Basquiat comes of age
Transcription
Basquiat comes of age
ART BASEL FREE DAILY UMBERTO ALLEMANDI & CO. PUBLISHING LONDON NEW YORK TURIN VENICE MILAN ROME ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 On show If the hat fits The profile of graffiti artist JeanMichel Basquiat, who died of a drug overdose in 1988 at the age of just 27, has never been higher. The Beyeler Foundation is devoting a large-scale retrospective of more than 100 works to the Brooklyn-born painter, whose output is limited to just eight years, but whose critical acclaim is mirrored by the market interest in his work, with over 30 works on show at Art Basel on six stands. “Basquiat’s strength was in his ability to merge imagery from the streets, newspapers and TV with the spiritualism of his Haitian heritage, injecting both into an intuitive understanding of the language of painting,” Jeffrey Deitch, the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, says. Deitch’s opinion is reflected in the wide base of collectors for Basquiat’s work. The list of lenders to the Beyeler show reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary collecting, including the Miami-based Rubells and the Bramans, hedge-funder Steve Cohen, London jeweller Laurence Graff and tennis champion John McEnroe. The Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Zurich-based Daros Foundation have also loaned works. Other collectors include star names from pop music and Hollywood, such as Madonna and Leonardo DiCaprio. “Major collectors of modern art view [Basquiat’s] work as comparable to that of Picasso and Dubuffet,” explains Beyeler director Sam Keller. “He was prolific, and produced 900 to 1,000 paintings and 2,000 to 3,000 works on paper. This amount is a condition for an active and sustained market.” At auction, the highest price ever paid for a Basquiat stands at $14.6m for an Untitled work from 1981. It was set at the height of the art market boom at Sotheby’s New York in 2007. In November 2008, at the depth of the financial recession, an Untitled, Boxer from 1982 still made $13.5m (in the late 1990s it had sold for about $800,000). At the fair there are two works priced at $12m, at Shafrazi (F7) and Bruno Bischofberger (C9): Gas Truck, 1984, at the former, and the 1982, eight-panel work The Dutch Sellers at the latter, who represented the artist worldwide. These two dealers are among a small, powerful group of players in this market. But Edward Tyler Nahem (F15) feels that the market is so broad today © Katherine Hardy Beyeler exhibition aims to place the artist, who died at 27, high in the canon Untitled (Self-portrait: the King), 1981, at Edward Tyler Nahem, one of six galleries showing works by the artist that it is no longer possible for a few dealers to control it. He is showing two works, Catharsis, 1984, priced at $9m, and Untitled (Self-portrait: the King), 1981, at $2.8m, while L&M Arts (B18) has a large work on paper, Ribs, Ribs, 1982, priced at $2.6m. Yesterday, dealers reported interest but few confirmed sales. “Like many markets, Basquiat’s is two-tiered,” says Brett Gorvy, deputy chairman of Christie’s, which sold the Untitled, Boxer. “The most coveted material is rare, generally dating from the best period, 1981-83. There are good later works but overall the quality is more inconsistent.” Collectors really want what Gorvy describes as “emblematic works, preferably with a single figure with strong colours and a desirable scale”. Many of the top works are now with a handful of collectors: Peter Brant, Eli Broad, Philippe Niarchos and Dennis Scholl, and the collector/dealer family of Mugrabis. They are a major presence in the market, and passionate about the artist: Alberto Mugrabi even has the signature Basquiat crown tattooed on his wrist. Below the top level is what Gorvy calls “a level of good, B+ works that sell for $800,000$3m. These works are often bought by dealers who sell them on. There’s a healthy trade here.” The majority of the works in the Beyeler show come from private collections. “Museums missed the boat,” says Alberto Mugrabi. Now, he says, they will have to wait for donations. His rumoured inventory of hundreds of works “is not as good as it was because I sold works”. Since Basquiat’s death in 1988, his market has developed steadily—in line with overall art market trends—with a dramatic peak in 2007 when, at the height of the art market boom, the global auction volume for his work was over $115m, according to Artnet. During the 2008-09 financial crisis, turnover dropped back to 2006 levels, also reflecting lower volumes at auction. In May this year Untitled (Stardust), 1983, depicting a jazz saxophonist sold at auction for $7.3m, well over the $2.5m presale estimate, a price that startled some art world specialists. It was consigned by the Basquiat estate, which also has an authentication committee including John Cheim of Cheim & Read (A9), collector Larry Warsh and Basquiat’s © Katherine Hardy Basquiat comes of age Film star Val Kilmer was spotted for the second day on the trot in the fair yesterday, apparently channelling the spirit of Joseph Beuys in a homburg hat and gilet (right). Unlike Art Basel Miami Beach, the Swiss edition is not a magnet for celebrities although Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich and his partner Dasha Zhukova appear to be turning into regulars. Nevertheless, there was still plenty to gossip about…see p15 father, Gerard. “The Basquiat market has matured in the last few years, there’s a lot of collectors, not the old timers, mainly new collectors,” says collector Adam Lindemann, who lent to the Beyeler show. “They want Basquiat, not De Kooning. The old guard may still wrinkle their noses but Basquiat is blue-chip.” Georgina Adam and Gareth Harris No return to Brooklyn for Ofili’s Virgin Mary The painting that caused a political storm when it was shown at the Brooklyn Museum ten years ago, will not be returning to the institution. A proposed tour to Brooklyn of Tate Britain’s recent Chris Ofili show, which included the artist’s Holy Virgin Mary, a 1996 painting of the Madonna decorated with elephant dung and images of bottoms, has been cancelled. Holy Virgin Mary was shown in Brooklyn in 1999 as part of “Sensation”, a show drawn from the collection of Charles Saatchi. The then mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, described the work as “disgusting”, withheld funding for the institution, and filed a lawsuit to have the museum evicted. A federal judge ruled against the mayor and the City of New York stating that they had no right to inflict any retaliation against the museum as a result of the show. In a statement Tate said: “The success of Chris Ofili at Tate Britain generated an enthusiastic interest from organisations to tour the show in North America. Tate has been exploring the possibility of a tour of the exhibition in the US. However, it hasn’t been possible to arrange one at such short notice.” Cristina Ruiz and Javier Pes International Artists and curators launch art flotilla off Israeli coast Despite Israel’s fatal attack of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marra ship, three flotillas crewed by artists plan to set off for neutral waters off the coasts of Tel Aviv and Haifa today, and remain until 21 June. The maritime arts initiative, called Ex-territory, was launched in mid-2009 by the Tel Aviv-based artist/curators Ruti Sela and Maayan Amir. The three-boat armada, which also makes a quick stop in Greek Cyprus, will transform into a stage