Yi Summer: Registrars and Curators
Jul 8, 2014

students stand in room with artwork

Senior Curatorial Assistant Laura Phipps with YI Summer teens in Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

students stand in room with artwork

On Tuesday, July 8, the YI summer program teens met with Whitney Registrar Seth Fogelman and Senior Curatorial Assistant Laura Phipps. Fogelman elaborated upon the complex and often difficult process of bringing art to the Museum, which can often entail convoluted journeys and plenty of negotiation. He even provided us with copies of the calendar and floor plans of the Jeff Koons: A Retrospective exhibition and explained just how complicated it was to get Koons’s artwork to the Whitney from around the world. For instance, very large sculptures (of which the Koons show includes many!) must travel by boat or special plane–but sometimes the countries they are coming from don’t have airports that fly planes large enough. In that case, Fogelman must figure out how to first get them in a truck to a large enough airport in another country–but sometimes, even from there, the right plane leaves only once a week! The complications seem endless, but the job is a puzzle-lover’s dream.

  • sitting around table discussing

    Registrar Seth Fogelman, July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

  • students sitting on floor of museum

    Laura Phipps shares floor plans with the teens, July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

  • standing around room during walkthrough

    Meeting Phipps and discussing her career before the walkthrough begins, July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

  • talking about artwork

    Phipps discussing Koons’s work, July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

  • students in front of large painting

    Taking it all in, July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

  • student looking at a bust

    A closer look at Koons’s Italian Woman (1986), July 2014. Photograph by Zoe Schwartz

After we talked to Fogelman, we went to the galleries, where Laura Phipps gave us a walkthrough of the exhibition. It was very interesting to hear about how the exhibition was put together. Phipps told us about Koons’s series of works in the exhibition, which ranged from the early Pre-New to Antiquity. After hearing from Seth about the complexities of getting the works to the Museum, it was exciting to learn more about the works themselves and begin to understand how each one played its part in the show.

By Sasha, YI Summer Participant