Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Met: 15 months on, Imran's Qureshi's Roof Top exhibition still scores well

The Met recently announced its annual visitor attendance for the year ending June 30. Artwallaa was delighted to see that Imran Qureshi's Roof Top exhibition, which closed in November 2013, still contributed strongly to the Museum's annual attendance figures. The exhibition also attracted more visitors than the top 7 exhibitions highlighted in the article and only second to the PUNK exhibition if we include 2012-2013 year as well.
 
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Exhibition attendance was also particularly strong through June 30 for:
Jewels by JAR (257,243);
Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (194,105);
Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations (191,866);
Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective (189,209);
Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800 (180,322);
Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China (151,154);
At The Cloisters, Janet Cardiff: The Forty Part Motet (127,224).

The final weeks of last summer’s popular exhibitions PUNK: Chaos to Couture (which closed 
Source: The Met
August 14 and drew 442,350 visitors), Photography and the American Civil War (which closed August 25 and attracted 323,853 people), and The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi (which closed November 3 and was attended by 395,239 visitors)
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See full article below.
Related article: Quarter of a million visitors to the Met Rooftop and counting .....



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Metropolitan Museum Announces 6.2 Million Annual Attendance

Source: The Met

 
(New York, July 25, 2014)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that 6.2 million people—from New York City, the tri-state area, across the United States, and 187 foreign countries—visited the Museum during the fiscal year that ended on June 30. For the third year in a row, attendance at the Museum has exceeded six million—the highest levels of visitorship since the Museum began tracking admission statistics more than 40 years ago. The number includes attendance at both the main building on Fifth Avenue and The Cloisters museum and gardens in upper Manhattan, the branch of the Metropolitan devoted to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages. The Cloisters experienced a remarkable 50% increase in attendance in the past fiscal year, attracting nearly 350,000 visitors. 
 
“We are proud to announce that, for the third year in a row, we have welcomed more than six million visitors to the Museum,” said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Metropolitan. “This clearly demonstrates the public’s ongoing excitement for the Museum’s collections, exhibitions, and programs. This September, we will open the new David H. Koch Plaza in front of our main building along Fifth Avenue. Once the construction is completed, this new plaza will become the newest of New York City’s major public spaces, providing a warm and welcoming entry to the Met for our visitors from around the world.”
 
He continued, “We are also tremendously pleased that The Cloisters celebrated unprecedented attendance over the past fiscal year, which coincided with its 75th anniversary year. An additional 110,000 visitors visited The Cloisters’ exhibitions, collection displays, and gardens, compared to the year before.”

This was the first year that the Museum was open to the public seven days a week. In addition, the opening time was moved to 10:00 a.m., while school groups were offered early admission beginning at 9:30. (The Museum previously was closed on Mondays.)

Visitors in Fiscal Year 2014 were drawn in large numbers to the New European Paintings Galleries, 1250–1800 (opened May 23, 2013) and the recently renovated and newly named Anna Wintour Costume Center (opened May 8, 2014). As of June 30, 2014, those gallery areas had welcomed 729,839 and 143,843 visitors respectively.

Exhibition attendance was also particularly strong through June 30 for:
Jewels by JAR (257,243);
Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (194,105);
Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations (191,866);
Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective (189,209);
Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800 (180,322);
Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China (151,154);
At The Cloisters, Janet Cardiff: The Forty Part Motet (127,224).

The final weeks of last summer’s popular exhibitions PUNK: Chaos to Couture (which closed August 14 and drew 442,350 visitors), Photography and the American Civil War (which closed August 25 and attracted 323,853 people), and The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi (which closed November 3 and was attended by 395,239 visitors) also contributed to the high attendance in FY 2014.

The 6.2 million overall attendance figure for the Met includes nearly 206,000 school visitors. Membership totaled 151,269.

Additionally, the Metropolitan Museum’s website (www.metmuseum.org) recorded more than 26 million unique users in Fiscal Year 2014. The Museum’s Facebook account has more than 1.17 million followers (with a reach of 92 million people). And its Twitter feed reaches more than 760,000. Instagram account, which recently won a Webby Award, now has 180,000 followers. The Museum launched its presence on Weibo, one of China’s largest social media networks, in December 2013; the Met’s posts have already had nearly 3 million views.

The David H. Koch Plaza will open on September 9, 2014. This new public space in front of the Metropolitan will incorporate improved access, contemporary fountains, new landscaping and lighting, and seating. Groundbreaking on the new plaza took place in January 2013.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Imran Qureshi in Tour de France 2014


Renowned Pakistani land artist jets in to unveil stunning works for Tour de France
Source: The Examiner
July 3, 2014


Source: Little Bird

Renowned land artist Imran Qureshi has completed two giant artworks designed to be viewed from afar.

Imran jetted into Britain from Pakistan to unveil his two works Bridging and Here & There near Baitings Reservoir at Ripponden. Little more than two hours after landing at Manchester Airport, he was in the windswept wilds of West Yorkshire.

The works are part of the Yorkshire Festival’s Fields of Vision project to celebrate the Tour de France. In all a dozen artworks have been sown, cut, weaved or painted into the landscape.
The idea is in-keeping with French Tour traditions where huge artworks can be seen from above from helicopters which track the cyclists’ every move.

Imran’s work was installed on Yorkshire Water-owned land and will send a message to the world this weekend.

Bridging is a calligraphy work which spells out Tour de France in a form of Urdu. Imran said the inspiration came from Turkey where East meets West and was about bringing communities and peoples together.

Here & There resembles exploding splashes of water to symbolise the reservoir.
Imran, who has just installed artwork on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, said his Yorkshire works were the largest he had attempted.

“This is something very different for me,” he said. “I really wanted to be part of it.”


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Fields of Vision: La Tour De France 2014- Yorkshire
Here and There, 2014 & Bridging, 2014.