Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO
LIGHTNING FIELDS
December 8th 2011 till January 21st 2012
Open from Wednesday till Saturday from 2 to 6 pm
The artist’s exhibition at Axel Vervoordt gallery mirrors Sugimoto’s conceptual approach upon the origins of early life. This exhibition focuses on two of the three periods in the history of earth: “I wish to simulate the history of the earth in three periods: first, a dark hot planet shrouded in thick clouds of gas its primordial sea repeatedly struck by lightning and pelleted by tiny asteroids; second, a stable atmosphere and vast murky protobiotic waters; and third, the Paleozoic sea churning with biological phenomena.”
The gallery will feature six works from the Lightning Fields series. Sugimoto radically created the Lightning Fields through a method that did not involve the use of a camera. Sugimoto bought a Van de Graaff generator, capable of creating 400,000 volts, and he used it to charge a metal ball with static for up to 10 minutes. The negative pole was created by a large metal tabletop, on which he placed a six-by-three-foot sheet of film.
"When I feel the charge is strong enough then I just move the ball closer to the metal sheet and at a certain point — bang! — it just sparks," Sugimoto explains. The results, which he refers to as "lightning fields," often resemble meteor showers and, if the charge is powerful enough, create a treeing effect on the film, shattering it with forks of energy.
“Ligurian Sea, Saviore, 1993” represents the world the day after, represented by Hiroshi Sugimoto using equal proportions of sky and sea, lacking all human presence.
Hiroshi Sugimoto (Tokyo, 1948) has lived and worked in New York City since 1974. Hiroshi Sugimoto's interest in art began early. Influenced by Minimalism and Conceptual Art, he also has a lifelong connection to the work and philosophy of Marcel Duchamp. Central to Sugimoto's work is the idea that photography is a time machine, a method of preserving and picturing memory and time. This theme provides the defining principle of his ongoing series including, among others, Dioramas (1976); Theaters (1978- ); and Seascapes (1980- ). He places extraordinary value on the technical aspects of photography, printing his work with meticulous attention and a keen understanding of the nuances of silver-print making and its potential for tonal richness in his seemingly infinite palette of blacks, whites, and grays.
He had one-person exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; MOCA, Los Angeles; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; MCA, Chicago; and Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, among others.
His work is in numerous public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; The National Gallery, London; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Smithsonian Institute of Art, Washington DC; and Tate, London, among others.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Historical ZERO reunion - LETTRE INTERNATIONAL
Historical reunion of the 3 founding members of the ZERO movement in Germany
http://www.lettre.de/aktuell/94-jocks.html
LETTRE INTERNATIONAL - Europas Kulturzeitung
H.N. Jocks spricht mit Piene, Mack, Uecker
ZERO IN EUROPA
http://www.lettre.de/aktuell/94-jocks.html
LETTRE INTERNATIONAL - Europas Kulturzeitung
H.N. Jocks spricht mit Piene, Mack, Uecker
ZERO IN EUROPA
HEINZ-NORBERT JOCKS: Über den Modus der Leere werden wir noch reden müssen, um uns über das Utopische von ZERO klarzuwerden. Interessant ist ja, daß fast parallel zu ZERO in Frankreich das Buch von Roland Barthes Am Nullpunkt der Literatur erschien und daß in der französischen Literatur seitens des Nouveau roman die Loslösung von allem Psychologischen eingefordert wurde. Das war sozusagen eine Parallelaktion zu ZERO.
(…)
OTTO PIENE: Es geht ja um die späten vierziger Jahre. Davor besuchte ich in München die Kunstakademie. Der Platz, wo ich am liebsten gemalt habe, war buchstäblich auf den Mauerresten der Akademie. Von dort aus hatte man einen Blick in den Himmel und auf einige Zwischenräume von München, die nicht in Trümmern lagen. Darüber hinaus gab es einen persönlichen Horizont. Über der Trümmerlandschaft, die in den späten vierziger Jahren traumatisch war, lag eine andere, ja vollkommen reine, bei Tageslicht so helle wie intakte Welt. Sie wurde für mich zum Inbegriff der Leere. Dieser Himmel über der chaotisch zerstörten, kaputten Stadtlandschaft, die kaum noch erkennbar war, wenn man nicht die Karte bemühte, war eine sowohl faßbare wie auch unfaßbare und gegenstandslose Leere. Diese findet sich bei uns, die wir hier sitzen, immer wieder unter verschiedenen Namen. Mal heißt sie „Himmel“, mal „Wüste“ oder „Arktis“. Damit ist eine Vorstellung verknüpft, die sich gut mit dem verträgt, was an den aufgezählten Stätten andere gedacht, gefühlt und gesehen haben und diese motiviert hat, die Leere nicht nur zu untersuchen, sondern auch menschlich greifbar zu machen …
Herr Uecker, was verstanden Sie unter Leere?
