… Abramović Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art (previously announced as The Center for the Preservation of Performance Art), can be found at Rem Koolhaas’ firm’s site.
The museum, as pretty much everyone has already heard, is slated for the former Community Tennis building on the corner of Columbia and 7th Streets in Hudson and will be designed by Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu. (Note: There’s no marina at the Waterfront because City leaders think that the River is only good for moving gravel.) Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture site includes exteriors and interior visualizations, along with proposed floor plans.
Many suspect it will take some time for the money to be raised to bring this to fruition. Certainly, many other big projects announced with great fanfare for Hudson have taken a long time to come to be, or never materialize at all. Still, Abramović is at the very pinnacle of her niche in the art world; and Koolhaas's firms involvement lends that much more credibility.
The museum is being branded as a mecca for “duration-based performance,” which sounds unfortunately a bit like some kind of phony male enhancement product for sale on the counter of the gas station up the street.
(Prediction for popular local Halloween costume this year: People in black slacks and white lab coats. Check out the Koolhaas site and you’ll see... Meanwhile, if OMA really wants to curry favor locally, they might consider adding a big sign announcing the availability in the museum cafeteria of Legendary Serbian BBQ.)
