Burned Out
Last February's pyrotechnics disaster at a Great White concert in Rhode Island has all but shut down local fire performance troupe Cirque de Flambé. Their upcoming show in August at Sand Point has been canceled because they couldn't find insurance at any price, even though the troupe has never had to use its insurance over four years of productions. While the troupe can still perform smaller-scale fire shows (you can find their schedule and contact info at www.cirquedeflambe.com), Flambé's David Roman moans, "We can't shoot Roman candles at the clowns anymore, which is a crucial prelude to setting them on fire. It's the little things that really are important." The only site in the United States where they can produce their full show (which also features fireworks at the end of whirling chains) is the Burning Man festival; as a result, they're seeking international venues, and have recently been hired as halftime entertainment for National League soccer in Mexico. BRET FETZER
Pushing On
As it turns out, the art world, too, has sleeper hits. Last February's PUSH Project--a skateboard-art show at Roq la Rue, organized by Larry Reid and Nin Truong, and featuring work by Charles Krafft, Jim Woodring, Shawn Wolfe, Randy Wood, and others--spent the summer near (not quite in) Los Angeles, at Cal State Fullerton's Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, and has been picked up by a venue in New York City. In September the exhibition opens at KCDC, a gallery and skate shop in Brooklyn's Williamsburg area, and then goes to Portland after that. I learned this bit of intelligence from Wood himself, who is planning some interesting subway station performances for his trip to New York--something involving works on paper, and a shredder table. Look for him if you happen to be in the neighborhood. EMILY HALL
Revolving
While we all wait with mounting excitement to find out who will succeed Meg Shiffler as Consolidated Works' director of visual art, there are some curatorial comings and goings to note. The Seattle Art Museum has hired two new curators: Hsueh-man Shen is the new associate curator of Chinese art (taking the place of Jay Xu) at the Asian Art Museum, and Susan Rosenberg will fill a new associate curator of modern and contemporary art position at the main museum. Rosenberg comes from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and has worked at excellent institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Over in Bellevue, the changes are not just curatorial, although BAM curator Ginger Gregg Duggan has recently announced her departure. Kathleen Harleman, the museum's director, has resigned over differences of opinion with the museum's board. When Harleman arrived in January 2002, BAM was strapped for cash and tussling over its new identity in an expensive new building. It seemed the museum had turned a corner, with crowded exhibition openings and a distinct line of programming inquiry (which I didn't always like, but respected nonetheless); I wonder what will happen now? EMILY HALL
