Contemporary - Pulitzer

The Pulitzer: New Sections for New Programs

Two new sections have just been added to our website -- School Programs and University Programs. Take a look!  Right now, we have content online from our programs with Shaw Visual and Performing Arts School, St. Michael School (both with elementary-age students), and Washington University.  These sections are still a work in progress, and in the coming weeks we'll be adding content from our program with Saint Louis University and with Lindenwood University French students.  We'll also be continually adding new information, blog posts, photos, etc. from the programs already online.

Here's a photo from one of the visits from Shaw students:

Here's a photo from a recent Washington University student visit:

The students and teachers involved in these programs are fantastic, and their blog entries promise to be really interesting and entertaining.  So check these sections often to find out what's happening!   (Rachel)

Melantropics and Heaven

These past couple week I’ve been sending out copies of the Contemporary’s latest publication, Janaina Tschape: Melantropics, published in conjunction with her fall exhibit. Galleries from all over the world, Japan, Belgium, Germany, and Brazil have been requesting the catalog. Even if you missed the exhibition itself, you may still have time to get the catalog before they sell out and I would highly encourage you to do so. The images are big, beautiful, and clear; ideal for pondering during rainy days in order to be magically transported to Tschape’s imaginary botanical and mystical world.

I am also preparing for the release of our latest catalog, due out at the end of March, entitled Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol: I Remember Heaven. I’ve already received an overwhelming response for this catalog from Hodges’s fans and faithful Warhol followers (Warholaphiles have been contacting me for awhile now, even before the exhibit opened, begging for copies of the catalog and all our printed information that corresponds to the exhibition. Apparently they like to keep personal archives of Warhol’s work and its continuing legacy). The catalog I Remember Heaven contains captivating images of Hodges’s and Warhol’s work (including extreme close ups of the works included in the exhibition) perfect for any library. If only the early 20^th century philosopher Walter Benjamin had seen the Contemporary’s catalogs; I think he’d change his aesthetic theory which asserted that art loses its aura in the age of mechanic reproduction… (Rebecca)

The Pulitzer: Road Trip

If some people are willing to follow a band around for two hours of music each night, surely there are people willing to drive a few hours for art, right?  Well, that's the thinking behing this post (the first in a series?) suggesting a pilgrimage to some of the great art-filled sites near St. Louis.  Of course, if you're driving around listening to mix tapes, eating twizzlers, playing art history games, it's not a pilgrimage...it's a road trip!

 

First stop: Iowa City, baby!  The University of Iowa Museum of Art has a fantastic collection.  Possible top three

 

1. Henri Matisse's Blue Interior with Two Girls (1947).  Matisse thought very highly of this painting.  This was actually the last painting shown in his Philadelphia retrospective of 1948--a show he helped organize.

 

2. Max Beckmann's triptych Carnival (1943). Beckmann finished nine great triptychs. This road trip gives you two!  In addition to Carnival (#6) the St. Louis Art Museum has The Acrobats (#3).

 

3. Jackson Pollock's Mural (1943).  Mural is only more incredible when you realize it was painted in the same year as Carnival.  That's just crazy.

 

Because Iowa City is home to the renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop, it has a lot of good literary events and bookshops too.  Just look at the Workshop's own reading schedule.  They've got James Galvin talking about Faulkner, people!  Get in your car!

 

Getting there: US-40 W to US-21 N, which will become MO-27 N.  Turn right on exit at IA-1 N toward Iowa City/ Kalona, then left onto Riverside Drive.  The museum is 150 S. Riverside.  Total time 4.5 hours.  (Camran)

