Mass MoCA to Remove 'Training Ground' materials

By Tammy DanielsPrint Story | Email Story
A house from Houghton Street was cut up to fit into Building 5 for 'Training Ground.' (Mass MoCA)
NORTH ADAMS - The detritus that was to be Swiss artist Christoph Buchel's first major American installation is being hauled out of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Describing the unfinished "Training Ground For Democracy" as "abandoned materials," museum officials said the massive Building 5 gallery will be cleared for a new exhibition in November. “With several hundred tons of materials and thousands of objects and partial constructions sitting abandoned in our galleries, we carefully considered what we could do,” Joseph C. Thompson, Mass MoCA’s director, said in a statement late Tuesday."We obviously cared a great deal for the work and had expended extraordinary effort and energies to try to bring it into existence; we did not want to act precipitously in either dismantling or displaying it. With no other options, and wanting to move forward as the situation continued to draw resources away from other artists and public programming, we sought a declaration of our respective rights by an impartial party – a federal judge.” The museum spent more than $300,000 - double the estimated budget - on the installation, which was to include a wrecked North Adams Police cruiser, a house moved from Hougton Street, one of the theaters from the old North Adams Cinema and numerous items donated by local residents. But the museum balked at trying to get the fuselage of a jetliner and Buchel walked off in late 2006 and never returned. The exhibit, which was to open last December, was covered with yellow tarps as the two sides tried to settle the dispute, only to land in court. Judge Michael A. Ponsor of U.S. District Court in Springfield on Friday rejected Buchel's claims that the museum had violated his rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 by allowing the public to see parts of the exhibit. Buchel cited a tour of the exhibit by Gov. Deval Patrick as evidence. The judge, however, ruled the act didn't apply to unfinished work. In his summary judgement, Ponsor said the museum had the right to display the work or not since it had supplied funding and labor. If the installation was put on display, Buchel had the right to request a disclaimer. According to The Boston Globe, Buchel has decided to appeal the decision. Museum officials said they had "explored every possible avenue in an effort to re-engage the artist, and when those efforts proved futile, the museum offered him the opportunity to retrieve the materials from the museum galleries (reimbursing the museum for its costs), which he declined to do." The exhibit was canceled in May and the museum requested a declaratory judgment from the court on its and the artist's rights over the unfinished work. "We are deeply appreciative of the court’s thoughtful scrutiny of this matter," said Thompson in the statement. "After giving careful deliberation to the interests of many constituents, including the artist’s own views, and factoring in the limited time window available given our normal exhibition cycle - together with other considerations both logistical and philosophical - we have decided to begin removing the materials immediately without placing them on public display." A new exhibition, Jenny Holzer’s "Projections," will open in the space Nov. 17. The museum also said it would co-host a symposium with the Clark Art Institute devoted to the issues raised by this case. The symposium will be held later this fall. Meanwhile, Buchel will open a new installation later this month at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions that is described as "a commentary on past and present military agendas." It will include replicas of missiles, bombs, and other military equipment stashed away as if hidden and forgotten in a small waiting room, discovered only after walking through a series of adjacent rooms and doors.
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North Adams Council OKs New Sustainability Committee

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council on Tuesday night moved the establishment of a Sustainability & Tree Commission to a second reading and publication.
 
Mayor Jennifer Macksey back in February had presented the council with a list of objectives and how she thought a such a committee could support the administration. Councilor Andrew Fitch had raised the issue the year before, referred it to the mayor's office and pushed through the ordinance.
 
As the process moved forward, he recommended it merge with the Tree Commission, taking on that committee's objectives as part of the city's sustainability mission. It will make recommendations such as regarding climate change and impact on neighborhoods, and be able to seek grants, partnerships and other resources. 
 
The language provided to the council on Tuesday had been reviewed by several committees and commissions and included changes advised by the city solicitor. 
 
"It's been through a whole bunch of different reviews, and it took different tweaks from each of these committees," said Fitch, acting as president that night. "Each of these committees and commission provided excellent guidance of how to make this a little bit stronger, how to make this a little bit better."
 
Jenny Dunning, a member of the grassroots North Adams Sustainability Task Force, spoke at the beginning of the meeting to endorse the ordinance.
 
"I just want to say how much I appreciate that the council and the administration has moved forward to figure out a way to make this happen, and it's up for the vote tonight," said Dunning, who serves on the Windsor Lake Commission. "And we've got five of us who are here to support this change."
 
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