Thursday, October 31, 2013

Artists announced for 2014 Sydney Biennale


The Biennale of Sydney has announced the list of artists selected by Julianna Engberg for You imagine what you desire.You can see the full list of artists here, which includes Brisbane-based artist Ross Manning. The Biennale runs from 21 March to 9 June 2014.
Image: installation view of Ross Manning's Field Emissions at Starkwhite, 2012

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sotheby's vs hedge fund hawk


The Guardian reports on a backroom drama pitting Sotheby's against one of New York's most aggressive investment managers - a drama, it says, that sheds light on the increasingly competitive battle to sell art that threatens to upset the traditional balance between galleries that discover and develop the careers of artists and auction houses that sell works by artists with a proven value.

Dan Loeb, art collector and chief executive of Third Point, a hedge fund manager with $14b under management is campaigning to unseat Sotheby's chairman, president and chief executive William Ruprecht. Loeb who has a 9.3% stake in in Sotheby's claims it has failed to "grasp the fundamental importance of contemporary and modern art to the company's growth." It has also failed, he says, to take advantage of new markets in Asia and the Middle East.

The jury is out about whether to take Loeb's actions seriously. Many suspect he wants to turn the auction house into an aggressive cash-and-carry for contemporary art and force up the value of Sotheby's shares before cashing out. Art critic Dave Hickey says handing the business over to hedge fund managers is not a good solution. "The idea of turning Sotheby's into Lehman Brothers is ridiculous, because contemporary art has no intrinsic value," he says. "I don't think a bunch of busineess school graduates are going to be able to offer and environment in which art can flourish."

The downside of auction houses muscling in on galleries' turf was vividly illustrated last week at Christie's when collector-dealer Charles Saatchi dumped 50 large sculptures, several by artists with little or no auction history, on the market - an approach described by The Times as taking "a sledgehammer to prevailing notions of how to sell work by emerging artists."
Image: Edvard Munch's painting The Scream at Sotheby's

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Saatchi's Thinking BIg auction fails to fire


In a report on Charles Saatchi's Thinking Big auction staged by Christie's, the Financial Times says the collector "took a sledgehammer to prevailing notions of how to sell work by emerging artists." The no-estimates, no-reserve approach to the auction of 50 large works from his collection delivered poor results for many artists and dealers were appalled by the everything-must-go strategy. It was a "strong-arm tactic" says Simon Lee whose gallery represents one of the artists in the sale, a tactic designed to force dealers into bidding to support their artists' prices. Read more...
Image: Charles Saatchi

Monday, October 28, 2013

Justin Paton on art as the ultimate conversation piece


You can read a Sydney Morning Herald Q & A with Justin Paton here.
Image: Kaldor Family Room at the AGNSW

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Final day for Li Xiaofei's Assembly Line


Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line - Entrance closes today at 3pm. You can read a review of the show here.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line - Entrance, installation view, Starkwhite

Friday, October 25, 2013

Justin Paton off to the Art Gallery of New South Wales


Director Michael Brand has announced the appointment of Justin Paton as Head of International Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Read more...
Image: Justin Paton

The Foxton Forger dies leaving a list of artists he had copied and sold


Art forger, Karl Sim, died earlier this week. He shot to notoriety in 1985 when he was arrested and convicted for art forgery after he copied and sold painitngs and drawings of notable New Zealand artists such Charles F Goldie and Petrus van der Velden. After the court case Sim changed his name to Carl Feoder Goldie so he could legally sign his Goldie fakes as C F Goldie. The forger left behind a list of 62 artists he'd copied over the years, fueling speculation about where they are and whether any have found their way into public collections.
Image: the Foxton Forger 'C F Goldie' in his studio

ArtReview Power 100 list


Qatar's Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani has taken out first place on the 2013 ArtReview Power 100 list, with second and third places going to gallerists David Zwirner and Iwan Wirth. The top 10 includes Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Gioni Massimiliano and Ai Weiwei (the only artist in the top 10) You can see the full list of art world players here.
Image:Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani at the opening of Takashi Murakami's exhibition at Versailleswww.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/oct/24/qatar-sheikha-mayassa-tops-art-power-list

20 Freedom Farmers at the Auckland Art Gallery


Freedom Farmers: New Zealand Artists Growing Ideas opens tonight at the Auckland Art Gallery. Curated by Natasha Conland, the exhibition features commissioned artworks by 20 artists (including Martin Basher and Richard Maloy) tracing the way New Zealand artists are using ideas of utopia, sustainability and artistic freedom in their work.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

