Gadsby’s Tavern & Hotel Alexandria, Virginia March 16th, 2016 NOTE: This is part of a long-term series of “One Night Stand” ™ blog posts that will document overnight stays in actual historic house museums. I want to understand these sites as more than merely decorative arts galleries – I am interested in them as places ofContinue reading “One Night Stand: Leaving Crumbs Behind”
Category Archives: museum anarchist
Narratives of Disappearance
Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. “The history of the work of the dead is a history of how they dwell among us – individually and communally. It is a history of how we imagine them to be, how they give meaning to our lives, how they structure public spaces, politics, and time.Continue reading “Narratives of Disappearance”
The Beauty of the Undefined
Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. “I can’t paint what I dream because I paint memorandum of my dreams…I have so many dreams about angels. I paint imitations of angels just as I imagined them. I do not paint an angel, because they come from the throne of God. We can get theContinue reading “The Beauty of the Undefined”
The frustration with professionalism, and why not to listen to me
“Faced with any new object, reason asks, ‘in which of its earlier categories the new object belongs? In which ready-to-open drawer shall we put it? With which ready-made garments shall we invest it?’ Because, of course, a ready made garment suffices to clothe a poor rationalist.” The Poetics of space, Gaston Bachelard, from Henri- LouisContinue reading “The frustration with professionalism, and why not to listen to me”
Preservation, Demolition, Destruction, Decay and Death
Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. This is a new thread of investigation – In what ways does “preservation” help us avoid death? How does the purity of our preservation efforts directly reflect personal feelings of loss? Our world is in a continuous process of demolition (Pruitt Igo Housing demolition), destruction (ISISContinue reading “Preservation, Demolition, Destruction, Decay and Death”
The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums: Evaluation Methodology for Historic House Museums
The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums: Evaluation Methodology for Historic House Museums Franklin Vagnone, Deborah Ryan, and Olivia Cothren ‘‘Don’t you want to preserve old things?’’ ‘‘Trying to preserve a century by keeping its relics up to date is like keeping a dying man alive by stimulants.’’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and DamnedContinue reading “The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums: Evaluation Methodology for Historic House Museums”
Contemporary Art Happenings in Historic House Museums
Contemporary Art Happenings in Historic House Museums. F. Vagnone Presentation given at the Thomas Cole Historic Site, Catskill, NY
The destruction of the sacred
I watched the screen in disgust as the crowd began to tear apart the tree. They ripped off whole limbs with their hands and women grabbed leaves and began to stuff them inside of their jacket pockets. The mob grew larger and eventually the assault on the tree resulted in the bare trunk being pulledContinue reading “The destruction of the sacred”
The narcissism of details
The narcissism of details New York City, 2014 I don’t mean to pick on Old George, but he really slept around. A lot. Have you ever noticed that the official messaging for a historic house site usually involves an obscure detail? The most obvious – “George Washington slept here”. I have been stunned to learnContinue reading “The narcissism of details”
fingerprinting: a defense of leaving your mark
Don’t scratch your name in the wall OF COURSE! – But, what do we take away with us from a visit to a museum? postcards, a book and a “selfie”. Why does this matter to a house museum site? Because what I consider important may not be the same for you. We have to allowContinue reading “fingerprinting: a defense of leaving your mark”
Twisted Preservation 