Monday, June 16, 2014

This week at Starkwhite

Michael Zavros' exhibition Bad Dad continues at Starkwhite this week through to 28 June.
Image: Zavros' Mercedes M Class/Killing me Softly, 2004, oil on board

Thursday, June 12, 2014

IMF gives another tick to New Zealand economy


The latest International Monetary Fund report on the New Zealand economy says economic expansion "is becoming increasingly embedded and broad based." The IMF is forecasting economic growth of 3.5% and predicts that it will not fall below 2.5% over the next few years. 

The economy will be driven by strong construction activity, higher prices for exports and increases in net migration. And a sharp slowdown in China and Auckland's overheated property market remain the two threats to economic growth in New Zealand.

You can read the full report here.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Art investment jitters in Australia


Changes to the rules governing collectibles held in self-managed super funds (SMSFs) in Australia may trigger a flood of artworks onto the market with investors facing the possibility of their portfolios being sold at fire sale prices. According to art accountant and valuer Michael Fox there has already been a significant level of divestment of collections that he says could be explained by "a desire to seek a higher price for the artworks and collectibles before the market becomes depressed by an oversupply of artworks". Read more...
Image: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Untitled (Awelye) 1995

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The risky business of art investment


The role of art in growing your wealth and viability of art as an investment were two of the session topics at the London Business School's recent art investment conference.

Keynote speaker Anna Dempster, an economist and senior lecturer at Soetheby's Institute of Art, said art as an asset class presented significant opportunities at a time when an estimated $2 trillion of artworks are currently held in private hands. But other panelists disagreed with the positioning of art as an asset class. "Art is an asset, not an asset class," said Luke Dugdale, director of the Royal Bank of Canada's British-based wealth management division. "If it were an asset class, the Financial Conduct Authority would regulate it and that would kill the art world. It's a market in which everyone can be an advisor."

The conference was wrapped up by self-confessed flipper Kenny Schachter. "An asset class generates a return on investment, whereas with art the dividend is visual," he said. "But if you buy art low and sell high you can make extraordinary money." Read more...

Monday, June 9, 2014

This week at Starkwhite


Michael Zavros' exhibition Bad Dad continues at Starkwhite this week through to 28 June.
Image: Bad Dad installation view 

New Zealand's first pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale


New Zealand is one of 11 countries presenting inaugural exhibitions at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, which opened on 7 June.

Artistic director Rem Koolhaas's theme invites participating nations to reflect on the development of modern architecture since 1914 and the resulting loss of distinctive national characteristics in architecture. But New Zealand commissioner David Mitchell argues that national differentiation in architecture is possible and has curated an exhibition about traditional Maori architecture, identified by Artinfo as one of the 5 rookie pavilions to watch out for. Read more...
Image: detail from the whatarangi (Maori storehouse) in the New Zealand pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Melissa Chiu to head Hirshhorn Museum


Melissa Chiu has been appointed director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She is currently director of New York's Asia Society Museum and the institution's senior vice president for global arts and cultural programmes and has published extensively. Recent titles include Asia Art Now (Randon House and Thames & Hudson, 2010) and Contemporary Art in Asia: A Critical Reader (MIT Press, 2010), both co-authored with her husband Benjamin Genocchio.
Image: Melissa Chiu

Friday, June 6, 2014

MCA announces Primavera artists selected by Mikala Dwyer


Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art has revealed the names of the 13 artists selected for this year's edition of Primavera, the exhibition for young Australian artists under the age of 35 launched by Cynthia and Edward (Ted) Jackson to honour the memory of their daughter Belinda. The selection was made by artist Mikala Dwyer, one of the four artists exhibited in the inaugural edition of the exhibition at the MCA in 1992.

Dwyer's lineup includes the controversial Melbourne-based artist Paul Yore who is currently fighting charges of producing and possessing child pornography after being accused of creating images that sexualised children during an exhibition of his work at the Linden Centre for Contemporary Art.
Image: Hossein Ghaemi's Frank: Hole up - Hold up (2013). Ghaemi is one of the 13 artists in Primavera 2014

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Okwui Enwezor checks out Australian art


Okwui Enwezor, the artistic director of the 56th Venice Biennale, has been on a whirlwind trip to Sydney and Melbourne where he has been meeting artists and visiting galleries and exhibitions, which he described as a "fascinating investigation into Australian contemporary art". Read more...
Image: Okwui Enwezor