La Disputa

Within the backdrop of a global battle over fertile land, a new installation at the MoMA-affiliated P.S. 1 has the local architectural and horticultural worlds spinning. While the human population is ever-increasing, the subject of developing land for people is becoming a more pertinent one. Just between 1990 and 2010, the estimated population growth is 2 billion people (U.S. Census Bureau). Meanwhile, agricultural output may be lagging. Although that particular problem is yet to be felt in an area like the United States, another trend is absolutely changing the way people view food consumption. The demand for organic products and environmental responsibilty is getting louder. So when an art project like Public Farm 1 is conceived, people pay attention.

Public Farm 1 is created by the husband-wife artist duo Amale Andraos and Dan Wood for the Young Architects Program held annually by P.S. 1 in Long Island City, Queens. It is an absolutely fun yet functional piece of architecture that includes a kiddie pool, shade, live video of goats and pigs, an actual chicken coop filled with chickens (PS1′s cafeteria actually gathers eggs in the morning for egg sandwiches), and best of all, fresh vegetables and berries that you can pick and eat. With personal space disappearing in NYC, it’s great to know that you CAN build your own organic farm on the balcony of your crappy apartment, and this project is meant to teach you how.

This weekend I’ve been to the MoCADA, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.  It is a small space in Fort Green, but everything is brilliantly placed.  Upon walking in, I was immediately impressed by the architecture.  Every tchotchke, piece of jewelry, and book was placed in its time zone in the history of African art.  That was just gift shop/greeting area!

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Picasso’s Guernica is now going through a restorative “check-up”.  I wonder how that’s going to end.

This week an interesting article appeared in the New York Times.

David Galenson, an economist at the University of Chicago, reduced the ranking of “influence” of an artwork into a simple formula: the frequency the piece appears in art history textbooks. He believes that there is nothing particularly special about the arts, he “[doesn't] buy that there is a difference between artistic and economic value.” By his theory, he ranks Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” as number one because it appears 28 times in art history books. Number two goes to The Monument to the Third International by Vladimir Tatlin with 25 appearences (what, you don’t know who that is?), and number three is the Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (23 appearances in art history textbooks).

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