Contemporary: The Book Sale

I mentioned it last week, and it is now here - The Used Book Sale has arrived at the Contemporary. I have to say it's somewhat strange to see my favorite medium (the written word) in the context of one of my favorite spaces (the Contemporary Art Museum). All I really crave now is some tropical weather and maybe a good pina colada. Anyway, we have tables and tables of books. You should come. Never-mind your long reading list that already exists - the books are only $2 and wouldn't you rather add to your collection for $2 than paying $15 for something that you might not get to for a few months. . .or even years? The experience of setting up a used book sale has been quite rewarding (and enlightening).  I have had the fortune to cross paths with the local Used Book Pro - Dudley Grove, who also happens to be our Deputy Director's mother-in-law.  This woman is amazing. She arrived and quickly sorted through boxes and boxes of books, putting them in easy-to-find categories.  She came back this yesterday, unloading wooden book frames that keep books from falling off the table (who has these things on hand anyway?), and signs for each of the categories. She made pricing suggestions. She worked with staff. She made these books look good. She is the orchestrator of this great book sale.  And she's hoping that you'll come and buy all you can, because she has also generously agreed to take any unsold books to other charitable organizations in town. Let's make her load light and the envelope going down to New Orleans heavy with a sizable donation. So, please come now through tomorrow. We're shutting it down at 4pm tomorrow and the books will disappear. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Projecting on Concrete

Lately, we've been talking about starting a program of film screenings here at the Pulitzer, which would involve films that directly relate to the exhibition on view and provide opportunities to view movies that might not otherwise get shown.  Today we walked around with a projectionist and discussed the various screening possibilities our building could provide.  It turns out, there are lots! 

To kick things off, we're thinking about projecting a film outside in our courtyard on the concrete wall.  It seems like there are a variety of options for this as well, and we're going to be testing out different walls and parts of the courtyard in the coming weeks.  This is something that MoMA is very familiar with but on a much grander scale -- they projected eight large moving images on the outside walls of the museum for a full week.  I was checking out NPR's article on this project, if you're interested take a look at it here, and check out the official site for the screening here.  And if you had a chance to see this, I'd love to hear what it was like!  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Spring is Here! Or is it?

You're going to hear from a lot of staffers over the next several weeks.  You'll learn their personalities, their interests, and what they are doing at the Contemporary. Hope you enjoy! And by the way, the Contemporary's front doors usually frost over on extremely cold days. . . so if those cold days come back, please feel free to press your nose against the door in the spirit of Umberto. I know it sounds silly, but I promise, I won't yell at you if I see a nose print. (Jennifer)

Hi everyone! 

Once again, this blog is coming to you from Umberto, your intrepid intern here at the Contemporary.  Everyone is enjoying the warming trend we've been having.  It seems Spring is here!  Or is it?  Knowing St. Louis weather patterns, we could face meteorlogical retribution next week.  Everyone is sick and tired of the incessant cold weather, snow and ice storms that have plagued our fair city of late.  But just why is that?  Don't many of us have stories to tell of a time not so long ago, when we looked forward to those snow days.  I remember waking up early, and huddling with my siblings around the huge 12" screen of our black and white television set, to see the listings of school closings scroll across the screen.  What joy, when to our astonishment (and answered prayers) our school was indeed one of the ones closed!   A day of making snow angels, sledding down the highest hill in the neighborhood, snowball fights and building igloos ensued.  Nothing felt as good as coming back into the house, cold and wet, and being seduced by the aromas emanating from my mother's kitchen.  Hot cocoa with tiny marshmellows.  Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Life was good indeed.

Now, it seems, our innocence is lost.  Now we have to deal with the greenhouse effect & global warming, el nino and la nina, et al.  We no longer have those snow days of old.  There is never enough snow to build an angel, much less an igloo. Our lives are so hectic and plugged in and turned on, we can't afford a day off during the week. But maybe that's just what we need.  So when we do get the occasional snow storm, and we can't get to work or the kids don't have to go to school, maybe we should be thankful.  Maybe it's a time to reflect on what we once had, and the blessings we still have.  Maybe it's a time for us to stay home with our kids when it wasn't planned or expected.  Maybe it's a time to remember the child in all of us, the ones that pressed their noses to the frosted windows and prayed for snow. (Umberto, Intern)

