All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

The Swiss Art Awards ran concurrently to Basel this year, with 30 prizes of 27,000 Swiss Francs, awarded to 32 Swiss artists as announced this week. The exhibition of these winners was at Hall 3, Messezentrum Basel for the duration of the Art Fair. It was a highly selective process, whittling down 536 submissions to 88 participants in the second round, and from there down to the final winners. The award is decided by the Federal Office of Culture.

A sculpture by Luc Mattenberger

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Kris Martin Festum II (2010). All pictures by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Art Parcours, a body and sculpture-based installation series located at the scenic St. Alban Tal along the Rhine, experimented with the body’s response to physical counter-normativity in the face of social and political oppression on Thursday and Sunday. It tied into Henrik Olesen’s How do I Make Myself a Body (2009), which tells the story of English mathematician and computer inventor Alan Turing.   Part of the Art Parcours exhibit was a dance performance entitled, Bodies in Urban Space which took place on Thursday. Artist participants in Art Parcours are Ai Weiwei (who is currently detained in China), Janet Cardiff, Ugo Rondinone, Yinka Shonibare, and Gabriel Sierra among others.

Ai Weiwei Fairytale People (2007)

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Michael Clark Company, th (June 2011) via Hugo Glendinning/Tate Modern

Michael Clark Company occupied the Tate Modern‘s Turbine Hall last week, continuing last year’s Come, Been and Gone choreography project, in the form of a performance entitled th.  The commission was performed by the dance company’s corps of thirteen as well as forty eight volunteer performers.  Clark’s sell-out choreography was set to an 80’s and 90’s soundtrack of Bowie, Pulp, Kraftwerk and Relaxed Muscle, which pounded through the hall throughout the 90-minute performance.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Before Art Basel opened its doors, AO was on site to experience Francis Alÿs ‘Fabiola’ display in the Haus zum Kirschgarten museum.  The unconventional installation was exhibited in 2007 for the first time in New York.  This time, the conceptual intervention takes place within the Haus zum Kirschgarten which hosts the 300 stereotypical replicas until August, 28.  Throughout America and Europe, the Belgian artist Francis Alÿs has collected copies of the iconic works created by amateurs and often sold in flea-markets. Including paintings, miniatures and embroideries, the portraits all reference to the old masterpiece and lost original of the saint Fabiola painted by the French nineteenth-century artist, Jean-Jacques Henner.

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Marc FrommYoung Lady and Pet (2010). All pictures by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Art Observed was on site in Basel, Switzerland for VOLTA7, an art fair that focus on new and emerging art.  The fair runs until Saturday June 18th and is held at that Dreispitzhalle, located in the rapidly developing and artistically focused Dreispitz area of Basel.  This year the curators have placed emphasis on single artist presentations or on booth concepts that bring the work of two artists into dialogue with one another.  Seen at the fair were US collectors such as Susan and Michael Hort and Jerry Speyer, Martin Margolis and artists such as Takashi Murakami whose Kakai Kiki collective performed a tea ceremony to initiate the fair.   The following is a selective photoset of the Volta 7 offerings.

Richard Stipl Derision (detail) (2011)

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Yutaka Sone Little Manhattan (2007-2009) at David Zwirner Gallery – All images by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Art Observed remains on site in Basel, Switzerland for Art 42 Basel 2011.  The following is our second of the photosets of the main fair.  Stay tuned for more coverage of the main fair before the end of the week as well as profiles of the satellite exhibitions and events.

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Artist Wim Delvoye before one of his sculptures at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Since its opening in 1996, the LISTE – the Young Art Fair in Basel has showcased new and important galleries and contemporary young art. The LISTE generally will restrict participants to galleries that have been in business for no more than 5 years and will show artists generallly under 40 years old.   Art Observed was on site to document some of the offerings.

