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Tuesday, 20 January 2009 04:00

Top Ten Moments at the Contemporary in 2008

1. Setting the museum on fire. Yes, we did. Nightmares about situations such as these have plagued me for years. This time, it was a real: a dedicated staff let it burn, baby, burn. We painted the wall with a special fire retardant paint first, and several staff members were surprised to learn that paint is flammable. Then we lit matches on fire that spelled, “They Hate Us For Our Freedom” as part of a project in The Front Room. Watch it happen here (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtBZgShaygU&feature=channel_page). The museum still stands. 

2. Seeing art critics, donors, and staff members getting slapped. Another crazy moment in The Front Room – hundreds of the St. Louis public—including David Bonetti, the Post-Dispatch Visual Arts Critic, numerous board members and supporters of the museum, and of course, the staff (and the occasional kid) lined up to get tough love from a gallery girl. I personally suffered the slap three times. It’s documented on YouTube. Enjoy. Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sdYZud2Qdc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjD55_zDgMk, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Clv-t3NVE

3. City-Wide Open Studios 2008. Where else can you hop on a bike, a trolley, or get in that gas-guzzler and see the work of more than a hundred artists in the course of two-days?

4. The Proposal. In addition to an outlandish wedding after-party in July 2008, we also played host to a very sweet wedding proposal. I will also mention that the Contemporary often makes the where-I-saw-you list of “missed connections” on Craig’s List. Link for wedding proposal: http://2buildings1blog.org/contemporary/2008/02/15/incredibly-random/

5. Nothing but Fig Leaves at the Dada Ball. Two local media celebs got decked out. . . well, in nothing. . .but body paint for the Contemporary’s biennial gala, The Dada Ball. One asked how her legs looked (good, I think, not that anyone was focusing on her legs!). 

6. Getting Sweaty with Silverio. Anyone who was here that night at the Contemporary may tell you that the evening involved a lot of rock, a lot of sweat, and quick the performance. WOW says it all. http://2buildings1blog.org/contemporary/2008/04/08/electronic-rocker/

7. 24,000 Cans of Beer. I thoroughly enjoyed explaining how the 24,00 cans of Bud Light and Budweiser sitting on pallets in the performance space was art, not the beer delivered for the party. (link: http://www.contemporarystl.org/lutzbacher.php)

8. Eating Artist-Made Ice Cream at 6:40 am. Yes, Tim Ezell, came to the Contemporary to get the scoop on our Light Project with the Pulitzer and artist Spencer Finch. We ate blue ice cream (several cones, in fact), outside, before the sun came up. And many, many more in the weeks that followed! http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?contentId=7390779&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=5.2.1

9. Presidential Doodles. We hosted Sina Najafi, Editor of Cabinet Books, for a lecture, on what happened to be the night of the Palin-Biden debates. Not only did vp candidates receive an enthusiastic crowd via satellite, we learned what exactly past presidents doodled on agendas and meeting notes. (link to doodles: http://www.presidentialdoodles.com/doodles_main.html)

10. Best of 2008 by Artforum. One of our exhibitions was named “Best of 2008” by Artforum. That was really nice. 

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis: http://contemporarystl.org/