WHATEVER happened to “Our city can kick your city’s a–“?
Philadelphia might want to consider borrowing New York’s unofficial motto now that the City of Brotherly Love is poised to steal the Alexander Calder Museum right from under our upturned nose.
What’s that, you say? Philadelphia – rather than the so-called Capital of the World – is going to land a prized cultural jewel?
The reason is simple: Their mayor returns phone calls and ours does not.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The Gnome couldn’t care less about art museums, those bastions of privilege and pretension that cater to the same old group of dowagers rather than drawing in new fans.
But the battle for the Calder Museum isn’t about culture, it’s about sticking it to another city – which is every New Yorker’s birthright and the mayor’s God-given mandate.
So why isn’t Rudy battling Philly Mayor Ed Rendell to keep the New York-based Calder Foundation from decamping to Tiny Town? Could it be that Rudy is too busy wooing institutions that seat 60,000 screaming fans and serve overpriced beer?
“Mayor Giuliani seems to not really care,” said Alexander (Sandy) Rower, Calder’s grandson and head of the foundation, which is charged with finding a permanent home for hundreds of the artist’s renowned mobiles.
“Ed Rendell understands the importance of cultural institutions,” Rower added. “This is not a second-rate, fly-by-night artist here. Calder is one of the greatest artists of all time. Ed Rendell called me personally. I’ve never gotten anywhere near Rudy Giuliani.”
Instead, Rower has been trapped in New York’s version of hell – appropriately circular. Rower’s dream site for the Calder Museum is the city-owned building at 2 Columbus Circle, which once housed the Gallery of Modern Art.
The city has been trying to dispose of the building, but besides Donald Trump – who naturally wants to tear it down and put up a hotel in his image – no other deep-pocketed developer has come forward.
Some mayors – like Ed Rendell – would see that as a golden opportunity, but ours refuses to consider that in exchange for one measly building, the Calder Museum will attract hundreds of thousands of adults and kids.
Even art-haters like The Gnome love Calder, who revolutionized what pretentious people would call “kinetic sculpture” (probably because “kinetic” means “moving,” and that’s what mobiles do).
Calder’s vaguely animal-like sculptures – once described by artist Fernand Leger as “serious without seeming to be” – would be perfectly suited for the 2 Columbus Circle site, what with the foundation’s plans to install several monumental mobiles outdoors at the western gateway to Central Park.
“It would be much better than another Trump hotel,” Rower said. “But what does City Hall understand about culture?”
Good question – and not one that City Hall wanted to answer. Repeated calls to the city’s Economic Development Corp., which is disposing of the site, went unreturned.
The mayor’s office referred questions to the corporation.
Meanwhile, Ed Rendell is returning everyone’s phone calls – even The Gnome’s.
“The minute I heard that the foundation was looking for a home, I picked up the phone and called them and had them down here looking at sites,” Rendell said, dropping in a casual mention of the fact that his city kicked our city’s a– by winning next year’s Republican National Convention.
“Rudy is clearly the best mayor you’ve had in a while, but if New York suffers from anything, it’s that you automatically assume everyone wants to be in New York.”