Walead Beshty, Performances Under Working Conditions (Installation View) via Emily Heinz for Art Observed

Following Petzel Gallery’s open invitation for Walead Beshty to curate its summer group exhibition, the Chelsea space is presenting his first solo show with the gallery, titled Performance Under Working Conditions. Examining modes of work and the kinetic, human element of labor, the exhibition uses minimal, repeated actions to underline the interaction of human and non-human agents.

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Bradford Young, Bynum Cutler (2014), via Art Observed

Founded in 1838, the Brooklyn community of Weeksville was a landmark moment in the history of African-American self-determination.    Just 11 years after the abolition of slavery in New York, Weeksville was founded by free Black landowners, a venture that grew to over 500 households and earned its citizens the right to vote.  As a social project, Weeksville’s impact is vastly significant, allowing a supportive, radical structure for its citizens to define and build their own system of economic and cultural stability.  Weeksville’s powerful history that sits at the center of Creative Time’s newest project, Funk, God, Jazz & Medicine, a series of collaborative on-site projects and initiatives incorporating the communal, radical mission of Weeksville and examining its presence in the contemporary landscape of Central Brooklyn. (more…)

MoMA has announced details of There Will Never Be Silence, an album paying tribute to John Cage’s monumental work 4’33”, and examining the intersections of silence, sound, and the principles of modern recording.  The record, which will be available at MoMA PS1’s ArtBook Fair later this month, includes pieces by Gang Gang Dance, Kevin Beasley and Yasunao Tone.   (more…)

There’s any number of ways to approach Roman Opalka, whose work sits at the center of Dominique Lévy’s first show of the fall season (and the self-professed “most important show the gallery may ever host” according to Lévy herself).  One is through the visual content of his work, which is perhaps the most recognizable point of access.  Taking minimalist conceptual action to one of its natural conclusions, Opalka abandoned a gesturally abstract career in 1965, pursuing a new project: the painting, number by number, of the artist’s endless count to infinity.

Roman Opalka, Détail – Photo 5055607 (1965/1), via Dominique Lévy (more…)

This November 17th, HBO will premiere a documentary focusing on Banksy’s monthlog “residency” in New York City, titled Banksy Does New York.  Taking footage uploaded by viewers experiencing the artist’s work firsthand, director Chris Moukarbel has cut together a full-length film, which he calls “a city holding a mirror back up to the artist.” (more…)

Artist Yayoi Kusama is interviewed in The Telegraph this week, in the run-up to the artist’s show of new work at Victoria Miro next month.  In the article, the artist discusses her life between Japan and New York, and her reasons for moving to New York in the late 1950’s.  “Japan was a very feudalistic society and I felt I wanted to live more freely,” Kusama notes. “So I decided to go to America. I thought lots of people were making beautiful images in America… It was a very interesting society to me, especially the younger generation. Everyone seemed to try really hard to find their own way.” (more…)

Aram Saroyan, Lighght (1989), All images are by Osman Can Yerebakan for Art Observed.

Aphasia, a brain dysfunction resulting in the failure of comprehension of language, is the starting point of Lisa Cooley’s summer group show Itself Not So.  Curated by staff member Rachel Valinsky, and titled after a poem by Susan Howe, the selection grabs this condition as a metaphor for the disconnect between mind and speech, examining the possible fractures causing intellectual and emotional failures regarding the self. The exhibition argues that, with the corruption of the harmony among sound, thoughts and speech, a possible chaos and detachment brings an individual’s functionality to a standstill. Both intellectual and emotional, social and biological, this turmoil challenges the autonomy of those inflicted. (more…)

Zhang Huan, Shanxi Door No. 49 (2206), all images courtesy Pace Chesa Büsin

Pace Gallery has taken up space at Chesa Büsin in the Swiss town of Suoz this summer for a retrospective of works by Chinese artist Zhang Huan. Known for his especially visceral brand of performance art and his equally meticulous and exacting documentations, this exhibition primarily focuses on some of Zhang’s lesser known paintings, photography and works on paper. (more…)

Marking an ambitious exchange between three New York galleries this summer, the exhibition Multiplicity is currently spread across the city’s varied arts communities for a three part show exploring the intersections of meanings, behaviors and interpretations of urban life around the globe.  Taking up space at NURTUREart in Bushwick, the LES’s Invisible Exports and Mixed Greens in Chelsea, the exhibition culls work from artists in Tirana, Belfast, New Dehli, Tel Aviv, New York, and Hong Kong.   (more…)

Performance artist Istvan Kantor was arrested yesterday at the Whitney Museum‘s Jeff Koons exhibition, after he splashed his own blood on the wall of the space, and signed the name “Monty Cantsin” on the wall, a nom de plume for artists involved in the Canadian “Neoist” movement.  Kantor has a history of vandalizing major exhibitions, and was actually awarded a Governor General’s Award by the Canadian government for his work. (more…)

Pierre Huyghe at Artist’s Institute, via Kelly Lee for Art Observed

This summer, the Eldridge Street home of The Artist’s Institute played home to an exhibition by French artist Pierre Huyghe, focusing primarily on the artist’s works with living creatures.  Spiders, flies and rats were released in the gallery’s basement space earlier this summer, and their movements, adaptations and occasional escapes (some of the creatures were noted to have left the confines of the exhibition prematurely) to their new locale composed the core of the show.

