Chilean architectural practice Elemental has won the contract to redesign a former flour mill in Qatar into a massive art exhibition space.  The space is anticipated to be around 80,000 sq. meters in size, considerably larger than the Tate Modern, and will play on the original structure’s layout and design.  “The [Elemental] team added to the strict geometry of retained silos a looser grouping of new silos that will act as cooling chimneys circulating air through the site that extends spectacularly on three sides into Doha Bay,” the project statement says.  (more…)

Phyllida Barlow, Folly at the British Pavilion, via Art Observed

Spread out across the Giardini and the various storehouses and spaces inside the Arsenale, the Venice Biennale‘s annual invitations to various nations around the globe serves to offer a counterpoint to the sprawling main exhibition, Viva Arte Viva.  Presented by individual curators and supported by art institutions back home, the shows offer not only a selection of singular voices from around the globe, but equally a look at the various national discourses of each country’s artistic institutions and infrastructure, a point that equally sets it as a strong conversation piece against the curatorial discipline of the main exhibition’s lone organizer, in this case Centre Pompidou’s Christine Macel.

Jana Zelibska at the Czech Republic Pavilion, via Art Observed

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Etel Adnan| Gerhard Richter at THE FLAG Art Foundation, 2017. Photography by Object Studies

The FLAG Art Foundation’s joint exhibition of works by Etel Adnan and Gerhard Richter promises a unique perspective towards rarely-seen works by two of the most prolific artists working today.  Both celebrated for their distinct renderings of abstraction and color spectrum, Adnan and Richter have pursued disparate trajectories that mark them today as pioneers in nonfigurative art.  Yet certain graphical and technical similarities between the two make for a striking exhibition, consolidating the two artists’ work through tapestry, a path for which both painters diverged from their canvas-based practices to experiment with visual extents of the traditional craft method. (more…)

Anne Imhof’s Faust at the German Pavilion, via Art Observed

The Golden Lions have been announced for this year’s edition of the Venice Biennale, with Anne Imhof and Franz Erhard Walther taking top honors for their work in the German National Pavilion and Main Exhibition, respectively.  The full list of winners is included below.   (more…)

Anne Imhof, whose work at the German Pavilion is one of the stand-outs of this year’s Venice Biennale, has won the €100,000 Absolut Art Prize, which will be used to produce a new work in California’s Death Valley.   (more…)

The Art News has an interesting piece on the sale of Damien Hirst’s monumental exhibition Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, which seems to be attracting interested buyers including the Mugrabi and Nahmad families, as well as Qiao Zhibing, the Chinese collector behind Tank Shanghai.  “You see that and you go, ‘Wow,’ ” says one buyer, collector Francois Odermatt. “I want to have art where if people see it, they go ‘Wow.’” (more…)

The Central Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, via Art Observed

Spread between above the green lawns and trees of Venice’s Giardini, and the winding streets and canals of the Arsenale nearby, the Venice Biennale’s Central Pavilion has opened its doors for its Vernissage event, kicking off the 57th annual edition of the exhibition, and welcoming visitors to its first open viewings before it opens to the public this coming Saturday.   (more…)

The New Museum’s Margot Norton has been promoted to curator, a position that will see her expand her work researching and planning exhibitions at the institution.  “With her constant enthusiasm and precision, Norton has supervised a range of complex curatorial projects, following them through in every detail, from vision to nail,” says New Museum artistic director Massimiliano Gioni. (more…)

CNBC has a piece on the upcoming auctions next week, forecasting a potential surge in market strength after several sluggish quarters as Sotheby’s Tad Smith points out that the art market may be poised for structural growth over its usual cyclical patterns.  “The median member of the Forbes 400 would have seen his personal spending power to purchase art at auction grow 75 percent in the past decade alone,” Smith said during his call with investors this week. (more…)

Damien Hirst is facing criticism over a work in his exhibition in Venice, which appears to mirror sculpted heads made by African artists from Ile-Ife Nigeria.  “Their young ones will grow up to know this work as Damien Hirst’s. The narrative will shift and the young Ife or Nigerian contemporary artist will someday be told by a long nose critic, ‘Your work reminds me of Damien Hirst’s Golden Head,'” says Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor of the work. (more…)

Two daughters of the late Jerry and Emily Spiegel, who each took part of their parents art collection when they passed away eight years ago, will bring a bit of sibling rivalry translated to Sotheby’s and Christie’s dueling auctions next week, where each auction house has been consigned highlights from the family collection.  “It’s ruthlessly competitive,” says Doug Woodham, former president of Christie’s in the Americas. “The auction houses fight aggressively to win that business.” (more…)

Artist Dineo Seshee Bopape was awarded the Future Generation Art Prize this week in Venice, an award of $100,000 that will help fund future work.  “I’d like to have three months when I don’t read a single email,” she says of her plans to use the money.  “When I get to see the relationship between all the different works I’ve made. When I get bored, even.”  (more…)