New Zealand economy on the rebound


After five years in the doldrums the New Zealand economy may be on the rebound. Economists are predicting GDP growth of 3% or more and even the IMF expects growth to pick up to 2.9% - ahead of our Western trading partners (including Australia) and not far behind Asian nations like South Korea and Singapore. The rebuild of the quake-devastated city of Christchurch (home to the current SCAPE Biennale) is one of the major economic drivers, along with a booming dairy industry and better than expected growth in the Chinese economy (New Zealand's second largest trading partner, after Australia).

Jailed artist wins Australia's richest art prize


Artist Nigel Milsom, who is currently serving a six-year sentence for armed robbery, has won the $150,000 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Read more...
Image: Nigel Milsom's prize-winning portrait, Uncle Paddy

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

An encounter with SCAPE 7, Christchurch's post-quake biennale


After being postponed twice following the earthquakes that hit Christchurch in 2010 and 2011, SCAPE 7 has finally opened. Despite widespread interest in the event and how curator Blair French and participating artists would respond to the post-quake setting, there has been surprisingly little coverage of SCAPE. Fortunately Melbourne's CCAS was there to cover the launch. Read more...
Image: I was using six watts when you received me, by Maddie Leach and Jem Nobles, SCAPE 7

Phil Dadson's Human Instrument Archive at SCAPE Biennale


Phil Dadson's Bodytok Quintet features in this year's SCAPE Biennale in Christchurch. Drawn from his Human Instrument Archive, and staged at ArtBox, Dadson's interactive videos of "non-verbal body music" are presented on five screens that are activated by viewers when they approach them. Read more...
Image: Phil Dadson's Bodytok at the ArtBox, SCAPE Biennale 7

A sculptural intervention based on the act of giving and the symbolism of light


Commissioned by the Christchurch City Council, Cologne-based artist Misha Kuball's Solidarity Grid is based in the act of giving and symbolism of light. Over a period of three years, beginning with the current edition of the SCAPE Biennale, a single street lamp from each of twenty-one cities around the globe is being gifted to Christchurch as a gesture of solidarity with the city during its post-earthquake recovery and rebuild process. The lamps will be installed along a section of Park Terrace, providing light for pedestrians and cyclists.
Image: Mischa Kubell's Solidarity Grid 

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Guggenheim is 54 years old today


On this date in 1959, thousands of New Yorkers turned up for the opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R Guggenheim Museum. This link takes you to Buildings & Crowd, a short film of footage from the grand opening.
Image: opening of the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in 1959

Monday, October 21, 2013

Alicia Frankovich at the Kunstverein Hildesheim


Alicia Frankovich's exhibition Today this technique is the other way round is showing at the Kunstverein Hildesheim from 19 October - 1 December.
Image: press photograph for Today this technique is the other way round

Singapore's Centre for Contemporary Art appoints founding director


Uta Meta Bauer has been appointed the founding director of Singapore's Centre for Contemporary Art. She comes to the CCA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was an associate professor of visual art, and has served previously as artistic director of the third edition of the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2004 and was a member of the curatorial team for Documenta 11, which was overseen by Okwui Enwezor in 2002.
Image: Curator Uta Meta Bauer

This week at Starkwhite


Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line - Entrance continues at Starkwhite to 31 October. You can read a review of the show here.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line - Entrance, installation view, Starkwhite

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Frieze in pictures


This link takes you to ARTINFO's Frieze week in pictures.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Man Booker prize winner on literary sexism


Man Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton talks to the Guardian about literary bullyiing and why middle-aged male critics disliked her prize-winning novel. Read more...
Image: Eleanor Catton

Jeffrey Deitch plans his next move


Following his exit as director of Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art, Jeffrey Deitch is planning his next move - a bid to create a hybrid between a museum mounting exhibitions geared to a general audience , and a galley that doesn't have to deal with the complex institutional issues that come with running a non-profit museum. The idea going forward he said is to continue doing big, museum-scale shows but without the institutional constraints.

