Thursday, May 31, 2012

Exhibition opening and publication launch at Starkwhite tonight


Layla Rudneva-Mackay's exhibition Pointing at trees, opens at Starkwhite tonight at 6pm alongside the launch of GREEN WITH ENVY, a new volume on the artist's work published jointly with Clouds. The publication launch will include a reading by contributor Sean O'Reilly.

Tino Sehgal's Olympic commission


Speculation is on the rise regarding the much-anticipated work of Tino Sehgal due to launch in the Tate Modern on 14 July. The artist involves visitors through "constructed situations" acted out by performers and the curator of international art at the Tate Modern, Jessica Morgan, has hinted that this time his piece will reflect the Olympics.
Image: Tate Modern's Turbine Hall

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Artforum review of Alicia Frankovich's Bodies and Situations


The latest issue of Artforum includes a review of Alicia Frankovich's exhibition Bodies and Situations presented at Starkwhite earlier this year.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Bodies and Situations, installation view, Starkwhite 10 February 10 - March 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Gregor Schneider creates a 'haunting' room at the AGNSW


With the assistance of John Kaldor, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has commissioned Gregor Schneider to install a room from his Totes Haus ur project in the Kaldor Family Gallery at the AGNSW. Known for his uncanny architectural environments, cavernous depths and labyrinths that evoke a dark individual or collective psyche, Schneider has created an eleven-by-four-metre room that has been shipped from Europe and inserted into the architectural fabric of the gallery. Read more...
Image: Gregor Schneider TOTES HAUS ur, 24 rooms from developed and doubled rooms of the House u r, Rheydt 1985-2001.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Tacita Dean asks why the film industry is so invested in destroying film


Last year, Tacita Dean received some bad news - Soho Film Laboratory (the last professional lab in the UK that printed 16mm film) had been taken over by an American conglomerate and was under orders to stop handling such film. The news came as she was planning her installation in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern.

She managed to find another lab in Amsterdam that was willing to print her future work, but continues to attack the film industry for abandoning analog prints in favour of digital. In a recent editorial in The Wrap website she makes the case that because of industry leaders' obsession with promoting digital technologies, companies and the labs dealing with analog film are on the way out, and that she may soon have great difficulty making and screening her film work.

In an earlier article published in the Guardian she wrote: "My relationship to film begins at the moment of shooting, and ends in the moment of projection. Along the way there are several stages of magical transformation that imbue the work with varying layers of intensity. This is why the film image is different from the digital image: it is not only emulsion versus pixels, or light versus electronics, but something deeper - something to do with poetry."
Image: Tacita Dean's installation in the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, October 2011-March 2012. Photograph from the Guardian

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Conflict kitchen


Based in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. The food rotates every six months to highlight another country and each project is augmented by events, performances and discussions that seek to expand the engagement of the public with the culture, politics and issues at stake within the focus country. Read more...
Image: The Conflict Kitchen's Iranian version staged during a time of increased calls for military intervention by the US

Saturday, May 26, 2012

A disorderly start to the Kiev Biennale


Titled The Best of Times the Worst of Times, the first Kiev Biennale opened this week with curator David Elliott apologising to participating artists and visitors for the organisation's failure to complete the exhibition installation on time. While the first floor was mostly complete, on the upper level of the newly renovated Arsenale about 25% of the works were not complete or not there at all.

"It's not the way I usually handle things," Elliott said. "But there are things you can't plan for: like having to install for 36 hours with minimal electricity and no light." Another factor said to be contributing to the chaotic set-up is the Ukranian government has not yet provided its half of the Biennale's funding.
Image: the entrance to the second floor at the opening of the Kiev Biennale

Coming up at Starkwhite


Layla Rudneva-Mackay's exhibition Pointing at trees, opens at Starkwhite on Thursday 31 May (from 6pm) alongside the launch of GREEN WITH ENVY, a new volume on the artist's work published jointly with Clouds. The publication launch will include a reading by contributor Sean O'Reilly.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Approaching documentary at St Paul St


Jae Hoon Lee is amongst the artists represented in the exhibition In spite of Ourselves: Approaching Documentary at AUT's St Paul St. Curated by Fiona Amundsen, Dienko Jansen and Vera May, the exhibition runs to 29 June.
Image: Pressure Ridge, 2012 from a suite of works created by Jae Hoon Lee following a visit to Antarctica in January 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Art and arson on the Scottish border


Douglas Gordon is making his first ever film in England, albeit within sight of his native Scotland. The End of Civilisation centres on shots of a grand piano burning in a dip in the fellside. "A piano started to represent for me the ultimate symbol of western civilisation. Not only is it an instrument, it's a beautiful object that works as a sculpture but it has another function entirely", he says. "I wanted to do something with a piano in a landscape of some significance and I suppose as a Scotsman, there's nothing more significant than the border." Read more...
Image: Douglas Gordon's burning piano at Talkin Head

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

New York Times on ART HK


The New York Times reports on ART HK. Read more...
Image: Choi Jeong Hwa's Breathing Flower - Red Lotus, one of the pieces selected by Yuko Hasegawa for ART HK's project series

