Presentation for ISEA 2012

1. ISEA2012:Machine Wilderness

2. Cultivating Culture: the
Contemporary Museum as
“Economic Catalyst”

3. • catalyst [ˈkætəlɪst]n1. (Chemistry) a
substance that increases the rate of a
chemical reaction without itself suffering
any permanent chemical change
Compare inhibitor [2]
• 2. a person or thing that causes a change

4. A brief history of the Albright-Knox Art
Gallery (collections and controversy)

5. Timeline Part 1 (pre-contemporary
addition)
become the first president of the MOMA in NYC.
• 1862 Buffalo Fine Arts Academy is the 6th public art
institution to be created in America • 1931-1942 Director Gordon Washburn acquires ancient and
renaissance works
• 1900 John Joseph Albright, a dedicated and generous
supporter offered to provide the funding for a permanent • 1937 The Boy Krishna acquired (Bala Krishna) 14-15 century
home for the academy AD.
• 1905 The Greek revival building, designed by Edward B. • 1934 Giovanni del Biondo’s The Annunciation: The Angel
Green, completed and dedicated on May 31 1905. and The Annunciation: The Virgin (1366) acquired.
• 1926 “Fellows for Life” endowment program started by A. • 1939 Room of Contemporary Art Fund endowment via
Conger Goodyear (gallery board director) intended to raise Syemour H. Knox and family.
funds to “buy the works of such significant modern and • 1945 Knox family “enhanced the collection” (p 9) through
contemporary artists” as Matisse Rodin, Gauguin and their gift of important 18th century English (mostly of the
Cezanne landscape and genre type) paintings
• 1926 Acquisition of Picasso’s La Toilette, 1906. Purchased by • 1946 Acquisition of Paul Gauguin’s The Yellow Christ (1889)
Academy board director A Conger Goodyear
• 1953 Acquisition of Late Shang Dynasty bronze Ritual Vessel
• 1927 “Societé Anonyme” exhibition in Buffalo (the only city ( 13- 11 century BC).
outside of NY to host it. Founded by Katherine Drieir and
Marcel Duchamp in 1920 – advocates of modernism
• 1959 Acquisition of Jasper John’s Numbers in Color (1958-9)
through gift from Seymour H. Knox.
• 1928 Goodyear removed from the board of the Albright (in
part because of dissent over modernist purchases, etc.) to

6. New wing, designed 1962 by Gordon Bunshaft – who also designed DC’s Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden and NYC’s Lever House

7. Timeline Part 2 (post-contemporary
addition)
• 1962 New contemporary wing designed by • 1993 Nam June Paik’s video installation Piano
Gordon Bunshaft opens - institutional name Piece created and acquired.
changed to the “Albright – Knox Art Gallery”
• 1996 Bill Viola’s video installation The
• A 1962 internal museum publication refers to Messenger created and acquired
the institution’s tradition of collecting
“outstanding works of arts from those cultures • 2001 Strategic plan released that refocuses
where human expression and art has the museum’s mission on specifically
appeared to reach its greatest level.” contemporary art.
• 1964 Acquisition of Dynamism of a Dog on a • 2007 several hundred items from the Albright-
Leash, 1912 by Giacomo Balla Knox’s antiquities collection auctioned off by
Sotheby’s
• 1965 Acquistion of Spirit of the Dead
Watching , 1892 by Paul Gaugin • 2011 Acquisition of Tracy Emin’s Only God
Knows I’m Good created 2009
• 1985 Acquisition of Francesco Clemente’s
Son, 1984 • 2011 Acquisition of Rachel Harrison’s Vampire
Wannabes created 2010
• 1986 Acquisition of early American portraits
by Ammi Phillips (Portrait of Mrs. Lewis • 2012 “Wish You Were Here: the Buffalo Avant-
Northrop and Portrait of Mr. Lewis Garde in the 1970s” opens
Northrop, 1833-35)

8. A few of the more valuable deaccessioned
works – the Roman bronze Artemis and the
Stag, a 15th century Bronze Krishna statue, and
a very ancient Chinese ritual vessel

9. Bibliography + Other Resources
• Florida, Richard. The flight of the creative • http://www.albrightknox.org/about-ak/history/
class: the new global competition for talent. New
York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2005. • http://www.artsjournal.com/mt4/mt-
search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=47&tag=Venice%20Bien
• Florida, Richard. Who’s your city?: how the nale&limit=20
creative economy is making where to live the
most important decision of your life. New York, • http://artvoice.com/issues/v6n8/war_against_th
NY: Basic Books, 2008. e_albright_knox
• Florida, Richard. The rise of the creative • http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/arts/desig
class: and how it’s transforming work, leisure, n/buffalo-avant-garde-art-scene-revisited-at-
community and everyday life. New York, albright-knox.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
NY: Basic Books, 2002
• Goldman, Mark. City on the Edge: Buffalo, NY.
Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007. • Opinion piece on White Paper from NEA
http://annebusinessnonprofitslibrary.blogspot.com/2
• Spaulding, Karen Lee (Ed.), Masterworks at the 009/09/economic-development-and-arts.html
Albright-Knox Art Gallery / New York, NY.
: Hudson Hills Press, 1999.
• Eds. Pam Hatley and Pamela Martin. Beyond/in • MASS MOCA documentary trailer
Western New York 2010: Alternating Currents. http://www.youtube.com/watch=JFkhBy9F08k&featu
Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 2010 re=plcp
• http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2008/03
/albright-knox_weve_sold_our_ar.html