Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum is preparing the first survey of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms, set to open next year. The show will also include a series of the artist’s paintings and installations. “The real value… is connecting the work she did in the 1960s to her work today through the Infinity Rooms,” says Hirshhorn director Melissa Chiu. (more…)
The negotiations for Germany’s exhibition of works from the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art may include a $3 million price tag, the Art Newspaper reports. “We are in early discussions on bringing these great treasures to the Hirshhorn—a first-time exhibition in the US. No loan fees have been discussed as yet,” a spokesperson from the Hirshhorn (which is also in talks with the museum) said. (more…)
Robert Irwin has been commissioned for a full-room installation at the Hirshhorn, bringing more than 100ft of scrim to respond to the museum’s uniquely circular architecture. “The 1960s is a crucial decade in the history of contemporary art, and Irwin’s investigations into the ways our perceptual processes are shaped and framed were at the forefront of the developments unfolding then,” says Evelyn Hankins, the Hirshhorn curator in charge of the exhibition. (more…)
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC has launched initial talks with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art over a the possibility of borrowing works from the Iranian museum’s collection. “We have received a number of requests,” said Ehsan Aghaei, deputy director of the museum. (more…)
The Washington Post notes Director Melissa Chiu’s unprecedented fundraising since taking her position as head the Hirshhorn last year, having raised $1.55 million from this year’s museum fundraiser gala (a tally several times higher than the museum has ever achieved), held in New York City. “I would characterize my first year as doing all the tough foundational work that is largely invisible to the public,” Chiu says. (more…)
The Hirshhorn has received a $2 million gift from trustee Joleen Julis and her husband, Mitch, setting the record for the museum’s largest single gift. “As we conclude this transformative 40th anniversary year, the Hirshhorn seeks to become a creative hub at the intersection of art and technology and to lead the global conversations on the art of our time. It is the support of people like Joleen and Mitch that enables us to move forward with these goals,” said Director Melissa Chiu in a statement. (more…)
Ai Weiwei, Forge, He Xie detail, courtesy Mary Boone Gallery
Ai Weiwei‘s Forge is single show across both of Mary Boone Gallery’s Fifth Avenue and Chelsea locations, with installation, video and sculpture that provides a comprehensive look into recent work, and which runs concurrently with his exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum. Ai is an artist, human rights activist, and Chinese dissident who produces thoughtfully provocative, political work. Forge falls firmly in that tradition.
Ai was born in Beijing in 1957 and attended the Beijing Film academy before moving to New York in 1981. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1983 and returned to China in 1993, where he currently lives. Though his website and blog have been brutally censored, Ai remains active on Twitter, and video transmissions from him are frequently released, including a recent take on ‘Gangnam Style’ in which he dances, waving around handcuffs.
Exhibition view, Ai Weiwei, Forge, courtesy Mary Boone Gallery
Image: Ai Weiwei: According to What? Installation View: Coca Cola Vase, New York Photographs, Moon Chest, Courtesy The Hirshhorn
The first U.S. survey of the work of Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. Beijing, 1957) opened on October 7th at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. It takes its inspiration from a 2009 exhibition at Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, but has been adapted for U.S. audiences incorporating the artist’s re-examination of the work in the context of his personal experiences over the past few years.
Image: Ai Weiwei Courtesy The Washington Post
Mr. Ai, 55, has personally experienced many changes since 2009: he was detained for 81 days last year and was found guilty of tax evasion in China, owing $2.4 million in fines. The Chinese government shut down his business and has not allowed him to leave the country, which prevented him from attending the opening for his retrospective in Washington.
Ai Weiwei will be unable to attend his first U.S. retrospective at the Hirshhorn Museum, he says, because the Chinese authorities are still in possession of his passport. He also says that he will be unable to begin his post as a visiting professor in Germany. “They’re still holding my passport. They said they want to give it to me but have no clear time schedule for that”.
‪‬Doug Aitken to illuminate Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC with 360-Degree “Liquid Architecture” Projection This Spring [AO Newslink]
The Hirshhorn Museum with proposed “bubble” in Washington, D.C. via Washington City Paper
A high-tech, futuristic design for a meeting hall in the Hirshhorn Museum at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is making headlines this week across the art community. The proposed “bubble” would constitute dimensions of 145 feet and swell out like a balloon from the primary structure, inflating during the months of May and October and collapsing for the duration of the year. Advocating for the design, Hirshhorn Museum Director Richard Koshalek insists that it will not detract from the museum’s most valuable possession: its art [Washington Post].
Fernando Botero via Art Daily
Fernando Botero criticizes the art awarded by the $50K prize bearing his name, and the administrators of the prize decide to cancel it as a result [ArtDaily]
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