Billy Apple projects at Starkwhite close this weekend


PORT / STARBOARD, a project by Billy Apple and Inhouse, continues in our downstairs gallery alongside The Immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2). The exhibitions close on Saturday 26 May.
Image: Billy Apple, Motion picture meets the Apple, 1963

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The art of the steal - endgame




After nearly a decade of lawsuits and bitter debate, the $20 billion art collection of French impressionist, post-impressionist and modern art amassed by physician Dr Alfred C Barnes has moved to a new architect-designed building near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

When he died in in 1951, Barnes' will stipulated that the collection never be broken up or leave the two-story villa that housed it in suburban Merion where the display reflected his unconventional theories on art and penchant for buying in quantity (181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes and almost four dozen early Picassos). However, for 60 years the city's power brokers manoeuvered to assert their vision to relocate the collection downtown to be positioned as a major tourist destination - a power struggle recorded in the documentary The Art of the Steal and one that ended with civic profit as the winner. Read more...
Images: the new Barnes Foundation designed by the Manhattan firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien and the old Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion Township, Philadelphia

Monday, May 21, 2012

ARTINFO Ranks the top 10 best museum web sites


ARTINFO looks at the way websites can give institutions a brand boost, selecting their top 10 sites that "succeed online by embracing the open nature of the Internet, presenting information in a clear context, and emphasising powerful images."
Image: from the Aspen Art Museum web site

Saturday, May 19, 2012

From New Plymouth's coastal walkway to ART HK




Yin Xiuzhen's Black Hole is one of the ten pieces selected by Yuko Hasegawa and located throughout ART HK. The piece was first exhibited on New Plymouth's waterfront walkway as an extension to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery exhibition China in Four Seasons: Song Dong + Yin Xiuzhen in 2010. Image: Yin Xiuzhen, Black Hole (2010), installed at New Plymouth's waterfront walkway with Len Lye's Wind Wand in the background; and installed at ART HK 2010

Friday, May 18, 2012

Review of The Immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2)


You can read a review of our current exhibitions The Immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2) and PORT / STARBOARD here. The exhibitions close on Thursday 24 May.
Image: The Immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2), installation view, Starkwhite, Auckland. Photograph: Jennifer French

STARKWHITE at ART HK Booth 3C17










Images: Jin Jiangbo's interactive projection Rules of Nature and works from his Dialogue with Nature series, Starkwhite booth 3C17, ART HK. Read our press release here.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Better, not bigger - the NYT on ART HK 12


The New York Times reports on ART HK 12 and developments under the new Art Basel ownership of the fair, including a suite of installations in 10 locations at the fair, selected by Yuko Hasegawa, chief curator at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art. Read more...
Image: Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention centre, venue for ART HK 12

Future Pass explores trends in contemporary Asian art


Hye Rim Lee is represented in Future Pass at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Curated by Victoria Lu, the exhibition focuses on the theme of Animamix, illustrating the influence of anime and other forms of popular culture on contemporary art practice in Asia.
Image: masthead for Future Pass which runs at the National Taipei Museum of Fine Arts to 15 July 2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

STARKWHITE at ART HK, Booth 3C17


This week we are at ART HK presenting a solo show by Shanghai-based artist Jin Jiangbo. You can read our press release here.
Image: from Jin Jiangbo's Dialogue with Nature series, Starkwhite at ART HK, Booth 3C17, 17-20 May 2012

Kapoor downplays controversy surrounding his tower at the Olympic Park


Anish Kapoor is downplaying the controversy surrounding the tower sculpture for the London Olympics, which he created with structural designer Cecil Balmond, saying he has researched initial negative reactions of Parisians to the iconic Eiffel Tower, recalling the horror of observers such as author Victor Hugo. Read more...
Image: Balmond and Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit (detail), Olympic Park, London

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Kapoor collaborator Cecil Balmond on London's Olympic tower


Artistic collaborations often sail on an uneven keel; the best known member of the crew tends to get all the limelight while the rest are left toiling in obscurity. Anish Kapoor's tower sculpture for the London Olympics is a case in point - the role of the structural designer has received little coverage. However, ARTINFO talked to Cecil Balmond recently about his part in the project. Read more...
Image: Balmond and Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit, Olympic Park, London

Monday, May 14, 2012

Billy Apple projects continue at Starkwhite


PORT / STARBOARD, a project by Billy Apple and Inhouse, continues in our downstairs gallery this week alongside The Immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2). The exhibitions close on Thursday 24 May.
Image: Billy Apple/Inhouse, Solo Fixie (2012), edition of 4

Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron rethink their Serpentine Pavilion


Earlier this year it was announced that the next Serpentine Pavilion would be designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. They plan to build a floating platform barely five feet off the ground supported by 11 columns representing previous pavilions. They also planned to unearth and incorporate the foundations of past pavilions into their design.

"The old foundations form a jumble of convoluted lines, like a sewing pattern," the architects said in a statement. "A distinctive landscape emerges out of the reconstructed foundations which is quite unlike anything we could have invented; its form and shape is actually a serendipitous gift."

