Parking Job: Gonzalo Lebrija’s, Entre La Vida y La Muerte, outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. Part of the exhibit Energy Effect (Elements). (Photos by Ben V.)
Over Thanksgiving break, I paid a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Denver for the first time. Founded in 1996, the museum’s website describes itself as “an activator, content provider and immediate research vehicle of culture in the making — a museum without a front door — a place for public engagement.” That all sounds good, minus the front door bit. The best part of the building was without a doubt the front entrance, which is an imposing, Mordor-esque door which slowly begins to open as you approach. After that grand entrance, it’s a pleasant, well-lit, navigable space for art, designed by rising starchitect David Adjaye.
My favorite aspect of the museum was the Open Shelf Library (see image at right), a curatorial project where displaying artists fill a shelf with the objects that inspired their work. It is stuffed with books, study drawings, test materials, and other objects — a way of making the artistic process a little more transparent.
More photos after the jump. And more from C-Mon contributor Ben V over at Contemporary Art Truck.