for film screenings and performances by 50 international artists. “We wanted to create an exhi- bition that doesn’t promote territory or ideology,” Amir said. “We are making a space where everyone who is involved will at least be temporarily free from the ideologies and arbitrary circumstances that their home countries represent.” Other than the location of the boat’s departure and the nationalities of several participants, co-founder Amir asserts a lack of affiliation with her native Israel. “With Ex-territory we can participate in ways that we can’t when we are inside Israel,” said Amir. “The project aims to create a floating platform for inter-cultural exchange outside Peace and love boat? the sovereign territory of any specific country.” Both Amir and Sela have refused any financial support from Israel for Ex-territory. The pair has instead turned to initiatives like the European Union Migrant Artist Network and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme for funding. A three-hour sea trial took place during the 2009 Tel Aviv International Art Biennial (Art TLV). Since then, Amir and Sela have attracted participants for their Mediterranean Sea excursion from countries such as Taiwan, Chile and the US, as well as a handful from Middle Eastern nations they consider too dangerous to disclose prior to their departure. Although tension off the coast of Israel continues to rise—the Iranian government recently decided to dispatch their own boats, and within Israel a movement to send a flotilla to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is gaining momentum— both Amir and Sela claim Ex-territory will be carried out as planned. Indeed, if the chance arises, Amir claimed she was open to using the sails of the Iranian flotilla “as another place to project art.” Marisa Mazria Katz AUCTIONS LONDON CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE 29 JUNE 2010 CONTEMPORARY ART DAY SALE 30 JUNE 2010 ITALIA 30 JUNE 2010 phillipsdepury.com 2 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 Art Basel People Where are the women? Stella joins new Manhattan gallery A list of the artists whose work you are most likely to see at this year’s Art Basel, based on the number of galleries who are bringing pieces, is headed—perhaps unsurprisingly—by the prolific Andy Warhol, with works on show at 28 stands. Artists making work in the first half of the 20th century rank highly, including Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso, although the list is also speckled with 1960s conceptualists such as Sol LeWitt and Lawrence Weiner. But the top 40 most represented artists on show at the fair are all men (see table). “I don’t feel that female artists are being penalised, but there is a big male contingent here at the fair,” said New York art adviser Sima Familant. Gagosian’s stand (B7) includes just one female artist amid a sea of men, and she is hardly given star billing, as of last night at least. Yayoi Kusama’s meditative black and white painting is tucked in a side room, while sprawling works by Koons, Prince, De Kooning and Rauschenberg are dramatically splayed across the walls. But Gagosian outdid Paris-based Thaddaeus Ropac (B17) which is showing no female artists at all. Swiss gallery Thomas Ammann (B2) is caked with glittering Warhols. The only female artist on view—and it’s hard to find— is the late minimalist Agnes Martin. Her spare black and white geometric 1961 drawing is priced at $1.6m. Dealers say that the imbalance can be partly explained by prices. Male artists continue to fetch the biggest sums at galleries and at auction. “Is it true that a Brice Marden drawing is a © Katherine Hardy High priced male artists such as Warhol and Picasso dominate the stands This major work by Louise Bourgeois was one of the exceptions zillion times more expensive than a comparable work by a woman artist? Yes,” said Barry Rosen, who advises the estates of Eva Hesse and Lee Lozano. A small Van Gogh-inspired 1982 painting by Lee Bontecou, who is of the 1960s generation of artists such as Jasper Johns who command million dollar prices even for lesser examples, is for sale at Marianne Boesky (M3) for $120,000. The fact that male artists command bigger prices also precludes some collectors from considering works by female artists. “It’s not only because they are women,” said Monika Sprüth of Sprüth Magers, which is showing a number of female artists on their stand (B12). “There are certain kinds of speculators in the TOP TEN* RANKING ARTISTS AT ART BASEL Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Artists No of Galleries Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso Alexander Calder Sol LeWitt, Joan Miró Jean Dubuffet, Donald Judd Henri Matisse, Robert Rauschenberg Frank Stella, Lawrence Weiner Cy Twombly Josef Albers, Daniel Buren, John Chamberlain, Willem De Kooning, Sam Francis, Fernand Léger, Albert Oehlen, Ed Ruscha, Richard Tuttle John Baldessari, Georg Baselitz, Max Ernst, Robert Mangold, László Moholy-Nagy, Francis Picabia Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Christopher Wool Carl Andre, Lucio Fontana, Liam Gillick, Anish Kapoor Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Jonathan Monk, Sigmar Polke, Matt Mullican, Thomas Schütte 28 23 20 19 16 14 13 12 11 10 * by numbers of galleries (out of 303) bringing works to the fair art world who pride themselves on price, and this tends to favour certain male artists.” Several women are edging up in fair representation, but it helps to be dead. The late Louise Bourgeois and Joan Mitchell, both presented by nine galleries apiece, rank highest. A series of 28 Bourgeois watercolours, Les Fleurs, completed three months before her death earlier this year, were sold on Art Basel’s opening day by New York’s Cheim & Read (A9) to a collector who has promised the works to a US museum. The group was priced at $1.4m. The gallery was among the few at the fair with a female majority, featuring work by Pat Steir, Ghada Amer, Joan Mitchell and Lynda Benglis. Cindy Sherman, who will be the subject of a retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2012, is being shown on just three stands. A seminal 1979 piece from her career-making series of “film stills”, portraying Sherman representing different archetypes, was sold during the fair’s opening day by her longtime gallery Metro Pictures (J12) for $1.5m. The work is from an edition of ten. Other coveted female artists are also in short supply. Julie Mehretu can be seen at four stands—compared with ten stands boasting Jonathan Monk. Elizabeth Peyton’s moody portraits are also scattered around just four out of 303 stands. Perhaps the dearth of female artists could be considered a compliment. “It could be that whoever buys art by women keeps it,” said Rosen. Lindsay Pollock Liste’s laid-back approach appeals to buyers Dutch dealer Steven van Grinsven took an unconventional approach to his Zinger Presents Liste stand (0/10/2). He collaborated with London book dealer Conor Donlon to fill a row of cases with books and works exploring what it means to be macho. “Leading Men, Leading Men”, includes a vintage Easy Rider paperback, a pair of ballerina slippers and Tom Cruisestyle aviator sunglasses. The installation was priced $45,000. “Art fairs can be like shops,” said Van Grinsven. “But they can also be a lot more than that.” The Liste fair, now in the 15th year, is mounted in a former Basel brewery. Some 350 international art dealers vied for 64 spots. Though the likes of power dealer Larry Gagosian