Deitch is talking to potential collaborators who would help fund his venture, among them AEG, the LA-based entertainment company that has an arts and exhibitions division. He is also looking for a venue in New York for his new venture.
Image: Jeffrey Deitch

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Review of Li Xiaofei's Assembly Line exhibition


This link takes you to a review of our current exhibition Assembly Line - Entrance by Li Xiaofei
Image: Li Xiaofei, A Foreign Boss (2102), video still

Government by crisis


At the 11th hour, Senate leaders have reached a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling, setting in train a race against the clock to pass the deal through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-controlled Senate in time for Barrack Obama to sign it before midnight on Thursday.

But it's a short-term fix that reopens government and raises the debt ceiling until early next year when the next round of political brinksmanship is likely to begin all over again, which would further undermine confidence in the US economic recovery and long-term viability of the dollar as the world's reserve currency - a prospect that has prompted business magnate Warren Buffett to call on both sides not to use the debt limit as a "political weapon of mass destruction."

You can follow the passage of the deal (and commentary) live here.
Image: The US Capitol

Building relationships between artists and curators in the Asia/Pacific region




Two New Zealand curators are heading to Asia with the support of Creative New Zealand and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Vera Mey, the assistant director of AUT University's ST PAUL St Gallery, will spend a month in Japan, Korea and Singapore and Emma Bugden, senior curator of Lower Hutt's Dowse Art Museum, will travel to Japan, Korea and China for a three week tour. Both curators aim to further develop their networks in the region and pursue projects initiated from earlier tours.
Images: Vera May (top) and Emma Bugden (bottom)

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

New IMA directors


The IMA has appointed co-directors to replace Robert Leonard who returns to New Zealand in the New Year to take up the chief curator's position at the City Gallery, Wellington. Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh join the IMA from their previous post as co-directors of the Centre for Contemporary Art Derry-Londonderry where they are part of the curatorial team for the 2013 Turner Prize.
Image: Johan Lundh and Aileen Burns 

New Zealand author wins Man Booker Prize


New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has become the youngest winner of the prestigious Man Brooker Prize. Her novel The Luminaries won the fiction writing award which comes with a cheque for 50,000 pounds.
Image: Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize

Default advocates: the tail wagging the G.O.P. dog


In an article posted on the New York Times blog, Bruce Bartlett says the Obama administration and those on Wall Street have long thought the prospect of a default was so horrifying that it would necessarily lead to resolution of the current impasse. "What I don't think they understand is that there has been a movement underway for some years among right-wing economists and activists not merely to default on the debt, but even to repudiate it," he says. Read more...
Image: US National Debt Clock (detail)

Arts Foundation of New Zealand awards announced


The Arts Foundation of New Zealand held its annual awards in Auckland last night. The Todd Family received the Patronage Award for their extraordinary support of the arts in New Zealand (the Todd Foundation's $3m contribution to the Len Lye Centre is the largest private donation ever made to the arts in New Zealand), Laurence Aberhart received a $50,000 Laureate Award and Kushana Bush picked up a $25,000 New Generation Award.
Image: Laurence Aberhart's Mt Taranaki

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Simon Rees returns to Govett-Brewster Art Gallery


Simon Rees returns to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 2014 - this time as director (he was a curator at the gallery during Greg Burke's directorship). Currently Head of Curatorial Development at MAK, the Austrian Museum of Applied Art, Rees brings a wealth of international experience to the position. In 2007 he curated the award winning Lithuanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale with artists Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas and in 2011 he was the lead curator for the 15th Tallinn Triennial: FOR LOVE NOT MONEY. He is also a regular contributor to frieze and frieze d/e.

Frieze adjusts the party/business mix


Frieze is cutting back this year. The number of galleries has been reduced from 175 last year to 152, tickets have been cut by 20%, including VIPS, and organisers are downplaying the fair's party scene rated as second only to Art Basel Miami Beach. The cutbacks are meant to "make the fair more luxurious," says Frieze co-founder and co-director Amanda Sharp responding to concerns that crowds of window shoppers and parties get in the way of sales.

