I was quoted in the Denver Post this morning regarding my interest in Riverside Cemetery, along with my friend Jan Allan and Father Joe Hirsch of Transfiguration Cathedral. The article, entitled “Group hopes to bring new life to cemetery” was written by Tom McGhee, and I’m really grateful to him for all he did to bring this story to light.

My personal interest in Riverside did not come about because of a personal relationship; unlike many of the people who are involved in trying to save (resuscitate?) the resting place of 67,000 people, I don’t have family interred there.

I’m interested in the cemetery partly as a historical site; it is Denver’s oldest cemetery, and the first in the Rocky Mountain West to have a ‘park-like’ design. There are a remarkably broad range of people buried there, from a Negro League baseball player, several governors and other famous people, hookers, newspapermen, civil war veterans, and an incredibly diverse range of race, religion, and background. I’ve walked around Riverside any number of times it seems I’m surprised by something every time I go there.

But perhaps even more than its history, I am drawn to Riverside by its enduring presentation of the cultural and creative artifacts of the past 150 years of Colorado history. There were some photographers and painters working in Colorado in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and there were artisans working with wood and stone. But for the average person, the gravestone might well be the single most important piece of sculpture and the most heartfelt expression of their lives and sorrows.

The truth is that Riverside has both historical and cultural significance, but has been sorely neglected over the years, and the Fairmount Cemetery (who have owned Riverside since 1900) didn’t do anyone any favors by losing the water rights in 2003. For whatever reason, Fairmount has treated those interested in supporting Riverside as an annoyance, even though our interest was based only in wanting to see the condition of the cemetery improved.

The only way to improve the condition of this little known historical gem is to increase the awareness to the public; I wrote back in April that the ideal solution would be to turn it into a park along the Platte River, but it seems unlikely that it will be taken over by the Denver and Adams County Government. Perhaps this bit of additional press will help Fairmount to understand that it is in their best interest to coordinate and collaborate with those of us in the general community who care about the welfare of their poorer, dustier, and more historic relation. In any case, Jan and I are planning to get a meeting of “Friends of Historic Riverside” scheduled in the near future.

Update October 31st:
Here’s the info on the next meeting of the Friends of Historic Riverside Cemetery:

Date and Time:
Sat., Nov. 17, 2007, 11AM

Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral Meeting Hall
349 E 47th Ave
Denver, CO 80216
www.transfigcathedral.org

Let me know if you’re planning to attend.

Gene Sloan wrote and article that was posted in USA Today today about the burgeoning cultural scene in Denver. It’s not a fantastically in depth article, but it does show off a couple of Denver’s lesser known treasures, the Dikeou Collection and the Kirkland Museum.

The Dikeou has a fabulous collection of contemporary work ranging from a giant pink inflatable bunny by Momoyo Torimitsu (pictured above) to Vic Muniz and (personal favorites) The Royal Art Lodge. But, you would never know it was there unless you’re looking for it. It’s located in an old nondescript office building just off the 16th street mall in downtown, and is only open wednesday through friday from 11 to five.

The Kirkland Museum is of particular interest to designers for its extensive and fascinating collection of twentieth century decorative arts. It’s located at 13th and Pearl in Capital Hill, and is open every afternoon but mondays.

Since I moved back here 20 years ago, the Denver community has struggled to build an infrastructure that supports the creative economy – it’s good to see some results of this effort. Of course, the scene isn’t close to consistently good, and there isn’t the density of some of our coastal cities. But, there’s an increasing awareness of the benefit the cultural component offers to the texture of the city.

The newest addition to Denver’s cultural landscape is opening with a series of events this week; the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (MCAD) building is the first designed by David Adjaye to be built in the United States, and it is a jewel, and serves as a fascinating counterpoint to the Libeskind addition to the Denver Art Museum.

The building is still very much under construction, but Hadley and I have had the chance to see it a couple of times, first in a hardhat tour and then last evening at a members reception. Here’s a photo she took of the building exterior from a couple days ago:

Where the Libeskind is muscularity and gesture, the Adjaye is functionality and grace – the MCAD is unassuming with its square frame and translucent skin, inside it holds a surprising amount of exhibition space very efficiently organized. Once you enter the building, it feels that the outer walls serve as a shell around two separate spaces, each set on a slight angle from the primary grid. Within these there are openings that slice the space in slight diagonals.

The opening exhibitions are appropriately diverse, with the largest gallery dedicated to the work of David Altmejd of Canada. I snapped a couple of phone photos last night of his installation; with its fractured reflections and creatures looking like something out of the transformers movie, it may not be the richest in terms of meaning, but it’s an impressive presentation in any case.

It’s unfortunate that the building wasn’t open a couple of weeks earlier – I heard from a number of attendees at the AIGA National Conference that they were hoping to get to see the space. Nonetheless, having a notable space dedicated to the presentation of contemporary work bodes well for Denver’s maturing art and design community.

