Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.

Jay-Z Dances with Marina Abramovic During Performance at Pace Gallery in New York

Thursday, July 11th, 2013

Rapper Jay-Z appeared at New York’s Pace Gallery today, performing his song Picasso Baby for 6 hours straight.  The marathon performance was part of the artist’s “Docu-music” video for the song, and featured a moment where the rapper danced with Marina Abramovic.  Other notable attendees included Marilyn Minter, Laurence WeinerKlaus Biesenbach, Aaron Young, among many more. (more…)

Ai Weiwei Releases “The Divine Comedy”

Wednesday, June 26th, 2013

The Divine Comedy, Ai Weiwei’s heavy metal album has been released this week, and is also available for streaming at his website.  Turning to music to continue his active dissent against Chinese political oppression, the album includes tracks documenting his abuse at the hands of the police and political confrontation, inspired by his 2011 detention at the hands of the government. (more…)

London – “The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns” through June 9th, 2013, Barbican London

Friday, June 7th, 2013


The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns, (Installation View) © Felix Clay 2013. Courtesy of Barbican Art Gallery

Taking a diverse look at Marcel Duchamp’s influence on artists around the globe, the Barbican in London is currently presenting The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns, following the artist’s influence on several modern masters in the fields of composition, choreography and the visual arts. Featuring around 90 works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, as well as choreographic work by Merce Cunningham and works by John Cage, the show takes great pleasure in crossing the disciplines of art, dance and music to reflect the multi-faceted work of these artists.


Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (1950 replica of 1917 original) Photo Felix Clay 2013, Courtesy of Barbican Art Gallery. (more…)

Houston Police Shut Down Kanye West Screening at Rothko Chapel

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

A scheduled Kanye West video projection at Houston’s Rothko Chapel was shut down last week by police, closing down the event before it started.  Another screening was also closed down by police after technical difficulties later that night.  The video projections, done by West for his new single “New Slaves,” is part of a worldwide series of projections to promote his new album, Yeezus. (more…)

Ai Weiwei Launches First Music Video

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Artist Ai Weiwei has just released “Dumbass,” a new music video from his new heavy metal project.  Detailing his 81 days in detention in 2011, the song and video are an attempt to recreate his trying ordeal in the Chinese penal system.  The first song from his album The Divine Comedy, “Dumbass” revisits his detention, which Ai says “was very hard, but I had to do it because that helped me to overcome the trauma.” (more…)

MOCA Launches Look at Punk Artwork

Monday, May 20th, 2013

MOCA has announced that will begin airing a video series, titled “The Art of Punk,” looking at the roots of some of punk rock’s most iconic logos and artwork.  Created by Bryan Ray Turcote and Bo Bushnell, the series features interviews with a number of musicians and artists, including Jello Biafra, Henry Rollins, Raymond Pettibone, and Winston Smith.  The series will debut on June 11th, with an episode on Black Flag. (more…)

Members of Hip-Hop Group Das Racist Host Event at The Whitney Museum

Saturday, April 6th, 2013

Members of the now-defunct hip-hop group Das Racist will perform at The Whitney Museum on Sunday, in conjunction with member Himanshu Suri’s Greedhead Music record label.  The event, part of the programming for The Whitney’s current Blues for Smoke exhibition, will feature several musical performances, as well as several installations by Suri, including “hippie culture and spiritual tourism, the films and life of Guru Dutt, the skin lightening cosmetic industry in India, Air India, the Indian diaspora and immigration, South Asian visibility in Western pop culture, international working class labor politics, and much more.” (more…)

New York – Nick Cave “HEARD•NY” at Grand Central, through March 31, 2013

Sunday, March 31st, 2013


Nick Cave, Heard•NY (2013)

Artist Nick Cave was in New York on Monday, presenting his new performance piece, HEARD•NY, at Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall.  Co-presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts for Transit, Cave’s ambitious project involves sixty dancers from The Ailey School suited in 30 life-size horse costumes. In choreographed gestures, the horses move around as a colorful herd, bobbing their heads and kicking their feet, intermittently grazing and foraging like real equines. (more…)

Stockhausen and Tiravanija’s Octophonie Opens to Sellout Crowds

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

The Park Avenue Armory’s production of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Oktophonie opened this week, featuring a unique, immersive set design by artist Rikrit Tiravanija that places the viewer on an otherworldly lunar landscape.  The 70 minute performance asks audience members to sit on the floor in all white robes for the sonorous, droning soundscape , has already sold out all of its shows for its weeklong run. (more…)

After 14 Years, La Miroiterie in Paris Faces Shutdown

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

La Miroiterie, a long-running artist’s settlement and squat in the Parisian neighborhood of Ménilmontant is facing eviction from the development company that owns the abandoned mirror factory.  Founded in 1999, the space has a reputation as fiercely independent, and avoided working with the Parisian government to legitimize the space.  “The City Council has always respected and admired what was done at La Miroiterie, but we never supported them” financially “because they never wished for their project to be institutionalized,” said a spokesman for the Paris city council. (more…)

Ai Weiwei to Release Heavy Metal Album

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei has announced plans to release an album of heavy metal, inspired by his 81 days in detention in 2011, and his political stance towards the Chinese government.  Called “Divina Commedia,” the title is a comic play on the nickname “Ai God”  that he has earned among his supporters.  “You know, I’m a person that’s furthest away from music, I never sing,” Ai said. “But you’ll be surprised. You’ll like it.” (more…)

New York – Ragnar Kjartansson: “The Visitors” at Luhring Augustine through March 16th, 2013

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013


Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors (Installation View) via Luhring Augustine, New York

Luhring Augustine is currently exhibiting “The Visitors,” a nine-channel video installation by artist Ragnar Kjartansson, a musician and artist living and working in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.  As a member of the group Trabant, Kjartansson pushes the boundaries between electronic rock and performance while working in multiple media formats, focusing primarily on various aspects of performance. (more…)

Seoul: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen at PKM Trinity Gallery Through January 15th, 2013

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

The Sixties Claes Oldenburg (October Files) Writing on the Side 1956-1969
Click Here For Claes Oldenburg Books


Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, French Horns, Unwound and Entwined (2005), via PKM Gallery

Since they began working together in 1971, Claes Oldenburg and his late wife Coosje van Bruggen have created a dense body of work melding together their creative approaches in a variety of large-scale public installations and gallery works.  Appropriating the form of conventional, commonplace objects and recasting them at enormous proportions, the couple’s art simultaneously plays at the viewer’s perceptions of reality and the irony of the subject matter on view. (more…)