Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Easy Listening: Hou Hanru


Hou Hanru, curator of the forthcoming 5th Auckland Triennial, talks about exhibition making tonight at the Auckland Art Gallery's auditorium, starting at 6.00pm. His presentation is part of Easy Listening: Talks in Art and Culture, a collaborative project by Artspace, Elam School of Fine Arts and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.

A made-over design icon returns to the streets of London






The much-loved icon the Routemaster is back on the streets of London. The new design by Heatherwick studio reinstates a distinctive feature of the 1950s bus - the 'hop on hop off' service - but as the Guardian reports, the new state-of-the-art Routemaster is more than a nostaligic throwback. Read more...
Image: the new Routemaster bus, design by Heatherwick studio, along with the original 1950s Routemaster

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Review of Alicia Frankovich - Bodies and Situations


This link takes you to a review of Alicia Frankovich's exhibition Bodies & Situations.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Egg Happening, Stuttgart 2010/2012

US announces artist for the 2013 Venice BIennale


The Bronx Museum will present a Sarah Sze project at the US Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale.

Sze is known for her gravity-defying, minutely detailed accumulative architectures that challenge viewers to experience space in unexpected ways. "Sze's boundary-defying work engages architecture and space, challenging the viewer by reorganising reference points, disorienting and reorienting at every turn," says co-commissioner Carey Lovelace, a critic and independent curator. "Her ephemeral installations strike a balance between spectacle and poetry, with unparalleled potential to transform and invigorate the US Pavilion."
Image: Sarah Sze, Corner Plot, Doris C Freedman Plaza, Central Park. Presented by New York's Public Art Fund

Monday, February 27, 2012

New commission for The Fourth Plinth unveiled




The new commission for The Fourth Plinth, Powerless Structures, Fig.101 by artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset, has been unveiled in London. The 4.1m high statue is a twist on the traditional equestrian portrait, the artists say, because instead of growing up celebrating military victory and commemorating fame, it acknowledges the "heroism of growing up."
Image: Elmgreen & Dragset's Powerless Structures, Fig.101, The Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square, London

This week at Starkwhite


Alicia Frankovich's exhibition Bodies & Situations continues downstairs to 10 March. Upstairs we are showing work by represented artists.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Bodies & Situations, installation view, Starkwhite, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Artists to use New York's rooftop water tanks to raise awareness on the global water supply


The Art Newspaper reports Word Above the Street, a New York-based non-profit organisation, plans to transform 300 rooftop water tanks across New York City into works of art to raise awareness of the global water supply.

For 12 weeks during the spring and summer of 2103, the Water Tank Project will host works by artists including Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, Tony Oursler, Marilyn Minter and Carrie Mae Weems, as well as rapper Jay-Z.
Image: A rendering of work for the Water Tank Project, featuring art by Ed Ruscha

Saturday, February 25, 2012

What will come of art's current love affair with e-commerce?


Though online sales are only an infinitesimal piece of the estimated $80-billion art industry, ARTINFO says you could be forgiven for thinking we might be in a full-on art tech bubble given all the recent hype and sheer novelty of reports about venture capitalists pouring money into art-related start ups. Shane Ferro looks at the new art-tech industry and asks: what, if anything, will come of art's current love affair with e-commerce? Read more...
Image: illustration by ARTINFO

Friday, February 24, 2012

Old Genes review at Critics' Picks


This link take you to a review of Old Genes: Artists reading Len Lye at Artforum's Critics' Picks. Curated by Tyler Caan for the The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (he has since taken up a new curatorial position at IKON Gallery, Birmingham), the exhibition includes works by Phil Dadson and Dane Mitchell.
Image: Phil Dadson, Osmosis (of Len's universe) 2011, single channel video (still grab)

VIP Art Fair: pass or fail?


After 10 days of mixed success and technical malfunction, it was difficult to judge whether the world's first virtual art fair in 2011 was a great idea marred by imperfect execution, or a sign that there is no substitute for experiencing art in the flesh in a real art fair. But as a second edition of VIP was scheduled for 2012, it was a case of watch this space.

VIP 2.0 closed recently, so how did it perform?

The statistics look impressive: 73,000 registered users, 160,000 unique visits and 1.5 million pages viewed; 135 galleries from 35 countries, exhibiting 1500 works by 1,100 artists; growth in visitor numbers from emerging markets, including a 278% increase in visitors from India, 288% UAE, 277% Brazil, 319% Mexico and 456% from Chile.