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Iwan Wirth at Hauser and Wirth

Art Observed is on site this week for Art Basel 42, the world’s largest contemporary art fair.  Art Observed was on site for the VIP vernissage of the main fair.  Officially the fair opens Wednesday, with a duration of 5 days from June 15th to the 19th.  Roughly $1.75 billion of artwork is reportedly for sale by 300 galleries from 35 countries at the fair this year.  Initial energy from the fair can be gauged to be very brisk with many gallerists reporting healthy buying activity.  Already mega-collectors such as Eli Broad and Dasha Zhukova, girlfriend and partner of Billionaire collector Roman Abramovich were spotted at the fair as was actor Will Ferrell.   Bloomberg reported that a 1969 Mark Rothko abstract was sold by L&M Arts for over $5 million.  More coverage of events from Art Observed will follow this week.

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Anish Kapoor Push – Pull (2008) – All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

Art Observed begins its onsite coverage with a photoset of the people and works of Art 42 Basel’s Art Unlimited and Art Statement.  Since 2000, Art Unlimited is Art Basel’s exhibition platform for projects that transcend the art booth formats.  It includes video projections, large-scale installations, oversized sculptures and often live performances. Selected by the Art Basel Committee, it has been curated this year and since the beginning by Geneva curator Simon Lamunière.

Art Statements, also at the main fair, consists mainly of emerging artists.  Art Statements features one-artist stands from rising galleries globally and is found in Hall 1.

Gallerist Tony Shafrazi

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Kathy Grayson at her opening

Miami – based art collective “Friends With You” will open their first exhibition “:)” in New York tonight at The Hole.  Friends With You create work in a variety of mediums including sculpture, animation, publishing and performance art.  The collective is commercially successful as well, creating advertisements for companies such as Target and Match.com and additionally create highly prized limited edition toys and objects. The show will take place in The Hole’s sizable new gallery space on 312 Bowery (corner of Bleeker) which has yet to be opened to the public. To celebrate the newest 10-block addition to the Highline, Friends With You have also taken over the raised park on the West side, filling the area with their signature larger-than-life cartoon figures. The installation, entitled “Rainbow City”, is fully interactive and includes a pop-up shop where a new line of toys will be sold.

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Bushwick Open Studios marked its 5th anniversary with this year’s showcase, opening artist’s studios, lofts and even private apartments to the public. Over 350 artists participated in the event orchestrated by Arts in Bushwick, a volunteer-based organization.  Those undeterred by the temporary (yet seemingly endless) suspension of the L train made their way to the offbeat Brooklyn neighborhood via a series of shuttles, bikes, car services and the like.   The Bushwick area is arguably the highest concentration of new artist studios and residences in the greater metro area.  Similar to the progression underwent by Soho in the 1970’s, Bushwick is filled with industrial lofts permeated by a natural light that results in suitable studio spaces for artists. In this neighborhood, however, the art hangs not only in these “designated spaces” but is alive in the streets and sidewalks.

Alana Fitzgerald with her work at Splinters and Logs Studio

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Inside the Greek Pavilion – all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

“The Biennale is like a wind machine,” Biennale President Paolo Baratta eccentrically stated at the festival’s opening. Whether he was referring to the Biennale’s power to stir things up, or to fuel the art world through another two years, the metaphor felt apt. Early last week, the 54th Venice Biennale opened to press and professionals. Although the usual vaporetto strike caused momentary chaos, determined art world people made their way around the city in water taxis, iPhone/iPad apps in hand. The exhibition opened to the public on Saturday, June 4th and runs through November 27th, 2011.

Artist Kwok Mang-ho (a.k.a Frog King), who represented Hong Kong.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

“In Praise of Doubt” is the second half of two exhibitions currently staged by the Francois Pinault Foundation. It housed in the Punta della Dogana just a stone’s throw from Palazzo Grassi, where part one, “The World Belongs to You” can be found. The two exhibitions share a curator, Caroline Bourgeois, and both run in parallel with the Venice Biennale 2011.

