You know what I’m tired of? I’m tired of people making decisions based on economics, and then denying that those decisions are about economics.
1. When Western Bridge announced it will be closing in spring 2012, it was a decision based on the way the True family business is run. It was a business decision. But I was scolded for expressing sadness about its closing. Yet I still—and even more so upon reflection—don’t buy the idea that this closure is a good thing for art in Seattle. I think it’s a bad thing.
2. In a meeting at The Stranger‘s offices last week, the mayor said that he’ll spend the next couple of weeks considering the proposal for the Chihuly museum. With a few lone exceptions, the arts community in this city has expressed that it does not want a Chihuly museum. In fact, there’s a meeting this Thursday at 4Culture, during Art Walk, in support of the Open Platform/KEXP proposal. The arts community does not support this “arts” project.
What the Chihuly museum has going for it is money. So Mr. Mayor: If pretty much the entire environmental community told you that a proposed environmental project was bullshit, would you do it anyway to get some money for the city? And how about if it were about to become the most prominent single-subject environmental tourist attraction in the city of Seattle? That is the question you have to ask yourself, Mr. Mayor.
3. Lawrimore Project has downsized from its original iteration on Airport Way South. It is now, at least for a little while, in a storefront space in Occidental Square that looks like a small office. There is no reception desk, only a bench where Scott Lawrimore sits. Recently I overheard him talking with an artist about the new space and saying, “Here, you have to confront the art, because it’s right in front of you.” That is true: There are not the distractions there were in the other space, which was a very large and very colorful place. But at the same time, this feels like a way station. It’s hard to believe that the downsizing wasn’t largely driven by economic considerations, and the jury is still out on how smallness can equal interesting in the context of Lawrimore’s project. I am, as always, all eyes—I just refuse to throw a celebration party at the closure of a space I loved.
4. I miss Howard House. That was an economic decision: He didn’t sell enough art. Period. I miss Crawl Space. That was an economic decision in that the artists involved were tired of trying to find money rather than working on their art.
Good things might come—hell, good things will come and already are: TARL, the Hedreen Gallery, Pun(c)tuation. But good things have been lost, too, and will continue to be lost. At least let’s be honest that money drives the arts. We already know from years of formal public planning that what the public wants from Seattle Center is more green—and that the only green the Chihuly museum will add to Seattle Center is dollars. 
Jen,
I am tired of good, innovative places closing too. I have been complaining to anyone who will listen about consolidated Works, Crawlspace and Howard House closing. About venues that ran out of steam – CoCA, 911, Noodleworks and others from the late 90s that have faded from my memory. The Lawrimore Project shrinkage (it must be the cold economic climate) and My Favorite – Western Bridge closing a couple years early… About innovative artists like Jennifer West and a long list of others that tried to stick it out and then ran off to LA or Boston or Philly…
Here is what I think. There are more arts organizations in this city per capita than anywhere else in the country. It is one of the things that makes this city great. Funding for all of these institutions is stretched beyond measure. Even when economics conditions are not chilly, smaller institutions scrape to make ends meet… That is why when I heard about the possibility of a large Chihuly Exhibit opening at Seattle Center, I saw some hope…
I believe that the Chihuly Exhibit will bring many folks to the city that want to spend their money on art. Yes, they will also put money into staying at hotels and eating out, but from what I have seen they also will go to Western Bridge, Lawrimore Project, the Henry and buy art from local artists. Last year Hilary Clinton toured Chihuly’s Boat House and Elton John bought a bunch of Chihulys and then bought out several younger artist’s work. I realize these might be silly celebrity examples, but there are many more examples of quiet, serious arts patrons flying in from NY and doing the same.
The city needs to broaden it’s base of arts supporters. I know that Seattle centered folks say that the Chihuly exhibit will only bring tourists, but what are you or Bill and Ruth True when you visit SFMOMA or P.S.1., tourists. We are all tourists when we go see art in other cities.
