The Easel

14th October 2025

Calder Gardens, a Stunning New Tribute to Alexander Calder, Opens in Philadelphia

Calder Gardens, just opened in Philadelphia, apparently wants to be a museum without being a museum. It has been designed by a ‘starchitect’ but is a small, “camouflaged” structure that is mostly underground and “too small to fail”.  It will not have its own collection, relying instead on loans from the Calder Foundation that controls a “vast trove”. Integral to the design is the surrounding garden that will be popular with those who generated most of Calder’s copious fan mail – children.

How Hans Ulrich Obrist Became the World’s Most Influential Curator

Obrist has a “terrifying” work ethic, networking, curating shows, appearing at art events, interviewing artists and/or posting to Instagram. Few curators can match his art world influence. His new memoir is busy with forthright views: nothing can replace one-to-one, in-person encounters; he wants to combine disciplines – certainly art and architecture, but also art and science; artists should be given jobs in government; art requires looking and looking and looking; he doesn’t cook.