Congratulations to Ginger Strand whose new book, Inventing Niagara, was picked as one of summer’s best non-fiction books by Fresh Air. We’re basking in the reflected glory as Ginger’s other summer writing includes one of the essays in our Badlands catalog. Its a great read and the cover design is really cool too.

We’re so lucky to have friends like Leslie Ferrin (of Pittsfield’s Ferrin Gallery) who comes to the Badlands opening, takes  great photos,  and posts them on wonderful blogs like Rural Intelligence. It was a beautiful night and our first outing under the Wapenaar Pavilion for the season.

You’ll find more photos and coverage at The Pit and Berkshire Fine Arts will likely post something soon.

The wonderful Lex Leifheit interviews Joseph Smolinski about his Tree Turbine installation, part of Badlands opening May 24. The interview was broadcast on WESU but through the wonders of modern technology, you can hear it for yourself by visiting Lex’s blog.

Meisha Rosenburg reviews Holzer in this week’s Metroland. What do you think about this show?

Tune in at 7:30 tonight to WCVB out of Boston to see MASS MoCA in all its glory as part of an episode of Chronicle on “Tank Away” getaways. They’ll go whitewater rafting on the Deerfield River then talk about Porches and MASS MoCA.

We are delighted that charges have (finally!) been dropped in the Steve Kurtz case. The case started in May of 2004. While Kurtz was preparing for Critical Art Ensemble’s piece Free Range Grain part of The Interventionists at MASS MoCA, his wife of twenty years, Hope, died in her sleep. When police responded to his 911 call, they noticed a small food-testing lab and petri dishes containing bacteria cultures (part of the scheduled installation, which would have allowed museum visitors to see if their store bought food contained genetically modified (GM) organisms). The FBI was called in, they and cordoned off the house and investigated Kurtz for terrorism. The film Strange Culture was made about the case. Learn more about the case and Critical Art Ensemble here.