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article
WHY NY?
To
open our New York theme, writers both Irish and American
scan the scene in the Big Apple. We begin with one of
the theme coordinators, Gemma Tipton.
A visual
arts magazine from Ireland writing about New York - why:
what's going on there, and why should we care? Lots of
reasons. Even though it's three-and-a-half thousand miles
away, everyone who travels to New York arrives with a
sense of recognition. The iconic skyscrapers, the brownstones,
the yellow taxis, the Met, the Guggenheim, the Whitney,
Chelsea, SoHo...all so often seen, even if you've never
been there before. It's like they're near neighbours,
old friends. The popular cultural influence of New York,
through the media, the movies, TV, is one thing; the political
and financial influence is another. But whether one approves
of it or not, even if, as Europeans, sometimes we only
define ourselves in opposition, it's an influence that
can't be disregarded. And while there might be a surface
sense of familiarity to be found on arriving, almost every
experience after that serves to confound the expectations.
The
view from the top of the Metropolitan Museum,
New York, with Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van
Brugg's Plantoir, 2001; photo/courtesy
the author
|
Some say
it's the centre of the artworld, some that you need to
look instead to Berlin - but in fact several different
art worlds coexist in New York City. Art foundations,
not-for-profits, multi-millionaire patrons buying works
from taste-shaping dealers, major museums, artists' collectives,
Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Chelsea, Long
Island City, SoHo; in New York, art worlds within art
worlds circle and feed off and into each other, creating
a scene fuelled by crazy energy, money, commitment, creativity
and commerce. All separately and all at once. It's exciting,
inspiring, invigorating - and exhausting.
In an interesting
New York paradox, the artworld there is simultaneously
near-impossible to break into and extraordinarily accessible.
Many of one's art and architectural heroes (if they're
still alive...), are working here, or have a connection
to the city - and one of the most refreshing things about
New York is that if your interest is genuine, you can
call up this artist, that architect, that writer and they'll
most likely give their time.
And the
unexpected gems are amazing. Struggling in the summer
heat around the commercialised cobblestones of SoHo, and
despairing of finding the exciting art spaces (which rumour
has it fled to Chelsea, and now to Williamsburg and DUMBO),
you come upon the fluorescent-lit Donald Judd building
on Spring Street, and then Walter de Maria's New York
Earth Room, waiting there, a loft full of pungent
mud on Wooster Street. Downtown, the LMCC knits arts and
cultural events into the fabric of the financial district.
There were artists' studios in the World Trade Center.
Upstate at Beacon, the new Dia space is the largest contemporary
art space in the world - and in this case size does matter;
it is jaw-droppingly amazing.
But it's
a tough town too. You work for nothing, write for nothing
and network, network, network - all in search of an elusive
break. In this issue, CIRCA takes a look at how it all
works, who's doing what, and who's doing it where. And
if you still aren't sure if you care, put yourself into
a city where exhibition openings are always packed and
buzzing, where people work weekday jobs to fund the running
of experimental spaces at the weekends, where private
patrons back artists to make the work they're into, where
that is Julian Schnabel having coffee at the next
table, where you truly do get a sense that you can do
anything - if you put your mind to it.
Gemma
Tipton is a writer.
Research
for the New York issue of CIRCA was made possible by a
Travel Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