and Greek collector Dakis Joannou were among this year’s visitors, the fair is also known for its casual atmosphere—in one corner, a pair of artists stood smoking, exhaling out of large windows. The scrappy fair An eye on Chicago Downtown Chicago's latest public sculpture, a threestorey-high fibreglass eyeball, Eye, is to be unveiled on 7 July in a park on the corner of Van Buren and State Street. The temporary installation by local artist Tony Tasset was commissioned by the Chicago Loop Alliance Foundation. The “roadside attraction” was selected by Art Institute of Chicago curators Zoe Ryan and James Rondeau, Hamza Walker from the Renaissance Society, and Nathan Mason from the city’s department of cultural affairs. Tasset is also installing 156 street banners depicting birds in flight, essentially turning the street into a flipbook as the bird appears to move across each banner. R.L. exemplifies a certain anti-commercial attitude, but this does not mean it is not about selling. “We sold out in one hour,” said Berlin and Los Angeles dealer Javier Peres of Peres Projects (0/7/4) who brought five large, gritty, Art Brut-inspired canvases by New York painter Joe Bradley. “I can’t remember the last time I said ‘sold out’, or ‘waiting list’.” The paintings, with titles such as Frankenstein and Berlin Hermaphrodite, were priced at $18,000 to $25,000. “We sold nearly everything,” said Michael Gillespie of New York’s Foxy Production (0/7/3) who presented a group of paintings and sculptures by British artist Gabriel Hartley. The paintings were priced between $4,000 and $7,500. A wall-sized canvas entitled Pout was acquired by a “major English collection”. “The fair totally exceeded our expectations,” said Zurich dealer Claudia Groeflin (0/6/2) who presented a solo show of work by Swiss artist Athene Galiciadis, priced at SwFr850 to SwFr8,500. “The fair is about young art—before you get into the white cube. That’s its charm,” said Groeflin. The fair has a reputation as a springboard for artists and dealers who graduate onto bigger and better things. Well-known Art Basel figures, including David Zwirner (E10) and Maureen Paley (P10), previously exhibited at Liste. Painters Wilhelm Sasnal and Elizabeth Peyton also made early appearances at the fair. San Francisco-based dealer Claudia Altman-Siegel (-1/2/4), a Liste newcomer, focused her stand on conceptual photography, including a triptych of photographs by Shannon Ebner, priced $30,000. She sold two editions and won a prize as the fair’s best first-time exhibitor. L.P. NOW OPEN IN THE SINGAPORE FREEPORT ———— Our clients enjoy complete confidentiality. We work with the world’s leading private collectors, galleries and auction houses. ———— Contact us to arrange a private tour of our Singapore facility. +65 6543 5252 [email protected] cfass.com Ann Freedman, the former president and director of New York’s Knoedler & Company, is launching a gallery, Freedman Art, in New York this autumn. Abstract American painter Frank Stella is among her roster of artists. “It’s time for a change,” said Stella, adding: “It’s nice to have a dealer representing you who doesn’t have a mega number of artists and to be someplace where you are comfortable with the other artists.” Stella had shown with Paul Kasmin Gallery for the past ten years. He has a show on view in Basel at Ficher Rohr Gallery until 30 July. L.P. Site Santa Fe names new director As it prepares to open “The Dissolve”, its eighth international biennial this week (18 June-2 January 2011), Site Santa Fe also welcomes a new director, Irene Hofmann. She takes over from Laura Steward, who became director of the art space in 2005. Hofmann comes from Baltimore’s Contemporary Museum where she worked as executive director since 2005. Hofmann said she plans to oversee new initiatives, including an expansion of the institution’s artist residencies and commissions programme. H.S. Dia: Beacon director heads to Texas The San Antonio-based Linda Pace Foundation has named Steven Evans as its new executive director and curator. He joins the foundation from the Dia: Beacon in upstate New York. During his 20-year tenure at Dia, Evans was responsible for a range of projects including an exhibition of 1960s and 1970s Sol LeWitt drawings. In addition to managing the 500strong collection of contemporary art assembled by the late philanthropist Linda Pace, Evans will oversee the Texan foundation’s support of various initiatives such as Artpace—an independent art laboratory. E.S. Kallat gets political in Chicago Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat is to unveil a sitespecific installation at the Art Institute of Chicago on 11 September. Public Notice 3 will present Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda’s speech given at the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religion in LED lights on the risers of the museum’s grand staircase. The illuminated colours will refer to the Homeland Security warning system. The speech is considered the first introduction of Hinduism in the US as well as a landmark statement on religious tolerance. R.L. HAUNCH OF VENISON NEW YORK 1230 Avenue of the Americas between 48th and 49th Street 20th Floor New York, NY 10020 T + 1 212 259 0000 F + 1 212 259 0001 [email protected] www.haunchofvenison.com Rosso contrario, 2008 Vinyl on unprimed canvas 120 x 160 cm 4 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 Interview: Angela Bulloch Shining a light on the city The artist has installed her latest work in the Basel cathedral, as part of the fair’s new Art Parcours project A ngela Bulloch, who graduated from Goldsmiths College in London in 1988, has produced drawing machines, light and sound works, and complex interactive installations that are often underpinned by a common thesis: the purpose of public structures and social systems. Her “Rules Series”, initiated in 1993, placed banal, everyday regulations (parking restrictions, the standing orders of Britain’s House of Commons and Birkenstock shoe-care tips) in a new context, highlighting their absurdity. Since 2000, Bulloch has developed “Pixel Boxes” (in collaboration with computer artist Holger Friese), a key motif in her work. These cubes, made in varying sizes and materials, consist of fluorescent, luminous tubes—red, blue and green— which can be programmed to produce millions of colour combinations. For her Art Parcours, piece, Night Sky: Mercury and Venus, Bulloch has transformed the interior of the Basel Münster, built between 1019 and 1500 in Romanesque and Gothic styles. The Art Newspaper: Is your Art Parcours piece religious? Angela Bulloch: There are two aspects to the piece. First, it is not religious and neither am I. I don’t believe in God. But the work reacts, of course, to the context of the cathedral. I’ve made the piece very much with the space in mind and it addresses fundamental questions such as “where are you in the world?” The work provides a [virtual] representation of the universe, showing [the planets] Venus and Mercury. I’ve made something Basel cathedral real from a virtual standpoint. Second, the position of the spectator is key in relation to the installation which [should] be viewed at a distance of approximately 20 metres. You can position yourself in relation to the work in places that you couldn’t actually visit physically. The piece incorporates light-emitting diodes which can be controlled. It’s quite a demanding context to work in alongside a permanent team of engineers but it’s also thrilling. TAN: Night