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Axel Vervoordt Gallery @ Talking Galleries, Barcelona 19/20/21-09-2011
Watch the video @ http://vimeo.com/30500829
The gallerist as a private collector
Helga de Alvear Fundación Helga de Alvear (Cáceres)
Boris Vervoordt Galerie Axel Vervoordt (Antwerp)
Paul Maenz Galerie Paul Maenz (Berlín)
Luise Faurschou Faurschou Foundation (Copenhagen, Beijing)
Moderated by:
Estrella de Diego Professor of Contemporary Art of
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid)
TALKING GALLERIES, the first international meeting for gallery directors, was held in Barcelona on 19, 20 and 21 September 2011. It aims to offer a meeting place for industry professionals that goes above and beyond the commercial side of art to focus on exploring and debating central issues of common interest. The talks were given by gallerists and other agents in the art market from over eleven different countries representing the major art capitals in the world.
The gallerist as a private collector
Helga de Alvear Fundación Helga de Alvear (Cáceres)
Boris Vervoordt Galerie Axel Vervoordt (Antwerp)
Paul Maenz Galerie Paul Maenz (Berlín)
Luise Faurschou Faurschou Foundation (Copenhagen, Beijing)
Moderated by:
Estrella de Diego Professor of Contemporary Art of
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid)
TALKING GALLERIES, the first international meeting for gallery directors, was held in Barcelona on 19, 20 and 21 September 2011. It aims to offer a meeting place for industry professionals that goes above and beyond the commercial side of art to focus on exploring and debating central issues of common interest. The talks were given by gallerists and other agents in the art market from over eleven different countries representing the major art capitals in the world.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Next show Sadaharu Horio - Atarimae-no-koto
Sadaharu Horio
Friday 28 October from 2-6 PM
Saturday 29 October from 2-6 PM
Presentation of his new book : Sadaharu Horio
Performance by the artist
Thursday 27 October from 6-9 PMFriday 28 October from 2-6 PM
Saturday 29 October from 2-6 PM
Exhibition continues through December 3th 2011
Open Wednesday to Saturday from 2-6 PM and by appointmentSadaharu Horio (°Kobe, 1939) can be considered as the most important artist of his generation. He joined the Japanese avant-garde group “Gutai” in 1966 and has been expanding on the avant-garde spirit of Gutai with an impressive body of experimental work. He is a pioneer in modern Kobe performance art and his influence on Japan’s contemporary art scene is significant.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
TRA @ thestylesaloniste.com
http://www.thestylesaloniste.com/
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Come and see what the great Belgian antique and art dealer Axel Vervoordt has been up to lately. And you'll find my list of highlights for the Venice Biennale.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Art and Mystery in Venice:
Come and see what the great Belgian antique and art dealer Axel Vervoordt has been up to lately. And you'll find my list of highlights for the Venice Biennale.
Brilliant Axel Vervoordt created the inspiring TRA: Edge of Becoming exhibit at the Palazzo Fortuny, recently renovated. It's a dazzling and thought-provoking jewel of this year's brilliant Venice Biennale, which continues through November.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Gotthard Graubner @ Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop
Gotthard Graubner. Malerei. Gespräch mit Josef Albers
25. September 2011 bis 15. Januar 2012
Josef Albers Museum
Im Stadtgarten 20
D-46236 Bottrop
Gotthard Graubner, born 1930, is one of the best known representatives of German art since 1970. You can call his art in general 'color painting'. This means that the color is emphasized here in his own language skills: All levels of the image - space, form, movement and light - to be developed consistently from the organization and linguistic power of color.
This emphasis on the color of Graubner suggests an intrinsic relationship to the concept of Josef Albers, who has explored in his paintings of the series 'Homage to the Square' the interaction of color.
