Brad Cloepfil's firm Allied Works is a finalist for yet another Museum, this time in Lausanne Switzerland. His design is a bold sculptural effort with more than a little bit of Louis Kahn in it. It is a more porous design that builds on his Clyfford Still Museum, which is starting to take shape. Cloepfil, whom I've described as having a heavy and an airy side seems to be reaching a point where his designs are capable of juggling both. Locally he is doing the renovation of PNCA's 511 building.

Anyone remember the Vorticists? I bet some PORT reader's know who they are and they have a retrospective up in Britain... bully!

Jerry Saltz's Venice adventure.

YU responds to DK Row's article, which we discussed on June 3rd. Honestly, the best response will be forming a decent board to vet this ongoing process and get some buy in for all of this planning they have planned and planned for years now. The founders need to have accountable input in forming/alter-ing that plan to create buy in for their project. In the letter George Thorn described YU as, "unlike any organization I have worked with and is the most complex organization I have ever worked on." That complexity isn't necessarily a good thing and a little more focus will help them sell their plan to others. Also, the founders still seem to be phobic of basic things like curatorial staff (wanting a multimillion dollar artist-committee run space), but a curator is necessary for programming a demanding 8,000 sq ft main gallery coherently. An example why a curator is necessary... they still have the Carl Andre's inappropriately installed as if they have no idea what Carl Andre is about (hint anything but an artifact). For example it's made of humble materials to avoid the preciousness a glass case imparts and placing it next to archival ephemera simply disrespects the work. We wish them well (unlike the O which continually heckles the art scene) but at some point the founders need to share the planning responsibility with knowledgeable board members who ultimately will make this happen. Right now it's just spending seed money which is ok for now but in say 6-7 months will just seem like the staff is on some extended vacation provided by one donor who doesn't appear to exercise any oversight. YU needs to avoid that at all costs but Row's article was too busy being sensational to make that point.