And the technical glitches that dogged VIP 1.0 were ironed out this time, allowing the Internet platform to deliver a lot more traffic to the fair, but traffic doesn't equal sales and sales reports have been scarce. Whether dealers make money at VIP remains to be seen.

However, insiders believe VIP has secured its status as the leading online platform for contemporary art. CEO Lisa Kennedy said the fair was effective in making connections and providing stimulus that is vital to an active international market, a view shared by many galleries who said they connected with new clients around the globe.

Predictably, VIP 2.0 drew flak and much has been made of comments from influential dealers, like David Zwirner. In her Forbes piece, VIP Bombs Again: A Lesson Art Marketing and Online Sales, Abigail Esman reports Zwirner emailed her saying: "The fair was unfortunately a waste of time for us this year. We didn't have any significant traffic in the booth, nor did we meet new collectors. I'm uncertain this format will work moving forward."

Other galleries have a better view of VIP, notably those that took an innovative approach to curating their booths. Elizabeth Dee used VIP's video capability to connect viewers with her artists directly and to launch a new media channel. Each artist was featured in short documentaries that offered VIP visitors an introduction or overview of their work. And rather than making a presentation with a unique selling point, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac decided to focus on introducing its artists and programme, presenting 7 solo shows over 7 days and one live performance by Terence Koh. On the day of Koh's performance, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac was the most visited booth.

So the jury is still out on VIP and the big question remains unanswered: can the Internet work as a venue for an art fair? For galleries seeking conventional outcomes (like art fair sales) the answer is perhaps not. As one dealer said: "If you realise that taking part in this fair is the same cost as a big ad in Artforum it makes sense, but if you are expecting sales, I think some people are going to be quite disappointed."

Online ventures like VIP seem better suited to galleries able to think their way into a new format, presenting shows tailored to the Internet and underpinned by audience and client building strategies that are part of a bigger game plan - galleries like Elizabeth Dee and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

UCCA Beijing presents an exhibition of Parkett's collaborations with artists


The Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing is presenting Inside a Book a House of Gold, an exhibition of 212 editioned works by 192 artists produced in collaboration with Parkett since the journal's founding in Zurich in 1984. The exhibition takes its title from a poetic inscription by the most artistic of all Chinese Emperors, Song Zhenzong.

Affordability and portability are distinguishing features of Parkett editions, allowing collectors around the globe to pick up works by superstars, like Damien Hirst's ping-pong balls hovering on the hot air of a hair dryer, Jeff Koons' inflatable sculpture, Ai Weiwei's gilded fly swatter, Anish Kapor's spatial funnel contraptions, Andy Warhol's print of skeletons and Maurizio Cattelan's tongue-in-cheek self portrait. Many of the Parkett's editions have also found their way into the collections of major museums such as MoMA in New York.

This link takes you to the latest collaborations between artists and Parkett.
Image: Jeff Koons, Inflatable Balloon Flower (Yellow), 1997, PVC, 1300 280 x 1800mm, edition of 100

St Paul St launches its 2012 Curatorial Season


Auckland's St Paul St launches its 2012 Curatorial Season tonight with Metaphoria, the first of a suite of seven exhibitions, a symposium and a publication. Curatorial Season "aims to be journalistic in tone, attempting to chart the local practices that create this burgeoning discipline". Curated by Amelia Harris, and including work by Matt Henry, Metaphoria runs from 24 February - 21 April, 2012.
Image: Matt Henry, Achromatic Grey (Letterbox) from the series 16:9, 2011, 618 x 100 x 69

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Damien Hirst unveils plans to build 500 eco homes


Damien Hirst has announced his latest move: he wants to build 500 eco houses just outside the town of Ilfracombe, Devon where he already has a restaurant, an art studio and several properties. Like his spot paintings, the technical specs for his eco homes will be carried out by others, including architect Mike Rundell, who says "he wants these houses to be the kind of homes he would want to live in." The properties will feature hidden wind turbines in the roofs, photovoltaic solar panels and state-of-the-art insulation and Hirst hopes the development will create a national blueprint for environmental housing.
Image: Time Magazine interviewing Damien Hirst

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Rem Koolhaas to build Marina Abramovic's museum of performance art


Marina Abramovic has commissioned Rem Koolhaas to design and construct her Centre for the Preservation of Performance Art in Hudson, New York, The new museum will be dedicated to performance art pieces of "six hours minimum". Abramovic has said she will raise $8 million to pay for the project.
Image: Marina Abramovic, The Artist is Present, MOMA