This emphasis on the color of Graubner suggests an intrinsic relationship to the concept of Josef Albers, who has explored in his paintings of the series 'Homage to the Square' the interaction of color.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Opening of the Roman Opalka exhibition at the gallery on the 8th of September
Series of photographic 'Details' entitled "OPALKA 1965 / 1 - ∞"
Boris Vervoordt
Boris Vervoordt, Tatsuro Miki
Axel Vervoordt
Daniel De Belder, Aimelie De Belder
Goedele Zwaenepoel
Boris Vervoordt, Joe Sleeckx, Michael Gardner
Mevr. Asai, Tatsuro Miki, Otto Boll and Axel Vervoordt
Axel Vervoordt, Tatsuro Miki, Mevr. Asai
Mr en mevr. Xavier Donck, Goedele Zwaenepoel, Adriaan Raemdonck, Friedl Lesage
Tatsuro Miki, Mevr. Asai, Axel Vervoordt
Adriaan Raemdonck, Friedl Lesage, Axel Vervoordt
Friday, September 9, 2011
Roman Opalka, painter of infinity, died on August 6th, aged 79
The Economist, 20th of August 2011
SLOWLY, though his heart was pounding like a runner’s, Roman Opalka approached the canvas. He had painted it completely black. The date, though he set no store by dates, was 1965. Clenched in his left hand was a pot of white acrylic paint; held tightly in his right was a No. 0 brush, the smallest standard size. He dipped the fine tip into the paint and then, very gently, as if in slow motion, raised his arm. His hand was trembling. Carefully he painted the figure 1 at the top left-hand corner of the canvas. At the same time he whispered, in his native Polish, jeden, one. The moment was so charged with emotion that he thought he might collapse. Instead, he had begun.
He had thought about this for years, wondering how he might visualise time. He did not mean the time of clocks or calendars or hour-glasses; those were merely instruments of convenience for fixing points at which to have coffee, or feed the cat. That was time you could even reverse, by winding back the clock or tipping the hourglass over. He meant the irreversible continuum of time that flowed through him, the pulse of his life approaching his death within the vastness of infinity. For some years early in the 1960s he had played around with dabs and zigzags of monochrome paint on canvases which he called “Chronomes”, but he concluded that time was more orderly than that. By painting numbers in careful succession from one to infinity, or as near to it as he was destined to get, he would make a work of art that tracked as well as anything the movement of time in a life, and life in time.
The idea came easily enough, while he was waiting one winter day in a cold café in Warsaw for his wife and his friends to come, glancing impatiently at clock and watch, drumming the moments away on the table. But it demanded nothing less than the sacrifice of his life. From the moment of painting the figure 1 until the day he died, when he had reached well past 5500000 (no commas marred his work), his daily task was painting numbers and whispering their names, eventually into a tape recorder. Hence his extreme emotion when he began: his own “big bang”, signalling his own creation of space-time.
Each canvas was called a “detail”, and all had the same title, “Opalka 1965/ 1-∞”. Typically he would paint around 400 figures a day, standing almost motionless at the easel. He tried not to travel much, did not take holidays, and if the journey was unavoidable made what he called cartes de voyage, continuing his numbers in black ink on ordinary white paper. The work became so absorbing, so meditative, that he would try to paint at the deepest hours of night, when only the bark of a dog or distant cock-crow would disturb the southern French hillside where he lived.
Heart trouble bothered him, and he once found the little paint-pot almost too heavy to lift, but he never considered stopping. The number 7777777 floated in his mind as a sort of completion of his “programme”; but in fact the completion would be his death, as he often said. Some critics saw his project as a sort of suicide, and he did not altogether dispute that. No sort of afterlife tempted him, he had no belief in one; but he very much liked a story by Marguerite Yourcenar in which a man built a boat and set out into infinity.
Over the 46 years of his enterprise, his technique and materials barely changed. His canvases, 233 in all, were always 196 x 135cm, a good size to work at standing and to carry in outstretched arms. Brush and paint never varied. His figures were roughly a centimetre tall, most made with two deliberate strokes of the brush, and allowed to fade away as his paint ran out, like the trailing tail of a comet. He often said he painted like a man out walking, unaware of his steps unless he stumbled. If that happened, he never went back.
