http://newcritics.disqus.com/the best in web criticismenMon, 04 Jan 2010 14:51:06 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/06/08/navigating-the-retrospective/#comment-28014909<p>He was also avant-garde experimental filmmaker.</p>web directoryMon, 04 Jan 2010 14:51:06 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/06/08/navigating-the-retrospective/#comment-1375444<p>You wrote "It’s too much of a good thing. I began to think that Cornell’s work would be far, far better served if a few of his pieces were included in a group show or thematic overview. I think I’d enjoy the work more coming across it as one might find treasure in a junk shop."</p><p>Yes, of course, that is the usual role of any museum collection on display. <br>Within, there should be discovery, like a selection of Cornell's work, within a larger context, that in turn allows to contrast, compare, get some semblance of an era or zeitgeist in which his work - apparently - stands strong within. But that's not a retrospective form, that's the normal museum at work.</p><p>I think Cornell is a tough case, because of an overwhelming claustrophobic sense to his "boxes", and his life in turn. That would be better off accented by the curator than just treated like a row of commodities. There are always ways to engage with the historical "modern" work of art.</p><p>But also, there are rules for institutional loans of Cornell works, and so on.</p><p>DVDs are not the solution either, but should remain an assist. Although Museums already do this, the arts shouldn't be reduced to visuals-first kind of mentality. I was lucky enough to have seen Cornell's film in cinema, not in a gallery, and it was important, the atmosphere he speaks of in his films, belongs to the cinema, the darkened rooms and projective fantasy. Not just an object in a room project.</p><p>Also, there is nothing odder than having seen something on a DVD then going to see it in the museum and finding the materiality and scale completely at odds with what was presented on DVD.</p><p>It should remain part of the museological and research side, and not a replacement.</p><p>The conclusion - curators have to decide what it is they want to convey with such exhibitions, and the better exhibitions will convince, the more unimaginative...well, you will feel repetition rather than discovery.</p>Frank WeaverSun, 10 Jun 2007 06:06:28 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/06/08/navigating-the-retrospective/#comment-1375443<p>Oh, and the DVD "opening" of the collages - that could be a cool Flash exhibit online, right?</p>Tom WatsonSat, 09 Jun 2007 20:27:31 -0000http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/06/08/navigating-the-retrospective/#comment-1375442<p>Kevin - fascinating review. I agree with you that Cornell's work is the kind of small wonder you need to come upon almost by accident. Like in some niche or cabinet that draws you in from the corner, and pulls you from the huge canvasses and over-blown metal sculpture of the moderns.</p>Tom WatsonSat, 09 Jun 2007 20:26:45 -0000