The Pulitzer: Match-Ups

Art lovers often talk about making art pilgrimages, like to the Barnes in Pennsylvania or, in Rachel's case, to the Spiral Jetty in Utah.  But what do they do on the long drive out there?  Well if they're real nerds, they might play this game, which is very addictive, I promise you.  Here's how it works:

 

1. Think of two artists whose names are partly the same

2. Put "versus" between their names

3. Immediately pick which one is best

 

So, possible match-ups include:

 

Frans Hals vs. Franz Kline

Georges Braque vs. George Caleb Bingham

David Hammonds vs. Jacques Louis-David

...the list goes one and on (I know from experience). 

 

Originally I think the game comes from jazz musicians.  I saw the pianist Brad Mehldau describe it in an essay for Jazz Times a while back.  According to him, during set break, guys would offer crazy match-ups as fast as possible, then someone else had to decide who he preferred on the spot (Sonny Rollins vs. Sonny Stitt, etc.).  Stating your criteria for "best" or offering any explanation was forbidden.  It was supposed to be in the spirit of jazz, I guess: wild improvisation, thinking on your feet, never looking back.  Of course, the interesting thing about it, Mehldau pointed out, is what happens when you do look back on it.  The game forces you to make distinctions, so when you reflect on it, you have to acknowledge that even if you never formulate criteria for "best"--"you don't know art, but you know what you like"--you always have a particular aesthetic.

 

Because the game is set up to force comparisons between things you would never otherwise associate, you might say it's sort of surrealist.  Could be.  But it's not that far off from a game I know Richard Serra played with his students when he was a teacher at the SVA (and who, in recent times, is farther from surrealism than Serra?).  He describes it in an interview in The Portraits Speak.  He would take his class to the Met, pick galleries to visit just based on their numbers, then have the students clap in front of the works they liked best.  I don't have a copy of the book handy, but I think Serra says something like, "Students don't know the difference between Bronzino and Parmigianino.  The important thing is getting them to make distinctions and to realize that distinctions matter."  If you saw his last show of prints at the Sheldon, you know he is a jazz fan...

 

Eventually this game always declines into true arbitrariness: Jackson Pollock vs. Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Rothko vs. Mark Wahlberg.  Still, it's good while it lasts.  For my part, I'm clapping for Kline, Braque, and David.  You? (Camran)

 

Contemporary: Mardi Gras

This week we have a lot of events scheduled. Unfortunately, one of those was just canceled. Aline Crumb will not be coming to St. Louis, and that means she will not be talking about her book Need More Love at the Contemporary.  However, we have many other things to do.  One is the continuation of our brown bag lunch series.  It's a rather intimate affair.  Guest Curator Susan Cahan will be talking about the exhibition rather informally - asking and answering questions, all while enjoying lunch with those who join her.  The brown bag tour is on Wednesday this week. Considering it's just around Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras, we decided to do a film screening of Mardi Gras: Made in China.  According to the description I receive about the film, it "follows the 'bead trail' from the factory in China to Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, poignantly exposing the inequities of globalization." Considering the very flashy (literally) cover of last week's Riverfront Times, I think this film is extremely timely and will provide an interesting perspective on disparities suffered between two cultures. It's running time is 72 minutes for those who are curious.  After the Thursday night film screening, we prepare to welcome lots of families into the space for a free family day on Saturday. In the afternoon, we guide children of all ages through making exhibition work-inspired pieces and it's usually loads of fun. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Friday Linking

For your Friday afternoon reading pleasure, here's a fun post by Ed Winkelman  -- he challenged readers of his blog to an "art joke bumper sticker contest".  Click here to read his original challenge along with a few ideas to kick things off.  Click here to read the list of submissions -- some of them are pretty funny.  Unfortunately, voting has already ended (click here to see the winner), but what would you have submitted?  Any ideas?  We're trying to come up with a few here too -- I'll update if we think of anything good.