And, we’re looking forward to making use of the members cafe on the rooftop, which also includes some gardens planted by Karla Dakin. The gardens were built and planted at Ironton, and then hoisted to the roof by crane. Hadley took some photos and turned it into this charming animation:

Thanks to Andy Bosselman for youtubing it.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow evening; Neo Rauch will be speaking at the Denver Art Museum. Some of the most engaging and provocative work of the last generation. More of his work at David Zwirner Gallery.

Artists on Art: Neo Rauch
Thursday, September 20, 6:30 pm

Artists on Art: From Any Angle Logan Lectures 2007 features lectures by ten contemporary artists. In September, we welcome artist Neo Rauch, who createa unsettling disjunctions of space and time in his work.

Lecture starts at 6:30 pm; doors open at 5:30 pm. For more information, visit damcontemporaries.denverartmuseum.org.

Bill Amundson is the funniest guy I know. And, man, can he draw. For the past two weeks he’s been drawing buildings on the walls of the Phillip J. Steele Gallery at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. The show opens on Friday, June 15th. It closes on Saturday June 16th. Site specific work intended for rapid destruction. I hope someone has a camera. I’m not quite sure what his left hand is doing in his pocket, but he seems happy enough.

Friday, June 15, 6-9pm
Saturday, June 16, 12-5pm
1600 Pierce Street,
Denver CO 80214
303-225-8575
rmcad.edu

Next up for the gallery at RMCAD (opening June 22nd) is an installation called “Chaussures” by Viviane Le Courtois. Viviane is one of the Denver area’s most compelling installation and performance artists; she had an installation at Ironton last year, and has shown at Pirate, Edge, and numerous other spots. She says this on her website:

Creating sculptures everywhere I go, as long as I live.
I walk, breath, eat, collect, transform and create,
commenting on behaviors and habits of the world around me.

In Viviane’s case, this is not hyperbole. I am particularly fond of her pickles and the work with kombucha. The shoes are pretty cool too.

Vivian has worn over 100 pair of shoes over the past 16 years in more than 30 countries. She makes them herself, and wears them until they fall apart.

Eric Shumake, the new curator at the Steele Galleries at RMCAD, is doing some interesting work; I don’t know how much was put in place before he got there, but I hope he keeps it up. It’s good to see an educational gallery support some of Denver’s most truly talented artists.

Summer is a time for casual enjoyment in a reflective but less serious manner. In Denver, the best of summer culture happens in Lakewood at the Lab. The Lab at Belmar is a somewhat eccentric art space in a new urbanist development; it’s run by Adam Lerner, who is committed to establishing a world-class arts venue in a Denver suburb. So far, he’s doing a pretty good job of it; in the first year he’s put on shows by Isaac Julien and Liam Gillick. But, it’s not all super serious; Adam and his team realize that you have to have some fun to get people out to the ‘burbs.

In the summer, Adam puts on a great series called “mixed taste”, which is a series of programs combining tag team lectures on unrelated topics. It goes on all summer – this Thursday, it’s Swiss Typography and TV Theme Songs. Next week, Kurt Cobain and Solar Eclipses. And it goes all the way to the end of August, with an estimable finale: Marxism and Kittens, Kittens, Kittens.

The lectures are short, to the point, and entertaining. If you don’t like it, there’s another one coming shortly. And, while you’re there, check out the exhibit of Fang Lijun’s Heads, including the main room showing over 15,000 individual heads. Impressive. Visit the lab site at belmarlab.org for more information.

This afternoon, I was down at PlatteForum – the current installation, by one of Denver’s most original creative thinkers, Michael Ensminger, is really great fun.

A city of buildings, some ten feet tall, built out of lincoln logs. A miniature trip through the Chicago loop, but with a global range of styles (as long as the styles are available as part of the miniature log home industry). No glue, just gravity.

While I was there a train passed by, and we all heard something fall off the installation. It turns out one of the asian influenced buildings lost an adornment off its roof.

Part of the installation’s charm, besides the obvious connection to the nostalgia and americana, is the temporality of the experience. The truth is, all our constructions are temporal.

Stewart Brand wrote a book published in 1994 called “How Buildings Learn”; according to Publisher’s Weekly:

All buildings are forced to adapt over time because of physical deterioration, changing surroundings and the life within–yet very few buildings adapt gracefully, according to Brand.

Some years ago, Brand started a group called The Long Now Foundation; the term was actually coined by the musician, artist, and longnow co-founder Brian Eno. The Long Now Foundation was created by some serious minds. I like this detail; The Long Now Foundation uses five digit dates, the extra zero is to solve the deca-millennium bug which will come into effect in about 8,000 years. Here is the basis of their argument.

I’m a gardener by avocation; I think in terms of seasons, and (when I’m paying attention) years. Some artists have a vision that takes them across decades. In a rare case an architect thinks of centuries. But the fact is that our viewpoints are based on far too short a timeline.

One of the initiatives of The Long Now Foundation (and they are numerous) is The Clock of the Long Now. According to the project initiator Daniel Hillis:

“When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 2000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about what would happen by the year 2000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium.”

They are currently working on the second prototype. The first prototype was finished in 01999. I’ll be gone by the next time it ‘bongs’ in 02099.