Getty While the Getting's Good

Tyler Green scoops two coasts' worth of fishwrap by scoring an interview with the soon-to-be director of the Getty Museum, Michael Brand, who currently mans the helm at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Brand describes the "bully pulpit" of a museum directorship and provides Getty watchers with an insight into his early thoughts about the job:

I think the Bill Viola project that the Getty showed in 2003 [a series of video works, "The Passions," that explored the power and complexity of emotions and was inspired by works in the Getty’s collections] was fantastic. He had a residency, spent time there, looked at the collection, thought, made new work, and showed it there. I think that’s a really good way for the Getty to involve people with contemporary art. I’d like to make those sorts of things an ongoing program.