But when the excavations began, the traces of past pavilions by the likes of Rem Koolhaas, Oscar Niemeyer, Zaha Hadid and SANAA were nowhere to be found. Undeterred by the discovery, Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron have instructed the team on the job to overlay the plans of the past 11 pavilions and "find a new shape".
Image: rendering (overhead view) of the Serpentine Pavilion designed by Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron. The floating pavilion will collect water, reflecting the moody London skyscape

Saturday, May 12, 2012

ART HK founder to launch new fair in Sydney


Tim Etchells, the founder of ART HK and most recently A13 London, is launching Sydney Contemporary next April with a view to making it a biennial event. The inaugural edition of the fair will take place at the Horden Pavilion and Royal Hall of Industries at Moore Park on 12 - 14 April 2013.

The establishment of the new fair is likely to ensure that the Melbourne Art Fair's plans to move to an annual event will stay on the backburner. Melbourne's plans to become annual were announced in 2008, in part to stave off the need for a Sydney event in its off year. However they were were shelved in the light of the global economic crisis and concerns that Australia could not sustain a high-end art fair every year.
Image: Sydney's Horden Pavilion and Royal Hall of Industries

Thursday, May 10, 2012

David Shrigley Billboard at the High Line




David Shrigley's billboard project How do you feel? at New York's High Line park is the third in a series beginning with John Baldessari's The First $100,000 I Ever Made. Shrigley's billboard runs concurrently with his retrospective Brain Activity at London's Hayward Gallery
Image: David Shrigley's How do you feel? billboard at the High Line, NY

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Influential collectors and directors discuss the future of private museums at ART HK forum


This year's edition of ART HK will include The Private Museum Forum, in which influential private museum owners and directors from across the world will come together to discuss shared goals and concerns, including how they might develop shared programmes in the same way that public museums frequently do. The Private Museum Forum debuted last year, but this time the fair has revealed that the VIP event will be complemented by a public session, in the hope of bringing the importance of the private museum to a wider audience.
Image: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue for ART HK 2012

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Starkwhite at ART HK 2012


ART HK 2012 takes place next week in the city's convention and exhibition centre. This year we will present a solo show by Shanghai-based artist Jin Jiangbo. The show will include Rules of Nature, a landscape in the manner of traditional Chinese ink-and-wash painting, but staged as an interactive projection, and in an adjacent space we will present a suite of digital photographs from his recent Dialogue with Nature series. You can read our press release here.
Image: from Jin Jiangbo's Dialogue with Nature series, Starkwhite at ART HK, Booth 3C17, 17-20 May 2012

Monday, May 7, 2012

This week at Starkwhite


PORT / STARBOARD, a project by Billy Apple and Inhouse, continues in our downstairs gallery this week alongside The Immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2).
Image: Billy Apple/Inhouse, Solo Fixie (2012), edition of 4

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Scream breaks the $100 million mark


Expected to fetch in excess of $80 million, Edvard Munch's The Scream went under the hammer for a record $119,922,500 at Sotheby's, becoming the most expensive art work ever sold at auction and the first to break the $100 million mark.
Image: Edvard Munch's The Scream, 1985 pastel on board

Friday, May 4, 2012

Centre Pompidu to go global


In a move that will draw comparisons with the Guggenheim, the Centre Pompidu is looking to expand with a chain of galleries carrying the institution's brand. The Guggenheim model of expansion was based on replicating the New York original around the world: flagship architecture, cutting-edge temporary exhibitions and utilising the appeal of the brand. President of the Pompidu, Alain Seban, says: "We are taking a more modest approach, with temporary projects in existing venues like museums and universities, but why not historical monuments, former industrial facilities or shopping malls? We will draw on the scope of our collection which is the best in Europe, and the strength of our own brand." Read more...
Image: Alain Seban at the Pompidu

Thursday, May 3, 2012

frieze review of Alicia Frankovich's Bodies & Situations


The latest issue of frieze includes a review by Emily Cormack of Alicia Frankovich's Bodies & Situations exhibition at Starkwhite earlier this year.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Bodies & Situations (2012), installation view, Starkwhite

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

2012 Turner Prize shortlist announced


Artists Spartacus Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Paul Noble and Elizabeth Price have been shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize.The artists will now prepare work for the Turner Prize exhibition which opens at the Tate Britain in London on 2 October and the winner of the £25,000 prize will be announced on 3 December. Read more...
Image: a photograph from Spartacus Chetwynd's perfomance Odd Man Out, 2011

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A suite of Billy Apple projects at Starkwhite


Starkwhite is presenting a suite of projects by Billy Apple from 19 April to 24 May 2012, beginning with The immortalisation of Billy Apple® (stage 2). After a one-week showing it has been relocated to a smaller space in the gallery, making way for Port/Starboard, a project by Billy Apple and Inhouse, which runs from Wednesday 2 May. All projects in this series will run to 24 May 2012.
Image: a work from the Port/Starboard series by Billy Apple and Inhouse