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Gilbert & George, The World of Gilbert and George (still) (1981), all images courtesy Lehmann Maupin

On view at Lehmann Maupin New York is a group of films and “Living Sculptures” by the 1986 Turner Prize winners Gilbert & George. The exhibition is the artists’ fifth show with Lehmann Maupin, and represents a transitional link between their early pieces and their later, better known large-scale works.

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Three artists in Germany have used the fat from Joseph Beuys‘ work Fettecke (1982) to distill their own liquor, and to serve it to visitors during a performance.  The performers, professor of art in Bremen Markus Löffler and artists Andree Korpys and Dieter Schmal, combined the fat with blue pigment from a Yves Klein work, and created a home distilled drink.  “The taste is reminiscent of Parmesan,” says Löffler. (more…)

Last week, artist Cai Guo-Qiang floated a specially made ark, filled with stuffed animals, around Shanghai harbor, in an attempt to draw further attention to the port city’s heavily polluted waters.  “Not being dead leaves possibilities and space for imagination,” the artist said of his work, emphasizing the space between living and dead that his stuffed animals occupy. (more…)

Korakrit Arunanondchai has unveiled the trailer for his newest exhibition Letters to Chantri #1, opening this Friday at The Mistake Room.  Arunanondchai’s trailer continues his engagement with a cinematic approach to his work and his own artistic narrative, and features shots of him creating several of his body paint canvases, as his denim-clad assistants look on.  “Those paintings that you make,” the video text says, “they suffocate you.”  (more…)

Marina Abramovic has partnered with Adidas for a recreation of the artist’s Work Relation, ostensibly as a promotional tie-in with the world cup events the brand is currently undertaking.  The video features a group of performers in white lab coats and Adidas sneakers, recreating the piece as the artist looks on. (more…)

Marina Abramović in the Promotional Video of the Performance

‘I can succeed or I can fail. Let’s see what happens’ says Marina Abramović in the promotional video for her five hundred and twelve hour long, grueling residency at the Serpentine Galleries in London. Starting from June 11th until August 25th, the grand dame of performance art will be present at the art institute, interacting with the public through the framework of “nothingness.” (more…)

Zhang Wan, Artificial Rock at Art Unlimited photo by Art Observed

As Sunday winds down, the 2014 edition of Art Basel in Switzerland is drawing to a close, concluding another week that saw the small Swiss city at the center of the art world for one dizzying week of sales, projects and installations.  The wealth of collectors, dealers and curators saw dealers bringing big-ticket works to the table across the board, and the steady stream of sales for blue-chip works and high priced works continued well beyond the VIP days early last week.

Andra Ursuta, Orthodoctrinator at Art Unlimited (more…)

Frieze London has announced its “Projects” section for the 2014 edition of the fair in Regent’s Park.  Curated by Nicola Lees, the seven projects located both on-site and around London will include a “living stage” by Nick Mauss, where ballets will be performed each day, and a secret map of the fair routes by Sophia Al Maria, underlining conspiracies hidden throughout.  The presentations will also feature a reconstructed musical performance from the career of conceptual comedian Andy Kaufman, enacted by Jonathan Berger. (more…)

RoseLee Goldberg, the curator and art historian founded who founded Performa is in the New York Times this week, reliving some of her favorite moments from the ten-year history of the festival, including performances by Jesper Just, Mike Kelley and Francesco Vezzoli.     (more…)

Marina Abramovic’s new performance 512 Hours opened yesterday at the Serpentine, with the artist granted free reign to enocunter visitors in the empty gallery space and do as she wishes.  “The idea is that the public are my material, and I am theirs,” she says. “I will open the gallery myself in the morning and close it at 6 p.m. with my key. I want to understand how I can be in the present moment, be with the public.” (more…)

Marina Abramovic is interfviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week, in advance of the opening for her newest performance 512 Hours at the Serpentine this week.  In the article Abramovic discusses her latest work, her beliefs in performance and technique, and her longing to travel to space.  “I was at Necker Island with Richard Branson,” she says, “and I asked him: ‘Is it possible to pay just half a ticket so I can go to space and stay there, so I don’t need a return?’ He is still thinking about it.” (more…)

The Guardian reports on a dispute between Marina Abramovic, the Serpentine Gallery and a group of writers, curators and artists who claim that Marina Abramovic’s new performance at the Serpentine fails to acknowledge the work of Mary Ellen Carroll, another artist who has explored concepts of non-action and doing “nothing” as the core of her performance works.  “There are differences,” says art historian David Joselit . “I am not prepared to say Marina Abramović is involved in plagiarising or anything like that.  I just think there should be a conversation.” (more…)

Marina Abramovic is in The Guardian this week, discussing her techniques in the “Abramovic Method,” as a way of increasing awareness and consciousness while preparing for performances. “It’s very much to do with concentration, and to the borderline of how far we can concentrate on one thing at a time.” (more…)