Sky: Mercury and Venus appears to be based on a very clear concept. Have you always worked in this way? AB: Definitely. I learned to be rigorous technically as well, and [deduced] how to make my own circuit boards with silicon chips. Both the technical and the conceptual have to go hand-inhand. Besides, you need to know the nature of the material you’re dealing with. TAN: That seems particularly true of your “Pixel Box” innovations. AB: Yes, I did a lot of technical research and developmental work, following through a process to make something that was technically quite difficult to achieve. I had to devise a new system, focusing on how the boxes would diffuse light, for instance, and develop the dimming mechanisms that allow the pixels to change every second. I straddled both art and design by designing the boxes, then turning them into art. But the principles you apply when designing objects are not the same as those used when making art. TAN: How have you taken this concept forward? AB: For my last exhibition at Esther Schipper gallery in Berlin in March, entitled “Redux”, I used the language and grammar of the works in a different way, producing a “Pixel Box” with red, yellow and blue fluorescent tubes, perverting the usual additive colour system. I suppose you could say that I was “riffing” on my own art. TAN: Such devices invite the viewer to respond and participate. Do you consider your work to be interactive? AB: It’s such a loose word, it gives people expectations and then usually disappoints. All art is interactive after all because a painting needs to be perceived. People come to recognise the “cause and effect” concept at play within an installation but only because they become aware of it over time during the course of the work; I would describe this process as interpassive rather than interactive. TAN: So who’s in control? You or the spectator? AB: Control is an important issue in our lives. It depends on the context and the situation. Certainly I use the dynamics of control within my work. TAN: Is art simply about shifting context then? I’m thinking about your “Rules Series” which showed how irrational regulations can be. AB: Context is an important consideration. Where you find information often has a strong influence on how the information is understood or perceived. One “Rules Series” that I love is the Din-A4 paper standardising system, the subject of a recent “Rules” piece [“A4” identifies the 210mm x 297mm paper size decreed under the International Organisation for Standard- isation]. It’s amazing that all countries, except the US, work with the same paper size; there’s something extraordinary about this consensus and international discourse over a sheet of paper. The beauty of this mathematical system really appeals to me. TAN: What are your future projects? AB: I’ll be heading straight for Johannesburg in South Africa after Basel where I’m participating in a Parcours-style project called “X-Wohnungen”, initiated by the HAU theatre in Berlin, that coincides with the football World Cup. I Interview by Gareth Harris Art Parcours Art Basel’s Art Parcours, curated by Jens Hoffmann, director of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in California, aims to transform historic locations and landmarks throughout the city by the creation of site-specific works and performances. Participating artists include Daniel Buren, Ryan Gander and Nathalie Djurberg. Sites include the Old University of Basel, the Natural History Museum and the banks of the River Rhine. The events will be staged over a three-night period, from 17-19 June: tonight’s are by invitation only, with the second two nights open to ticket-holding members of the public. www.artbasel.com/ parcours S I N C E 17 0 7 The leading Auction House in the Centre of Europe 40 departments, over 100 specialists, More than 300 years of experience Valuation Day Basel, 21 June Hotel Les Trois Rois, Blumenrain 8, 4001 Basel Valuation Day Zurich, 22 June Hotel Baur au Lac, Talstraße 1, 8001 Zurich Information and scheduled appointments: Palais Dorotheum, Dorotheergasse 17, 1010 Vienna Tel. +43-1-515 60-570, [email protected] www.dorotheum.com Paula Modersohn-Becker, Girl with Straw Hat and Child on her Lap (detail), 1904, Auction May 2010, price realised € 375,300 Keeping it Real Whitechapel Gallery The D. Daskalopoulos Collection An Exhibition in Four Acts 10 June 2010–22 May 2011 Supported by: Act 1: The Corporeal 10 June–5 September 2010 Sherrie Levine Fountain (Buddha): 5, 1996, Cast bronze, 42.5 x 40 x 30 cm. © Sherrie Levine. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Tom Powel. whitechapelgallery.org Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 10 June–5 September 2010 17 September–5 December 2010 17 December 2010–6 March 2011 18 March–22 May 2011 Felix Gonzalez-Torres Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio at the Great Jones Street, New York, 1985, In front of Untitled, 1985, Private Collection, Photo: Lizzie Himmel © © 2010, ProLitteris, Zurich Specific Objects without Specific Form 9.5. – 5.9.2010 0D\$XJXVW )21'$7,21%(<(/(5 7 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 Culture clash The same, but different Crossing the Atlantic—in either direction—to curate a museum, can be a shock, as today’s Art Basel Conversation will explore Ofer Wolberger / BRANSCH A ccording to conventional wisdom, we’re converging on a globally unified art culture. You run into the same art everywhere you go. Galleries and museums are variations on the same white box and brand-name architecture. The same pack of collectors and dealers trots from Basel to Venice to Miami and back. Traveling exhibitions circle the globe while the internet submerges all in a planetary soup of discourse. But look again. It turns out that local traditions do matter. Although globalisation is erasing some differences, underneath the surface culture stubbornly asserts itself. These days, as economic crises prompt anguished soul searching and budget cuts, we may even see a reversal of homogenisation, as decision-makers at various longitudes and latitudes discover old habits of mind about what “the arts” mean and how they ought to be run. An appreciation of distinctions between Europe and the United States is especially timely. Today, as part of Art Basel Conversations, three renowned curators—Klaus Biesenbach, Lynne Cooke, and Ann Goldstein— will explore what it means to advance art on both sides of the Atlantic. Each one has recently switched to a new continent to assume a leadership role in a major museum— MoMA/P.S.1 in New York, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, and the Stedelijk in Amsterdam, respectively. As such, they are in a unique position to consider the subtle and not-so subtle transatlantic variations in the visual arts. Old stereotypes about the two continents persist, of course. Americans admire Europeans’ love of leisure, culture, history, and politics. Europeans are wowed by America’s scale, diversity, optimism, its balance of innovation and stability—what philosopher George Santayana meant when he wrote: “America is a young country with an old mentality.” On the flip side, Europeans disdain America’s extreme consumerism, conformism and religiosity, while Americans object to Europe’s inflexibility and bouts of xenophobia. Tony Judt summarised the contrasts by way of amusing metaphor in The New York Review of Books, in 2005: “Consider a mug of American coffee. It is found everywhere. Being largely without flavour it can be diluted