* Architecture: Steilneset Memorial by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois, photographed by Andrew Meredith

Architecture: Steilneset Memorial by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois, photographed by Andrew Meredith: “..Zumthor simply describes his collaboration with Bourgeois in an interview with ArtInfo as the following, “I had my idea, I sent it to her, she liked it, and she came up with her idea, reacted to my idea, then I offered to abandon my idea and to do only hers, and she said, ‘No, please stay.’ So, the result is really about two things — there is a line, which is mine, and a dot, which is hers… Louise’s installation is more about the burning and the aggression, and my installation is more about the life and the emotions [of the victims].”’  Superb photos by Andrew Meredith, of the Steilneset Memorial designed by internationally renowned architect Peter Zumthor and magnificent artist Louise Bourgeois..

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image: Andrew Meredith; article: Rosenfield , Karissa . “Steilneset Memorial / Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois, photographed by Andrew Meredith” 01 Mar 2012. ArchDaily.  <http://www.archdaily.com/213222&gt;

Decorated, and Curated?

Installation by Aakash Nihalani, in a stairwell and hall decorated by Wayne Nathan

Penelope Green has written a short, rather interesting article entitled “Kips Bay Decorated, and Curated” in the Home & Garden section of The New York Times, looking at the The Kips Bay Decorator Show House (through 26 May 2011, Admission, $30, to benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. (718) 893-8600, extension 245, or kipsbay.org) and the integration of art, often contemporary art, including installations, video and sculpture, as well as paintings, prints, and drawings, into the ensemble of furniture, lighting, wall and floor coverings, and other decorative elements, which has been, in a strict sense, the historical domaine of interior decorators, and designers.  The eclectic mix can be quite refreshing, indeed.

The article includes an interesting tour of the house, in the slideshow, here.

image: Trevor Tondro/The New York Times

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Black, in Design

Eddie Opara, a partner in the design group Pentagram, the graphic designer Gail Anderson, and the furniture designer Stephen Burks.

image: Matthew Septimus; Darren Cox; Kevin Kunstadt & Andrew Kenney/The New York Times

Alice Rawsthorn has written an interesting, rather informative, article entitled “Design Gets More Diverse” in the Arts section of The New York Times, looking at black designers, both men and women, in what she describes, with historical accuracy, as “a white man’s world.”  Successful black designers, Eddie Opara, a partner in the design group Pentagram, the graphic designer Gail Anderson (here is a link to howdesign.com which included, in October 2008, a drawing done by Anderson, in 1978, when she was in high-school, clearly indicating her future path), and the furniture designer Stephen Burks, who has a solo show of his work, “Man Made”, opening on March 31 at the Studio Museum in Harlem, offer personal observations on the issue, as does Joel Towers, executive dean of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, which has started a diversity initiative to address the issue, and is to explore its underlying parameters at a conference, Black Studies in Art and Design Education, on March 26 and 27, 2011.

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Frank Gehry-designed Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Faces Boycott

Model of the Frank Gehry-designed Abu Dhabi Guggenheim, slated to open in 2015, faced with a boycott by more than 130 internationally renowned artists, curators and writers for its substandard working conditions for construction workers.

image: Gehry Partners/The New York Times

The Abu Dhabi Guggenheim, in construction on Saadiyat Island, and all Guggenheim branches (including the Guggenheim New York and the Guggenheim Bilbao), face a boycott by a group of more than 130 internationally renowned artists, curators and writers due to substandard working conditions, and indeed, human rights violations, with respect to the, largely foreign, workers building the site.  The violations, documented by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, have been cited in a petition sent to Guggenheim Foundation and Guggenheim New York museum director, Richard Armstrong, demanding concrete action on the part of the Guggenheim and its Abu Dhabi partner, the TDIC (Tourism Development and Investment Company).

Read more in an article by Nicolai Ouroussoff entitled “Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Faces Protest” in the Art & Design section of The New York Times, here.

Read more in an article by Helen Stoilas entitled “Artists boycott Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project” in The Art Newspaper (online), here.

Read our coverage of the Saadiyat Island projects, here.

One of the organizers of the boycott is Lebanese-born New York artist Walid Raad, recently named winner of the Hasselblad Award 2011, has said, “Artists should not be asked to exhibit their work in buildings built on the backs of exploited workers,…Those working with bricks and mortar deserve the same kind of respect as those working with cameras and brushes.”

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