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From:
To: John Brockman
Subject: Re: The EDGE art event is on - Monday, December 8th - Palo Alto
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 20:21:02 +0000
thanks :)
I have in Jeffrey's calendar and will of course remind him of the Dec. 8th event!
On Oct 29, 2014, at 4:15 PM, John Brockman <
wrote:
JE,
As I told you a few weeks ago, Hans Ulrich Obrist ("HUO") and I postponed the planned EDGE event
scheduled for September event due to the Tony Fadell's injury. Tony is a prime instigator of this project and we
wanted his involvement. Revisiting: we've came up with a different kind of plan, a more intimate gathering of
a select group of key Digerati and arts people who mostly know (or should know) each other. Rather than a
"master class" on art - we are doing a one day/and dinner event on Monday December 8th in Palo Alto.
From the world of art and museums, we hope to have some, if not all, of the following:
HANS ULRICH OBRIST (CONFIRMED)
"HUO", as he is known to all, is a Swiss curator who began his work in his kitchen, was named art's second
most powerful figure in 2010 and 2011 by Art Review, after being its most powerful the previous year. Obrist
joined the Serpentine Gallery in 2006, as Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes, and the Director of
International Projects. Prior to this engagement, he served as the Curator of the Musee d'Art Moderne de
la Ville de Paris, since 2000. Before arriving in Paris, Obrist was curator of Museums in Progress, Vienna, from
1993 until 2000. In all, since 1991 Obrist has curated over 150 exhibitions internationally. Along with his
curatorial work, Obrist is "the artworld's Studs Terkel — its default oral historian — with his interviews taking
forms ranging from a video exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale to Volume Two of his
mammoth Hans Ulrich Obrist: Interviews book series", and a man who has "turned curation into an art".
MARINA ABRAMOVIe (CONFIRMED)
A pioneer of performance art, Marina Abramovie began using her own body as the subject, object, and
medium of her work in the early 1970s. For the exhibition Marina Abramovie: The Artist Is Present, The
Museum of Modem Art's first performance retrospective, Abramovie performed every day the Museum was
open between March 14 and May 31, 2010. Visitors were encouraged to sit silently across from the artist for a
duration of their choosing, becoming participants in the artwork. For 512 Hours, her memorable 2014 piece at
the Serpentine Gallery, she created the simplest of environments in the Gallery spaces. Abramovies
only materials were herself, the audience and a selection of props. On arrival, visitors both literally and
metaphorically left their baggage behind in order to enter the exhibition: bags, jackets, electronic equipment,
watches and cameras were not permitted to accompany them.
The public became the performing body,
MAJA HOFFMAN, London (CONFIRMED)
Heiress to the Roche pharmaceutical fortune, Tate trustee, president of the Kunsthalle Zurich Foundation,
Board member: Palais de Tokyo, New York's New Museum. Established the LUMA Foundation in 2004, and in
2007 LUMA embarked on its biggest project — the Parc des Ateliers, a E100 million, Frank Gehry-designed
cultural complex, in Arles that incorporates a landmark new museum that will explore and celebrate the many
connections between the worlds of science and art. Maja is a key patron of many leading contemporary art
institutions in Europe and America.
EFTA00359768
MIUCCA PRADA, Milan
Director of her fashion house, Miucca Prada has been collecting art for years, establishing the Prada
Foundation with husband Patrizio Bertelli in 1995. Prada has amassed a collection with a focus on important
contemporary works — Holler, Koons, Kapoor — and historical Italian Arte Povera. Miuccia is working with
Rem Koolhaas in designing a new Prada Art Museum in Milan.
GINEVRA ELICANN, Rome & Torino
The grand-daughter of Giovanni Agnelli, Ginevra is the Director of Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in
Turin. Designed by Renzo Piano, the Pinacoteca stages innovative and important temporary exhibitions besides
housing the exquisite private collection of Giovanni and Marella Agnelli. As a film producer, she runs Asmara
Films S.R.L. in Rome.
ICatinka Matson and are inviting the Digerati, i.e., the usual guests at our Annual Dinner. The following are
confirmed:
--Larry Page & Lucy Southworth Page
--Eton Musk
--Tony Fadell & Dani Lambert
--Ev Williams & Sara Morishige Williams
--Anne Wojcicki
--Dave Morin & Brit Morin
--more are now being invited
During the day, the venue will be in Palo Alto, most likely in the home of one of the above. Dinner that evening
is being hosted by Tony Fadell & Dani Lambert at their home.
The agenda?
First, it will be "a day with Marina Abramovic", which is enough reason in itself to attend.
Second, we hope to begin a discussion about expanding opportunities for serious aesthetic and cultural
expression in the digital hubs of Silicon Valley and Seattle. This would involve creating a new institution on the
West Coast, with spaces in Silicon Valley and Seattle, along the lines of a Serpentine Gallery West. In addition
we want to enlist the support of the notable European patrons of the arts who are listed above, each of whom is
running or building an avant-garde art center / museum. We hope to convince them to join a consortium with
the new West Coast institution which would include London's Serpentine Gallery, of which HUO is co-director
with Julia Peyton-Jones (chaired by Michael Bloomberg); Maja Hoffinann's Luma Foundation, Pinacoteca
Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Torino, run by Ginevra Elkann, and the Miuccia Prada's new museum in Milan.
The Digerati would be the founding Board of Trustees, and fund and control the project; The European arts
patrons could serve as a Board of Advisors, share their experiences in organizing and running their venues, and
provide inspiration; The work in launching the institution could be outsourced to HUO and his organization at
the Serpentine, to do the initial heavy lifting, bring in staff and programs, until the new organization is ready to
take over. Programs and exhibits could travel from Europe to Silicon Valley/Seattle, and eventually, vice-
versa.
If there's interest at this initial meeting, we plan to ask the same group to get together in six months to spend a
few days visiting some of the European institutions in London, Arles, Torino, Milan.
I very much hope you can join us.
Best,
EFTA00359769
JB
John Brockman
ale
Edge Foundation, Inc.
tel
260 Fifth Avenue
fax:
New York, NY 10001
Visit EDGE at: sI trftwww.edste.orn ('Take a look. No matter who you are, you arc bound to find something that will drive you crazy.' NYTimes)
EFTA00359770
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| Filename | EFTA00359768.pdf |
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| Indexed | 2026-02-11T16:06:40.774543 |