By Patrick Clark 1/01 5:06pm

Clocking out

the clock

Ringing in the New Year at MoMA With Christian Marclay’s The Clock

Time passes, which is the point of Christian Marclay’s much-talked-about installation The Clock. The work, a 24-hour cinematic loop composed of sequences appropriated from the last century of film, chronicles this passing in real time, as they say. An alarm clock sounds, a movie star eats breakfast; a wristwatch ticks, actors wait for a train. Some reviewers were surprised that watching time pass could be so captivating, although they might not have been if they’d thought back to any old New Year’s Eve, when the world’s citizens fixate on their clocks. Read More

By Larry Getlen 10/10/12 6:23pm

Mr. Plant (Photo: Wikimedia)

The Song Remains The Same – As Does The Question

Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, at MOMA on Tuesday with bandmates Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham, son of the band’s late original drummer John, for a press conference to promote their new concert film, “Celebration Day,” entered the journalist-packed auditorium singing, “treat me like a fool…” He was clearly in a festive mood.

That mood would not last.

Ever since the 2007 concert featured in the film, a tribute to the late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun at London’s O2 Arena, the band has said in countless interviews that they would never reunite again, largely due to Mr. Plant’s desire to focus on other projects and just generally move on. But that didn’t stop the assembled fourth estate from harping on the reunion talk, to the band’s growing annoyance. Read More

By Kim Velsey 9/05/12 10:26am

Architecture

Unity Temple, Oak Park, IL. 1904. (The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives/Avery/MoMA)

Frank Lloyd Wright Archive Relocating to NY, Architecture Buffs Rejoice

For Frank Lloyd Wright acolytes, appreciating the architect’s masterpieces has long involved pilgrimages to far-flung locations. There’s always the Guggenheim, of course, but more importantly, there’s Falling Water, the Robie House, Taliesin and Taliesin West. Until recently, even looking at the architect’s papers involved a journey to the latter two locations, in Spring Green, Wis., and Scottsdale, Ariz.

But now Wright’s papers, which have been stored at the two Taliesins since his death in 1959, are moving to New York, in what The New York Times terms an unusual joint partnership between Columbia University’s Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library and the Museum of Modern Art. Read More

By Matt Chaban 5/22/12 3:55pm

Stratospheric Sales

Jagged! (Atelier Jean Nouvel)

You Can Soon Buy a Piece of MoMA! Or At Least a Piece of Its 1,050-Foot Condo Tower

Last year, The Observer discovered that Jean Nouvel’s soaring MoMA Tower—called “the most exhilarating addition to the skyline in a generation” by The Times‘ architecture critic—would not be a jagged victim of boom time hubris but in fact a real part of the skyline after all. Hines, the project’s developer, filed amended plans for the tower last July, showing that even at its Burden’d height of 1,050 feet, the Pritzker prize would still rise.

Now, more encouraging news that this project will actually become a reality: Hines has tapped Corcoran Sunshine to market the MoMA Tower, officially known as the Torre Verre, according to Crain’s, which means sales can’t be too far away Read More

By Foster Kamer 2/22/12 5:28pm

Fun With Craigslist

kraftwerk-2

Kraftwerk at MoMA Tickets: Let The Scalping Begin!

Some people don’t have very much “Computer Love” in their hearts after being locked out of getting tickets for Kraftwerk’s forthcoming MoMA residency. Tickets for each of the group’s eight performances retailed for $25 a piece. You’d think: With eight performances, there’d be enough of the tickets to go around. You’d be wrong. A lot of people don’t have fast computers or were going to the bathroom when they went on sale, and now, they’re sad that they don’t have Kraftwerk tickets. [Ed. Something about "Showroom Dummies" here.]

Truth be told, there’s still a way to get into the shows: The Gloriously Sleazy Secondary Market of Craigslist. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 12/05/11 12:46pm

ICSC

Mayor Mike addressing reporters in a press conference following his opening remarks at The ICSC

You See, the Mayor Sees, We All See ICSC

We were inside the West Ballroom at The Hilton New York, on the hunt for available seats when a large and friendly man sitting dead center in the front row waved us over and asked us to sit with him.

That friendly man was Bruce Ratner, head of Forest City Ratner Companies, who had no  idea that he had just invited two reporters from The Commercial Observer to join him. Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/15/11 6:12pm

Dizzying Designs

Amanda approves.

Amanda Burden: Shorter MoMA Tower ‘Is Glorious’

It was Amanda Burden who stopped the MoMA Tower, giving Jean Nouvel’s 1,250-foot spire a haircut, and it is up to her if the project will ever snake its way onto the skyline. As The Observer revealed last month, developer Hines Interests has resubmitted plans for the shorter, stockier Torre Verre, and they await Ms. Burden’s approval. Where the head of the City Planning Department once thought the top of the tower was undignified, unworthy of sharing space with the Empire State Building, she now loves it. Read More