Valise Reading Roundup 02

We will occasionally present stories we’ve come across that seem relevant to Valise users—and to others who like to think about making a life and career in the art world, keeping themselves organized, and using software to do one or both. Here’s the second batch.

Brian Droitcour, “What Is a Biennial For? Notes from Gwangju.”

The New York–based critic found that curator Nicolas Bourriaud’s 15th Gwangju Biennale “stays true to [the] principles [of “the heroic age” of biennials] without regurgitating its cliches.” In his inimitable way, Droitcour blends artwork description, personal narration, and an awareness of the broader conversation around his subject—all in a very short space. He ends with an important question: “Will other institutions and curators affirm the biennial as a format that faces the future, or is this an orientation doomed to become a relic of art history?”

Natasha Degan, “The Art of the Deal”

From the November issue of Artforum, Natasha Degan offers assesses a changing landscape: “The commitment to art’s autonomy has been eroding for decades, but the rise of the artist agent signals a more precipitous break. Many artists no longer look to major museums with the same starry-eyed reverence of years past. They see art as increasingly shaped and constrained by the marketplace, and they reject what they regard as the narrowness and rigidity of the art world itself. Some question whether their work needs the art context at all.”

Megan Greenwell, “The Wonder of the Regional Art Museum”

Greenwell, a journalist and former Wired and Deadspin editor, turned twelve months of reporting trips and speaking gigs into a life-affirming tour of regional art museums: “My year of art museums has taught me more about the places I’ve visited than any guidebook or walking tour ever could. It has taught me some of the art history I meant to learn in college but never got around to. It has taught me about my own taste.”

Kate Dwyer, “Who Pays for the Arts?”

Dwyer uses the closing of the Lannan Foundation, which had supported writers and photographers, as the hook for an article highlighting the uncertainty underpinning much of the arts ecosystem in the United States. What comes next? “You’re seeing creative people realize that the nonprofit model is not the right container. […] If there’s one throughline in all of these conversations, it’s the power of abundance mentality.”

Ted Loos, “Buy? Share? Borrow? Art Institutions Rethink Their Acquisition Strategies”

From October, a New York Times report on the trend, increasingly prevalent over the past fifteen years, of museums finding new ways to afford expensive and cumbersome artworks and attract new audiences. The article discusses Adam Levine, the underknown but respected Toledo Museum of Art director, and puts his staff’s creative efforts into context with Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

Tatum Dooley, “Artists Should Have Newsletters”

In her own newsletter, art writer and publicist Tatum Dooley makes the case for a mailing list you own over a social-media platform whose algorithm you cannot control. She cites “ownership and agency,” two of the key words we associate with Valise.

Region of Peel Archives, “How Do Archivists Package Things? The Battle of the Boxes”

The staff overseeing this collection outside Toronto offer a long and entertaining illustrated comparison of archival-document storage in Canada (vertical) and the UK (flat). No, really, “entertaining”! Useful to think about for all the papers you don’t have scanned as PDFs in Valise.