The exhibition presents both historical pieces and new works, several of which are site-specific projects. The theme, as hinted by its title, is uncertainty, the questioning of identity, and revisiting intimate space in relation to the space of the artwork. The artists included are art world regulars Adel Abdesemed, Marcel Broodthaers, Maurizio Cattelan, Subodh Gupta, David Hammons, Roni Horn, Thomas Houseago, Donald Judd, Edward Keinholz, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Julie Mehretu, Bruce Nauman, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Schutte, Sturtevant, Tatiana Trouve, and Chen Zhen. Out of these twenty, a surprising half have never been exhibited before in an exhibition by the Francois Pinault Foundation.

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Marya Kazoun, They were there (2011). All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

Glasstress 2011 is an exhibition devoted solely to glass, featuring internationally renowned artists, architects, and designers such as Zaha Hadid, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Kiki Smith, Doug and Mike Starn, Fred Wilson, Marya Kazoun, Huan Zhang, and even musician Pharrell Williams. It is one of the official 37 collateral events of the biennale, and also includes a reinstallment of Doug and Mike Starn’s Big Bambú on the roof of the Dorsoduro, next door to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

The walkway of Doug and Mike Starn’s Big Bambú. Image courtesy NYT.

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I, Impostor. All images by Cristiano Corte, courtesy of the British Council, unless otherwise noted.

Mike Nelson, who has twice been short-listed for the Turner Prize, is the first installation artist to be invited by the British Council to create a new work in the UK’s Pavilion in the 2011 Venice Biennale. Nelson is known for site-specific large scale installations with enigmatic titles: The Deliverance and the Patience (2001), Triple Bluff Canyon (2004), To the Memory of HP Lovecraft (2008), and so on. Curated by Richard Riley, with Andrea Rose as Commissioner, this transformative pavilion is one of the most talked about at this year’s biennale.

British Pavilion. Photograph by John Riddy, courtesy of Matt’s Gallery London, Franco Noero Turin, and 303 Gallery New York.

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Lithuaninan artist Darius Miksys installing Behind the White Curtain. All images by Caroline Claisse unless otherwise noted.

On Saturday, Biennale President Paolo Baratta announced the winners of the Golden and Silver Lions. One of the categories was for Best National Presentation, which went to Christopher Schlingensief’s posthumous German pavilion, but the judges gave an honorable mention to the Lithuanian pavilion. According to Baratta’s statement, their reason was “its conceptually elegant, and productively ambiguous framing of a nation’s art history.” Art Observed was on site for the performative installation.

Exterior of the pavilion, image courtesy e-flux.

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Central “International” Pavilion, which partially houses the 54th International Art Exhibition. All images by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Curated by Bice Curiger, The 54th International Art Exhibition opened today to the public. Displayed are works from newcomers and established artists including Maurizio Cattelan, Martin Creed, Trisha Donnelly, Urs Fischer, Fischli & Weiss, Klara Lidén, Christian Marclay, Philippe Parreno, Sigmar Polke, Pipilotti Rist, Cindy Sherman, and James Turrell. The exhibition’s title, and this year’s theme, is ILLUMInations, inspired in part by 16th century Venetian painter Tintoretto, whose works Curiger boldly included in the exhibition.

Earlier today, Biennale Director Paolo Baratta announced the winners of three official prizes decided on by the International Jury of the 54th International Art Exhibition.

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Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, the site of Anish Kapoor’s “Ascension.” All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Anish Kapoor‘s new project at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice is “Ascension.” Backed by Galleria Continua (in collaboration with Fondazione Giorgio Cini and illycaffe), the project is curated by Lorenzo Fiaschi. In the site-specific installation, a column of white smoke rises from a circular base at the intersection between the transept and the nave of the basilica, making the immaterial tangible.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

One of the biggest official collateral events of the 54th Venice Biennale is “Venice in Venice.” The exhibition’s fill title is “Venice in Venice: Glow & Reflection – Venice California Art from 1960 to the Present,” organized by Foundation 20 21 and taking place June 1st – July 31st at Palazzo Contarini Dagli Scrigni. Curated by Tim Nye and Jaqueline Miro, the exhibition include works by seminal Southern California artists Peter Alexander, John Altoon, Charles Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Larry Bell, Tony Berlant, Wallace Berman, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Ron Cooper, Mary Corse, Laddie John Dill, Joe Goode, Robert Graham, George Herms, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Ed Moses,Kenneth Price, Ed Ruscha, and James Turrell.