Hans Ulrich Obrist interviews Billy Apple


Earlier this year, Billy Apple was in Hong Kong for The Immortalisation of Billy Apple®an art/science project by Apple and artist/scientist Craig Hilton presented by Starkwhite at the first edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, where he caught up with Hans Ulrich Obrist. Last week they met again in London where Obrist is conducting an interview with Apple for his epic anthology The Interview Project.
Image: Billy Apple at Serpentine Gallery's new restaurant designed by Zaha Hadid.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Len Lye advocates ousted in local government election


Supporters of the Len Lye Centre, which was given the green light by the New Plymouth District Council during Harry Duynhoven's time as Mayor, will be wondering what to make of the election results. Dynhoven was trounced by incoming Mayor Andrew Judd, a vocal opponent of the Centre, and councillors John McLeod and Shaun Biesiek, who teamed up with Judd to oppose the project, were re-elected. The Len Lye Centre team took a hit with the loss of Lance Girling-Butcher (chair of the Council's Len Lye Committee) and Maurice Betts and Phil Quinney (both advocates for the Centre) who were not re-elected.
Image: Len Lye, Rainbow Dance (1936) film still

This week at Starkwhite


Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line - Entrance continues at Starkwhite to 29 October.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line - Entrance, installation view, Starkwhite

Saturday, October 12, 2013

McCahon House: good news and bad news




In a piece in the eMagazine World Architects, this drawing of the McCahon House, designed by Bossley Architects for use as an artists residency programme, was part of a compilation of material to illustrate the value of hand-drawn sketches in the age of computers. A hardline elevation and a looser depiction of landscape over a photograph of trees and the sloping site, accentuate the design for a low-impact residence set among the trees and alongside the historic cottage that Colin McCahon lived and worked in from 1953 - 1960.

Sadly the Kauri trees that were a source of inspiration for the artist have been hit by Kauri Dieback disease. Many are in a state of decline and two have been removed, highlighting the need for continuing research and action to strop the spread of the disease.
Images: architectural drawing of the McCahon House and studio by Bossley Architectects and photograph by Patrick Reynolds

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Surge in the market for US credit default swaps


Growing investor fears that Washington could miss a payment on its debt has led to a surge in the market for derivatives that insure against a US default. The Financial Times says the average daily trading of credit default swaps (CDS) which give investors protection on US government debt, has jumped to 150m in the past week from about 1.5m in recent months.

The spike in trading activity is unusual for US sovereign CDS, which is traditionally a very thinly traded market, as traders often say buying protection on the possibility of the US government restructuring or defaulting on its debt, is akin to buying insurance for the end of the world.

Tacita Dean's mission to resist technological determinism and save film


Tacita Dean's FILM, shot in 35mm film for the Tate Modern's vast Engine Hall, is showing at ACCA as part of the Melbourne Festival (10 October - 24 November).

In a recent article in the The Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Stephens updates readers on the artist's mission to resist "technological determinism' and save film from obsolescence in the digital age.

In 2006 Dean made a film about the Kodak factory in France, using soon-to-be-obselete film stock - and the place closed down shortly after. Since then, she's found it increasingly difficult to source film stock and get it processed and to get people in authority to understand why it is so glorious.

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

Venice threatened by cruise ship tourism


News that Venice has been added to the World Monument Fund's Watch List of heritage sites at risk has been welcomed by parties set of preserving the city for future generations. Cruise ship tourism has been identified as one of the most significant threats as visitors flock to the city. Visitor numbers have increased by 400% within the past five years and during the peak season an average of 20,000 tourists pour into the city's streets and squares each day.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Jae Hoon Lee awarded Cemeti Art House residency


Jae Hoon Lee will travel to Indonesia in the New Year to take up a two-month residency at the Cemeti Art House before moving to New York for a six-month residency under the International Studio and Curatorial Programme.
Image: Jae Hoon Lee in conversation with curator Justin Paton

Kaleidoscope releases Asia Pacific edition


Kaleidoscope has announced the release of a special edition dedicated to contemporary art from the Asia Pacific region. The issue includes a piece on Seung Yul Oh whose practice is seen by Emma Bugden as blurring the lines of art and play.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Alicia Frankovich at Clermont Ferrand


Curated by Celine Poulin for the Ville de Clermont Ferrand, Brigadoon includes Alicia Frankovich's Man Walked on the Moon, on loan from the Chartwell Collection, which is housed at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. [You can see images of works in the show here.]

2013 is proving to be a big year for Frankovich who has featured in: Unknown Forces curated by Sunjung Kim for Tophane-i Amire Culture and Arts Centre (Istanbul); The Real Thing, curated by Antonia Glampi and Jason Waite for Palais de Tokyo (Paris); The Anne Landa Award: The Space Between Us curated by Charloette Day for the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney) and Direct Democracy curated by Geraldine Barlow for Monash Museum of Art (Melbourne).

