An interview with Lucca Hue-Williams on curating boundary-pushing art, global narratives, and the future of London’s creative landscape

Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens (Installation view), via Sprüth Magers

For the most recent new exhibition in Berlin, Sprüth Magers has brought together work from thirteen artists under the title Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens.  Curated by Goodroom and Johannes Fricke Waldthausen, the exhibition features works by Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin, Andy Hope 1930, Oliver Laric, Jon Rafman, and Andro Wekua, among others.  Intended to navigate visitors through the intersecting narratives within the realm of surrealist animation, abstraction and the ideas of “New Materialism” as expressed through the greater logistics of the world wide web, the exhibition references the notion of the screen as a critical tool of the conscious and unconscious, as well as a surface for projections of communication and technological abstraction.   (more…)

The Whitechapel Gallery has announced the London Open 2015, a Triennial open to all artists living and working in the British capital over the age of 26.  “The London Open 2015 received the greatest number of applications in the history of the Whitechapel Gallery’s open submission exhibition,” says Daniel F. Herrmann, Eisler Curator and Head of Curatorial Studies.  “The entries were of exceptionally high quality – their level of execution, creativity and critical sense are testament to London’s status as the art capital of the world and we are delighted to present some of the most interesting artists working in the city today” (more…)

Franz West, Lamp (2003), all photos by Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed

Marlborough Broome Street, the downtown, contemporary-focused outpost of Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery, opened its doors for a summer group show titled Marlborough Lights this month. Curated by Leo Fitzpatrick, a newly appointed director at the gallery, the exhibition traces a loose interpretation of the lightbulb as a source of energy and an allegory for critical thinking, while exploring the potentialities for the lamp as a creative container for motives beyond mere furniture or utilitarian lighting.

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Albert Oehlen, Untitled (2005), via Art Observed

In terms of painterly invention, few can keep up with Albert Oehlen, the German artist whose relentless reinterpretation of the medium has made him one of the more intriguing, and often unpredictable, guardians of the form.  Moving effortlessly from visceral abstraction to coy installation work and back, few elements of visual culture have avoided his scope over the past 30 years.  This drive towards the investigation of the image, and its potentials in an increasingly mediated world, sits at the center of Oehlen’s New Museum retrospective this summer in New York, combining a carefully selected series of works that move from his early recognition during the 1980’s through to the present day. (more…)

David Hockney is interviewed in The Guardian this week, discussing his recent practice using digital technology and his lifestyle in Los Angeles.  “It’s a reasonably sophisticated city down the hill,” he says. “It’s very nice. It’s home, really. But I’m not that interested in what’s happening outside. I like my way of life. I just work.” (more…)

Germany’s Cultural Minister is pushing to pass a new law that will strictly limit the international sale of works deemed of particularly high cultural value, as well as potential fakes and illegally sold antiques, particularly works valued over €150,000 ($164,000) and/or older than 50 years.  The proposal has seen staunch opposition from a number of artists, including Gerhard Richter.  “No one has the right to tell me what I do with my images,” the artist said this week. (more…)

Lynda Benglis, Bounty, Amber Waves, and Fruited Plane (2014) via Storm King Art Center

As summer reaches its zenith in New York, countless outdoor exhibitions and special public projects have sprung up across the city and region, encouraging visitors to take a more intrepid stance towards the art world.  Continuing its annual series of special exhibitions, the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, NY has invited New York artist Lynda Benglis to take full advantage of its sprawling Catskills property, bringing a number of her organically-inspired cast sculptures to investigate the picturesque environs upstate.  With 12 outdoor sculptures and an additional 15 on view inside the museum galleries, Benglis’s exhibition is a striking look at the artist’s aesthetic interests over the past 15 years, as she increasingly incorporated notions of public, urban space and natural phenomena into her dizzyingly complex sculptural assemblages. (more…)

Oscar-winning director Laura Poitras, who recently collaborated with Ai Weiwei, has filed suit against U.S. Security Agencies, demanding the release of records documenting the six years that she experienced long searches, questionings, and security screenings at U.S. and international airports. “I’m filing this lawsuit because the government uses the U.S. border to bypass the rule of law. This simply should not be tolerated in a democracy,” she says. “I am also filing this suit in support of the countless other less high-profile people who have also been subjected to years of Kafkaesque harassment at the borders. We have a right to know how this system works and why we are targeted.” (more…)

Noah Horowitz, who has served as Executive Director of The Armory Show since 2011, has announced that he is accepting a position as Director Americas for Art Basel, placing him in charge of the Miami Beach edition of the fair.  “The Americas have been a leading center in the art world for many decades, and the region continues to show distinctive and ongoing growth in many different countries,” Horowitz says. “I look forward to working with collectors and arts institutions throughout the two continents – from Canada to South America, and across the entirety of the United States – in an effort to bring the fair in Miami Beach to ever-greater heights.” (more…)

Artist Shepard Fairey has turned himself in in Detroit over the arrest warrant for his vandalism in the city.  He is accused of over $9,000 in damages to properties.  “Can’t talk about anything,” Fairey said in a short comment following his arrest in Los Angeles last week. (more…)