to taste. What it lacks in allure it makes up in size. It is the most democratic method ever devised for introducing caffeine into human beings. Now take a cup of Italian espresso. It requires expensive equipment. Price-to-volume ratio is outrageous, suggesting indifference to the consumer and ignorance of the market. The aesthetic accessory to the beverage far outweighs its metabolic impact. It is not a drink; it is an artefact.” So how do such differences play out in the arts? It is likely that the panellists will argue, first and foremost, that “America” and “Europe” are, in fact, fictions that mask a multifarious array of national practices in the arts. Even the contrasting role of the state and the market—that most basic transatlantic polarity—turns out to be more of a spectrum, with many shades of grey. At one extreme is the pure statist scenario, most closely linked with France. Its proponents hold that the market is a menace to art, with the state insulating culture from private interests. On the other end is the pure private model, identified with America, proponents of which believe exactly the reverse: that market forces not only lend dynamism and filtering to the arts, but they also shield them from political meddling. In reality, most national and institutional scenarios are hybrids, and turning more so. American museums enjoy tax benefits and exempt donations, and a surprising number receive direct public subsidies. In Europe, with governments strapped for cash, the trend is toward the “Americanisation” of support. The Netherlands, for example, has a history of keeping funding decisions at an arm’s length from government, and more recently it has been demanding that private sponsors pick up part of the tab for culture. The UK and Scandinavian countries are following a similar “middle way” path. Whatever the mix of public and private influence, museum leaders everywhere must obey multiple masters. Even so, there are discernible areas of difference. First, in terms of art’s overall place and function in society. In Europe, for better or Klaus Biesenbach, left, originally resident in Berlin, now heads MoMA’s P.S.1; the Reina Sofía’s Lynne Cooke, right, was born and studied in Australia and worked in London and New York before her move to Spain. They join Los Angeles native Ann Goldstein who in January became director of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in an Art Basel Conversation on the art world on both sides of the Atlantic worse, art is an embodiment of national identity and cultural institutions have evolved to serve a relatively undifferentiated public that shares many core values. Because art is a public matter, it also receives more serious attention in the press, especially in Germany. In America, there is no such shared frame of reference, nor the attendant sense of art being at the heart of life. Second, there are differences in museum administration. Reliance on the state offers “ It turns out that local traditions do matter. Although globalisation is erasing some differences, underneath the surface culture stubbornly asserts itself ” European museum directors a measure of stability. Government patrons are more likely to accept an “art for art’s sake” approach and stay out of creative decisions. But state support can lead to stagnation and exposure to political machinations. For Americans accustomed to private institutions, “the biggest shock,” as Ann Goldstein put it in a pre-Basel interview, is “encountering a very different sense of public ownership. The Stedelijk Museum’s collection and buildings are owned by the city of Amsterdam, not the museum.” Yet, reliance on private patrons is not without its own burdens. It means contending with interpersonal politics and financial instability, and a greater risk of conflicts of interest and challenges to curatorial independence. “It’s the difference between boards and politicians,” is how Lynne Cooke summed it up. The third and arguably most interesting difference is in what transpires in the gallery space itself—the contrasting attitudes, expectations, and cognitive frames that are brought to bear in the encounter between museum-goers and exhibited objects. The curators in the Art Basel panel should tease out these subtle differences. Suffice to say, that contending with European and American audiences, funders and staffs will necessarily demand different strengths from institution leaders. But before we get too wrapped up in the subtleties of the Euro-American relationship, it is worth opening the lens a little wider. For in a crucial respect, Europe and the United States are extremely similar. As it happens, I wrote this article in South Korea, while attending a Unesco conference on arts education. Not surprisingly, issues tied to globalisation loomed large on the conference agenda. A passage from the opening ceremony brochure read: “The digital natives of the 21st century have learned to transcend the limits of concrete reality, and, like nomads or Vikings of old, are free to roam the plains and oceans of the internet.” Yet despite such optimism about liberation from the constraints of time and space, what strikes the visitor to this thriving, bustling country is the enduring cultural specificity of Asia—how very different a place it is from either Europe or America. Seoul, with its clogged, six-lane boulevards, air conditioned subway stations, and tightly woven neighbourhoods—all pulsing with energy in a way that no American or European city does—is an emblem for a rising continent that most Europeans and Americans still regard as somewhat of a distant, unconnected reality. There is enthusiasm for Euro-American culture here, but in the city’s ultra-refined galleries Western art remains the exception. Korean artists steeped in global art trends are addressing issues uniquely connected to this place. They are speaking in a confident vernacular voice that demands attention. The city is adding 1,000 public art works a year. The mission of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture is: “Transformation of Seoul into the world’s best creative cultural city.” They mean it. As the world’s point of gravity continues to tilt to Asia, will there be a new-found appreciation of the cultural kinship of America and Europe? Yet Seoul and its fast evolving regional neighbours confront European and American art leaders with a pressing need as well as an enormous opportunity. The time is here for a deep engagement with Asia, from an aesthetic as well as an institutional point of view. This means going beyond the franchising of Western ideas and models, toward genuine two-way exchange based on mutual learning and respect. What might that look like, and how will it change European and American institutions? Every panel discussion must have a “what’s next” question, and for today’s Art Basel conversation, this may well be it. András Szántó J The conversation Public/Private: Crossing the Atlantic, will take place at the Art Unlimited Hall (Hall 1) Auditorium, 10am-11.30 am. Klaus Biesenbach, former director of the Kunst-Werke (KW) Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, is director of P.S.1 and chief curator-at-large of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Lynne Cooke, Dia curator-at-large, is deputy director and chief curator of the Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Ann Goldstein, former senior curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, is director of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. András