The Guardian profiles the life and impact of collector Peggy Guggenheim on the city of Venice, and the heiresses that followed similar paths in Venice in the years before she opened her palazzos up to artists like Picasso, Ernst and Dali.   (more…)

The Louvre Abu Dhabi will finally open this November, the Art Newspaper reports.  Most construction work on the institution has been completed, with final checks on the space anticipated soon.  An official opening date announcement is expected soon. (more…)

Sotheby’s earnings call this week shows a substantial uptick for the auction house, posting an $11 million loss in a section of the calendar known for a particular degree of sluggishness.  The auction house improved its figures by 49-percent in comparison with the same period last year.  “I think the market is definitely strengthening,” Amy Cappellazzo said during the call.  “We’re going to see and feel that next week.” (more…)

A report by the Art Market Monitor places Sotheby’s pre-sale guarantees for its auctions next week at $217 million, with 20 of the sale’s 36 lots carrying an irrevocable bid.   (more…)

Loic Gouzer has been named Christie’s co-chairman of post-war and contemporary art in the Americas, alongside Alex Rotter, filling a position left open since Brett Gorvy left the company last year.  “Two years ago I did this sale called Looking Forward to the Past,” Gouzer says. “Now I can say that I look forward to the future of working with Alex Rotter, who is extremely talented, but also one of my best friends.” (more…)

The Guardian has a profile on Phyllida Barlow this week, as the artist opens her exhibition at the British Pavilion of this year’s Venice Biennale.  “To put it bluntly, I think the timing has been, for me, perfect,” Barlow says. “I’m ready for it and the work’s ready for it. It’s ready to fulfill all sorts of ambitions I want for the work. Not for myself – I’m not particularly interested in myself – but I’m interested in what the work can do … I can now be confident that things do go wrong but can also be retrieved.” (more…)

Philip Guston, The Line (1978), via Art Observed

Aiming for a head start on the hustle and bustle of the Venice Biennale Vernissage, the Galerie dell’Accademia in Venice’s (Neighborhood) opened its entry for the week’s proceedings this past Monday; an exhibition tracing the vivid graphic practice of artist Philip Guston, and his work’s interaction with the texts of the 19th and 20th (check) centuries’ most exploratory writers and poets.  The exhibition, Philip Guston and the Poets, captures a series of the artist’s paintings and drawings, displayed alongside selections of text by D.H. Lawrence, W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, Eugenio Montale and T.S. Eliot, offering deeper links to both the artist’s work, and the historical threads of literary culture that often run parallel to it.

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Chris Ofili, Hearsay 2 (2017), via Art Observed

Chris Ofili’s Poolside Magic series, first begun in 2012, is a swirling body of watercolor and charcoal works, running through a visual system of theme and variation that the artist recently returned to this year, adding new details, text and visual threads that cements the artist’s work as an exchange with the continued threads of his own career as much as with the visual iconographies and scenes that he continues to repeat and revisit five years after his first series of works.  Capping his new entries in the series with an exhibition in Venice this week, Victoria Miro has planted its foot in the city of Venice permanently, a fittingly lyrical introduction for the gallery and its artists to the long tradition of Venice and its history of art.

Chris Ofili, Elipsis 1 (2017), via Art Observed

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The Art Newspaper interprets Emmanuel Macron’s victory speech in front of I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre as a strong indication of the new president’s support for the arts in France, and his continued commitment to the country’s artists.  “By speaking in front of the pyramid, our new president chose a just symbol, that of the marriage of history and culture today,” says artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. “He understood that this is where we can make a difference on an international level. In his speech, he spoke with a lot of humility and I think that’s the key to opening up towards the world. His youth is a strength to rejuvenate cultural institutions and above all young people who are seeking their singularity.” (more…)

Phyllida Barlow is profiled in the Telegraph this week, as the artist gears up to present her work in a solo exhibition at the British Pavilion.  “I’m a thoughtless artist,’ she says. “Things happen without thinking. They happen through the process.” (more…)

Art News reports on artist Dawn Kasper’s ongoing residency inside the Venice Biennale, where the artist will be living for the next six months, hosting various events, jam sessions and projects.  “It’s a gift to be able to be here, an honor, really,” she says.  “And like, how do I plan for six months of studio time? I brought all these different clothes. I might learn Italian.” (more…)

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is re-evaluating the distribution of city funding for arts organizations, with discussions over pushing more funding away from major institutions and towards smaller organizations around the five boroughs.  “There will be something that says there are parts of New York City that are under-resourced, and that’s going to be something we want to address,” says arts commissioner Tom Finkelpearl. “It’s also going to say that there is great recognition on the part of this administration of the value of major cultural institutions. These are very important, not just for tourism — which we do care about — but also to the spirit of the city.” (more…)