Sunday, April 17, 2011

My last Thursday in New York is even busier than usual, trying to catch up with as many people as I can before heading for JFK.

Breakfast is at Le Pain Quotidien on Broadway at 91st with artist friend Michael Waugh whose exhibition at Romero Schroeder & Shredder I visited last week. His installation, The Accumulation of Capital, takes on the task of turning this economic concept into art. Over a period of six months, Waugh filmed himself packing up the varied and eclectic contents of nine generations of his family’s china and glassware cabinets now spread out on the floor of the gallery. The video voiceover discusses theories of capitalist accumulation.

More at www.michaelwaugh.com.

Michael Waugh’s The Accumulation of Capital.

Lunch is with Linda Marston-Reid at the elegant Maya Lin designed headquarters of the Rockfeller Foundation, floating above the city. Linda is the coordinator of the Bellagio Center in Italy, and the purpose of the lunch is to discuss my upcoming residency at Bellagio, due to start in May.

At 4 p.m. I have a date with acclaimed film maker Susan Vogel who is waiting for me next to an Urs Fischer sculpture of a yellow teddy bear merged with a desk lamp, made by the artist with the aid of a 3D laser scanner. Teddy has been installed that very day outside the classic Seagram Building on Park Avenue, prior to a September auction date.

Susan Vogel and the Urs Fischer teddy bear

Susan has just completed a remarkable film on the artist El Anatsui, Fold Crumple Crush, a tribute to the Ghanaian artist whose intricate wall hangings fashioned from discarded bottle tops have made this late career artist an international art star. View the trailer online at vimeo.com/16874224