Doug Aitken is interviewed in the Financial Times this week, as he opens the newest edition of Station to Station at The Barbican in London. “Culture is the language that will bring us into the future,” Aitken says. “But at the same time it is being surrounded by this conservative, capitalist system, which makes it harder than ever for individuals who have voices to push them as far as they can go.” (more…)
Olafur Eliasson is interviewed in The Guardian this week, discussing some of his large-scale and ongoing projects, including his work on the ballet adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer work Tree of Codes in Manchester. “On stage will be a mirror, and it will reflect the room. It’s a stretch to say that it puts the audience on the stage,” says Eliasson. “However, they will be conscious of being visible there. But anyway, let’s see how it works.” (more…)
The Dia Art Foundation has acquired composer LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela’s famous Dream House installation for its permanent collection, and will recreate the work at its 545 West 22nd Street Chelsea location this summer and fall from June 17 through Oct. 24. They’ve made this incredible contribution to music that I think is still very underappreciated nationally and even internationally,” says Dia head Jessica Morgan. “He should be understood as a John Cage of our era.” (more…)
The New York City Ballet has noted a marked uptick in young attendees in recent years, an indication that their efforts and commissions, like Dustin Yellin’s current project with the institution, are seeing successful returns. “We had a hypothesis that there might be a crossover interest between the visual arts and dance, particularly the kind of repertoire that we have — which have an abstract and contemporary feeling,” Katherine E. Brown, the company’s executive director said. (more…)
Douglas Gordon, tears become…streams become… (2014), via Art Observed
Douglas Gordon’s work often takes its strength from its simplicity. Using minimal alterations and contextual wrinkles in the selections of his exhibition spaces, works and collaborations, Gordon seems to draw a certain pleasure from bringing out deeper recognitions of the space and structure of art as presentation, as experiential and institutional meditation. (more…)
Dash Snow, Untitled (2008), all images courtesy Blain|Southern Berlin
On view at Blain|Southern Berlin is a group exhibition examining the use of text and poetics in art objects from the 1960s to the present day. Entitled Sed Tantum Dic Verbo (Just Say The Word), the exhibition was curated by American writer and editor Glenn O’Brien and will remain on view through December 20th.
Ragnar Kjartansson, A Lot of Sorrow (2014), via Art Observed
Last year, Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson was invited to perform at MoMA PS1 for the museum’s ongoing Sunday performance series. He answered with a six hour long performance piece in which Brooklyn rock act The National repeatedly played the same song, Sorrow, over and over again. Fighting off exhaustion, boredom, and the occasional flubbed note, the piece ran throughout the day, with the band never pausing to take a break. The result is a single-channel video work by the artist, currently on view at Luhring Augustine’s Bushwick location.
Wolfgang Tillmans’s Berlin gallery Between Bridges has embarked on a new project, creating an accommodating space for the appreciation of classic pop and dance albums. “The Playback Room” as it is called, is currently featuring Colourbox, the 1980’s dance act behind “Pump Up the Volume.” “Some records are just perfect artworks, but you just cannot go anywhere to listen to the way the musicians heard it at the mastering stage,” said Tillmans. “While you can play them on your stereo or iPhone there is never a space dedicated to them and you can never listen in studio quality.” (more…)
The annual Sculpture in the City festival has opened in London, with a work by artist João Onofre commanding notable attention. Titled Box Sized Die, the small black cube contains a black metal band, Unfathomable Ruination, playing until they run out of oxygen. (more…)
Ragnar Kjartansson, Me and My Mother (2010), via Art Observed
When The New Museum opened its doors for its spring season last month, curator Massimo Gioni noted subtle threads of comparison in the pieces on view. Meant to be a concise yet meticulous look into a series of individual works or focuses from a disparate group of artists, the series of exhibitions currently on view play on a series of common threads, incorporating mixes of sound and music, documentary, performance and history from artists Camille Henrot, Hannah Sawtell, David Horvitz, Jeanine Oleson and Roberto Cuoghi, arranged in a way that perhaps makes best sense to address as a singular experience the artists’ works, shared themes, and interests.