Szántó is a professor of art business and a consultant to cultural and philanthropic organisations; born in Budapest, he lives in New York Grab your free copy at stand Z13 “The Art Newspaper is a very professional and truly international publication that I feel I have to read because much of what I find there is unavailable anywhere else.” HANS NEUENDORF, CEO, ARTNET.COM, NEW YORK WWW.THEARTNEWSPAPER.COM FOR US SUBSCRIPTIONS: +1 888 475 5993 FOR UK AND REST OF THE WORLD SUBSCRIPTIONS: +44 (0) 1795 414 863 8 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 Expert eye Christoph Grunenberg, the director of Tate Liverpool, on his pick of Art Basel People have really pulled out all the stops at this year’s fair. There are always fantastic works, but this time there are more than ever. I’ve decided to go for blue-chip works, partly because there are so many fantastic artists on show here—I’ve seen some outstanding museum pieces. There are lots of great contemporary works as well, but I’ve plumped for a more historical selection ‘There is a real sense of sadness’ Harry Callahan, Women Lost in Thought, 1950, €250,000, sold to Belgian collector (Galerie Thomas Zander, C11) Photographs are always great things, but for me the best pieces come from the 1920s and 1930s. These shots are like a conceptual work of art. It’s a series of 20 pictures that Callahan secretly took of women walking down a Chicago street. It’s completely weird. The photographs are hung in a grid and are all close-ups in the same format, and everyone seems to be completely lost in thought. There’s a real sense of sadness in the photographs, of living in a city in the 1950s and working in an office job, of conformity and organisation. They are really quite moving and depressing—no-one is smiling. You get this immediacy from secret shots of people. How do you get people to not look at the camera, to not be selfconscious? That’s what makes these works so effective. ‘A complete museum piece’ ‘The work really reminds me of Matisse’s cut-outs’ Gerhard Richter, Philodendron, 1967, €1.25m (Löhrl, B3) This is an absolutely classic 1960s photorealist, grey, smudged painting. Gerhard Richter has taken a very banal domestic scene of a plant, and painted a woman standing next to it. There’s something very middle-class and bourgeois about it. But, underneath the spectre of normality, Richter sees the potential for evil to breed, referring to Germany’s postmodern history. And the way the plant comes sprawling out is an attraction in itself. Philodendron really reminds me of Matisse’s cut-outs, his late obsession with plants and his plant drawings. ‘This looks more like Bauhaus’ Shirley Jaffe, The Black Spot, 1972, €60,000 (Obadia, H7) This is a very unusual painting by an artist I had never heard of before. The composition and colours immediately attracted me. It looks very fresh. The work is a wonderful, large, geometric abstraction—which is unusual in that it doesn’t look like anything else from that period. It looks more like Bauhaus, or a re-take on some 1920s abstract work—I had to check the date because I thought it was perhaps by a younger contemporary artist taking a cue from Oskar Schlemmer or someone else from that period. It’s a curious combination of rigid geometric composition and more organic round shapes. The great thing about art fairs is that you see a lot of work in a concentrated space, and always find new things. But, you have to look very hard for smaller works. ‘It’s a brilliant piece and one that I had never seen before’ Francis Picabia, Villica Caja, 1929, price undisclosed, reserved by European collector (Hopkins-Custot, C6) This Picabia is a first-class work—it’s a complete museum piece. It’s a really complex composition with a classic overlapping of layers of painting. He did quite a few of these paintings, and this side of his output is valued more than the dadaist and abstract works. It’s a wonderful composition— he has taken a mythological scene and overlaid it with portraits and other figures. It’s an unusually large Picabia for that period. Any museum would be glad to own this painting, if they could afford it. “ I’ve gone for blue-chip works as there are so many fantastic artists on show here ” Fernand Léger, Décoration bleue, 1941, $950,000 (Michael Werner Gallery, B5) One of the earlier works I’ve chosen is by Léger, and is a wonderful mixture of decoration and abstraction—I tend to go for decorative eye-candy. It is a large-scale picture with a blue background covered in abstract biologicaltype blobs, and is really quite a strange non-object work. Later on in his career, Léger did lots of big, decorative scenes and this work certainly points in that direction. It’s a brilliant piece and one that I had never seen before. Interviews by Anny Shaw. Photographs by Katherine Hardy © Cy Twombly CY TWOMBLY (b. 1928) Untitled (Gaeta) · acrylic on wooden panel in artist’s frame overall: 1081⁄4 x 82in. (274.9 x 208.3cm.) panel: 991⁄4 x 72.3⁄4in. (252.1 x 184.8cm.) Painted in 2004 · £2,000,000 – 3,000,000 Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction London · 30 June Highlights on View Contact 19 – 23 June Francis Outred [email protected] +44 (0)20 7389 2270 8 King Street, SW1Y 6QT Auction Viewing 26 – 30 June christies.com 10 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 Design The nightclub: a travelling tribute Designer of the Future winner Graham Hudson, on his monument to excess In the June main edition Our current edition contains 120 pages packed with the latest art world news, events and business reporting, plus high profile interviews (and a smattering of gossip) News Find out what’s behind the latest appointment at über collector François Pinault’s troubled Venice venues (top)… Biennials Shanty town roofs, recordings of extinct dialects and fields of scrap metal celebrate the vanquished, dispossessed and marginalised at the 17th Sydney Biennale (middle)… All photos © William Oliver Museums Early signs of Design Miami Basel has selected four individuals/collectives to showcase in its Designers of the Future award, sponsored by the W Hotels chain. The resulting commissions will be on show throughout the fair. The four were chosen from a shortlist of new and emerging designers assembled by a committee of design luminaries, including outgoing Design Miami director Ambra Medda and Marcus Fairs, the editor-inchief of dezeen.com. All four finalists—Beta Tank, Graham Hudson, Random International and Zigelbaum & Coelho—will be interviewed by curator Cédric Morisset this evening as part of the Design Talks programme (Hall 5 Mezzanine, 5.50pm-6.30pm). The Art Newspaper caught up with Hudson earlier to find out about his winning commission. Responding to a brief set by W Hotels to create a DJ booth that can travel to its various international sites, Hudson has produced a large-scale, modular, scaffolding-frame bar and venue, complete with beer stains, drawing on the history of the disused nightclubs in London’s Kings Cross area. He treated the project as a continuation of work produced during a residency in Kings Cross, due to be exhibited in October at the German Gymnasium development on nearby Pancras Road. The project, titled The End of The End, takes its name from the closing of notable nightclub The End, one of many London clubs that shut their doors in the early part of Hudson’s memorial to the death of 1990s club culture (above) this decade. Hudson sees the closing of these venues as socially significant, the