Here's a totally unrelated link but a nice follow-up to Jen's Warhol post yesterday.  In conjunction with the Post-Dispatch's review of "Factory Girl", David Bonetti wrote a round-up of Warhols on view around town.  Update: I just looked and can't find it on the online version of the paper anymore, but here's what he wrote!

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  There has never been a better time to see Andy Warhol's work in St. Louis.

— "I Remember Heaven: Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol," a show at the Contemporary Art Museum, offers more Warhols than have ever been seen before in one place locally. Included are nine portraits of a grieving Jackie Kennedy, a suite of camouflage prints, a flower painting, a rarely seen oxidation painting and a wall full of early drawings, many homoerotic, as well as a lobby full of the artist's gently floating "Silver Clouds."

— Next door at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, five portraits of "Frank B." from Warhol's controversial "Most Wanted Men" series is on view in "Portrait/Homage/ Embodiment," the museum's rewarding exploration of portraiture.

— And at the St. Louis Art Museum, a great "Liz" — that's Elizabeth Taylor, to you — is on view in the third-floor contemporary galleries.
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If you haven't been to see any of these yet, it sounds like excellent weekend plans to me!  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Andy

It's a fact. Warhol is everywhere, including part of the Contemporary's new exhibition. (By the way, the Pulitzer also has some Warhol works in their exhibition right now). Andy Warhol is a household name and even those not-so-interested in the visual arts are familiar with the guy. New York Magazine, sums the fascination America and the world has in their article continuing the never-ending 15 minutes of fame that he sort of guaranteed everyone else. Anyway, it's the 20th anniversary of Warhol's death, and he's still famous.  Last week, we (the Contemporary) showed three of his films (anyone interested in 54 minutes of kissing?), and it was really interesting for me, to see a bit of his film work.  Cinema St. Louis has been working hard on getting the Director (George Hickenlooper) of the recently released movie Factory Girl to St. Louis - and they succeeded. The St. Louis premier screening of the new film is on Friday, February 16 at Landmark's Plaza Frontenac Cinema and the Director will be there to do an intro to the film and host a Q&A afterward. So, in short, everything is Warhol at the moment - especially in St. Louis.  And, a special note, our I Remember Heaven exhibition includes several Warhol drawings which haven't been seen publicly outside of the Warhol museum.  Stop by and see the faces (yes, we have self-portraits as well) of Warhol. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Happy Valentine's Day (?)

Eddie, who writes the Symphony's fantastic blog, made a good point about tonight's concert -- it isn't what you'd expect to hear on Valentine's Day.  In fact, it might be more of an Anti-Valentine's concert.  Lets just say it's not exactly a lovey dovey program.  It does, however, sound like it will be one of the most interesting concerts we've ever had -- yesterday, I saw them set up huge gongs underneath Blue Black, and we hear there will also be a sound board and sound technician involved in both pieces.  Plus, the last concert we had of Steve Reich's work was one of my all-time favorites.  For some more tidbits on tonight's pieces, click here to read Eddie's post about listening to the rehearsals at work.

So whether you're anti or pro V-Day, this concert is shaping up as a not-to-be-missed experience.   (Rachel)

Contemporary: Books will not be burned

A few months ago, I was approached by Washington University in hopes of partnering on The Big Read. WashU just received a grant to act as the organization to work in bringing the St. Louis community together to discuss Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451. I was hearing about this program from all of my contacts at other non-profits, readings were being organized, art shows were being brought together, an amazing amount of collaboration was forming in a short time.

The ideas started. I was considering doing a fire themed Select Night in February to combat the cold. And this hot idea immediately connected to the book, with its book burning and firemen. After we decided it was a go-ahead, things just kept growing.

