Imagine the Rubell Collection or the Scholl Collection, two of Miami’s premier private museums, right here in Philadelphia. We just learned that The West Collection is actively searching for a big space for displaying some of the larger pieces in their fabulous and expanding collection of contemporary art. We bumped into the Director Lee Stoetzel at the Fairmount Park Art Association’s annual meeting, and he confirmed the organization’s interest in finding a space large enough to display some of the collection’s larger pieces. They’ve been looking in Northern Liberties he said. West is the Barnes of today, integrating its edgy collection into the workplace at SEI Corporation in Oaks, PA, so workers can have access to the art. And now this, upping the access to the people of Philadelphia–also sort of like the Barnes!
The talk
More immediate is the April 12 talk there by Jennifer Levonian, the stop-action animation video artist who charms while pointing out our culture’s crazy disconnects. Her talk is noon-1 p.m. at the West Collection at SEI, 1 Freedom Valley Drive, Oaks, PA 19456 (for navigation and mapquest search 250 Cider Mill Rd., Collegeville, PA 19426). Open and free to the public. RSVP by Monday, April 11 to Lee Stoetzel, lee@westcollection.org
Easier climb to Tiger Strikes Asteroid
Tiger Strikes Asteroid is moving May 1–downstairs to the second floor of 319A N. 11th St., right nearby Grizzly Grizzly and Marginal Utility. For a grand opening, they will have a one-night-only show of all the collective’s members on April 15, 5-10 p.m. in the new space, and a simultaneous reception for the Theresa Saulin show in the tiny old 4th floor space. Even more simultaneity–this all coincides with Philadelphia Gallery Night. We didn’t much like hiking up to the 4th floor, so we’re totally thrilled.
Ai Weiwei and Slought
We got an email today from Slought Foundation deploring the arrest of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. The Sloughties had “just begun working on a project about cultural dialogue” with the artist–hence their plea for people and institutions to advocate on Ai Weiwei’s behalf. Full text is on the Slought site.