She is also in the lineup of speakers for the fifth edition of the annual seminar series Three Uses of the Knifewhich will explore the way new economies, formats and strategies shape contemporary performance-related art.

Who is responsible for the future?


The Serpentine will stage the 89plus Marathon, the 8th Festival of Ideas on 18/19 October. Conceived of by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Marathon brings together a diverse array of world-leading figures to investigate a topic from a variety of angles and over a two-day period. Past Marathons have covered subjects ranging from Manifestos (2008) and Maps (2010) to Memory (2012).

This year's Marathon takes its name from the multi-platform research project 89plus, co-founded by Obrist and Simon Castets, which investigates innovative work by the generation born in or after 1989. The event will look to the future considering how the internet and new social and economic networks are changing the world as we know it. Some of the brightest lights of this generation will consider what he future will look like and, more crucially, who will determine that future.

For the first time, an online 89plus Clubhouse, hosted by HP Cloud, will enable remote participation from around the world.

Billy Apple® at the Mayor Gallery, London


Billy Apple®: NewYork 1970-75 is showing at The Mayor Gallery, London to 28 October. It is Apple's second show at the gallery and follows Billy Apple®: British and American Works 1960-1969.
Image: invitation image for Billy Apple®: New York 1970-75

Monday, October 7, 2013

Republicans and Democrats trade blame as battle over government funding merges into the one over debt ceiling


The US budget standoff continues this week with both sides trading blame for the shutdown that has brought much of the government to a standstill, raising fears about the possibility of a US default. Republican House Speaker John Boehner vowed on Sunday not to raise the debt ceiling without addressing what is driving the debt, while Democrats said it was irresponsible and reckless to raise the possibility of a US default. Asked if his comments meant the United States was headed towards a default if President Obama did not negotiate ahead of a October 17 deadline to raise the debt ceiling, Boehner said: "That's the path we are on." Read more...

Qatar launches new arts and recreation website


Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, the driving force behind the plan to turn her country into a cultural destination, has launched a new website covering arts, style, living and sport in Qatar. You can visit the site here.
Image: Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar

This week at Starkwhite


Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line - Entrance continues at Starkwhite to 29 October.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line - Entrance, video still, Starkwhite

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Crystal Palace to be rebuilt by Chinese billionaire


A Chinese billionaire plans to build a replica of Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace on the site it occupied in South London in 1854. The Palace was relocated from Hyde Park to Sydenham in 1854, but burned down in 1936. With the backing of Mayor Boris Johnson, Ni Zhaoxing, chairman of property development firm ZhongRong Group, is investing £500m in the project, which is described as a "culture-led exhibition space" that will include a hotel and conference facilities, studios, galleries and other commercial units.
Image: Crystal Palace after it was built in 1851

Friday, October 4, 2013

Art fund industry in the doldrums


The troubled art fund industry is still in the doldrums says The Art Newspaper. Further closures, a slow fundraising environment and lower-than-expected returns are compounding the effects of the credit crunch, which had already claimed several victims.

Of the 36 funds that Noah Horowitz, now director of The Armory Show, lists in the apendix to his 2011 book Art of the Deal, ten had closed by the time his book was published and a fruther seven have since been abandoned.

Managers of funds that have survided say they have learned from their mistakes. Philip Hoffman who runs Fine Art Fund Group, ostensibly the most successful art investment group, says that he has to realisitic about the net returns of his first fund (launched in 2004), which is expected to be around 6%, despite gross returns of nearly 19%. He says that administrative costs and currency fluctuations had a bigger impact than expected and that "my mistake was investing long term in old masters, which have done nothing." Read more...

Economist Paul Krugman on Rebels without a Clue


Washington and international officials have raised the alarm on a potentially disastrous clash over the US debt limit as Democrats and Republicans remain no closer to reolving the budget feud that has shut down much of government. If Congress fails to raise the borrowing cap by mid October, the US could default on its obligations for the first time and send shock waves across the world.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says: "The government shutdown is bad enough, but failure to raise the debt ceiling would be far worse, and could very seriously damage not only the US economy, but the entire global economy." And the US Treasury has also warned that failure to raise the debt ceiling could spark a new recession even worse than the one Americans are still recovering from.

So why are Republicans set on taking the US to the brink of financial catastrophe again? Paul Krugman says the party's delusional wing either don't understand what is at stake, or don't care. Read more...