The Gutter

Architects Find Art World Less Gullible Than They Hoped 
Friday, June 30, 2006

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Remember when Diller + Scofidio (before Renfro got real estate on the shingle) tried to pretend they were artists and got bitch-slapped in the Village Voice? It was beautiful. And it's happening again. Except this time it's Herzog + DeMeuron. And they're getting bitch-slapped in the Times. Roberta Smith, take it away:

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron should not relinquish their day jobs as high-profile architects in order to become curators or installation artists anytime soon. Their Artist's Choice exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art is perverse, cerebral and probably the most elaborate one-liner you're likely to encounter this summer. Nothing less should be expected from an effort titled "Perception Restrained," which jams artworks into extra-large wall niches almost entirely sealed from view.

Ouch. And oucher:

Intentionally or not, this show is a form of self-promotion executed by Mr. Herzog and Mr. de Meuron in what may be the most important building they did not get to design.

· Once Again, Herzog & DeMeuron Offer Their Vision of the MoMA [NYT]
· Coming Soon to MoMA: HdM's Funky Space-Out Zone! [The Gutter]
· Herzog & DeMeuron Bust the Blood and Sex at MoMA [The Gutter]


Posted in Dinosaurs

Reader Comments (3 extant)

1.

Apparently, this Blogger felt the same as Roberta Smith and was just as snarky.

By Louie Miller at June 30, 2006 6:10 PM

2.

the selective editing of Smith's article by the blogger is kind of pathetic. if you read the text of actual article you'll find conflicted ambivalence about the ways in which the exhibition design questions some relevant issues about moma and art but that it falls short in some ways. of course some means not all which is apparently a 'subtlety' of english the blogger can't grasp.

cheap shots and cherry picked citations don't create clever critics clearly. illiteration however, well......

By john at July 1, 2006 5:49 PM

3.

What is WITH those guys?
I mean, really, c'mon, just look at that guy's picture in the NY Mag piece. Insert punchline.
So I take my son to show him the architect's designed art room and find I had to backpedal and downplay my choice.
This H&dM firm embarassed me and my profession in front of my son.
For shame!

By Felt dirty afterwards at July 1, 2006 11:17 PM



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