Preemptive closure at the Gardner Museum

As you know, Friday, March 17 was the 33rd anniversary of the robbery of the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston. 13 works were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990.

The museum closed early because of possible actions by climate activists from the group Extinction Rebellion, who were going to do some type of a guerrilla art action inside the museum.

As you recall, we’ve spoken about different climate protests in various European museums the past several months, and the trend has come to the US.
The museum released a statement regarding the early closure. In it they cited the museum: “ as a safe place of sharing art, community and conversation. Isabella was an advocate of all forms of art, as well as the environment, especially horticulture. While it is our mission to uphold Isabella’s values, we do not support this type of tactic that targets art institutions and could possibly put the Museum’s collection, staff and visitors at risk.”

empty frame which held Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee prior to robbers cutting it out and removing it. Courtesy Josh Reynolds/AP

What, if any, actions do you think museums should take in the face of possible protests inside their institutions?

What do you think about this closure of the museum in response to possible vandalism?

Do you think the art works stolen from the museum 33 years ago will ever be recovered?

Do you think they are irretrievably lost or damaged?

How do you feel about the blank spaces the museum keeps to honor the stolen pieces?

Il bidone- epic fail of a father…

When you think about horrible fathers in film – you have to consider Broderick Crawford’s portrayal of con man Augostino in IL BIDONE.

Greedy, selfish, preying on the desperately poor on the outskirts of Rome, we have to decide if he has a change of heart when he sees his daughter. Does he truly wish to help her get money to get ahead in post war Italy’s job market or is he merely ripping off the family of a young cripple girl and stealing the money from his con artist colleagues – keeping it for himself? Does he have a career changing epiphany like the young painter or does he remain without salvation, unchanged & non- repentant for his actions?

Is he worse than the completely self-centeredstronzo dad in Caterina nella Città ?

You certainly can’t compare him to the loving, distraught
father in Biutiful or the self-sacrificing, adoring dad in Life is Beautuful.

So where would you place him on the list of idiot fathers that cinema has created?