Guardian's architecture correspondent picks his favourite buildings - in pictures


As he hangs up his notebook, the Guardian's architecture and design correspondent, Jonathan Glancey, looks back at some of the projects - ancient and modern - that have enchanted him over the past 15 years. View images
Image: the ramp of Brasilia's National Museum by Oscar Niemeyer

Monday, February 20, 2012

White Fungus selected for MOMA's Millennium Magazines


Launched in Wellington eight years ago on a shoe-string budget, White Fungus will feature in Millennium Magazines at New York's Museum of Modern Art. This survey of experimental art and design magazines published since 2000 explores the various ways in which contemporary artists and designers utilise the magazine format as an experimental space for the presentation of artworks and text.

Founded by Ron and Mark Hansen, White Fungus was launched in 2004 as a free photocopied handout protesting against the building of an inner-city bypass. The first copies were wrapped in Christmas paper and hurled through the entrances of stores and businesses. Since then it has grown into a fully-fledged publication, but retaining an edgy point of difference recognised by MoMA. "Independent publishing is an avenue for doing risky and experimental work that might not be accepted in a traditional gallery context", says Ron Hansen. "The fact that the Museum of Modern Art is recognsing that is encouraging."

Millennium Magazines runs at MoMA from 20 February to 14 May 2012.

Bonhams head of contemporary art on art dealers as commodity brokers for the super-rich


Art dealers have been reduced to mere "commodity brokers" as the super-rich have lost interest in the aesthetic value of major works and instead obsess about their monetary worth, according to one of the industry's most experienced auctioneers. Read more...
Image: Andy Warhol Dollar Sign

Sunday, February 19, 2012

The merger of elevated architecture and grounded green build thinking


As sustainability becomes an essential ingredient in the island nation of Singapore, the UK firm Foster + Partners is leaving no stone unturned to make good use of alternative energy sources in a new eco-complex that pushes the green envelop from top to bottom.

The complex will fill an entire city block between Singapore's Marina Centre and the Civic District with commerical, residential, retail, hotels and a 'green' link to a Mass Rapid Transit station.

All facades will be fitted with solar cells, and to help control solar gain, direct sunlight will be filtered through ribbon-like canopies.Vertical green spaces and extensive sky gardens are also important components, further greening the whole structure with natural vegetation and ambient temperature moderation.

The slanted facades are designed to catch wind and direct it downwards for natural cooling of ground floor spaces. A rainwater harvesting system, geothermal heating system, chilled beams and ceiling, and an ice storage system are further enhancements planned for the complex, which is being described as the perfect merger of elevated architecture and grounded green build thinking.
Image: Foster + Partners new green complex for Singapore

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Running on Pebbles at Auckland's Snake Pit


Running on Pebbles: through-lines with incidents and increments opened last night at the Snake Pit, an artist-run space located in Auckland's CBD. A number of Curated by Allan Smith, the show includes works by Phil Dadson, Alicia Frankovich, Trenton Garratt, Gavin Hipkins, Jae Hoon Lee, Layla Rudneva-Mackay and Jim Speers.
Image: Layla Rudneva-Mackay, Yellow Curtain (2007), C-type photograph

Upstairs at Starkwhite


Upstairs we are showing works by represented artists, including Martin Basher, Phil Dadson, Alicia Frankovich, Hye Rim Lee, Dane Mitchell, Clinton Watkins and Mariana Vassileva.
Image: Clinton Watkins, Avalanche (2011), looped DVD, stereo sound, single channel for monitor or projection.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Installation views of Alicia Frankovich - Bodies and Situations


This link takes you to installation views of Alicia Frankovich's exhibition Bodies & Situations.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Egg happening, Stuttgart, 2010/2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Dane Mitchell publication launch at Artspace


Co-published by the Berliner Künstlerprogramm DAAD & Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (New Plymouth), Dunedin Public Art Gallery (Dunedin), Artspace (Auckland) and designed by Tana Mitchell, RADIANT MATTER I/II/III will be launched tonight in Auckland by Dane Mitchell and Artspace.

RADIANT MATTER was a series of exhibition by Dane Mitchell presented at three public galleries across New Zealand, each exhibition operating in autonmous ways and yet sharing similar aesthetic, conceptual and material concerns. The publication brings together these three bodies of work, anchoring them in research begun while Mitchell was a guest of the Berliner Künstlerprogramm in 2009 and further explored in texts by Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, Chris Sharp, Aaron Kreisler, Dane Mitchell and foreward by Ariane Beyn.