end of a movement in popular culture. “Has there been another comparable counter-culture movement since then, other than the emergence of online communities?” he asked. “I was not a huge fan of the club scene itself but I am interested in the subtle way that laws were changed around that time, giving bars later licences while cutting club licences back. It moved people from nightclubs into late-night bars, which were in a way easier to monitor and control. I am using the closing of clubs as a metaphor for the state interest in personal freedom.” Hudson also cites the integration of house music into the mainstream, along with the rise “ Has there been a comparable counter-culture movement since then? ” of the internet, as reasons for the closures and subsequent demise of 1990s club culture. “The music had become available everywhere, and so the specialist scene that surrounded it was diluted,” he explains. The Designer of the Future installation can be made from new or reused materials, giving each build a different look. It consists of a bar with dance floor and raised DJ booth, and is designed as a blueprint that can be used to create the work responding to the new location’s differing spatial restrictions. The aesthetic is inspired by the remnants left in the empty Kings Cross clubs, which have been Hudson’s workspaces for the last year. His raised DJ booth is based on venues including The Cross, Bagleys and Turnmills, and is intended as an “icon to the creative source, the DJ”, in keeping with the design typical of late 1990s clubs. He has clad sections of the scaffolding in heavyweight black twill, and dirtied the structure, including spilling beer on certain areas. “I want the work to feel like something that has seen a better day, and definitely not be seen as an object of high design,” he said. Hudson’s travelling bar is a way of commemorating the defunct venues and what they stood for. “I want the bar to be used, and to be best seen when you are interacting with it and other people. But it is also a memorial to the death of this culture, and to that episode of society,” he said. Hudson has regularly used scaffolding in his work. It is the ability to build something that is “ultimately an exoskeleton which gives you a sense of scale without entering into the re-creation debate” that he says interests him. Previous works have included the large-scale installation An Insignificant Extension sibling rivalry as the director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz insists that the new E72m centre is not an outpost (bottom)… Art Market Should art fairs feel threatened by the increasing number of gallery weeks? Features Analysis: finding money for the arts in a global financial crisis… Artist interview Belgian-born, Mexicobased artist Francis Alÿs on running into the centre of tornadoes, failing to sabotage the art market and the appeal of living in Mexico… Books Better with age: five new books devoted to British octogenarian sculptor Anthony Caro… Get your free copy from Stand Z13 On our website in Space and a Considerable Extension in Time (Prototype for a Fendi Museum, Milan), 2010. The piece consisted of a huge scaffolding “museum” for the high-fashion Italian brand, complete with sectioned rooms and display objects bearing the Fendi logo. While some of his previous works have been—at least in part—interactive, the W Hotels commission is the first of Hudson’s projects that is both fully functional and a work of art. Although the work invites discussion of whether it is art or design, Hudson doesn’t want his work to be categorised. “It’s good for artists work to be shown in Design Miami Basel. Why not? I think working across platforms gives a certain freedom and it means that the functionality of an object, and its aesthetic and ideology, are all focused,” he said. William Oliver J Graham Hudson’s installation is situated next to the Design Miami Basel HSBC Lounge on the mezzanine floor of Hall 5, and is open to the public. Knoebel creates windows for Reims Cathedral Design dealer O’Brien is on the move The German artist Imi Knoebel, best known for his colourful minimal works, is designing six stained glass windows for a €1.3m project in one of France’s greatest churches, Reims Cathedral. The design, based on one of Knoebel’s 1970s’ paper collages, is being realised by technicians at Duchemin and Simon Marq, who began making the six lancet windows last month. They are due to be installed in February 2011, near windows by Chagall. Knoebel, who is represented by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (B17), has been commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture, rather than by the Church, because the medieval cathedral is both sacred and secular. The mayor of Reims’ suggestion that local residents should have a say in the project was politely declined, said a spokeswoman. J.P. Liz O’Brien, who specialises in modern design and decorative arts, has moved to a new gallery in the Interior Design building on East 61st Street. She has left her former space on Fifth Avenue, where she had been based for ten years. “Both collectors and interior designers tell me that the new gallery is far more convenient,” said O’Brien, who has taken it over from the Historical Design gallery, which now trades privately. O’Brien, whose inventory includes works by Samuel Marx, Maison Jansen and Gabriella Crespi, said that 80% of sales made on Fifth Avenue were to designers and architects: “Even private clients like Valentino and Aerin Lauder use a designer, and they are coming on their own to my new location,” she said. She is also expanding her own line of home furnishings. B.S.M. Get all the stories delivered to your desktop with daily news, business reports, politics and events. Our online content includes a mix of breaking stories, interviews, worldwide exhibition listings, market analysis and opinion from leading art world figures. Subscribers can also access our complete online archives containing 20 years of reporting by The Art Newspaper team, while our daily fair reports are available to everyone. The Art Newspaper TV has interviews with artists, collectors and museum professionals, including some live from this fair. www.theartnewspaper.com Coming up in July News Round-up of the 6th Berlin Biennale… Country house treasures going to auction… Iceland to buy back art from its beleaguered banks… century had become a cult figure by the 21st… Museums Mixed Interview The gambling millionaire David Walsh is building a museum in Tasmania that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before; we take an exclusive first look… reactions to Hadid’s MaXXi… Where the Whitney goes next… Cuts at the Hamburg Kunsthalle… Neo Rauch donates painting to his hometown of Leipzig… Opinion With government cuts looming, cultural historian Robert Hewison offers a “rational” argument for arts funding… Features We commemorate the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s death by looking at how an artist largely ignored in the 19th Conservation Dürer altarpiece restored after 1988 acid attack… Books Getting to know the Victorians through their jewellery… Art market An analysis of the upcoming June impressionist, modern and contemporary sales in London… To subscribe to the paper and digital version go to www.theartnewspaper.com/su bscribe UBS is pleased to be the main sponsor of Art Basel. www.ubs.com/sponsorship © UBS 2010. All rights reserved. 