His biggest innovation was to change the background colour. In 1968 he made it grey; in 1972—when, barely able to breathe, he passed 1000000—he decided to add 1% more white to that grey every year. By 2008 the white of ground and figures was virtually the same, except that he thought of the ground as “well-earned white”, arduously brought out of the original black, and except that the newly painted figures would shine out against it until they dried. He approached this invisibility with a sort of exaltation.
Self-portrait with numbers
From 1968, at the end of every working day, he took a black-and-white photograph of his impassive face against the canvas. This too was part of the project. It was not egoism or narcissism, he insisted. After all, his art told people nothing about his quotidian life. None of it—the birth in France, the childhood in Poland interrupted by war, the art studies in Warsaw, the year in Berlin—seemed important beside the immensity of the self-imposed task. He spoke about that, when asked, rather diffidently, softly rubbing the rims of his glasses in one hand, talking of Heidegger and Pascal and the notions of number held by the ancient Greeks, smiling often with what seemed to be repressed joy. And why not? Though people saw him as a prisoner, he felt more liberated with every stroke of the brush. Each of his self-portraits, with steadily silvering hair and whitening skin, showed him progressing as inevitably as his numbers into the infinity he longed for.
SLOWLY, though his heart was pounding like a runner’s, Roman Opalka approached the canvas. He had painted it completely black. The date, though he set no store by dates, was 1965. Clenched in his left hand was a pot of white acrylic paint; held tightly in his right was a No. 0 brush, the smallest standard size. He dipped the fine tip into the paint and then, very gently, as if in slow motion, raised his arm. His hand was trembling. Carefully he painted the figure 1 at the top left-hand corner of the canvas. At the same time he whispered, in his native Polish, jeden, one. The moment was so charged with emotion that he thought he might collapse. Instead, he had begun.
He had thought about this for years, wondering how he might visualise time. He did not mean the time of clocks or calendars or hour-glasses; those were merely instruments of convenience for fixing points at which to have coffee, or feed the cat. That was time you could even reverse, by winding back the clock or tipping the hourglass over. He meant the irreversible continuum of time that flowed through him, the pulse of his life approaching his death within the vastness of infinity. For some years early in the 1960s he had played around with dabs and zigzags of monochrome paint on canvases which he called “Chronomes”, but he concluded that time was more orderly than that. By painting numbers in careful succession from one to infinity, or as near to it as he was destined to get, he would make a work of art that tracked as well as anything the movement of time in a life, and life in time.
The idea came easily enough, while he was waiting one winter day in a cold café in Warsaw for his wife and his friends to come, glancing impatiently at clock and watch, drumming the moments away on the table. But it demanded nothing less than the sacrifice of his life. From the moment of painting the figure 1 until the day he died, when he had reached well past 5500000 (no commas marred his work), his daily task was painting numbers and whispering their names, eventually into a tape recorder. Hence his extreme emotion when he began: his own “big bang”, signalling his own creation of space-time.
Each canvas was called a “detail”, and all had the same title, “Opalka 1965/ 1-∞”. Typically he would paint around 400 figures a day, standing almost motionless at the easel. He tried not to travel much, did not take holidays, and if the journey was unavoidable made what he called cartes de voyage, continuing his numbers in black ink on ordinary white paper. The work became so absorbing, so meditative, that he would try to paint at the deepest hours of night, when only the bark of a dog or distant cock-crow would disturb the southern French hillside where he lived.
Heart trouble bothered him, and he once found the little paint-pot almost too heavy to lift, but he never considered stopping. The number 7777777 floated in his mind as a sort of completion of his “programme”; but in fact the completion would be his death, as he often said. Some critics saw his project as a sort of suicide, and he did not altogether dispute that. No sort of afterlife tempted him, he had no belief in one; but he very much liked a story by Marguerite Yourcenar in which a man built a boat and set out into infinity.
Over the 46 years of his enterprise, his technique and materials barely changed. His canvases, 233 in all, were always 196 x 135cm, a good size to work at standing and to carry in outstretched arms. Brush and paint never varied. His figures were roughly a centimetre tall, most made with two deliberate strokes of the brush, and allowed to fade away as his paint ran out, like the trailing tail of a comet. He often said he painted like a man out walking, unaware of his steps unless he stumbled. If that happened, he never went back.