We had quite the hot event in the midst of our new I Remember Heaven exhibition, with fire-eaters (outside the museum - nowhere near the art. . .), spicy food, a DJ spinning Latin beats and some Salsa performers.  We also had a incredible VJ installation which included video of fire, the text from the books, and some pretty cool graphics.  In the midst of planning all this, our Education Director got her hands on a notice proclaiming the Post Office will provide a discounted postage rates for boxes containing donated books for the New Orleans Public Library. We decided to fight floods with fire and asked for Select Night go-ers to bring books.  And they brought books and books and books and more books during the evening.  Last week, we concentrated on finding a way to get the books down to New Orleans by having books clubs sponsor the packages. Well, we just found that the New Orleans Library is no longer accepting donations books because of the more than 1 million books they have received. I couldn't believe it, but couldn't be happier at the response they have received. Apparently, they do not have the staff, the storage, or other resources to process them. So, we have all these books. Which is great.

Now, since everyone donated these delicious books for New Orleans and we certainly don't want to burn them, we decided to sell them ($2 each) and send the money to the New Orleans Public Library to help with their costs. . So, if you are interested in browsing through our temporary book collection, stop by anytime we're open from now through Family Day (a week through Saturday) and peruse.  All proceeds go to the New Orleans Public Library. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Concert Podcasts

If you read this blog frequently, you know that I've been writing quite a bit lately about our online concert section and how we'd like to include audio from live performances at the Pulitzer.

One museum which does this really well is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.  Their podcasts, called "The Concert", feature recordings of live performances at the museum and can be downloaded for free every two weeks.  The other day I came across this post on Geoff Edger's blog for the Boston Globe -- the Gardner podcasts have hit 100,000 downloads, and cracked the top 40 on iTunes!  That's really incredible.  Click here for a great article on how successful the program has become.

Though our music will be streamed instead of downloaded, this is definitely inspiring as we continue to work on our own multimedia section.  Right now, we're acquiring the rights to some of the concerts we've already recorded --- I'll keep you posted!  (Rachel)

Contemporary: New Guy on the Block

Hi- this is Shane the new Exhibitions, and Operations Manager at the Contemporary. Jennifer asked me to write a blog, and there was no way for her to know this but I have never blogged anything before in my life. Don't get me wrong I like the idea of blogging, the egalitarian accessability, the instant communication, all that is great, yet somehow the awkwardness of the word "blog" throws me off and I guess it is for that reason that I have managed to avoid being involved in any blogging activity up to this point. I'm still not sure that I understand what it is that one does when they blog but I will say that I have genuinely enjoyed my first month here at the Contemporary. I've come to the Museum from SLAM where I worked as a Preparator for four years and where I made many good friends whom, along with my friends at the Pulitzer Foundation, I now plan to exploit relentlessly for their various expertise. However I will miss working with them, and the collection in all its complex, mysterious, and sometimes hidden beauty on a daily basis but the people here at the Contemporary have really made me feel at home in a short time. I have had the pleasure of observing keen intelligence and honest dedication at every level of the institution which has provided me the assurance that I have made the right decision in joining on. They are a talented group of genuinely smart forward thinking people over here and I am glad to be among them and part of the team. Okay for now, I have a giant uprooted paper mache tree that needs attention and many engaging projects to return my thoughts to, and tomorrow is my son's first birthday so I'm going to try and get some sleep.  (Shane, Exhibitions and Operations Manager)

Now, I just have to throw something into this post - isn't Shane a nice guy?  Despite his inexperience at blogging, he knows how to compliment.  Thanks, Shane. We're excited you're here. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Glasses and Thimbles?

A few posts ago I mentioned an upcoming concert at the Pulitzer that will feature musicians playing 20 crystal wine glasses.  Well, things just got even more interesting when I found out what else will be "played".  In addition to glasses, George Crumb's piece Black Angels "draws from an arsenal of sounds including shouting, chanting, whistling, whispering, gongs and maracas."

Not only that, but I just listened to an interview with musician Peter Otto, who gives even more of a glimpse into the piece:   "I get to do very strange things like everyone in the group.  I get to whistle....we get to use things that are not even considered instruments like glass rods that were specially made for us and with which we hit the string, and we pluck with a paper clip, we have thimbles on our fingers at one point...."