I talk to quite a few local artists about this prospect and without all the hype and drama, it seems to make sense when they look at it without the heated, blogarama buzz that surrounds this issue. Think about the possibilities the way Christian French wrote about them before this got so us vs. them and I think that the Chihuly exhibit makes sense at the base of the Space Needle. The exhibit can be a giant populist magnifying glass that allows visitors to appreciate the rest of the art in Seattle.
Tim
A childish temper tantrum railing against reality won’t really change anything. Art is part of the business world and a reflection of our reality in more ways than one. Gallery owners, arts administrators and yes, the mayor, are all business people and they are faced with tough decisions involving many factors, including economic ones, every day.
You really don’t know if the decisions to which you are referring were entirely based on economics or not. Scott Lawrimore’s response to the SLOG version of this article posted last week makes it clear that he has strategically changed the direction of his business to be in line with what he wants to accomplish; he has admirable goals including investing in artist development, travel, etc.
Things change. Life sucks sometimes. I’m sorry you dropped your ice cream cone, but the grown-ups have work to do.
And, the whole Seattle Center/Funhouse situation has come about because of economic considerations. It has always been about economic considerations. You’re really just using unfortunate gallery closings and downsizings as an excuse to bad mouth the Chihuly at the Needle project one more time. (Do you guys have a quota for that or something, over there at the Stranger? An office competition, maybe, with a trip to Hawaii at stake?) If the whole thing isn’t about economic considerations, why not just let the Funhouse continue operating at a loss and not paying rent? We’d probably be better off that way than if the poorly thought through “Glorious KEXP/Open Platform Hybrid” went into the space and then closed in short order because, (surprise!) they don’t have enough money to run it… Or better yet, when the whole thing collapses because KEXP doesn’t have a clear picture of how the project fits into its strategic plan and Open Platform doesn’t have a strategic plan at all? Or, when the organizations wind up bickering and splitting when KEXP finds out that those behind Open Platform really have no idea how to run an arts organization?
Normally, I wouldn’t get involved in a dialog like this and I certainly wouldn’t be this snarky about it. But your assertion that the arts community as a whole doesn’t support the Chihuly project has spurred me to comment. The arts community in Seattle is much bigger than you and your obvious darlings. I’m quite certain you don’t have any idea what the rest of us think – nor do you seem to care. I want both you – and the mayor – to know: You don’t speak for Seattle’s arts community. You, and the Stranger, speak for your precious favorites, and for your own interests.
Bringing it back to money, I can’t understand why you don’t seem to get that the “green” the Chihuly project would bring to Seattle Center is good for Seattle and good for the arts community. It may be the solution to the problem you are whining about. Money is exactly what we NEED to avoid any more great galleries closing. People coming to town, getting interested in art, any art, and then looking into what else is available in town… that is a GOOD THING. (But in Seattle, good things are often seen as bad things and chased away by the very people they would benefit.)
We are not going to wake up tomorrow in a world where artists frolic in open meadows of green (either kind), freely creating and sharing their vision with the public at no cost to anyone. I’m sorry, but we just aren’t. We live in a capitalist society. And art is business.
Oh, and FYI… When a link is forwarded, many simple social media/survey programs track all the responses as having come from the forwarder. I received an e-mail link to your obviously unbiased SLOG poll, forwarded from another contact but originally from Chihuly’s studios, at about the same time you accuse them of having rigged the whole thing. I’m no computer expert, but to me, it looks like they sent a link to their contacts and within minutes 800 of them voted in support of the project. You do the math and figure out what that means about what another segment of Seattle’s arts community, one that is no less valid than yours, supports. Maybe you shouldn’t put up a silly poll if you can’t take the results.
Underneath it all, art world has always been driven by two things: money and real estate.
The sooner one accepts this, the easier it is to live with these kinds of changes and hope that some artist will find a way to ride the next swing of the real estate and stock markets to make their work.
PS: the Chihuly thing is really a bummer.