His biggest innovation was to change the background colour. In 1968 he made it grey; in 1972—when, barely able to breathe, he passed 1000000—he decided to add 1% more white to that grey every year. By 2008 the white of ground and figures was virtually the same, except that he thought of the ground as “well-earned white”, arduously brought out of the original black, and except that the newly painted figures would shine out against it until they dried. He approached this invisibility with a sort of exaltation.
Self-portrait with numbers
From 1968, at the end of every working day, he took a black-and-white photograph of his impassive face against the canvas. This too was part of the project. It was not egoism or narcissism, he insisted. After all, his art told people nothing about his quotidian life. None of it—the birth in France, the childhood in Poland interrupted by war, the art studies in Warsaw, the year in Berlin—seemed important beside the immensity of the self-imposed task. He spoke about that, when asked, rather diffidently, softly rubbing the rims of his glasses in one hand, talking of Heidegger and Pascal and the notions of number held by the ancient Greeks, smiling often with what seemed to be repressed joy. And why not? Though people saw him as a prisoner, he felt more liberated with every stroke of the brush. Each of his self-portraits, with steadily silvering hair and whitening skin, showed him progressing as inevitably as his numbers into the infinity he longed for.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Roman Opalka 1965/1 - ∞
“My death is the logical and emotional proof of the completion of my work.”
“Opalka’s work, a methodical transcription of the passing of time, is circumscribed within his own life and will end only with the artist’s death. When the last of the painted numbers will not be followed by another one and the counting will be interrupted. This will leave the work not unfinished, but perfect.” (Marco Pierini)
“Opalka’s work, a methodical transcription of the passing of time, is circumscribed within his own life and will end only with the artist’s death. When the last of the painted numbers will not be followed by another one and the counting will be interrupted. This will leave the work not unfinished, but perfect.” (Marco Pierini)
Monday, August 8, 2011
The Polish painter Roman Opalka died aged 79
The Polish painter Roman Opalka, renowned for his study of the progression of time, has died in hospital in Italy aged 79, his agent said on Saturday.
Opalka was primarily known for his work “1965/1 to infinity”, a series of works he began producing that year featuring numbers counting upwards from one, a process he described on his official website as “recording a progression that both documents time and also defines it.”
Opalka, who had lived in France for more than 30 years, was taken ill several days ago while on holiday and died on Saturday, his agent Slawomir Boss was quoted as saying by Polish media reports.
Born in France in 1931 to Polish parents, Opalka and his family went back to Poland in 1935 but were deported to Germany by the Nazis in 1940. He settled in France in 1977 after spells living back in Poland, Germany and the United States.
His works can be found in the permanent collections of the Pompidou Centre in Paris and New York’s Museum of Modern Art among others.
Opalka was primarily known for his work “1965/1 to infinity”, a series of works he began producing that year featuring numbers counting upwards from one, a process he described on his official website as “recording a progression that both documents time and also defines it.”
Opalka, who had lived in France for more than 30 years, was taken ill several days ago while on holiday and died on Saturday, his agent Slawomir Boss was quoted as saying by Polish media reports.
Born in France in 1931 to Polish parents, Opalka and his family went back to Poland in 1935 but were deported to Germany by the Nazis in 1940. He settled in France in 1977 after spells living back in Poland, Germany and the United States.
His works can be found in the permanent collections of the Pompidou Centre in Paris and New York’s Museum of Modern Art among others.
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Life and Death of Marina Abramović - 9 - 16 July 2011 The Lowry
Manchester International Festival and Teatro Real Madrid present the world premiere of a startling new piece for the stage: The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, a biography of the godmother of performance art, re-imagined by visionary director Robert Wilson.
The show features scenes from Abramović’s life and career, from her Serbian childhood to her work as a performance artist. Featuring original and traditional music, including songs written and performed by the incomparable Antony (Antony & The Johnsons), this ground-breaking show brings together the worlds of theatre, art and music to thrilling effect.
The Life and Death of Marina Abramović is a once in a generation cultural event, starring Marina Abramović, Willem Dafoe and an international cast of actors and performance artists.
This is the first Robert Wilson production to be seen in the UK since The Temptation of St. Anthony in 2005.
