In Thursday’s (5/14) New York Times, Nicolai Ouroussoff reviews the new Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago, designed by Renzo Piano, which will serve as the setting for the June 10 Tune-Up Party at the League of American Orchestras’ National Conference. Conference delegates will be among the first to tour the new galleries during this private event, which follows a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. “The new $294 million Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, which opens on Saturday, is the closest Mr. Piano has come in at least a decade to achieving this near-classical ideal. … Most of all, the addition manages to weave the various strands of Chicago’s rich architectural history into a cohesive vision, one that is made more beautiful by its remarkable fragility. … Millennium Park, its far end punctuated by the swirling steel forms of Frank Gehry‘s band shell, extends to the north.… The play between Modern and classical themes continues inside. The entry hall, a long towering space enclosed beneath a glittering glass roof, could be a contemporary version of a cathedral, designed for the worship of art.” The Art Institute is located across Michigan Avenue from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony Center.
Posted May 14, 2009
