Song 1 @ Hirshhorn

As a reminder to myself - and anyone else who might be interested in this - Doug Aitken's Song 1 is still on view nightly at the Hirshhorn through May 20. The Washington Post approved recently of its extension by another week. (It was originally set to end on May 13.)



Geeta Dayal, moreover, in an April 18 review for Wired was also full of high praise for Song1: "Wrapping the outside of a circular building in seamless 360-degree video projections took some work. But with Song 1, artist Doug Aitken transforms the drab concrete exterior of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., into a one-of-a-kind audiovisual spectacle."

(Let's just overlook her use of the word "drab" in this context - native Washingtonians do not like to hear "drab" applied to any structure within, or aspect of, their city. We get a little sensitive about stuff like that.) 

Friends of mine who have checked this out say it's pretty cool. Aitken projects film clips and images on to the Hirshhorn, using the circular outer shell of this modern art museum as a movie screen of sorts.

"The Hirshhorn 360-degree projection is a new form of film ... one that defies categorization." - Doug Aitken

So now this spectacle is still on view every night through May 20 after the sun sets (my favorite time of day - I have always loathed mornings and loved nights).

Among the "related events" listed on the museum's website, there is a funky Happening tonight (Friday, May 11) from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Hirshhorn featuring live performances. (You can buy $25 tickets to this Happening here.)

Art Justice @ Germany

Although this does not - at least not yet (unless these posters are exhibited stateside someday?) - have anything to do with art exhibits in America, I would just like to point out this great story in The Washington Post that pertains to art restitution, human dignity, and justice.

The German high court made the right decision here to return as collection of rare posters to their rightful heirs more than 70 years after they were confiscated from their original owner - a fate that alas befell many Jewish art collectors in Nazi Germany and other parts of war-ravaged Europe where people were persecuted and art was looted:

German court: Rare art posters seized by Nazis to be returned to Jewish man in the US

(A fantastic, albeit chilling, exhibition on the fate of some of the greatest art of the era in Nazi Germany was mounted by LACMA, which has also produced several publications on German Expressionism. This historic Julien Bryan film and the excellent movie The Architecture of Doom also document the disturbing lack of method to this madness, which was spawned largely by Hitler's own insane ideas and personal preferences regarding what he considered appropriate "art" ... )