Thursday, July 02, 2009
Fishers give up on plan for Presidio art museum
Fishers give up on plan for Presidio art museum
... so I wrote another letter to the editor at the Chronicle (previous letter was 09/2007):
The Presidio was never the right place for the Fishers' Contemporary Art Museum for reasons both practical and historical, reasons soundly argued by neighbors, historians, park enthusiasts, and environmentalists.
There are wonderful alternatives to the Presidio site in our city. Consider for a moment the effect of having the Contemporary Art Museum located near Pier 70/Potrero Point, an area poised for redevelopment! Donald Fisher could do immense good by building his museum there, at the edge of the Bay. Plenty of public transit. Space for parking without cutting down a single tree! Near the ballpark and the new UCSF Medical Center development at Mission Bay. Near all the new condos south of Market. Within shouting distance of Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill. A short transit ride from the southern neighborhoods.
The Contemporary Art Museum could knit the city together, bringing folks from the northern neighborhoods and the western neighborhoods over to our "other" shore.
Look what the ballpark and UCSF@Mission Bay have done for the surrounding areas!. The Fishers have the opportunity to do wonders for the central waterfront and the city if they build their museum there. Say you will, Mr. Fisher!
Update: Letter in today's Chron.
posted by Sal Towse at 4:07 PM|
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... so I wrote another letter to the editor at the Chronicle (previous letter was 09/2007):
The Presidio was never the right place for the Fishers' Contemporary Art Museum for reasons both practical and historical, reasons soundly argued by neighbors, historians, park enthusiasts, and environmentalists.
There are wonderful alternatives to the Presidio site in our city. Consider for a moment the effect of having the Contemporary Art Museum located near Pier 70/Potrero Point, an area poised for redevelopment! Donald Fisher could do immense good by building his museum there, at the edge of the Bay. Plenty of public transit. Space for parking without cutting down a single tree! Near the ballpark and the new UCSF Medical Center development at Mission Bay. Near all the new condos south of Market. Within shouting distance of Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill. A short transit ride from the southern neighborhoods.
The Contemporary Art Museum could knit the city together, bringing folks from the northern neighborhoods and the western neighborhoods over to our "other" shore.
Look what the ballpark and UCSF@Mission Bay have done for the surrounding areas!. The Fishers have the opportunity to do wonders for the central waterfront and the city if they build their museum there. Say you will, Mr. Fisher!
Update: Letter in today's Chron.
Labels: art, museums, news, San Francisco
posted by Sal Towse at 4:07 PM|
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Saturday, September 22, 2007
fan mail
Fan mail.
Well, maybe not fan mail per se but at least someone agreeing with my LETTER TO THE EDITOR in today's Chronicle.
The letter was a rehash of a recent post wherein I gave my oh-so-lucid opinion re where Don Fisher should put his Contemporary Art Museum.
Fan mail's nice ...
posted by Sal Towse at 10:35 PM||
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Well, maybe not fan mail per se but at least someone agreeing with my LETTER TO THE EDITOR in today's Chronicle.
The letter was a rehash of a recent post wherein I gave my oh-so-lucid opinion re where Don Fisher should put his Contemporary Art Museum.
Fan mail's nice ...
Labels: art, museums, news, San Francisco
posted by Sal Towse at 10:35 PM|
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Sunday, September 16, 2007
If I were a rich man ... Donald Fisher and the Contemporary Art Museum
Donald Fisher, founder of Gap, offers to build a museum in the Presidio to house his art collection
Gap founder Donald Fisher, one of the world's leading contemporary art collectors and a powerful force in local politics, has offered to build a sprawling museum in the Presidio to showcase his vast collection, which until now has largely been hidden away in his company's San Francisco headquarters.
Since Fisher and his wife, Doris, founded Gap Inc. in 1969, they have amassed what is widely considered to be among the most extensive private collections of 20th and 21st century art. Yet with the exception of pieces that are occasionally loaned to museums, much of what they own has never been seen by people outside the art world.
The Fishers, whose retail empire brings in about $16 billion a year, hope to build a 100,000-square-foot museum with 55,000 square feet of gallery space -- 5,000 more square feet than at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art -- to house their collection of more than 1,000 works.
