Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Onlookers Watch Art Transfer at Museum

JOHN YDSTIE, Host:

NPR's Ilya Marritz was there to watch them load in the art.

ILYA MARRITZ: When the New Museum was started in 1977, the founders wanted to only show art that was totally new. There would be no permanent collection; all the artists would be living, dynamic, edgy. The concept was great, but the execution had problems: No space was ever right, there were too many columns to display the sculptures, or not enough room for the video art. And so, it's come to this - a building that looks like a stack of six, white cake boxes wedged between an industrial kitchen supply shop and a shelter for homeless men. It doesn't quite fit in with the neighborhood, but the New Museum is making itself at home.

HENRY GARRETS: Yeah, well, we're getting our last crate, I believe, at 5 o'clock.

MARRITZ: That's exhibitions manager Henry Garrets(ph). He and the registrar Sherry Zola(ph) are waiting in the lobby for a sculpture to arrive by truck from Kennedy Airport.

GARRETS: And that should be it, right?

SHERRY ZOLA: I was going to say that looks like the truck.

GARRETS: Josh, we have our artwork, so can you...

MARRITZ: Is this the truck?

GARRETS: This is the truck.

MARRITZ: Sherry Zola, the registrar, goes to meet the delivery men and inspect the crates.

ZOLA: Unidentified Man: Hi.

ZOLA: Unidentified Man: These.

ZOLA: Unidentified Man: Two.

MARRITZ: Which piece is this?

ZOLA: Focal Shukrashekra(ph).

GARRETS: Focal Scholar which is a scarecrow(ph).

MARRITZ: Scarecrow, yeah.

GARRETS: You termed it(ph).

MARRITZ: Unidentified Man: We need another dolly.

GARRETS: Can we have another dolly down here?

MARRITZ: Unidentified Man: Ready, one, two, three.

MARRITZ: When the crates come off the dolly, their work is complete.

ZOLA: That was the last delivery for this exhibition.

MARRITZ: These guys will be back in a few months moving the artworks out.

ZOLA: So, that's the last one.

GARRETS: That's (unintelligible).

MARRITZ: For NPR News, I'm Ilya Marritz. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Ilya Maritz
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.