Earlier this month Michael Govan sat down with Jorge Pardo as part of the Directors Series. Along with a discussion of some of Pardo's seminal works, the two discussed Pardo's design for LACMA's pre-Columbian galleries, which debuted in September to some debate. They're certainly unique—the bright colors, the curtains (one audience member at the talk called them "oppressive"), and of course the undulating cabinetry. Among the questions raised is, simply, why? Why display them like this? Why not stick to a simple, unadorned pedestal or display case? Govan and Pardo got into this in their hour-long discussion, which you can watch in its entirety. Just to give you a sample, here they discuss Pardo's installation design for a Donald Judd exhibition at the Caixa museum in Spain—another controversial exhibition design that raised many of the same questions as our pre-Columbian galleries.
[vimeo vimeo.com/2252153]
The entire conversation is pretty interesting; they talk this topic some more, as well as their prior collaborations at the Dia. Keep your eyes out for another Directors Series podcast with Chris Burden, which should be up on the site soon. We'll let you know.