On March 20, 2010, the fourth exhibition that I’ve curated for See+ Artspace/Gallery opened in Beijing. This two-person show comprises cross-sections of the works of Wynn Bullock and Harold Feinstein — 25 images by each photographer on the walls, with an additional 25 by each in the accompanying catalogues. It will run through May 19. While they differ in many fundamental ways, Bullock and Feinstein also have numerous affinities. These reverberations made it more than whimsical to pair them in this exhibition. . . . […]
|
|
Even assuming the auction by Sotheby’s goes through as planned, it includes only 1260 works out of an inventoried total of 15,936. That leaves 14,676 still in the hands of the court-appointed trustee, John R. Stoebner, for disposition. So we need to turn some of our attention to alerting suitable repositories to the desirability and ongoing availability of the bulk of the collection, which remains a unique anthology of twentieth-century visual culture. In short, we need to help the trustee find this collection — complete as is, or minus the auction selection but otherwise intact — a good new home. […] Neither the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne nor the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris purchased the works deposited with them by Polaroid in the ’90s. Nor did Polaroid do so with the proviso that the institutions then needed to go find funds with which to acquire them. This adds to the accumulating evidence that, in the ’90s, Polaroid sought to find appropriate repositories for chunks of the collections as donations. […] If a “fight against the sale of the Polaroid collection” does take place, it will do so because, and only because, plaintiffs with standing — photographers with work in the collection — file either a Motion for Rehearing of the August 27 court decision or an appeal thereof. In relation to that fight, should it ensue, I will function as a cultural journalist commenting on it. What I do lead presently, have led since July ’09, and intend to lead until this situation plays itself out and culminates, is the effort to inform the photography/art audience — including those with work in the collection — of what’s happening in regard to this auction, and how we got to this sorry point. This is a journalistic project, not a legal one, and should be understood as such. […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |
Polaroid Collection: Update 17
Continuing her detailed coverage of the crisis of the Polaroid Collection, Charlotte Burns in the April issue of The Art Newspaper reports that a considerable number of artists and photographers with work in the collection stand ready to participate in a legal effort to intervene in its imminent dismantling. In her article titled “Polaroid row hots up,” she specifically identifies Chuck Close as having committed himself to fighting the planned June 21-22 auction of the cream of the collection at Sotheby’s in New York. […]