of new exhibitions. And this fall we have quite a bounty, many of which are accompanied by a special online feature. For today, we present five websites for five exhibitions:

Mystery Film Still No. 1

We are very lucky to have the resources and colleagues we do here at MoMA, but sometimes we need extra help. For example, our much-loved exhibition title, Counter Space—to give credit where credit is due—was provided by Architecture & Design superfan Andrew Ashwood. Now we need YOUR help with another kitchen-y project…and why not add some fun by making it a contest?

Elemental. Quinta Monroy Housing Project. Iquique, Chile. 2003–05. Image: Cristobal Palma

When I proposed the Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement exhibition in the fall of 2008, the housing crisis in the U.S. had just reached its peak. This crisis started from speculation on housing and developed into the biggest economic crisis in the U.S. in a long time, spreading out to many other countries and forcing millions into unemployment, a large number into poverty, and many even into homelessness.

Duck Soup. 1933. USA. Directed by Leo McCarey

These notes accompany the Leo McCarey screening program, October 6, 7, and 8 in Theater 3.

Leo McCarey (1898–1969) has long been one of the most unheralded major directors in film history. (I made my own small effort to resurrect his status in a 1973 Film Comment article.) At that time, I reminded readers of a quote from critic (and later screenwriter) Frank Nugent from 1939: “McCarey directs so well it is almost antisocial of him not to direct more often.” Unfortunately, McCarey remains all too obscure to this day.

On October 15, MoMA launches the fifth volume in its Primary Documents series, Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents, which was edited by Professor Wu Hung. The publication brings together, translates, and contextualizes primary documents that are pertinent to a deeper understanding of recent artistic practice in China, but which were not previously available in the English language.