If you want to hear the full interview, it's now on our website (along with a few other interviews about the concert).  If you're curious what maracas, thimbles, and crystal glasses will sound like (as I am), come check it out for yourself next week.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Need More Love

I just received a copy of Need More Love, a Graphic Memoir, by Aline Komisky Crumb, in the mail.  I was hoping for an audio book, considering the ample time I have in the car (I'm currently listening to Roald Dahl's The Witches with my son, and it's fabulous), and the short amount of time I have available for reading. But alas, I have this beautiful 383 pager to add to my list of reading. I'm going to have to move this particular book up in my priority list considering the author is coming to Contemporary on February 20 for a talk and a book signing. To be honest, I didn't know one little thing about Aline Crumb before I started working on this event (this is a perk of my position - I'm always learning!).  This particular book has brought together more than 40 years of her work for the first time. Ms. Crumb is a frequent contributer to the New Yorker, as well as the wife, muse, and co-author (what a great title, right?) of some of the greatest work by cartoonist Robert Crumb. In any event, I've been flipping through the pages, and I'm intrigued, and for those of you who are more well-versed in the genre, I'm sure you'll be excited to welcome a great author to the neighborhood. Until Feb. 20, we can anxiously await Mrs. Crumb's visit, and visit her videoblog online. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Busted

This past Friday I was lucky enough to participate in a discussion about our current exhibition with a number of people in the St. Louis area who have been engaged with issues related to portraiture. It was an all day event and there were a lot of highlights (a summary will be posted on our website soon!), but there was one conversation around the four sculptures in the Lower Corridor that I found especially interesting. Had it happened before our visitor handouts were printed, the section devoted to those sculptures would probably look very different!

Prof. John Klein (author of Matisse Portraits) set the record straight: of the four sculptures in the Lower Corridor, which we have been calling “busts,” only one (Portrait of Georgette Dalou) properly qualifies for that designation. Why? Because each of the other three lacks a chest and shoulders (aka a bust)! Whoops! How did we miss that?

From there Prof. Klein went on to point out the importance of where and how each head was cut off. In particular he dwelt on Lipchitz’s Gertrude Stein. Turns out the cut, which preserves more of the front of her neck than the back, evokes Antique medallions. And the lack of chest and shoulders? It might just be a pointed omission! One virtue of including a sitter’s bust is that it allows the artist to render her clothing and thereby indicate her status. Here, Prof. William E. Wallace added, it could be that Stein doesn’t need all that because her most important “attribute” is her brains. Sounds likely to me!  (Camran)

 

Contemporary: Special Things

Rachel (at the Pultizer) and I had a very exciting meeting this morning to further discuss the (drum roll, please) redesign of the blog! We're both thrilled with the idea of launching a new design that will incorporate some new features (better photo albums) and better respresent our dinstinct institutions coming together to share a virtual place. Honestly, right now, it's all excitement and ideas, so we'll have more to share with you as we travel this journey - and you'll be seeing the end result soon.  We realize we're probably more excited than you are, at this point, but we won't disappoint!

On a Contemporary note, we have two special tidbits to share today.  First, the review of our local arts critic appeared in the Post Dispatch yesterday, and you may read it online if you haven't seen it yet. The other bit I want to share is a slide slow - Tim Hailand, a New York photographer friend of Jim Hodges, came to the opening of the exhibition and created a web diary of Jim's visit to St. Louis. You can view it online (update - 2/7/07: here's a link to a slicker version)- and it's beautiful. Enjoy! (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Post-Concert Review

As promised, here's Matt's review of last night's concert:

Listening to "Words and Music" last night, I was struck most powerfully by how the sounds interacted with the space.  A piece intended as a radio play already brings up fascinating ideas of imagined space: where are these characters located?  What kind of creature is this Bob, who speaks in music?  How does he exist in space?  Part of this disembodied imaginary space carried over into the performance last night--the speakers playing Croak and Joe were not visible on stage, and their voices emanated from speakers located at various points around the audience. This allowed one to imagine them anywhere and everywhere.  Even my conjured-up image of Bob himself didn't seem confined to the actual stage where the actual musicians playing his lines were located.