We are pleased to welcome Robert Wilson to the Festival for his first UK show in five years, and to bring Marina and Antony back to Manchester following their appearances here in 2009. 'The Life and Death of Marina Abramović’ is a good expression of what MIF was created for – new work made by some of the world’s leading artists.’ Alex Poots, Festival Director
The opera art form needs to develop new ways forward for the future. This could mean, of course, new composers but also projects developed by great visual artists, actors or singers who do not necessarily need to be opera singers. For sure, Antony, for example, brings a lyricism that in conjunction with Bob Wilson and Marina Abramović will make this production a real opera, just as Monteverdi would have loved.
Gerard Mortier, Artistic Director, Teatro Real Madrid
Tatsuo Miyajima: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust @ UCCA - Beijing
Tatsuo Miyajima: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
For leading Japanese contemporary artist Tatsuo Miyajima, numbers are both figurative and abstract, symbolizing a vast realm of existential possibilities, the eternal nature of space and time, and the infinite cycle of life, death and rebirth. His core artistic concepts ("Keep Changing", "Connect with All", and "Goes on forever") are derived from Buddhist philosophy, while his methods and materiel (LED counters, computers, electrical circuits, projection video) are informed by the latest technologies.
Anish Kapoor Pulls China Exhibition
Anish Kapoor Pulls China Exhibition
China Exhibition Cancelled As Protest To Ai Weiwei Detention
The Britain sculptor Anish Kapoor known for his monumental mirror finished public works has cancelled an upcoming exhibition at the National Museum of China, Beijing. The statement comes as a protest against the Chinese government’s detention of Ai Weiwei, the dissident artist and social critic who has been in custody for the last two months since he was arrested and detained by the Chinese authorities..
Kapoor had been asked by the British Council to compile an exhibition for the National Museum in Tiananmen Square as part of the “UK Now” festival later next year. A spokeswoman for Mr. Kapoor, who was scheduled to travel to Beijing to get the process rolling, announced that the plans had been canceled. British Council chief executive Martin Davidson said he was hopeful that the project would go ahead."It is through cultural exchange that we best demonstrate the benefits of free artistic expression and build supportive links between people in the UK and China".
Mr. Kapoor has been a frequent critic against Mr. Ai’s detention and dedicated a recent public work in Paris to him. Ai, a constant thorn in the side of Chinese authorities, was detained in Beijing on April 3 as he tried to board a flight to Hong Kong and remains under house arrest. He is under investigation for "economic crimes" and relatives of the artist say they do not know where he is although his family have been allowed a short meeting to verify his well being.
The Lisson Gallery in London who represent both Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor stated that "it would send mixed messages to China" if Kapoor agreed to a cultural exchange at this time. Kapoor has been an outspoken critic of Mr Ai's arrest. On 10 May, when he opened his Leviathan installation at the Grand Palais in Paris, he dedicated it to the Chinese artist, describing his detention as “barbaric”. Once Kapoor had spoken out, it was realised that his participation in the “UK Now” festival would be difficult. A British Council spokeswoman stressed that the exhibition proposal had been at “a very early stage, and until he had seen the space we could not have proceeded”.
It has also been reported that ,Chinese artist and curator Wang Jun was released from police custody last week, after being detained for referencing Ai Weiwei in an arts festival he helped organize. Upon his released Wang was given instructions by Chinese police to “keep your name off the Internet, move to another part of town, and do not talk to anyone but yourself.” Hours later, Wang divulged the details of his arrest to a foreign journalist, noting that he no longer had any means to support himself. The festival which included a vacant white wall with Ai’s name, was shut down less than twenty-four hours after opening. “I know nothing good can come of this,” said Wang about defying the police’s instructions. International supporters of the pro-democracy movement in China have other thoughts.
Heinz Mack. Licht Raum Farbe - Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Heinz Mack. Licht – Raum – Farbe
18. März - 10. Juli 2011
Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Bonn
Heinz Mack ist Mitbegründer der ZERO-Bewegung und hat als Maler, Lichtkünstler und Bildhauer die Kunst seit den späten 1950er-Jahren nachhaltig beeinflusst. Sein 80. Geburtstag und seine Wiederentdeckung durch die Kunstwelt sind Anlass für die Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, ihm eine Hommage zu widmen.