Hannah Sawtell, ACCUMULATOR (2014), via Art Observed (more…)
The Eli Broad Museum, is suing German architectural fabricator Seele over the still-unfinished steel facade of the museum, which has allegedly delayed the opening of the museum until 2015. The $19.8 million lawsuit “speaks for itself,” says Broad Foundation spokesperson Karen Denne. “We are fairly confident that the museum will open in 2015, and we will announce an opening date later this year.” (more…)
MoMA PS1 has announced the line-up for its annual Warm-Up Series of concerts at the Museum. Held each Sunday, highlights include performances by Pantha du Prince, Total Freedom, Dam Funk and Detroit Techno legend Kevin Saunderson. (more…)
The Wall Street Journal has published a feature article on artist George Condo’s collection of rare and custom stringed instruments, which the artist has ordered to his own specifications. The artist, who studied music theory at the University of Massachusetts, is an avid musician and collector. “I don’t want to simply collect instruments and not know how to play them,” Condo says. “It’s a great way to take my mind off the here and now—all the aspects of what goes on in the art world.” (more…)
Philippe Parreno, “ANYWHERE, ANYWHERE OUT OF THE WORLD” (Installation View) Courtesy Palais de Tokyo
Responding to a carte blanche invitation from Paris’s prestigious Palais de Tokyo, Algerian-born Philippe Parreno has transformed its gallery space with an exhibition meant to establish a dialogue between architecture and the concept of the show as a medium in and of itself.
Pablo Picasso, Tête d’homme, 1969, Acquavella Galleries, Art Basel Miami Beach 2013
As December begins, the art world prepares yet again for the grand spectacle of Art Basel Miami Beach, with its sprawling rows of booths and late-night parties that have defined it as the apex social event of the Art world’s calendar. Over 250 galleries will be at the main fair this year, alongside numerous public exhibitions, talks, performances and more. Art Observed will be on site in pursuit of coverage for the duration of the week.
Marcel Duchamp, 1935/41-1958, Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, Art Basel Miami Beach 2013
New Yorkers flocked to the Brooklyn Navy Yards on Sunday night for the long-rumored artRAVE party, celebrating the release of musician Lady Gaga’s newest album, ARTPOP, with a number of high-profile art pieces by Jeff Koons, Inez and Vinoodh, Marina Abramovic and Robert Wilson, among others, as well as a multimedia set by the pop star herself. (more…)
Marina Abramović’s opera, The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, is set to open this December 12th in The Park Armory’s spacious Drill Hall. Staged by Robert Wilson, the show includes performances by Abramović, playing herself and her mother, and also features performances by Willem Dafoe and Antony. The show has already garnered an overwhelmingly positive critical response at each of its previous performances, and marks the first time the work will be performed int he US. (more…)
Walter Dahn, Walter (1984/85), via Venus Over Manhattan
Walter Dahn’s 4th Time Around (My Back Pages), an exhibition curated by Richard Prince, is a presentation of paintings, “anti-silkscreens,” and rare bronze sculptures by artist Walter Dahn, presenting a taste of his artistic practice since 1981. The title of the exhibition is derived two Bob Dylan songs, both favorites of the two artists (who have been friends since the late 80’s early 90’s).
Walter Dahn, 4th Time Around (My Back Pages) (Installation View), via Venus Over Manhattan Gallery
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Continuing her flirtations with the world of contemporary art, Lady Gaga has reportedly recruited Robert Wilson to create a video portrait of her. Wilson will also direct the Marina Abramovic opera The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic this winter at The Armory. “I’ve been obsessing over stuff from the ’70s like performance art theater. Especially because I’m working with Robert Wilson, who’s doing the lighting and the set for the VMAs. He’s a theatrical legend!” Gaga said in a recent interview. (more…)
David Bowie, Original Photography for the Earthling Album Cover (1997), via Victoria and Albert Museum
Perhaps one of the most widely talked about (and best attended) exhibitions this summer, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is currently showing a comprehensive exhibition of materials from the David Bowie Archive, marking the first time a museum has had access to this collection. As holders of the national collection of live performance material in the UK, this opportunity is a chance for the museum to showcase one of the UK’s most important artists. Compiling costumes, programs, documents, instruments and even a film specially made for the exhibition (including exclusive interviews with Jeremy Deller, Daphne Guiness, and Thurston Moore), the exhibition is an exhaustive look at the work of one of the UK’s greatest rock stars and artists.
David Bowie Is (Installation View), via Victoria and Albert Museum (more…)
This September, Dominique Lévy will open her new gallery at 909 Madison Street with a performance of artist Yves Klein’s sole sound composition, Monotone-Silence. Consisting, appropriately, of a single chord played for twenty minutes, followed by twenty minutes of silence, the piece has only been performed once before, for its 1960 premiere. “Yves Klein is such a pillar, and yet he’s not well enough known here.” Lévy said. (more…)
“Picasso Baby,” the final cut of rapper Jay Z’s marathon performance at Pace Gallery earlier this month, will premiere this Friday on HBO. Directed by music video veteran Mark Romanek, the film will document the 6 hour performance, which included cameos and interactions with Marina Abramovic and Alan Cumming, among many more. “Concerts are pretty much performance art,” Jay Z says, “but with this smaller venue you can get a bit more intimate. You can feel the energy of the people.” (more…)
