Andrew Goldstein wonders what P.S.1 will be like without Alanna Heiss? As of late the institution has been morphing into more of an establishment venue with the Greater New York shows etc. and a connection to MoMA... it's the way things tend to go. Really anything that isn't a fusty musty academic institution will tend to fall victim to its own successes (see MoMA, Dia, Guggenheim) and it's why Judd took to Marfa and even that outpost has become a fetish of remoteness. Look, if Walter Hopps could somehow mellow and take on an old sage-like patina in his last years anyone and any institution can...it's just part of the metabolism of culture.

Speaking of Judd, Tyler Green is still in the running for Judd head of the month, both bits are interesting, especially the bits on why Smithson was more favored in the academy.

Kim Davenport of Rice University has 10 bits of sound advice regarding installation art. You definitely have to take a greater leap of faith and trust the artist more for site specific projects.

Lots of local discussion of Roger Ballen is going on in concordance with the show at Quality Pictures. It's a wonderful show even though this sort of odd storyteller photography often feels too contrived to me in the same way that professional wrestling, reality TV and the Jerry Springer show do. Yet, Ballen pulls it off. The show fares well under repeat visits, though it feels too convenient in the same way Arbus that Arbus and Cindy Sherman do. Basically it's just not my thing, but as a viewer it is interesting to explore how I respect it.

The Oregonian did a big getting to know you story on Brian Ferriso. As one would expect it is more human interesty than PORT's recent 1 year checkup it but gets points for finally pointing out his curatorial and architectural background (and touching on the fact that the Milwaukee situation makes Portland's problems look rather more pleasant by comparison). Looks like a story they've had sitting around for a while and used because something else fell through though.


One of Tom Sachs' Animals, not one of the lame bronzes

I like Tom Sachs but working in bronze is just a bad idea. Sure, there is too much foam based art these days but there's got to be another way to escape the casual Fridays dress code for sculpture he has helped to create.