For the New Museum and Rhizome’s latest iteration of the Seven on Seven Technology Conference, Ai Weiwei has teamed with Wikileaks and Tor Project activist Jacob Appelbaum for a project dealing with surveillance and international borders, with the collaboration filmed and presented by Laura Poitras, director of the Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour.  “It was important to bring together these two courageous people who are disseminating their messages using art and technology respectively, and facing similar levels of scrutiny and hardship as a result,” says Heather Corcoran, Senior Executive of Rhizome. (more…)

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is no longer represented by Gagosian Gallery, Artforum reports, a move which ends a partnership first started in 2008.  The organization will now look to Pace Gallery (which represented Rauschenberg later in his career), Thaddaeus Ropac, and São Paulo’s Luisa Strina for worldwide representation.   (more…)

The Telegraph profiles the immense demands that the month of March place on art dealers and gallerists each year, with three major fairs (TEFAF, The Armory Show and Art Basel Hong Kong) sending them on a tour to cater to buyers around the globe.  “Fairs are a necessary evil,” says dealer Ben Brown. “I prefer the quieter contemplation of the gallery, but I sell more at fairs, and I make more contacts.” (more…)

Google has launched a new project, an online street art gallery of images provided by cultural organizations and Google’s Street View camera.  But with the company’s entry into the conversation on the documentation  of street art playing out against the criticisms Google has seen regarding privacy and surveillance, the move should offer interesting discussion points for open access to art online and in the streets.  “I’ve always used my street art to democratize art, so it would be philosophically inconsistent for me to protest art democratization through Google,” says Shepard Fairey. (more…)

Sotheby’s saw impressive results this weekend at its Modern and Contemporary Asian Art auction in Hong Kong, with total sales topping $86 million.  World Record prices were achieved for 8 artists up for bidding that night, including a $12.1 price tag for Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family No. 3. (more…)

Considering a recent figure counting a total of 278 art fairs happening each year around the world, the New York Times looks at the successes of Arco in Madrid this past weekend, and the fair’s increasingly global focus in attempt to sidestep a struggling Spanish economy.    “We sell mostly to museums and foundations at Arco,” said Galeria Vermelho director Marina Buendia. “We’ve been at Arco for six years and things are getting better.”  (more…)

A recent Forbes India interview with Christie’s Steven Murphy, following its successful first auction in Mumbai, has indicated the company’s approach to the growing international market.  “The fundamental fact is that the combination of the surge in interest in art, combined with the new connectivity available online, has opened the door to a vast population of new collectors globally. This surge in new buyers, which is continuing, far outstrips any modulation in sales that macro-economic trends would affect.” (more…)

The global recovery rate for stolen art has been placed at a strikingly low 1.5%, The Art Newspaper reports.  Partially caused by the low priority given to such crimes by most police forces, the field is generally led by private companies, which charge a high percentage of the work’s value for recovery, leaving many dreaming of a better system.  “There is a certain need for an international database,” says Mark Dalrymple, a loss adjuster at London’s Tyler and Co. (more…)

Oscar Murillo, Untitled (2012), via Phillips

The Phillips Contemporary Art Evening Sale wrapped tonight in London, kicking off another edition of Frieze week auctions in the British capital. Running efficiently through the 38 lot auction, the first in the week’s three nights of sales achieved strong, if not expectable results.  With the events of Frieze week as a major draw for collectors around the world, Phillips had little problem finding new buyers for all but 6 of the works on sale, with 10 lots selling well above their maximum estimates.

Tauba Auerbach, Untitled (Fold) (2011), via Phillips (more…)

Elmgreen and Dragset, Powerless Structures (2013) and Hernan Bas, Pearl and pink pansy (fishing in the foliage) (2013) at Victoria Miro

Frieze London officially opened its doors today for its press and VIP preview, welcoming buyers from around the world to the temporary structure in Regent’s Park for another week of high-profile sales and new works.  A markedly reduced affair from last year (the number of galleries on view has been reduced by about 25), the fair still kicked off in traditional fashion, with a rush of early buyers passing through the galleries to review the plenitude of paintings, sculpture, videos and photography spread throughout the fair’s enormous space.

Damien Hirst, The Afterlife (2012) (more…)

The Wall Street Journal reports on the burgeoning contemporary gallery scene, and the numerous large-scale shows foregoing museum exhibitions in favor of names like Gagosian, Zwirner and Hauser and Wirth, many of which are opening museum-sized spaces of their open.  However, these new spaces aren’t only about space to exhibit.  “The mega spaces project what they need to—a level of power and gravitas.”  Says collector Dennis Scholl. (more…)

Outside View, Art Basel 2013, Photograph Courtesy of Art Basel

The city of Basel, situated at the border between Switzerland, France and Germany, will be transformed into a contemporary arts hub this week for the 44th annual Art Basel. Anticipating record attendence, the fair will look to top its record of over 65,000 visitors at the marathon art event this year.  With over 300 top galleries from all over the world flocking to the city to display over 4,000 artists’ work, the fair is commonly referred to as the “Olympics of the art world.”  and features a similarly brimming schedule of events and claustrophobic crowds of eager spectators. Each day boasts its own full agenda, including film screenings, artist talks, and performances, and joined by the vast number of peripheral art exhibitions and events hosted by cultural institutions of Basel throughout the entire region, held in obscure and romantic venues amidst the Swiss lakes and mountains.

Olafur Eliasson, Untitled (2003), Courtesy of Art Basel

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Financial Times reports on the growing popularity of performance works at major art fairs, helping the traditionally market-centered proceedings to rebrand themselves as cultural events.  The trend is especially notable at this year’s edition of Frieze New York, where nearly every piece covering the fair has reported on Tino Seghal’s Ann Lee, of particular note because the work is sold via oral contract, in which Seghal explains to the buyer how to re-enact the work.  “I’m an expert and even I get tired after seeing 180 booths. But performance can capture viewers’ attention.”  Says Frieze Projects curator Cecilia Alemani. (more…)

Street-artist JR spoke with Nowness Magazine this week, elaborating on his ongoing, collaborative street art project.  The artist has been printing large-scale photographs for contributors around the world, and empowering them to paste these images in their communities.  “It’s true art. That’s why people want to participate.” says photographer Matt Black. (more…)