The physical setup of the room enhanced this feeling.  The stage is at the bottom of a series of seating terraces, and the sounds seemed to rise up like some sort of reverse slinky up a staircase.  During the two sprechstimme "arias" of the piece, the space seemed to correspond uncannily with the musical action.  These sections feature a rising six-note scale, played out by different instrument groups not quite in step with one another.  Each group started on a note, and gradually rose through the scale to the top, but the groups were staggered in unpredictable ways on their upward journey.  It was easy to imagine the sound waves themselves replicating this journey, one terrace at a time until they hit the larger chamber at the top of the room.

Another strong correspondence I noticed involved a prominent musical theme in which one instrument oscillated between two widely separated notes over a lush, subtly evolving harmonic bed.  Here my musical attention was on how each note of this oscillation rubbed up against its counterpart as well as the soft background chord.  As I listened, I was struck by the similarity between this sort of hearing and a way of seeing the giant Ellsworth Kelly sculpture above the stage, the interface between the blue and black fields and the whitish background of the wall.  My own perceptual back-and-forth between seeing a field now as figure, now as ground, seemed to be paced by Feldman's music.

There's a lot more I could say here--the water channel to my right as counterpart to the great masses of "vibrating stasis" (an apt Feldmanism) that inhabit the soundscapes of the piece, the way the sounds and the Ando concrete alike seem flat and perfect from a distance but kaleidoscopic and unpredictable up close, and even the paradoxically muffled yet amplified nature of the room's acoustics going hand in hand with a building at once massive and square but saturated by a pervasive aura of haze and softness.  I'm grateful that from now on this piece will forever be intertwined with this place for me, and I look forward to the next opportunity for such a musico-spatial experience (Reich and Crumb, on Valentine's Day no less!).  (Matt)

Contemporary: Cloud Wrangling

Hello everyone, my name is Umberto and I am an intern here at the Contemporary from Webster University, where I am an Art History major. I've been here almost 4 months, and I can honestly say that the staff here is the best team I've ever worked with. Everyone pitches in to get the project du jour done, and nobody complains. Plus, there are always goodies in the kitchen to munch on that someone brought in.

As everyone knows by now, Friday's opening of I Remember Heaven: Andy Warhol and Jim Hodges was a huge success. As it was my first opening, I was excited, but also curious as to what my duties would be for the evening. I started out at the members' registration table, and then was switched to selling bar tickets. Once everything was going smoothly at the bar, I was put to work as a cloud wrangler by the front door. Those silver puffs were extremely slick and cagey about trying to get around me. A few almost made it to freedom, but were plucked back at the last moment. Even one of the attendees, a distinguished elderly gentleman, assisted me in the wrangling department, so I went ahead and deputized him.

Several children tried to take one home, and I had to carefully talk them out of it. One extremely tired and exasperated child kept asking his parents, "but WHY can't I take it home!" As his parents led him out of the museum, I could overhear them explain that the cloud had to stay in heaven. He seemed to be O.K. with that. It was so cute.

After the opening, Susan Cahan, who curated the exhibit, hosted a small reception at her lovely loft on Washington. After a delicious, catered vegetarian meal and much laughter and champagne, several of us went to the Dubliner for a few brews and some music. It was the perfect end to a great evening. I slithered home sometime after 1:00am.

The next morning, I reported for work neither bright nor early to help with the opening weekend brunch. We had 70 people for brunch, again breaking all records. This time my cloud wrangling duties were light, as many people got into the act of swatting at the clouds. One elderly woman even got into the act by using her cane! All in all, it was a great (and tiring) weekend for the Contemporary staff, one that we won't soon forget. (Umberto Umbertino, intern)