Die Ausstellung präsentiert rund 130 Werke, entstanden von 1953 bis heute, und hebt die Kontinuität des utopischen Kunstgedankens bei Heinz Mack hervor, in dessen Arbeiten die Wahrnehmung von Licht, Raum und Farbe eine zentrale Rolle spielen. Sein Werk verbindet auf experimentelle Weise Kunst und Umwelt, Poetisches und Profanes, Philosophie und Physik – aus ihm spricht das stetige Bestreben, traditionelle Formen der Kunst neu zu interpretieren und neue Techniken in einem künstlerischen Kontext zu erproben.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Between Worlds - Rachel Spence The Financial Times
Between worlds
By Rachel Spence
Published: July 8 2011 14:41
Last updated: July 8 2011 14:41
At the Venice Biennale there are tanks that roar, machines that rattle and paintings that perplex. Ideas prevail over images. Concepts over creations. Overall, it is art that demands explanation rather than contemplation, a situation exacerbated by the sheer volume of work on display.
No one could fail to be struck by the contrast between the official exhibitions and Tra, the show at Palazzo Fortuny. The Biennale pummels the senses; Palazzo Fortuny soothes them. Here, the presiding anima is not a curator steeped in critical theory but Axel Vervoordt, a Belgian art dealer, interior designer and collector whose flair for display is as crucial to his exhibition’s success as the objects themselves.
It is six years since Vervoordt first proposed to the municipality of Venice that he could mount shows in this magnificent gothic palace, which at that point had been closed for decades due to disrepair, in exchange for financial contributions to its renovation.
Critics argue that Vervoordt’s involvement compromises the Fortuny’s status as a public museum. Although the show is the fruit of a collaboration between Vervoordt and three other curators (Rosa Martinez, Francesco Poli and Fortuny director Daniela Ferretti) and many pieces are loans, it is undeniably also a showcase for the Belgian’s own collection – several works in it are for sale on his company’s website.
He could not have found a more appropriate vitrine. With its high-ceilinged galleries bathed in slanted blocks of light, the four-storey medieval palace is one of the city’s most evocative spaces. Unlike more moribund Venetian residences, Palazzo Fortuny still pulses with the energy of its eponymous owner, Mariano, who lived and worked here for the first half of the 20th century. Born in Spain, the dressmaker, set designer and painter was blind to boundaries between ancient and modern. The pleated bias-cut dresses that were his most famous inventions were reinterpretations of ancient Greek styles. He loved to copy old masters but was equally given to painting scenes from Wagnerian operas.
Fortuny’s creations, including his sumptuous gilded fabrics that now drape the walls, are permanently displayed on the palace’s first floor to give it the air of a fin-de-siècle home. It is the perfect arena for Vervoordt, who skilfully leavens the decadence with works drawn from across centuries and cultures.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Peter Buggenhout @ De Pont, Tilburg 28/05-18/09/2011
Peter Buggenhout
Invertebrate
part of Lustwarande '11 - Raw
28 May -18 September 2011
http://www.depont.nl/
Invertebrate
part of Lustwarande '11 - Raw
28 May -18 September 2011
http://www.depont.nl/
Just as in 2004 and 2008, De Pont is holding a presentation within the context of Lustwarande '11. This international sculpture exhibition will take place for the fourth time this summer in Tilburg's park De Oude Warande. Its overall theme this year is the concept 'Raw'.
The sculptures of Peter Buggenhout (Dendermonde, 1963) are certainly raw and unpolished. At the same time they have a vulnerable and transitory appearance. The works have been made with 'vile' materials, things that no have a function or meaning and which people prefer to be rid of: construction material, packaging material, discarded molds, sheets of plastic, frayed cloth but also horsehair, blood, cow stomachs and household dust.
Unmissable: TRA at Palazzo Fortuny - Royal Academy of Arts Magazine
Unmissable: TRA at Palazzo Fortuny
by Sarah Greenberg RA Magazine Editor
by Sarah Greenberg RA Magazine Editor
Axel Vervoordt's exhibitions at Palazzo Fortuny during the last two Biennales have become legendary for their beauty and, especially, the way they mix ancient and modern art, known and unknown artists, artefacts and masterpieces.
The Belgian art dealer and collector is showing art from the collection of his foundation outside Antwerp, which is touring while he builds a museum for it, due to open in 2014. Vervoordt sees these shows as an invitation to viewers to share his art as we take a journey through this atmospheric Venetian gothic palazzo. He encourages us to follow our senses and discover new works of art and ways of looking. This is exercise for the eyes and it's a fantastic workout.
