And that's because of the Hirshhorn - which is going to inflate a bubblegum-like extension for two months per year, spring and fall. The seasonal bubble will host international art events and turn the museum's lobby into a classroom of the future, where visitors can learn about what's going on beyond the exhibition halls.
Yesterday, during a Livable Communities forum that took place at the museum, Hirshhorn director Richard Koshalek also mentioned moving the bookstore underground and turning it into an actual art installation.
It so happened that there was a severe storm warning for DC, so I tried to leave the forum asap - but got hunted down by an organizer and talked into staying for the party. I was the only one up there in the plaza for a long time, with all the shrimp cocktails and the booze and the band and the Hirshhorn staff, so I started chatting with some museum officers, whose name a forgot instantly, like I always do. One lady who seemed pretty Europocentric kept complaining about the bureaucracy and the cumbersome organizational structures that make it hard for art to spill into the public spaces of DC or engage visitors in less conventional manners, such as after hour parties, white nights at the museum and other manifestations that are so popular in Europe.
I had to agree with her: despite the immense cultural resources of DC and all the free admissions, DC's art scene has a pretty opaque, heavily-institutionalized feel. It gives you a monocle rather than 3D glasses. It's not very playful, although there are efforts to make it interactive: free jazz concerts, sculpture gardens, cultural festivals on the Mall, outdoor movie screens, free Opera simulcasts on baseball stadiums and all these perks urbanites in other cities would not even dream of.
Overall, these might just be too populist, too family-oriented, or too bourgeois. I don’t think taking art down a notch to make it less elitist works as well as letting it be cutting edge and shocking and outrageous. After all, the contemporary agenda is often about elevating and intriguing people, not about making them comfortable. And you know what - so little of the fresh stuff makes it here in between the New York - London circuit.
So I applaud Mr. Koshalek's bubbly initiative. I hope it will look totally weird and shocking to the decent families on the mall and make them stay up past their bed time and stare at that crazy stuff going on inside in open sight, unapologetically.
Guess who's designing it: Diller Scofidio & Renfro. The High Line success really convinced a lot of people of the charms of experimental design I think. I hope nobody bursts that bubble.
