21c MUSEUM RESIDENCES: Art as Amenity, or, Castles in Spain

by Ivan Lozano November 15, 2007
21c residence museum

I
can't help but be slightly disturbed by projects like this. I'm sure
someone along the decision-making process had good intentions;
supporting artists and fostering an appreciation of art as something
that enhances your life, perhaps even catalyzing a few yuppies to
consider becoming collectors or patrons. However, seeing the 21c Museum
Residences website
, I feel something quite different. I feel disgust. I
feel dirty. The project reeks not of patronage but of sleaze, of pimps
and johns.

After a really cheesy Flash intro of falling, bouncing
letters, 21c Museum Residences greet us with the header "WEIRD AND
WONDERFUL / WHY AUSTIN WHY NOW" Great. Already, they have invoked that
pathetic Austin mantra/brand
, that facile guiding light for lazy
advertisers. Don't get me started on "keeping it weird," like so many
boomer hangovers, this ditty of perpetual juvenalia is fucking
embarrassing.

Here's another morsel from that page, annotated to
drive the point home: "Like Austin, 21c Museum Hotel and Residences is
a bona fide
original (except for the real original 21c Museum Hotel in
Louisville
, or W hotels, that is
). Not easily replicated or
mass-produced (see previous aside), it’s designed for
those who dare to be different (and by different, we mean filthy rich).
Showcasing an eclectic range of
original contemporary art, including those green penguins by Italy’s
Cracking Art group (the Louisville version has red penguins, making
the green ones completely original, natch
)–a playful nod to the
city’s green initiatives–21c
shares Austin’s passion for creative expression and the fresh ideas it
can provoke (like "Hey! You know what would be super creative and
fresh? Let's build a ton of lofts downtown!"
). And the time couldn’t be
more right (the mortgage crisis is really good for real estate). 21c
Museum Hotel and Residences
makes its Austin debut in the midst of a burgeoning cultural explosion.
With the fervent support of an arts–loving community (Oh, please, quit
it with the lip service. Austin has one of the lowest rates of
philanthropy in the country
), a wealth of
cultural destinations abound, including the Paramount and State
Theatres
, the Mexican American Cultural Center, and the brand new Long
Center for the Performing Arts
(No mention of the Blanton? Or Arthouse?
Or AMOA? Or anything on the East Side? Really? Who was in charge of their market research? and who
are they trying to lure? Austinites who know NOTHING about their
city or art?
)."
musueum.jpg

Moving
on to the next page, "VISION," we get another fantastic sign. The
header for the page is "LIVING WITH ART / THE MUSUEUM HOTEL CONCEPT."
Notice the mispelling of the word "Museum." That's reassuring… For a
project that supposedly will cost about $200 million, a typo in one of
the most important words of their concept is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.
In the fourth paragraph the truth comes out: "The conception of 21c
began with a theory that art could drive commerce." Isn't this the sort
of thing you don't say out loud?

 

portraits

 

The mindless tripe
continues page after page. But in case you were worried that 21c Museum
Residences wasn't prostituting art in the name of commerce enough, in
case you wanted to put a human face to the cooptation, "[i]n keeping
with Austin’s arts–infused mindset, 21c Museum Residences
will also offer a selection of designated and affordable artists
lofts." Sort of like a petting zoo.

Perhaps
(hopefully) I'm exaggerating and going off on a rant. I'd love to
believe that in the end this will contribute positively to the Austin
arts community, but it's hard to. I'd like to think that offering
downtown lofts to artists is a commendable move, that the process they
will follow to decide who "qualifies" as an artist and who gets the
lofts will be led by a rational and credible committee. But this sounds
more like castles in Spain, like the future punch-line of a joke that
was never really funny and went on for way too long anyway.

I have a feeling this project will fall into the category of "yet another example
of money being thrown at a project in the name of art by people who may
be well-intentioned, but who end up with a failed project that assumes
the audience are idiots," as Rainey Knudson so eloquently described Dallas's Victory Media Network.

Hey Austin: How do we deal with this?

Hey Dallas and Houston: any comments on art as amenity?

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