Museum of Fine Arts Developments | Fenway

[datadyne007]

I'm going today. I've heard other reviews saying the same thing. ^^

 

[PaulC]

I won't get the chance to go for a few weeks so I checked out the pictures online to see what is looks like. I agree the galleries look cheap. I know they raised the ceiling a few feet probably by removing the coffered ceiling that was there before. My guess is that since this wing will be absorbed some day in a new addition they may have felt that it can be improved at a latter date. The new American wing makes the whole museum seem dated. Some of the next projects are the re-hanging of the Europeon wing , reinstallation of the South Asia collection(December) and the art of the ancient world. I hope this should bring more of the museum up the the standard set by the American wing. There is also a gallery devoted to ancient coins opening in 2012.

 

[jass]

^Indeed, one visiting the museum must start in the old section. Hitting the new part first makes the older section seem quite ugly in compraison.

 

[datadyne007]

It does feel a little rushed and rough. At least the galleries are on par with the Art of the Americas wing in terms of finishes. They feel modern inside. The walls did tend to be very cluttered and made it really hard to view certain works in isolation. I love the Donald Judd they have though. I've always been a big fan of his work and enjoyed seeing it here as much as I did at MoMA. The way it plays with light is just spectacular. I had fun photographing it. I also really enjoyed the dedicated video gallery and thought the foam cubes for seats were so cool and "contemporary-artsy!"

One thing I noticed was that each gallery had a blurb that "justified" the contemporary art, almost silently combating the people who were verbally asking "why is this art?" I think it's a smart move for people not involved in the artworld to show them how contemporary art integrates into our modern world. I was shocked to hear so much "I could do this" and "Why is this here?" at MoMA, given that the whole damn museum is contemporary art. Why bother going (paying the high ticket price) if you're just gonna knock it?

I always enjoy these earlier moments in a new gallery where you quite often can get into some fascinating discussions with other people of the artworld about the art you're viewing. A lot of regular museum patrons were making their "pilgrimage" today too.

Some architectural pix. Pei did integrate some of his signature subtle moments into the interior that I mistakenly forgot about. Also of note is that the escalators are gone.

The Galleria

No more escalators, typical Pei column

Typical Pei moment

Typical Pei moment

The Upper Galleria

Pei's concrete

Beaded curtain detail.

Roni Horn's "Asphere" in the foreground

Same gallery finishes as the AotA's Wing

Donald Judd

Donald Judd, close-up light detail

ALL ART HAS BEEN CONTEMPORARY

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[Tombstoner]

... At least the galleries are on par with the Art of the Americas wing in terms of finishes.

Not seeing this.

 

[datadyne007]

Not seeing this.

? If you were blindfolded and brought to this location, you wouldn't know if you were in the Foster wing or Pei wing.

 

[Sicilian]

Curious -- what factor(s) would lead to a decision to remove the escalator?

 

[datadyne007]

Curious -- what factor(s) would lead to a decision to remove the escalator?

The large stair landing allows you to stop and pause to look at the art. It also lets them cut down on electricity usage. Those were the only escalators in the museum. They were out of place. I believe the original intent for the escalators was to get people up to the Gund Gallery quickly. They don't have that problem anymore.

Now what I would really like to see is an installation piece under these stairs where the artist reacts to the "space beneath the stairs."

 

[JohnAKeith]

Well, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't just heard it from a well-placed source, but apparently they were removed because of their noise. Now that the isn't an entrance there, it's much quieter than before. So, they took them out for sound-aesthetics.

Who knew?!

 

[datadyne007]

Well, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't just heard it from a well-placed source, but apparently they were removed because of their noise. Now that the isn't an entrance there, it's much quieter than before. So, they took them out for sound-aesthetics.

Who knew?!

Thanks for the info. Makes sense.

 

[PaulC]

For head designer Keith Crippen, getting to replace the galleria’s elderly escalator with a stairway was a triumph - something he said he’d been wanting to do for six years, ever since he first worked on a stairwell plan for the space.

“This is my crowning achievement,’’ he said, laughing.

Even if the MFA had installed sound-dampening material on the first-floor ceiling, an acoustics expert told Crippen, the white noise from the escalator would still have made it a “chaotic space.’’ That was OK when the area around it functioned as the MFA’s main entrance, a place where cacophony did not jar.

Now, it’s the gateway to the contemporary galleries on the second floor. An exhibition space has blossomed at the foot of the stairs, whose broad landing partway up provides a place for visitors to pause and look around them.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/the...orary-update/oyq8lIPibjWJk5a430jnzO/story.xml

 

[Tombstoner]

? If you were blindfolded and brought to this location, you wouldn't know if you were in the Foster wing or Pei wing.

Assuming you took the blindfold off once you got me there , I definitely would. Actually, I think most people would.

The Linde is very vanilla, stark, no texture, with monochromatic ,even lighting. The partition walls are slabs of undifferentiated, painted drywall--as I suggested earlier, maybe that's the kind of "invisible architecture" look they were going for, or maybe it's an homage to Warholian art-as-commodity in which context plays no role. The pictures you took of the Linde (nice picture, btw) I think accurately capture the space. The contemporary galleries (to compare apples to apples) in the Foster wing are more intrinsically interesting and feel like a lot more thought goes into creating volumes and staging. Each gallery in Foster looks custom-made; it's just a classier vibe all around.