Fulya Erdemci to curate 13th Istanbul Biennial


Fulya Erdemci, who is currently director of the SKOR Foundation for Art and Public Domain, will curate the 13th Istanbul Biennial in 2013. Erdemci was amongst the first directors of the Istanbul Biennial (1994 - 2000) and she is a seasoned biennale curator. She curated the Istanbul section of the 25th Sao Paulo Biennial (2002), joined the curatorial team of the 2nd Moscow Contemporary Art Biennale (2007), co-curated the 5th Public Biennale of Art in Public Space in Christchurch (2008) with Danae Mossman, and curated the 2011 pavilion of Turkey at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011).

Phil Dadson's tribute to John Cage




Phil Dadson's video Between Worlds (2011) is amongst the collection of stories and visual and sound artworks by international artists in the Streaming Museum's online tribute to John Cage. You can view his video contribution to A John Cage Centennial Tribute here.

Produced and broadcast in NYC, Streaming Museum is a hybrid museum that presents multi-media exhibitions in cyberspace.
Image: John Cage, 1991, photo by Hemming Lohner, courtesy of the John Cage Trust; and video still from Phil Dadson's Between Worlds, 2011

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Two years on, the Getty has a new director


After two-year hunt, the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has named Timothy Potts as director. Like his predecessor, Michael Brand, he hails from Australia. He was also rumoured to be on the headhunters list for directorship of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which has gone to Brand.

Sale of the world's most expensive vase in limbo as buyer refuses to pay


When an old vase found in her late sister's house went under the hammer for $92 million Gene Johnson and her son Anthony watched in amazement as they realised they were going to share a fortune. However, 15 months later the family is not a penny richer as the Quianglong dynasty imperial vase has not yet been paid for.

A Chinese property billionaire was named as the buyer after one of his agents was reportedly banned from registering for a Quianglong dynasty scroll in Toulouse after the alleged non-payment. This has fueled speculation that the Chinese government sabotages sales by having agents buy pieces and then refuse to pay because it believes the antiquities were looted from China and should not be sold.
Image: The Quianglong dynasty imperial vase that went under the hammer for $92 million

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Artists put heat on New Zealand Government to protect one of the last great wildernesses on the planet




Last year a group of artists from the South Pacific region, including Phil Dadson and John Reynolds, travelled on HMNZS Otago to a place rarely explored - the Kermadec Islands. The project was an initiative of the Pew Environment Group's Global Ocean Legacy programme, which promotes the designation of large, highly-protected marine reserves.

The Kermadecs are the most remote part of New Zealand. Despite their historical, as well as mythological significance, public awareness of the islands and surrounding waters is slight. The voyage aimed to change that by documenting an imaginatively-charged encounter with one of the least known natural wilderness areas on the planet.

The resulting exhibition, Kermadecs: Nine artists in the South Pacific, opens tonight at Auckland's Maritime Museum.

Dadson and Reynolds see the exhibition as a way to underpin efforts to protect the region, placing pressure the New Zealand government to protect the Kermadecs for all time by designating it as a marine sanctuary, free from fishing and mineral exploitation, making it the world's biggest marine reserve."The Challenge is to try to find a voice, an effective voice, for expressing concerns about the very real threat this part of the ocean is under", says Reynolds. "We understand from PEW that the National Government caucus agrees it's a worthy cause, but it remains unactioned."
Image: NASA photograph of Raoul Island, the Kermadecs, and still from Phil Dadson's video PAX (2011)

Monday, February 13, 2012

A new art hub in Singapore


A cluster of international galleries, all with ties to Asia, will set up in the site of the former British military barracks in Singapore. They include Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Mizuma Gallery, Ota Fine Arts and Tomio Koyama Gallery from Japan, along with Shanghai's ShangArt and Pearl Lam Galleries, and the Drawing Room from Manila.

The Singapore Government came up with the idea of converting Gillman Barracks into an arts cluster in 2010 and has since invested $10 million into the project. An open tender was made last June for galleries to apply for a space in the barracks and 13 have been selected. "We thought hard about galleries that would have the effect we want and that could make Gillman Barracks a catalyst for the Singapore arts scene", said Eugene Tan, a director at the Economic Development Board.

