The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 have announced the winner of the 14th annual Young Architects Program.  Titled “Party Wall,” the design features an enormous set of walls incorporating repurposed skateboard wood, detachable benches, and an intricately designed water system to provide shade, seating and hydration for PS1’s Warm-Up series this summer.   The structure was designed by Ithaca, NY-based architecture firm, CODA.  “CODA’s proposal was selected because of its clever identification and use of locally available resources—the waste products of skateboard-making—to make an impactful and poetic architectural statement within MoMA PS1′s courtyard,” said Pedro Gadanho, Curator in MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design. (more…)

Gert and Uwe Tobias at FRAC-Auvergne (Installation View), via FRAC-Auvergne

The work of Romanian brothers Gert and Uwe Tobias operates in a peculiar space between diverse artistic traditions.  Combining watercolor, woodcut prints, sculptures, typewriter drawings and ceramics, the Tobias brothers have created a body of work that combines Art Nouveau with Romanian folk heritage, Paul Klee with Russian Constructivism, and archaic technologies with contemporary art theory.  Using the broad world of contemporary art as their sounding board, the Tobias brothers seek to reevaluate and re-contextualize their native heritage.  (more…)

“The Clock”, Christian Marclay’s 24-hour long video montage, has been acquired by the MoMA and will be on view this month including a special New Year’s eve showing. The film won the Golden Lion at the 2011 Venice Biennale and will be on view at MoMA during public hours. (more…)

In a replication of their performances at the MoMA in New York this past April, 2012, legendary German electro-pioneers Kraftwerk will perform eight classic albums in chronological order, with “spectacular 3D visualizations and effects” in Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern. At both museums the show was billed as “a chronological exploration of the group’s sonic and visual experiments.” Tate Modern’s title, slightly different than MoMA’s, is KRAFTWERK – THE CATALOGUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8,  and tickets go on sale December 12th.  (more…)

VICE Magazine interviews Marina Abramović about her view on what constitutes a performance, on young artists and fashion: VICE: “I put some crystals in my cleavage because I know you use crystals in your work.” Abramović: “I’ve never put crystals in my cleavage, but OK.” (more…)

In 2010, Roger Ebert declared that “video games can never be art”. Yesterday, The Modern’s curator Paola Antonelli presented a different view, saying further, “they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe.” She also said that the museum’s holdings of interactive design are “one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity.” (more…)

Robert Rauschenberg’s seminal “Canyon” went on display yesterday at MoMA; it has been at the Met on a temporary basis since 2005.  The owners have donated the work as part of a $41 million settlement with the IRS. Glenn Lowry, the director of the Modern, stated: “If you were going to sit down and close your eyes and dream of an installation, you would envision ‘Rebus,’ ‘Bed’ and ‘Canyon’ in conversation with each other.” (more…)

ICI Executive Director Kate Fowle, Leo Award recipient Dasha Zhukova, and Independent Vision Curatorial Award recipients Nav Haq and Jay Sanders

All photos by C. Daleli for ArtObserved

On Monday, November 19th, 2012, Independent Curators International held its Annual Fall Benefit & Auction. ICI’s Executive Director, Kate Fowle, kicked off the party with a toast to all Honorees, Board of Trustees and supporters of the institution. The intimate Honoree Hour celebrated the recipient of this year’s Leo Award, Dasha Zhukova. Agnes Gund, President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council on the Arts presented the award to Zhukova after listing her endless accomplishments are an art world patron. This was followed by acclaimed curator Hans Ulrich Obrist presenting the prestigious Independent Vision Curatorial Award to Jay Sanders and Nav Haq.

Wendi Murdoch (more…)

Martha Roesler is hosting her Garage Sale at MoMA, starting today. Although it is not intended to be a performance piece, the artist stated that “It’s not symbolic activity. It’s real activity. Like most things, it has symbolic dimensions. But it is what it is.” (more…)

Liliana Porter (right) and Ana Tiscornia, photo by ArtObserved

The following an interview with Liliana Porter, November 14th, 2012, by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand for Art Observed:

As Liliana Porter received me in her West Village pied-a-terre for our interview, she asks, “hablas español?” The apartment is light, airy and sparsely decorated with objects such as a Claes Oldenburg pretzel on a shelf and a Richard Artschwager exclamation mark on a wall. As we walk to the window, Porter points out highlights of the view; the Chrysler building to the left and perhaps of more interest the rooftops and a garden beneath, belonging to Donna Karan “where she throws crazy parties”. Looking down it feels like we are on the balcony of a theater.

Liliana Porter, Man with Axe, 2011 courtesy Hosfelt Gallery New York and Pinta

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Eric Shiner, Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, has been appointed curator of Armory Focus: USA. In Celebration of the Centennial of the 1913 Armory Show, The Fourth Edition of Armory Focus will exhibit the achievements of contemporary art in America.  Several museum cultural partners will host exhibitions relating to the 1913 Armory and the development of modernism. During the fair, the Museum of Modern Art will present Inventing Abstraction, 1910–1925; The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde; The New-York Historical Society will host The Armory Show at 100, featuring such canonical works as Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, first viewed on American soil at The Armory Show of 1913. (more…)

MoMA has just published a new book called “What Is Contemporary Art? A Guide for Kids,” ($19.95), featuring the work of over 70 artists, such as Gillian Wearing, Louise Bourgeois, Bruce Nauman, Olafur Eliasson, Andreas Gursky and Jeff Koons. It is written to make contemporary art more understandable and accessible. (more…)

Inglett Gallery via Katya Kazakina/Bloomberg

As galleries in Chelsea, the Lower East Side and Brooklyn regain power and cleanup begins, reports about the extent of the damage are slowly emerging. Basements flooded and water surged into first floor spaces, often several feet high, damaging everything. Several galleries had just mounted new shows, and some, like Andrea Rosen, were about to inaugurate expanded or newly acquired spaces.

