A Decision Tree

By Audrey Fukuman and Andy Wright. [via Naturelle-Chic via SF Foodie]

Orange Hills Roll in Berkeley

Thom Faulders, BAMscape, 2010. Photo: Mary Kate Murphy.

Many people who work in the arts grew up going to museums either with their parents or on grade school outings. I, however, was already attending community college before stepping foot inside of one: the Berkeley Art Museum. That one visit honestly changed my life and led me to my work today.

I went to the museum earlier this week, not to see anything in particular, but just to be in the space. A funny thing happened while I was there. After walking through a few so-so exhibitions, I sauntered down to the central atrium to get a closer look at BAMscape by Thom Faulders. I was soon told by a gentleman (who I later discovered was the artist) that I wasn't supposed to be in the area unless I was part of the photo shoot that was, unbeknownst to me, in progress. As I turned to leave, a woman said, "You can stay if you want to be part of it. We need attractive people." I'm a sucker for compliments, so there I am posing in the foreground of the picture above.

Thom Faulders, BAMscape, 2010. Photo: N.J. Caruth.

BAMscape is constructed from curved, painted wood over a core of foam. Museum visitors are invited to lounge (sans shoes) on the orange rolling hills and take advantage of free wifi; electrical outlets have been built into this comfy structure. Faulders, founder of the Bay Area design firm Faulders Studio, conceives of the commissioned installation as "a new social nerve center to the museum experience.” BAMscape opens to the public today.

Gastro-Vision: The Fruit of Experience

Fallen Fruit Collective, American Family, 2008. Giclee print, 40 x 60 in. Courtesy the artists.

Check out the Art:21 blog, where I've written about EATLACMA, a year-long project at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art by Fallen Fruit Collective. An excerpt:

Fallen Fruit Collective formed six years ago through a project by artists David Burns, Matias Viegener, and Austin Young for the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. The trio created a street-by-street diagram of fruit trees growing on or over public property in their Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. While the city boasts bananas, peaches, avocados, lemons, oranges, kumquats, plums, pomegranates, and other fruits growing year-round, this bounty is not always shared. Mapping “public fruit” was a way to approach food resource and accessibility concerns in urban space. From the beginning, Fallen Fruit urged city officials, urban planning groups, and property owners to plant with the goal of yielding edible goods for the local populace. You might call Burns, Viegener, and Young the locavores of contemporary art.

Read the rest here.

Looks Good: White Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

Uploaded to Flickr by Pei-Lin of Dodol & Mochi on January 18, 2010.

Ingredients

Filling:
1 1/2 lbs cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups sour cream
5 eggs
1 whole orange (peeled, pitted, and chopped)

Graham Cracker Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter

Granola Crust:
2 cups granola
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 cup melted white chocolate

Go to Notecook.com for instructions.

For lower fat content, consider the substitutions listed here.

Food for Thought

ArtTable's recent panel discussion, Blog This!: Blogging the Contemporary Arts, at X Initiative was not the rich conversation about art criticism in the blogosphere that I had hoped for. Rather, the discussion seemed geared toward novices for whom art blogs are something of mystery. That said, the work and achievements of the five panelists are an inspiration to many (including me) and it was nice to see the event so well attended. Art bloggers need support.

Shifting gears here, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of diversity among panelists. This is something I've recognized at events of this sort in the past. The moderator claimed to have cast a wide net in selecting speakers. She was clearly referring to their various roles in the art world (educator, artist, dealer, etc). It probably goes without saying that different voices, social experiences and perspectives can significantly shift the course of any dialog. I left the event wondering: Why are people of color frequently absent from public forums about art blogging, or online art criticism? Are we deliberately left out? Or are we not present because we don’t blog about art at the same rate as our white counterparts? Do art blogs by people of color attract different audiences or less attention on the whole?

I suppose most speakers and attendees of art blog meet-ups mirror the predominantly white art world. But the prospect of art bloggers as a racially homogeneous community of people and authorities is, in my mind, at odds with the spirit of social media -- platforms that have ostensibly diversified authorship by decentralizing power. Aren't non-whites and minorities contributing to art discourse more than ever? Not necessarily. When I brought this up to a friend of mine, she said, "Becoming a writer -- knowing how to write -- is a hurdle that can exclude people who don't have the same access to education." Hence, just because self-publishing tools such as blogs are readily available does not mean that everyone can wield them effectively. And, for sure, race and class continue to play a role in who has access to education, art, and the web.

The discourse on art blogging -- the future of art criticism -- is quite young and there are still many conversations to be had. But down the road I hope no one has to ask, à la Linda Nochlin, why there have been no great art bloggers of color, only to realize, as Nochlin said of women artists in 1971, that there have been many interesting and very good ones who were insufficiently investigated or appreciated. I’m just sayin', it’s something to think about.

A Mixed Bag: The Me Edition (1.15.10)

Promo image for Marisa Olson's performance Whew! Age, 2010. (via PS122.org)

Contemporary Confections is back. Over the last couple of months, I've spent a lot of time writing for other outlets. Below are links to my recent articles in case you missed them:

Ten Tips for Aspiring Curators: Don't believe the hype - curating is not all it's cracked up to be.

Gastro-Vision: The Year in Meat: A look back at 2009 in burger, bacon and slaughter art.

Inhale. Exhale. Whew.: Brooklyn artist Marisa Olson talks about climate change issues in her upcoming performance Whew! Age at PS122 (Feb 12-14).