Donald Fisher, 78, will announce his plan to build the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio today at a news conference in the national park.
[...]
If I were a rich man ...
The sleepy southeast quadrant of San Francisco is buzzing with activity -- first the Ballpark, then the new UC Medical Center and all the accompanying activity at Mission Bay and soon, perhaps, a new football stadium and thousands of new homes at Hunters Point. Don Fisher's Contemporary Art Museum would be a perfect addition to the mix.
We just spent a day at the Tate Modern in London. The revitalization of the south bank is largely due to the visionaries who placed the museum there. Think of the effect of having the CAM located on our southeast bay shore near Pier 70/Potrero Point!
The T-Third provides public transit access to the location. There's even room for parking. Some dream of having water taxis operating up and down the bay edge. Picture vaporettos stopping at the CAM en route from the new stadium at Hunters Point to Fort Point and places in between.
There are alternatives to the Presidio for a spot for the Contemporary Art Museum, creative, wonderful alternatives. Build the CAM in our southeastern quadrant, at the edge of the Bay down near Pier 70.
If I were a rich man ...
Are you listening, Donald Fisher? There are alternatives to the Presidio for the Contemporary Art Museum. Make a statement by setting the CAM in our southeastern quadrant at a spot at the edge of the Bay.
posted by Sal Towse at 11:50 AM||
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Gap founder Donald Fisher, one of the world's leading contemporary art collectors and a powerful force in local politics, has offered to build a sprawling museum in the Presidio to showcase his vast collection, which until now has largely been hidden away in his company's San Francisco headquarters.
Since Fisher and his wife, Doris, founded Gap Inc. in 1969, they have amassed what is widely considered to be among the most extensive private collections of 20th and 21st century art. Yet with the exception of pieces that are occasionally loaned to museums, much of what they own has never been seen by people outside the art world.
The Fishers, whose retail empire brings in about $16 billion a year, hope to build a 100,000-square-foot museum with 55,000 square feet of gallery space -- 5,000 more square feet than at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art -- to house their collection of more than 1,000 works.
Donald Fisher, 78, will announce his plan to build the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio today at a news conference in the national park.
[...]
If I were a rich man ...
The sleepy southeast quadrant of San Francisco is buzzing with activity -- first the Ballpark, then the new UC Medical Center and all the accompanying activity at Mission Bay and soon, perhaps, a new football stadium and thousands of new homes at Hunters Point. Don Fisher's Contemporary Art Museum would be a perfect addition to the mix.
We just spent a day at the Tate Modern in London. The revitalization of the south bank is largely due to the visionaries who placed the museum there. Think of the effect of having the CAM located on our southeast bay shore near Pier 70/Potrero Point!
The T-Third provides public transit access to the location. There's even room for parking. Some dream of having water taxis operating up and down the bay edge. Picture vaporettos stopping at the CAM en route from the new stadium at Hunters Point to Fort Point and places in between.
There are alternatives to the Presidio for a spot for the Contemporary Art Museum, creative, wonderful alternatives. Build the CAM in our southeastern quadrant, at the edge of the Bay down near Pier 70.
If I were a rich man ...
Are you listening, Donald Fisher? There are alternatives to the Presidio for the Contemporary Art Museum. Make a statement by setting the CAM in our southeastern quadrant at a spot at the edge of the Bay.
Labels: architecture, art, museums, San Francisco
posted by Sal Towse at 11:50 AM|
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Hiroshi Sugimoto at the de Young
de Young Exhibitions
July 7, 2007 - September 23, 2007
The extraordinary 30-year career of Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948) is celebrated in this retrospective of more than 100 luminous photographs, made from 1976 to the present. This presentation, in an installation designed by Sugimoto, constitutes the first major survey of Sugimoto’s oeuvre.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:58 PM||
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July 7, 2007 - September 23, 2007
The extraordinary 30-year career of Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948) is celebrated in this retrospective of more than 100 luminous photographs, made from 1976 to the present. This presentation, in an installation designed by Sugimoto, constitutes the first major survey of Sugimoto’s oeuvre.
Labels: art, museums, photographs, San Francisco
posted by Sal Towse at 2:58 PM|
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: views from the Hill
Bertold Brecht:
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