The Venice Biennale - The NY Times (10/06/2011)
The Venice Biennale, by Design
By HELENA NILSSON STRäNGBERG AND MARCO VELARDI
By HELENA NILSSON STRäNGBERG AND MARCO VELARDI
Last week the art world descended on Venice for the opening of the Biennale, which will run through Nov. 27. Masses of devotees came together to celebrate Bice Curiger’s directorship of the 54th International Art Exhibition, “Illuminations,” to attend banquets in fancy palazzos, on private boat parties and at rent-your-own-island dinner parties (as Frieze magazine did to celebrate its 20th anniversary) — and to check out some art. This year, there was also plenty to see from the perspective of architecture and design.
The talk of the opening was the Fondazione Prada’s new Venetian address in the freshly restored Ca’ Corner della Regina, an impressive 18th-century palazzo. There, the curator Germano Celant brought together an interesting mix of work, including sculptures by Anish Kapoor, Michael Heizer and Jeff Koons, playful pieces by Damien Hirst and an installation by Louise Bourgeois. The exhibition also includes a scale model of the OMA/Rem Koolhaas-designed Fondazione headquarters, which are scheduled to open in Milan in 2013. And as part of the full Prada experience, the museum attendants are impeccably dressed.
Another great space with an almost magnetic attraction is the spectacular Palazzo Fortuny, where the designer Axel Vervoordt has, for several biennales now, curated wildly popular shows. This year’s effort, “Tra,” includes some 300 artworks from all over the world that are shown to genuinely fascinating effect throughout the three floors of the palazzo. Artists like Marina Abramovic, Fernand Léger, Auguste Rodin and Lucio Fontana, and even the designer Enzo Mari, are all part of the mix.
Friday, June 3, 2011
TRA - The Edge of Becoming, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, June 4 - November 27 2011
TRA recalls the complex and problematic ensemble of cultural and symbolic meanings that are connected to the concept of threshold and door. It concerns a physical and mental place that defines the point of interrelation between inside and outside and vice versa. It relates to the idea of crossing, of being purified and renovated through a ritual or an initiation. It is the space (or empty space) between two dimensions that marks the moment of passage from a condition to another, a breach towards new experiences. It is the idea of border that, seen from the point of view of its surpass, becomes site of process of creative transformation.
The subtitle of the exhibition TRA is EDGE OF BECOMING. It relates to the void as the pregnant possibility of energy, to chaos as the state of infinite becoming, and to becoming as the movement towards a situation. While the rational, empiric and technological Western world has abused of the male and Ying power, the Eastern systems of knowledge have always sustained the dynamic processes of non-linear interaction between Yin and Yang polarities. TRA. EDGE OF BECOMING is also looking for that healing balance, for a creative interaction that unfolds every beginning, every birth, every renaissance.
The specific curatorial team for TRA. EDGE OF BECOMING is composed by Daniela Ferretti, director of Palazzo Fortuny; Rosa Martínez, independent curator and art advisor; Francesco Poli, philosopher and art history professor; and Axel Vervoordt, president of the Axel Vervoordt Foundation.
TRA-Edge of Becoming
Palazzo Fortuny, San Marco 3780-San Beneto, Venice
4 June – 27 November 2011
http://www.tra-expo.com/
The specific curatorial team for TRA. EDGE OF BECOMING is composed by Daniela Ferretti, director of Palazzo Fortuny; Rosa Martínez, independent curator and art advisor; Francesco Poli, philosopher and art history professor; and Axel Vervoordt, president of the Axel Vervoordt Foundation.
TRA-Edge of Becoming
Palazzo Fortuny, San Marco 3780-San Beneto, Venice
4 June – 27 November 2011
http://www.tra-expo.com/
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Opening reception Gotthard Graubner - "Raum der Stille"
Gotthard Graubner
Boris Vervoordt, Gotthard Graubner, Axel Vervoordt, Kitty Graubner
Gotthard Graubner, Willy Vermeersch, Goedele Zwaenepoel, Boris Vervoordt, Jan Vandewiele
Gotthard Graubner signing historical posters of the 60s & 70s
Hans November, Jan Vandewiele, Armand Creemers
Kitty Graubner and Natascha Van Deun
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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