There is only one Singaporean gallery in the lineup which has raised questions about local galleries being frozen out, but putting pressure on local galleries is "partly the plan", says Eugene Tan. "We want them to raise their game."

Also anchored within the barracks will be the newly established Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), which will be one of the key programming platforms at the new art destination. CCA will include an international artists residency programme and a centre for contemporary art research.
Image: Gillman Barracks, Singapore, circa 1970

Sunday, February 12, 2012

A win-win solution for the Melbourne's Haring mural?




Keith Haring's last surviving mural in Australia is at the centre of an ongoing conservation v. repainting debate. Conservators say the work, which is showing the effects of time and neglect, should be preserved and they should be given every opportunity to save or improve on the current quality of the original paint - or at least keep it intact until conservation technology catches up with the problems.

Others say the mural should be repainted because it is in line with the artist's wishes. "It is more important that the work conveys Keith's ideals and respect for communities in which he worked, rather than to preserve a brushstroke", says Keith Haring Foundation director, Julia Gruen.

In a recent article published in The Art Newspaper, Will Shank makes the case for conservation, but he also suggests a compromise - to let conservators proceed with preserving the original and run with a faithful copy nearby. Read more...
Images: Keith Haring working on his Melbourne mural and a detail of the work showing the effects of time, neglect and the elements

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Gavin Hipkins' This Fine Island to screen at Armory Film


Gavin Hipkins' experimental screen narrative, This Fine Island, has been selected for the inaugural edition of Armory Film. Curated by Moving Image, the screenings will take place during the course of the The Armory Show in a dedicated Media Lounge on Pier 94.

Hipkins' film revisits Charles Darwin's journey to the Bay of Islands in 1835, but in his adaption, Darwin's nineteenth-century travel writing in The Voyage of the Beagle becomes a vehicle for present day tourisms, travel romance, and racial othering, against the backdrop of New Zealand's lush landscape.
Image: Gavin Hipkins, This Fine Island , 2012 (production still), 12 mins, 16mm transferred to Digibeta

Friday, February 10, 2012

Edmund Capon's replacement announced


Michael Brand, former director of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, will replace Edmund Capon as director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Paddle8 signals its ambitions in the increasingly competitive field of online art ventures


ARTINFO says online art wars are heating up as Paddle8 secures $4 million from technology and luxury investors in its first significant round of venture capital fundraising. The seed money will keep Paddle8 competitive in an expanding field of e-commerce initiatives that includes VIP, the world's first online art fair, and Art.sy, the site backed by Dasha Zhukova and Larry Gagosian.

Paddle8's traffic has increased to up to 100,000 views per day and, according to the company, over 2000 carefully screened individuals join its private member community every month. Co-founder Alexander Gilkes told ARTINFO "Over the next few months we'll roll out an ambitious pipeline of new developments including a new app and increased editorial content."

The new developments will build on Paddle8's core strategy of producing guest-curated exhibitions online with works for sale at major galleries and a recent move into the world of art fairs. Partnerships with NADA and Art Los Angeles Contemporary allow the fairs to utilize the web, adding web-based exhibitor presentations and transactions to the mix, along with a fair preview.
Image: Paddle8 founders Alexander Gilkes and Aditya Julka

Alicia Frankovich - Bodies and Situations opens tonight at Starkwhite


Alicia Frankovich's exhibition Bodies and Situations opens tonight at Starkwhite, 6.30 - 9.00pm.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Egg happening, Stuttgart, 2010/2012

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Alfons Hug to curate the debut edition of the Biennale de Montevideo


Uruguay is the latest country to join the biennale club. Titled Big Sur, the debut edition of the Biennale de Montevideo will be curated by Alfons Hug in collaboration with two co-curators: the Chilean born Paz Guevara, who lives in Berlin; and the Uruguayan curator and artist Patricia Bentancur. Hug is the director of the Goethe Institut in Rio de Janiro and has curated numerous biennales including Sao Paulo and the Instituto Italo-Latino Americano pavilion in the 54th Venice Biennale.

Big Sur opens on 15 October, in the middle of the Sao Paulo Bienal,which scheduled for 8 September - 9 December 2012.
Image: Montevideo street scene

Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei commissioned to build the 2012 Serpentine pavilion


Fours years after collaborating on the 'Bird's Nest' Olympic stadium in Beijing, the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei will reunite to design the next Serpentine pavilion. They plan to create a floating platform barely five feet off the ground, supported by 11 columns representing previous pavilions. The platform will collect rainwater on the surface, reflecting the moody London sky. The trio also plans to dig a few feet into the soil so visitors can walk beneath the roof.

