ArtsEnte
Pippa Shirley, a member of the reviewing committee, says: “The panels have much to tell us about links between artistic workshops and practices, the trade in precious materials, patronage and taste, not to mention the connection to the highly significant Fairhaven collections.
Depending on who you ask, the memorial complex is either a bad idea, an ugly thing, pushed through by well-meaning but incompetent (and mainly non-Jewish) politicians, who talk in bromides about British values and “the need to fight hatred and prejudice in all its forms,” or a powerful new landmark, a venue for difficult conversations about the Holocaust and the current climate of antisemitism, catalyzed by the war in the Middle East.
Years in the making and 300,000 square feet in scale, the museum has been steadily acquiring top-dollar artworks, including a Frida Kahlo self-portrait, a Robert Colescott painting of George Washington, and archives related to Black cinema and Judith F. Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles.
The collection was littered with homages and references to Rudi Gernreich’s topless monokini, Alexander McQueen’s ultra-low-rise “bumsters,” Azzedine Alaïa’s jewel-tone hoods, aughts-era graphic slogan tees, Jean-Paul Gaultier’s bandage bodysuit from the 1997 film The Fifth Element, and Barbie’s stiff tall ponytail.