Curator Jacqueline Miro, Director of the Getty Image Research Institute Andrew Perchuk, and artists exhibiting in the Venice in Venice show.

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German pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale 2011. All images by Caroline Claisse.

The German pavilion is represented this year by the late artist Christoph Schlingensief. The pavilion is a lively homage to the artist, whose also worked as a director of film, theater, and opera. Schlingensief passed away last year from cancer during the planning phase of his contribution to the Biennale. Due to the difficulty of realizing a project without the artist’s presence, the pavilion’s organizers decided not to exhibit his latest project, “which existed in developmental, sketch-like form.” Less wunderkammer than spatial experience, the exhibition features existing works covering Schlingensief’s endeavors in film, theater, video, and Africa.

To complement the exhibition, the pavilion’s curator, Susanne Gaensheimer, has organized a publication and a virtual “scavenger hunt” on the pavilion’s web site. The artist is represented by Hauser & Wirth. Among the pavilion’s past representatives are Liam Gillick (2009), Isa Genzken (2007), Thomas Scheibitz and Tino Seghal (2005), Martin Kippenberger and Candida Höfer (2003). In 1993, German representatives Hans Haacke and Nam June Paik won the Golden Lion for Best Pavilion.

Inside the pavilion.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse unless otherwise noted.

Representing the United States in the Venice Biennale 2011 is artist duo Allora & Calzadilla. Based in Puerto Rico, the real-life couple Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla‘s work is deeply political, though they would have you think otherwise.

The exhibition, entitled “Gloria,” features six newly commissioned works. It is curated by Lisa Freiman, chair of the contemporary art department at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the institution the U.S. State Department entrusted with the selection. The organizing committee is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Previous representatives of the U.S. are Bruce Nauman (2009) who won the Golden Lion for his country, Felix Gonzalez-Torres (2007), Ed Ruscha (2005), and Fred Wilson (2003).

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All photos by Caroline Claisse.

Currently on view at the Punta della Dogana, housed in the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, is “The World Belongs to You.” Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the exhibition brings together artists from different generations, geographical locations, and practices to explore history and current realities.

The Punta della Dogana became the official exhibition space of Francois Pinault‘s private collection in 2006, when he purchased the building from the city of Venice. It now houses works from internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Maurizio Cattelan, and Takashi Murakami.

Urs Fischer’s violet piano at Punta della Dogana.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse.

“Chance” is French artist Christian Boltanski‘s installation at the French Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2011. Born in Paris in 1944, Boltanski is known for his sprawling, existential projects. The exhibition is curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, former director of the Centre Pompidou.

The artist sat down with Art Observed to talk about life, death, optimism, and Venetian cuisine.

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The Biennale’s Central Pavilion in the Giardini. Image by Giulio Squillacciotti, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.

Art Observed will be on site this week for the 54th Venice Biennale. Since its creation in 1895, the festival has filled the city every two years with artists, curators, critics, and curious onlookers. The exhibition is housed over 50,000 square meters of exhibition space in the historical pavilions in the Giardini, and 38,000 square meters in the Arsenale, as well as other numerous locations around the city. The preview runs June 1st through 3rd (a preview program is available for download) and the Biennale opens to the public on June 4th, running through November 27th, 2011.

Expect updates and photo sets throughout the week, as well as on our Twitter.

Director of the 54th Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta, and Artistic Director Bice Curiger. Photo by Giorgio Zucchiatti, courtesy Fondazione la Biennale di Venezia.

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