Major museums closed, and some quickly reopened, giving people a place to gather and power up – like MoMA/PS 1 – or just a respite from the storm – like the Met. The New Museum was in the part of Manhattan without power and just reopened in the past day.

In Red Hook, artist Dustin Yellin lost everything – artwork, including early pieces, as well as recent renovations completed on the $3.7 million building that houses the The Intercourse, a non profit hub for artists through exhibitions, studio residencies, magazine and lecture and workshop series that opened earlier this year.

Red Hook Flooding via The Art Newspaper

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Edvard Munch’s The Scream goes on view today at MoMA with extra security measures. Ann Temkin, the chief curator of painting and sculpture, is expecting huge crowds. “The Scream is really a household word, a household image, and from the time it was made, that was true,” Temkin said. “It’s somehow so startling and so odd that it caught people’s imagination”. Of the four versions made, two have been stolen and recovered. (more…)

The Museum of Modern Art announced that it will open to the public every day, beginning in May 2013. The Museum’s director, Glenn Lowry, said that it was a response to growing attendance, which has almost doubled since the museum expanded eight years ago. The museum now receives up to 3 million visitors annually. (more…)

MoMA to exhibit Edvard Munch‘s 1895 version of The Scream on a 6-month loan from its new owner. The painting was recently sold at auction to an anonymous buyer, achieving the highest price ever paid at auction earlier this year ($120 million). The painting is the only one of four versions of The Scream that is privately held and has never been exhibited publicly in New York. It is the most colorful one of the series and is seen as a precursor to 20th century Expressionism. Although collector Leon Black is purported to be the present owner, neither Mr. Black, Sotheby’s nor MoMA confirmed as such. It will be on view from October 24 – April 29th.

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MoMA will show Christian Marclay’s 24-hour long video installation, “The Clock”, from December 21 through January 21. The film uses a montage of more than 10,000 movie clips featuring clocks, and each scene syncs to real-world time. MoMA will provide 24-hour access to the galleries during January to allow the film to be shown in its entirety, and will have a special New Year’s Eve screening.

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Alighiero Boetti, Mappa (1971-72).

On view at the Museum of Modern Art through October 1, “Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan,” is an ambitious retrospective that explores both the chronology and the conceptual development of an artist who was engaged in many of the most important currents of twentieth century artistic practice. Until this year, Boetti (1940-1994) had not had an exhibition of this scope outside of Italy. MoMA’s current show, organized in conjunction with the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Tate Modern in London and curated by Christian Rattemeyer, offers a fresh look at Boetti’s oeuvre and makes a convincing argument for his originality and continued importance.

Alighiero Boetti. Manifesto (1969)

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‪‬Former MoMA painting and sculpture chief curator John Elderfield to join Gagosian Gallery in April as “a consultant to organize selected special exhibitions and projects with artists.” [AO Newslink]

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‪‬Wolfgang Laib to install 12 years worth of bright yellow hazelnut pollen collected in Germany in the MoMA atrium January–February 2013 [AO Newslink]

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Cindy Sherman, Untitled #466 (2008)

Cindy Sherman‘s retrospective is on view now at MoMA through June 11. Using herself as her only model, Sherman manipulates her appearance and environment, manifesting a dialogue about gender and social stereotypes through every carefully crafted and costumed persona. With eleven galleries dedicated to various series of her work—from the simplistic roles of femininity displayed in her pioneering Film Stills series, to her more complex transmutations of fashion centerfolds, or the aristocratic elite—her consistent process has yielded more emotionally, psychologically, and aesthetically nuanced characters since her earliest work in 1975.

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Indian Warrior (1931)

The work of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) is showcased on MoMA‘s second floor through May 14^th. The exhibition’s opening on November 13^th coincided with Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park, allowing the originally leftist murals to resonate with a contemporary, politicized audience. The murals, which have not been shown since their first presentation 80 years ago, are accompanied by drawings and related archival paraphernalia. A concurrent catalogue with essays by curator Leah Dickerman is also associated.

Diego Rivera, Frozen Assets (1931-1932). All Images Courtesy of MoMA Interactive.

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Abramović speaking at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2011 about the MoMA-related documentary, Marina: The Artist is Present. (Photo by Caroline Claisse via Art Observed)

This week, Serbian-born performance artist Marina Abramović signed on with Rotterdam-based architect Rem Koolhaus to redesign a historic community tennis club to house her Center for the Preservation of Performance Art (CPoPA) in Hudson, New York. As the name indicates, Abramović conceptualizes the creative space to exhibit long-term performance pieces, which may range from six hours to days on end. Visitors to the Hudson space will be seated in uniquely designed wheelchairs with desks, which can be wheeled to a set sleeping area if the performance piece goes on too long. In addition to the performance art center itself, Abramović is in discussions with Hudson’s local mayor to potentially build a new hotel for the art set. She told art patrons at The Core Club that she will need $8 million to fund the project.

The designated performance art center, via L Magazine

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‪‬Jerry Saltz exalts upcoming Cindy Sherman retrospective at MoMA, offering “four pointers to the unconvinced” [AO Newslink]

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