Dave’s check-in with the Art Commission ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the upcoming transformations to the Parkway branch of the Free Library, to the future of illuminated billboards from the Philly Parking Authority.
Read MoreInspired by the academies of ancient Greece and Byzantium, the new Temple Library is designed to create pleasurable–and hence optimal–learning experiences. The visual anchor of the building will be an updated take on a characteristic element of Classical architecture–the oculus, a round opening centered in the dome of a building. Like a latter-day Roman Pantheon, the new Temple library will have a giant oculus in the center of its 3-story atrium that will allow natural light to permeate the 225,000 square-foot structure and orient visitors no matter where they are inside the building.
Read MoreWu Hung’s Contemporary Chinese Art will be required reading for anyone wanting an introduction to the subject, and will also be useful to readers who want to understand the history of international art of the period, since Wu presents Western movements with as much clarity as he charts the uses Chinese artists made of them. It is a more nuanced and complete picture of a recent art culture than any other I know. The essays in The Dynamic Library present a variety of historical and theoretical approaches in clear language that are likely to interest scholars in the humanities, artists interested in classification, and anyone who owns enough books to be concerned with how to sort them.
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