The Herzog & de Meuron/Ai Weiwei pavilion will be the 12th in the series which began with Zaha Hadid in 2000 and has included giants such as Oscar Niemeyer, Alvaro Siza, Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry.
Image: Peter Zumthor's 2011 Serpentine Gallery pavilion

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

ARTINFO reports on the VIP art fair


ARTINFO reports on what what collectors, dealers and artists are saying about the VIP art fair. Read more...

India to launch its first biennale this year


India will launch its first-ever art biennial this year. Set to debut on 12/12/2012, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale will take place in the port city of Kochi on the southwest coast of India, and in neighbouring Muziris, known for its rich historical heritage that reaches back to the days when it was a centre for spice trading with the Roman Empire.
Image: Durbar Hall, one of the venues for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin to close


Deutsche Bank and the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation have announced plans to close the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. Neither party gave a reason for the decision but the bank's chief executive officer Joseph Ackermann said Deutsche Bank intends to use the space as a forum for "intensified dialogue between the business and political worlds."

Over the past 14 years the Deutsche Guggenheim has presented 57 exhibitions and attracted 1.8m visitors. The bank and foundation also commissioned major pieces from artists such as Jeff Koons, William Kentridge, Bill Viola, Rachel Whiteread and Anish Kapoor that were exhibited in Berlin, New York and Bilbao.
Image Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin

Second edition of Future Generation Art Prize launched


The Victor Pinchuk Foundation has launched the second edition of the Future Generation Art Prize of $100,000. The Prize is open to artists of up to 35 and applications can be made online with a closing date of 6 May 2012.

Cinthia Marcelle, a Brazilian artist who makes films, photographs and installations, won the inaugural prize in 2011. She was selected by a jury consisting of Daniel Birnbaum, Okwui Enwezor, Yuko Hasegawa, Ivo Mesquita, Eckhard Schneider, Robert Storr and Ai Weiwei.
Image: Victor Pinchuk, founder of the Future Generation Art Prize

Monday, February 6, 2012

Coming up at Starkwhite


Alicia Frankovich will present a suite of new and recent sculptures, photographs and short films in her exhibition Bodies and Situations, opening on Friday 10 February at 6.30pm.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Volution 2011, 35 mm film transferred to digital video

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Qatar pays the highest price ever for a work of art


The Royal family of the tiny, oil-rich nation of Qatar has purchased Cezanne's The Card Players for a record $250 million, more than doubling the current auction record for a work of art. The Emir of Qatar's daughter, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamid bin Khalifa Al-Thani, is the mastermind behind the global art buying spree by the nation crowned the single biggest contemporary art buyer in the world. Read more...
Image: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, one of the museums working under the umbrella of the Qatar Museums Authority, headed by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamid bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Matt Henry's post-residency show opens at Sydney Non Objective


Matt Henry's exhibition From the series 16:9 opens today at Sydney Non Objective. The works in the show were produced during a three-month residency at SNO in 2011.
Image: Matt Henry, Achromatic Grey (16:9) From the series 4:3, acrylic on linen board, frame, perspex, 277 x 353 x 57 mm

Friday, February 3, 2012

Lewis Biggs to curate two triennials


After stepping down as the chief executive and artistic director of the Liverpool Biennale, Lewis Biggs has been named as the curator of two triennials - the 2013 Aichi Triennial in Nagoya and 2014 Folkestone Triennial in Kent.

Fears in Afghanistan that a financial jackpot from copper mining could threaten its cultural heritage


Archeologists are racing to save Afghanistan's cultural heritage at Mes Aynak, a mountainous, 9800-acre site studded with artifacts that archeologists believe are as significant as the Bamiyan Buddhas that were destroyed 11 years ago, as well as the remains of civilizations that stretch back to the time of Alexander the Great.

It's also the site of the second-largest copper deposit in the world, a resource the Afghanistan government is cashing in on through an estimated $3billion deal with a Chinese company to mine the the copper deposit over the next thirty years, starting in 2014. This leaves little time for the archeologists leading the excavations to extract as many treasures as possible before the drilling begins, raising fears that a financial jackpot for the poverty-stricken country could come at the price of Afghanistan's cultural heritage. Read more...
Image: remains of an ancient Buddhist monastery at Mes Aynek, Afghanistan