Posts tagged as:

Hans Ulrich Obrist

I Went To The Jewish Museum’s “Take Me (I’m Yours)” And All I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt

by Emily Colucci on December 7, 2016

A loud, tacky sign emblazoned with “Everything Must Go” would not feel out of place in the Jewish Museum’s current exhibition Take Me (I’m Yours). A rack of plastic goodie bags branded with the exhibition’s title hang in the show’s entrance, encouraging viewers to fill up on artist-made pins, T-shirts, used clothing, candy and a 25-cent ball of air from Yoko Ono. With this free-for-all curatorial style, the exhibit looks more like a display of samples than a contemporary art show.

That’s a bad thing. The whole show feels like a gimmick designed to lure people in the door by offering them free swag. Meanwhile, the Museum is presenting the idea that they are challenging the traditional relationship between art and its viewers, which not only isn’t true (it’s been done to death), it distracts from the sociopolitical critiques made by many of the artists in the show. Simply put, the show is a disaster.

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Tuesday Links: Enough with Hans Ulrich Obrist’s Face Already

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on November 15, 2016

Salvador Dali’s “Paysage avec Femme” (detail), 1934 Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modernist sale

I (Michael) took a lot of flak for my criticism of Light City, a “light art” festival that the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts sunk millions of dollars into. Now, apparently, even the people who started Light City are unhappy about it. [City Paper]
A holographic Virgin Mary that visitors can “destroy” by artist Timo Toots is causing a problem for an Estonian museum. Man, I love how weird headlines have been now that the culture wars have moved into our “awful future” era. [The Art Newspaper]
Even the promise to work with President-elect Donald Trump is sparking outrage. The American Institute of Architects sent out one such note to its members, causing a backlash from many of its 89,000 members. Good. [Hyperallergic]
Has the art world had enough of curators? Not sure, but I’ve (Paddy) definitely had enough of Hans Ulrich Obrist being the face of all curators. Replacements for the term include “organized by” and “exhibition maker”. [artnet News]
Dealer turned art fair manager Edward Winkleman is using his facebook feed and blog to begin a new series called “History Repeating”. Like the rest of us, he’s terrified by what electing Trump will mean for the country and is pointing out similarities in history where dictators did terrible things. If you’re thinking of Hitler and Nazi Germany, you’re on the right track. [Edward Winkleman]
And here’s a post from a conservatively leaning website, contemplating the moral implications for Republicans who must chose whether they will serve under Trump. To sum up the message: “Don’t do it. Save yourselves.” Great. [Just Security]
Deborah Kass’s Trump on the cover of New York Magazine. [ARTnews]
Sotheby’s Impressionist Modernist sale totaled $157.7 million with 81% of lots sold. Josh Baer says there is a supply problem in the art world that’s slowing sales. [The Baer Faxt]

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Monday Links: The Socialist Internet, Zika Scares, Curators are In

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on October 31, 2016

chilean-booth

“Utopia” is the theme of this year’s London Design Biennale, and people are looking to “the global south” for inspiration. In the Chilean booth, for example, there’s the Star-Trek-like control room from a 1970s attempt to build a nation-wide proto-internet for then-socialist Chile. It looks even cooler than it sounds. Too bad the CIA overthrew their government and the project never came to fruition. [Dezeen]
Here’s the surprisingly-entertaining backstory of a once-controversial public sculpture in the Capital’s Judiciary Square. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s a golden statue of a naked woman with a deer amidst the District’s stern-looking monuments, here’s why. [The Washington Post]
Walking around Savannah College of Art & Design, one would never guess the college was only established in 1978. That’s because Paula Wallace, who founded the institution, had the foresight to buy up a bunch of Savannah’s then-dilapidated historic buildings to create a campus. [Curbed]
Here’s one “charity” Donald Trump has actually given money to: the National Museum of Catholic Art and History… even though he’s not Catholic, and according to this post, the “museum” might be a scam run by the mob? What? [Wonkette]
For the Wes Anderson fans in the audience, there’s a new show of Wes Anderson inspired art at Spoke Art. Most of it looks terrible. [Geek]
So tempted to make a trip to Pittsburgh for the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Hélio Oiticica retrospective. It sounds awesome. [Vogue]
Remember how the subject of how curators had become the art world’s new power brokers dominated all art conversation five years ago. Well now that ArtReview has named curator Hans Ulrich Obrist the art world’s most “powerful person” the Times seems to have caught on. In 2012, ArtReview named curator Carolyn Christov-Barkargiev the most powerful, but I guess she didn’t count because Obrist? Anyway, it’s 2016, curators are hot, and the Times is ON IT. [The New York Times]
Ok, this headline/subheadline is pretty outrageous-sounding: “Amid Zika Scare, Art World Insiders Fear Discrimination While Planning for Miami Fairs: Welcome to the new reality for the art world’s most seductive fair.” But there’s a very real fear that pregnant art world workers might face employment problems this year. [artnet News]