 

[datadyne007]

Assuming you took the blindfold off once you got me there , I definitely would. Actually, I think most people would.

The Linde is very vanilla, stark, no texture, with monochromatic ,even lighting. The partition walls are slabs of undifferentiated, painted drywall--as I suggested earlier, maybe that's the kind of "invisible architecture" look they were going for, or maybe it's an homage to Warholian art-as-commodity in which context plays no role. The pictures you took of the Linde (nice picture, btw) I think accurately capture the space. The contemporary galleries (to compare apples to apples) in the Foster wing are more intrinsically interesting and feel like a lot more thought goes into creating volumes and staging. Each gallery in Foster looks custom-made; it's just a classier vibe all around.

The Foster wing's contemporary galleries are on the 3rd floor and have the benefit of natural light. I think a natural lighting scheme would have dramatically changed the experience in the Linde galleries, but it would have required a very costly and lengthy roof renovation.

I think the biggest challenge was the retrofit and trying to make a sequential experience in the Linde wing, rather than just a gallery. They intentionally created "rooms," but did it in a very bland and calculated way. I would agree with you that they designed the wing to be disposable, but for now, it can suffice and complement the Foster wing. There is no excuse for what happened with the ex-Gund Gallery store though. As previously mentioned, they removed the merchandise and plopped some objects in them. It's a very awkward, dark experience, yet this is the only gallery that actually has windows!

Btw, I wasn't really saying "you" as in specifically you. It was more along the lines of "to the casual visitor" who isn't familiar with the Museum.

 

[jass]

I like escalators

 

[Tombstoner]

We will have to agree to disagree, datadyne. As I said in my first post, it doesn't look like it's even part of the MFA. It only took a few months to throw it together and it looks like it.

(incidentally--I don't recall the Foster contemporary galleries having much natural light at all, so I don't think that's a factor)

 

[whighlander]

We will have to agree to disagree, datadyne. As I said in my first post, it doesn't look like it's even part of the MFA. It only took a few months to throw it together and it looks like it.

(incidentally--I don't recall the Foster contemporary galleries having much natural light at all, so I don't think that's a factor)

Tomb -- the Fosterization required an order of magnifude of more $ (ballapark of $400 M) -- of course there was major demolition and construction

the Linde -- only took small $ (ball park $ 20M) and its unstated purpose is to attract more donors who will now see that the MFA is devoting serious sq. ft. to contemporary art

As has been posted earlier by several -- the long term plan is to completely redo the west side of the MFa including the parking lots into a wing comparable to the Foster

BUT -- this will take more Major Money and is therefore unlikely to even start before ballpartk a decade (barring some unsolicited fat cat (bigger verion of Drucker's dodnation) -- in the mean time what we have is essentially a temporary space for con-temporary art whie the rest of the old museum updates and rearanges into the space made available by the creation of the Foster wing

If you think back a few years there is a smaller scale version in the high class -- very glassed-in restaurant which was created on the patio overlooking the courtyard -- I think it lasted about 2 years before the destruction that presaged the Foster wing removed it and the open courtyard

I think the biggest challenge to the MFA since everything is named (including the stairs decending to the new Gund) -- how do you explain to the donor of a bathroom stall or a sink in a janitors closet that their pride and joy has been remorved to make way for a newly acquired Jackson Pollack spray painting or Hockney landscape

 

[datadyne007]

We will have to agree to disagree, datadyne. As I said in my first post, it doesn't look like it's even part of the MFA. It only took a few months to throw it together and it looks like it.

(incidentally--I don't recall the Foster contemporary galleries having much natural light at all, so I don't think that's a factor)

Greatly enhances the overall gallery experience. Not just talking about light from the Courtyard pouring in either.

The roof has a Piano-esque lighting scheme:

Also, you cannot display contemporary art on anything that isn't concrete or white drywall. The palette has to be sparse. I think another thing that's making the Foster gallery seem richer are those vents toward the top that at least accomplish breaking the wall up into layers, giving it a material richness. The Linde galleries are your pretty typical floor-to-ceiling white walls.

 

[Sicilian]

...those vents toward the top that at least accomplish breaking the wall up into layers, giving it a material richness. The Linde galleries are your pretty typical floor-to-ceiling white walls.

Maybe so, but not great for that Calder hanging from the slats/vents.

 

[whighlander]

I always enjoy these earlier moments in a new gallery where you quite often can get into some fascinating discussions with other people of the artworld about the art you're viewing. A lot of regular museum patrons were making their "pilgrimage" today too.

Roni Horn's "Asphere" in the foreground

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I haven't been back to the MFA since the new wing opened but from what I've seen here
its a-spehre all the way

In fact -- I always go for a-sphere even if someone asks me about platonic solids -- as each platonic solid is associated with 3 spheres (the circumscribed sphere which passes through all the vertices, the midsphere which is tangent to each edge at the midpoint of the edge, and the inscribed sphere which is tangent to each face at the center of the face) and as they say -- the more a-sphere-s the merrier

 

[Shepard]

I sphere you've gone off on a tangent there, and although your points are plane and solid I also sphere your logic is circular.