St. Paul's Cathedral to Get Video Altarpieces

St. Paul's Cathedral, built in the late 17th and early 18th centuries in London, is getting some very unique new altarpieces.

Multi-screen video installations by contemporary artist Bill Viola will be installed in the cathedral in 2011, and are expected to be a huge tourist draw, especially given that the Tate Modern is just across the river. The treasurer of the cathedral, Canon Warner, hopes that in the future St. Paul's will be able to host other contemporary art installations as well.

I'm interested in the progressive attitude and willingness to include new art in old places, but this feels more like a publicity stunt primarily to raise funds for the cathedral instead of an artistic statement. What do you think?

Art Links

-The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine here in New York recently put two of their twelve Barberini tapestries on display for Easter. Tapestries depicting "The Crucifixion" and "Agony in the Garden" are being used during Easter season "as this art is intended," to help teach and visualize liturgical events to the congregation.

The article in the NYT has a great slide show and some tidbits about how the tapestry collection at St. John's is preserved.

-On the other end of the art spectrum, the WSJ has a review of Synthetic, a new show open at the Whitney that explores the use of synthetic art materials during the 1960s. As the critic, James Gardner, points out, the show is composed of only 18 works, but attempts to answer large questions of criticism and art history. The works analyze the question "Did synthetic materials lead to the rise of synthetic art?"

Being the medievalist I am, I can't answer that question, though this review sort of makes me want to go see the show and find out. Synthetic is open until April 19th.