Six Degrees of Silvis John Silvis

John “Jack” Buchanan, born 1931 in Glens Falls, NY, joined the staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Museum Archivist on November 7th, 1966.

A few years later the new Director of the Museum, Thomas Hoving, appointed him Chief Registrar of the Museum and for the next twenty-two years Buchanan was in charge of worldwide art movements: packing, shipping, security in transit, and fine arts insurance In that capacity he traveled widely throughout the U.S., Europe, the Soviet Union, Middle East, India, China, Japan, and Mexico.

He moved several “Blockbuster” exhibitions. They included, Tutankhamen, Treasures of the Vatican, Manet, Treasures of Early Irish Art, Great Bronze Age of China, Mexico, and several others. He planned the movement to and from the Soviet Union of the first exhibition (American and European paintings) an American museum sent to that country and worked closely with couriers (curators and conservators) in Helsinki, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and Moscow. During his tenure as Chief Registrar, he worked on exhibitions in the Soviet Union on six occasions, and during one trip he worked with Tom Hoving and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

In 1972 Hoving appointed Buchanan as his Special Assistant –while remaining Chief Registrar, thus he wore two hats. As Special Assistant he decided which matters should be brought to the Director’s attention, and which he could handle himself or farm out to others. He also worked with Hoving on gaining political and then financial support for the construction of the New American Wing, which meant hobnobbing with Democratic politicians in smoke-filled clubhouses.

Hoving became the Interim Director of the Queens Museum. Buchanan was the Deputy Interim Director and when Mr. Hoving retired, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, C. Douglas Dillon, assigned Buchanan to serve as Special Assistant to the first paid President of the Museum, William B. Macomber. He remained Chief Registrar and still traveled with exhibitions. In 1983, following twelve years of wearing two hats under Hoving and Macomber, with the special exhibition schedule booming, Buchanan decided to hand over the Special Assistant duties to a colleague and resumed wearing one hat.

Upon his retirement, Buchanan returned to the study of history and published three books with John Wiley & Sons: the widely acclaimed “The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas" (1997); the controversial “Jackson’s Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters” (2001); and the “The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army That Won the Revolution” (2004), which received the Thomas Fleming award for best book of 2004 by the Philadelphia American Revolution Round Table.

Mr. Buchanan has appeared on C-Span and the History Channel, and has contributed several book reviews to the Journal of Military History as well as acted as referee for proposed articles in JMH. He has also published short stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and his self-published Cold War novel, The Rise of Stefan Gregorovic (2010), was described by a critic as “one of the most gripping narratives I’ve ever read.”

Erwin Redl is based in Bowling Green, OH and New York City. He states that: “Since 1997, I have investigated the process of “reverse engineering” by (re-)translating the abstract aesthetic language of virtual reality and 3‑D computer modeling, back into architectural environments by means of large-scale light installations. Space is experienced as a second skin, our social skin, which is transformed through my artistic intervention. Due to the very nature of its architectural dimension, participating by simply being “present” is an integral part of the installation. Visual perception works in conjunction with corporeal motion, and the subsequent passage of time.”

The formal aspect of his work becomes easily accessible through conscious aesthetic reduction to a minimalist vocabulary. Interpretation and understanding of this characteristic is dependent upon the viewer’s subjective references. Equally, the various interactions between the visitors within the context of the installation re-shape each viewer’s subjective references and reveal a complex social phenomenon.

Redl’s large scale light installations have been featured in major museums, as well as in the public space around the world. Recent projects include “White Out,” which as installed in Madison Square Park, New York City and at the Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City and “Circles Unity” presented the winter in the tunnel below the Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Florida.

David Brognon and Stéphanie Rollin have been working together since 2006 to “probe the existential fault lines of society, to observe the fallen and the alienated.”

Their projects and installations end up being multi-disciplinary in nature and the building blocks of each work is determined by the context and the protagonists of the corners of society they are exploring. Their mediums can range from film, sculpture, sound to large scale installations, both in the gallery and in the public space.

In 2013 they won the Pirelli Art Prize in Art Brussels and they are the subject of a monograph by Frac Poitou-Charentes. Artist Ian Breakwell describes their practice as culmination of small epiphanies of everyday life, those moments of grace in the darkness or the commonplace. They delicately enhance the brilliance of the habitually neglected.

Alain Servais is a major collector of contemporary art based in Brussels. A self-proclaimed collector of difficult works, he originally came from the financial sector, where he worked as an investment banker. He takes a holistic view of the systems powering the global art industry and tries to apply market models to predict future trends within the creative realm. He believes that art has the capacity to change society for the better. His collection is truly global in its scope and he also supports innovative artist projects around the world. He is a regular on the global Biennale circuit and is a key figure in analyzing the systems of exchange within the art world.

Joe Dunning founded Dunning & Partners after a 14-year career in the commercial arts sector with Christie’s and Sotheby’s in both London and New York.

He specialized in strategy, innovation and business development, designing and leading numerous initiatives within the auction, private sales and advisory arms of the business. He also ran the Sotheby’s Prize, an annual $250,000 award to facilitate museum exhibitions that explore overlooked or under-represented areas of art history.
He has established pioneering partnerships with museums around the world.
He has also served as auctioneer and advisor for numerous not-for-profit organizations, with a particular focus on the arts and education, raising over £6 million.

He is a mentor with Creative Access and has worked closely with the National Theatre in London, Free Arts NYC, Urban Arts Partnership and the New York Academy of Art.

He has a BA in Modern Languages from Oxford University and an MA in Cultural and Creative Industries from King’s College, London.

Kelly Crow is a staff reporter covering the art market for The Wall Street Journal. She reports on sales at auction houses including Sotheby’s and Christie’s as well as analyzes the funding and art-buying activities of the world’s major museums, art fairs, artists and collectors around the world. Ms. Crow has covered the art market beat for the Journal since 2006.

Before joining the Journal in 2005, she wrote for the New York Times, based at the City desk where she helped cover city government, neighborhoods and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. She also helped Pulitzer-Prize winner James B. Stewart report DisneyWar, a 2005 nonfiction narrative about the Walt Disney Company during Michael Eisner’s final years as CEO of the company.

She has helped teach classes at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she earned her master’s degree in 2000. Ms. Crow started her career in 1995 at The Edmond Evening Sun in her hometown of Edmond, Oklahoma. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.