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Monday Links: Tough Times for Tumblr

by Rhett Jones on July 25, 2016

404_tumblr_yahoo_sale

Tumblr artists take note. Verizon is set to buy Yahoo, Tumblr’s parent company, for the bargain basement price of $4 billion. Changes are expected and no service is safe, so make sure to back up any artwork. [The Verge]
Hans Ulrich-Obrist’s latest project has reportedly run into trouble. The Shanghai Project, a multi-disciplinary biennial that Obrist was organizing with Yongwoo Lee has been reimagined as a community-based event rather than art exhibition. Reports of scheduling, funding, staffing and bureaucratic difficulties have plagued the project for months. [The Art Newspaper]
The New Yorker takes a dive into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the archives of the conceptual architect Luis Barragán. Following his death in 1988, the archives were sold and have been held in a Swiss bunker ever since. [New Yorker]
The net artist Guthrie Lonergan has installed a new work on the Hammer Museum’s website and it has made visitors baffled, delighted and angry. The museum has put together some messages they’ve received over the last six weeks along with an interview with Guthrie about the work. [Hammer Museum]
Edward Snowden has collaborated with hardware hacker Andrew “Bunnie” Huang to design a cell-phone case for journalists and other people who may be tracked by malicious forces. It’s not the prettiest thing in the world but it’s far better than Snowden’s music video. [Fast Company]
Have to say that this James Turrell takeover of a memorial church in Berlin is great. It’s like the nightmare funeral scenes in Heathers made sublime. [The Creator’s Project]
U.S. Congressman John Lewis has won the prestigious Eisner award for the second volume of his graphic novel memoir, “March.” Done in collaboration with illustrator Nate Powell and co-writer Andrew Aydin, the series chronicles Lewis time in the American civil rights struggle. [The Guardian]
Bushwick will be a major pain in the ass in a few years. MTA officials have voted to shut down the L train for 18 months straight. The scheduled maintenance won’t begin until 2019 but this can’t possibly be good for local businesses or galleries. [DNAinfo]
Alanna Heiss recently gave a shout out to Laurie Anderson’s criticism from the early 1970’s, so ArtNews decided to collect some capsule reviews that Anderson wrote for them. Capsule reviews are a tough format and Anderson mostly sticks to a style of quick impressionistic description that’s light on opinion. [ArtNews]

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Mexico City Edition

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on February 1, 2016

¡Estamos en México D.F.!

We’re here for the art fairs ZONA MACO and Material, but there’s literally so much going on in this city of 20+ million people that it’s only Monday and we’re overwhelmed. There’s no shortage of art events. We’ve done our best to collect some of the shows we think should be on your must-see list, ranging from heady shows such as that of artists Virginia Colwell and Emre Hüner at Iniciativa Curatorial MARSO to the fusion of more minimal and playful aesthetics by José León Cerrillo at josé garcía. If you think there’s anything we should add to our list let us know. And look to the blog tomorrow for our Mexico City Weekend Guide. There’s literally so much worthy of your attention here we had to split our post in two!

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5 Takeaways From Yesterday’s “Instagram as an Artistic Medium” Talk

by Corinna Kirsch on December 5, 2014

1. You have different types of artists.

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Tuesday Links: Who the Hell Needs Round-the-Clock Art News?

by Paddy Johnson Whitney Kimball and Corinna Kirsch on December 2, 2014

Image courtesy of the Bass Museum

Hans Ulrich Obrist: get some sleep. You’re stressing us out, and your lifestyle justifies the existence of 24/7 art news. Nobody needs 24/7 art news. [New Yorker]
But for those who want 24/7 art news, UBS is introducing the BETA version of Planet Art, an app that delivers contemporary art news. We’re one of the sources, so we’re part of the problem? [Art Fix Daily]
Artists in Moscow are being kicked out of their studio spaces by the government, despite promises their leases would be renewed through 2025. No reason has been given for why the leases aren’t being renewed, but kudos to the Art Newspaper for being able to find a single dissenting voice. Anatoly Osmolovsky, an artist, curator and the rector of the Institute of Contemporary Art Basa says the spaces should be banned because they are a relic of Stalinism. [The Art Newspaper via: @mfortki]
Ruffles, teddy bears, and leaping should give you some cheer throughout the day. [Tanzcorps Colonia Rut Wiess]
Canada has a biennial right now at the AGO. “Biennial,” however, is loosely defined here as “a selection of recent acquisitions to the National Gallery of Canada’s Canadian Contemporary, Indigenous and Photography holdings.” [Art Gallery of Ontario]
An East Hampton dealer accused of making fake Pollocks and de Koonings, “and using some of the money to buy a submarine,” has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. [New York Times]
The culture wars drag on: Jacksonville City Council labels a photo of a nude pregnant woman “pornography”, and threatens to pull funding for MoCA Jacksonville for showing the image. [@Kriston Capps]
A beachside Nazi resort, “Hitler’s Hamptons,” is filling up with condos after years of debate. People are buying them like crazy. [Vocativ]
Duncan Campbell, of Ireland, has won the Turner Prize for a video about African art and Marxism. [BBC]
And a Virginia boy wins every merit badge there is. Vocativ has rounded up his weirdest achievements which include fingerprinting and truck transportation. [Vocativ]
Girl Scout cookies are going up for sale online!!! But how will the Girl Scouts earn their prizes? [Brightest Young Things]
A Husky stuck under a fence. [@HereBeHuskies]
Meanwhile, here’s a cute baby pitbull. [@dailypitbulls]
The St. Claire names AFC’s Panda Calendar a must-have for your Christmas list. Thaaanks guyyys. [The St. Claire]
The lighting district is coming to its certain end. Another hardware store closes after rent hikes. [Bowery Boogie]
Everything you need to know about mechanical pencils. [Metafilter]
A Vogue article argues that when it comes to manipulation anything goes, because people have been manipulating photos since the medium’s inception, and then changes its mind, arguing that manipulated photos immediately become illustration. The piece overlooks issues negative body image standards for women. It also liberally makes use of random formatting decisions and is full of typos, which I think is a commentary on what should be “fixed”. [Vogue]
Paddy Johnson will be heading down to Art Basel today. Check back for updates.

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