Artist Tania Bruguera, following the return of her passport, has been named the first artist-in-residence in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), in part of an effort to bring more attention to the benefits for immigrants in the city, and in the ownership of a City ID Card. “This project provides a unique opportunity to enhance the notion of art as a useful tool to materialize a vision of a more inclusive society,” Bruguera says. “I’m excited to explore new ways of collaborating with New York’s immigrant communities to make a real impact on the lives of city residents.” (more…)

Despite fierce protests from researchers, curators and museum heads, the Louvre is pushing forward with its decision to move 250,000 artworks and artifacts to a new storage facility north of the city, in Liévin, a move that many say will cripple research attempts in the capital.  “A museum without its reserves is like a plane without engines: it looks all beautiful and glittering, but it won’t move,” says an open letter from 42 of the museum’s 45 curators. (more…)

The New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl offers his take on the “fearful frenzy” of the art market this week, and the ominous notes that the current focus on the market by the über-wealthy strike.  “Alongside global prosperity has come a lot more political instability, and it’s in the interests of the social elite to keep their options open as to where they relocate,” he quotes from Artnet’s J.J. Charlesworth. (more…)

The Cuban government has returned artist Tania Bruguera’s passport, having held it for the past six months.  Despite its return, the artist has expressed her desire to remain in the country.  “My argument has never been about leaving Cuba; my argument is about working so there is freedom of expression and public protest in Cuba,” she says.  “People should feel free to say what they think without fear of losing their jobs or university standing, of being marginalized or imprisoned.” (more…)

Karl Holmqvist, Bebe Coca wall drawing (2015)

The influx of summer group shows have already begun in New York this year, as galleries presenting diverting and compelling themes take the slow summer months to explore connecting themes among their roster of artists and the broader art world.  Gladstone Gallery’s Hello Walls is one of the most intriguing of these early group exhibitions, placing an emphasis on the wall as a means for contextual experiment and repositioned working structures. (more…)

President Obama has designated three new sites for federally protected land in the United States, including Basin and Range in Nevada.  The site serves as the home of Michael Heizer’s landmark installation City, effectively preserving the work within the 704,000 acres of desert being set aside for protection. (more…)

Collector and former MoMA President Agnes Gund is profiled in the Wall Street Journal this week, discussing the state of the market, her focus on female artists, and her organization Studio in a School, an arts program offering training in teaching art to young students.  “If it’s taught well, art really is important to kids early on,” she says. “It helps children develop language and allows them to see themselves in a way that isn’t right or wrong, because if they draw an animal with five legs instead of four, nobody’s criticizing them for it.” (more…)

Tullio Lombardo’s Renaissance statue of Adam, which famously fell from its pedestal at The Met and was smashed to pieces, is back on view after a lengthy restoration, accompanied by a digital video project and performance that gives the work a multi-faceted, occasionally irreverent voice.  The project is a continuation of The Met’s ongoing emphasis on direct engagement of visitors with its collection through performance and new technology. (more…)

Artist Marc Quinn is interviewed in the Telegraph this week, as he prepares to show new work at White Cube this month.  “I’ve always loved beaches,” he says, noting the connections between the ocean’s form and landscape and his own work.  “I love that we come from the sea. I think that’s where my interest in liquid and solid comes from. The beach is where liquid and solid meet, so it has this incredible sense of possibility.” (more…)

Art Daily has an interview with Art Recovery Group’s founder Christopher Marinello, whose work investigating claims of Nazi-looted art and stolen works has made him a trusted authority on reclaiming lost art.  “This is one of our specialities,” Marinello says of his recent case returning a stolen Rodin to a Los Angeles family. “Getting in the middle of a case and finding a way to twist everybody’s arm to settle the case.”  (more…)

An Auguste Rodin sculpture stolen 24 years ago has been recovered after it was offered for sale to Christie’s, and returned to the owner. “In accordance with the insurance policy to which this work was subject, Young Woman with Serpent was offered back to the theft victim upon its successful recovery,”says Spokesman Jerome Hasler of Art Recovery Group, the company that assisted in the recovery of the piece.  “In this instance, however, the victim has decided that the work should be sold, and it will now be consigned later this year for a new owner to enjoy.” (more…)

The Art News published its annual list of the Top 200 Collectors this week, featuring short profiles on the collectors on the list this year, including Roman Abramovich, Agnes Gund, Paul Allen, and Leonardo DiCaprio.   (more…)

Olafur Eliasson is interviewed in Fast Company this week, discussing his design projects and views on urban infrastructure, including the capacities for city planning and art to change how people interact and use limited urban space.  “Reflexivity is about connectivity, and connectivity is sometimes more about looking into yourself than looking at the ‘other.’ It can be hard work, and it can be uncomfortable, but sometimes public space has to make that demand of you,” he says.  “And sometimes art—and good art always—makes that demand of you. It makes you work. It makes you give. It makes you into a producer of space, of situations, of life, instead of being a consumer.” (more…)