3PZ-JDIUFOTUFJO*OUFSJPSXJUI#BUISPPN1BJOUJOHPJMPODBOWBTY #PPUI#)BMM 0OWJFXUISPVHI+VOF 8 8 85 ) & 1" $ & ( " - - & 3: $ 0 . ANDY WARHOL SELF PORTRAIT, 1986 $32.5 million ESTIMATE $10 – 15 MILLION A RECORD FOR A SELF PORTRAIT BY THE ARTIST AT AUCTION Invitation to Consign Contemporary Art AUCTIONS IN LONDON 28 & 29 JUNE ENQUIRIES +44 (0)20 7293 5401 NEXT AUCTIONS IN NEW YORK 9 & 10 NOVEMBER ENQUIRIES +1 212 606 7254 I SOTHEBYS.COM/CONTEMPORARYART © SOTHEBY’S, INC. 2010 TOBIAS MEYER, PRINCIPAL AUCTIONEER, #9588677 © 2010 ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK REDEFINING THE MARKET 12 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 What’s On Basel 2010 FAIRS Art Basel Halls 1 and 2, Messe Basel Messeplatz www.artbasel.com 15 June, VIP Preview 11am-9pm 16-20 June, 11am-7pm Design Miami/Basel Hall 5, Messe Basel Messeplatz www.designmiami.com 15-20 June, 11am-7pm © 2010 Jon Kessler, Photo: Andrew Ohanesian Liste—the Young Art Fair Werkraum Warteck PP Burgweg 15 www.liste.ch 15-19 June, 1pm-9pm 20 June, 1pm-7pm Scope Basel Kaserne Basel Klybeckstr 1b www.scope-art.com 15 June, VIP Preview 3pm-7pm 16-19 June, 11am-7pm Volta6 Dreispitzhalle Dreispitz Areal, Gate 13, Helsinki Strasse 5, Münchenstein www.voltashow.com 16 June, VIP Preview 2pm-4pm 16 June, Public View 4pm-8pm 17-20 June, noon-8pm NON-COMMERCIAL SHOWS IN AND AROUND BASEL AARAU Aargauer Kunsthaus Aargauplatz www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch 15-16 and 18-20 June, 10am-5pm 17 June 10am-8pm Ugo Rondinone: the Night of Lead Until 1 August Markus Uh Until 1 August Abstractions II: Non-Representative Tendencies in the Collection Until 1 August BASEL Antikenmuseum Basel St Alban-Graben 5 Today’s highlights 17/06/10 Art Basel Conversations: Crossing the Atlantic 10am-11am Hall 1, Auditorium, Messe Basel, Messeplatz Author and arts consultant András Szántó moderates a discussion on the similarities and differences between the art world in Europe and America. Speakers include New York’s P.S.1 director and MoMA curator Klaus Biesenbach, Lynne Cooke, Dia Foundation curator and deputy director and curator 15-18 June, noon-6pm 19-20 June, 11am-5pm Hassan Khan Until 8 August Plug.In St. Alban-Rheinweg 64 www.iplugin.org 15-20 June, 10am-6pm Eva&Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org AD/HD Until 19 September Kunstmuseum St Gallen Museumstrasse 32 www.kunstmuseumsg.ch 15 and 17-20 June, 10am-5pm 16 June, 10am-8pm Press Art: Works from the Annette and Peter Nobel Collection Until 20 June Ambigu: Contemporary Art between Abstraction and Narration Until 12 September S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum Steinenberg 7 www.sam-basel.org 15 and 17-20 June, 10am-8pm 16 June, 10am-10pm Environments and Counter Environments: Experimental Media in ‘Italy: the New Domestic Landscape’, MoMA 1972 Until 27 June Hot Art Fair Claramatte Parkhaus Klingentalstrasse 25 www.hot-art-fair.com 15 June, 4pm-11pm 16-19 June, 1pm-9pm 20 June, 1pm-6pm The Solo Project St Jakobshalle Brüglingerstrasse 19-21 www.the-solo-project.com 16 June, VIP Preview 10am-noon 16 June, Public View noon-8pm 17-19 June, 10am-7pm 20 June, 10am-5pm Robot Dreams Until 9 September Tinguely for Karola Until 20 June Robot Dreams Museum Tinguely Until 9 September, www.tinguely.ch Taking its name from a short story by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, “Robot Dreams” focuses on contemporary artists engaged in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. Over 1,000 sq. m of gallery space will be devoted to works of art highlighting the lastest advances in research and technology and the dark side of automation: the machine with a mind of its own. New York-based mixed media artist Jon Kessler shows Kessler’s Circus, 2009 (above), an army field tent filed with technology; German video artist John Bock’s films combine literature and automata; and Niki Passath investigates robots ability to react to people. Also included are works by older artists that have inspired the current generation: Ed Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Richard Kriesche and Nam June Paik. The exhibition has been curated in collaboration with the Kunsthaus Graz. www.antikenmuseumbasel.ch 15-20 June, 10am-5pm Hermes versus SMS: Communication in Antiquity Until 15 August Fondation Beyeler Baselstrasse 101 www.beyeler.com 15-20 June, 9am-8pm Basquiat Until 5 September Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Specific Objects without Specific Form Until 29 August Kunsthalle Basel Steinenberg 7 www.kunsthallebasel.ch 15, 17-20 June, 10am-8pm 16 June, 10am-10pm Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession) Until 22 August at Madrid’s Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofi? a and Stedelijk Museum director Ann Goldstein. GlassLab: Design Performances Wendell Castle, 2pm3.30pm; David Wiseman, 4pm-5.30pm; Tomás Libertiny, 6pm-8pm; Vitra Design Museum, CharlesEames-Strasse 1, Weil-amRhein Design Talks: The Fresh Approaches of the Designers of the Future 5.50pm-6.30pm Hall 5, Mezzanine Level, Fabio Marco Pirovino: Razzle Dazzle Until 28 November Moyra Davey: Speaker Receiver Until 17 June-29 August www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch 15-20 June, 10am-6pm Gabriel Orozco Until 8 August Rosemarie Trockel: Drawings, Collages, and Book Drafts Until 5 September Matthäus Merian d. A. (1593–1650) Until 25 July Kunstmuseum Basel Extension Until 19 September Schaulager Ruchfeldstrasse 19 www.schaulager.org 15 and 17-20 June, 10am-6pm 16 June, noon-6pm Matthew Barney: Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail Until 3 October BERN Kunsthalle Bern Helvetiaplatz 1 www.kunsthalle-bern.ch 15-18 June, 11am-6pm 19-20 June, 10am-6pm Animism Until 18 July Kunstmuseum Bern Hodlerstrasse 8-12 www.kunstmuseumbern.ch 15 June, 10am-9pm 16-20 June, 10am-5pm Albert Anker Until 5 September Chantal Michel, Honey, Milk and First Violets: a Confrontation with Albert Anker Until 5 September Don’t Look Now Until 20 March 2011 Museum für Gegenwartskunst St. Alban-Rheinweg 60 www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch 15-20 June, 10am-6pm Rodney Graham: Through the Forest Until 26 September LUCERNE Kunstmuseum Lucerne Europaplatz 1 www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch 15-16 June, 10am-8pm 17-20 June, 10am-6pm Olaf Breuning: Yes? No? Until 1 August Stefan à Wengen: the Mission Until 1 August Reference and Affinity: Art of the 21st Century from the Collection Until 27 June Kunstmuseum Basel St. Alban-Graben 16 Museum Tinguely Paul Sacher-Anlage 2 www.tinguely.ch 15-20 June, 11am-7pm ST GALLEN Kunsthalle St Gallen Davidstrasse 40 www.k9000.ch Messe Basel, Messeplatz French curator and design consultant Cédric Morisset interviews the 2010 W Hotels Designers of the Future Awards winners Beta Tank, Zigelbaum & Coelho, Graham Hudson and rAndom International. temporary films such as Ei Arakawa’s “Peaceboat Revisiting MRTA” (2009) and “Still Life with Phrenology Head” (1979) by Cerith Wyn Evans, to show how the Japanese post-war aesthetic has influenced contemporary artists. Art Film: Focus Japan 10pm-11pm, Stadtkino Basel, Klostergasse 5 Marc Glöde shows two Japanese films, “The Silver Wheel” (1955) by Katsuhiro Yamaguchi/Toshio Matsumoto and Kiyoji Otsuji’s “Kinecalligraph” (1955/86), alongside con- Art Salon Hall 1, Auditorium, Messe Basel, Messeplatz 2-2.30pm, Book Launch for “Unleashed: Contemporary Art from Turkey” edited by Hossein Amirsadeghi and Maryam Homayoun Eisler. Turkish journalist Ipeknur Cem Taha moderates a dis- cussion on the contemporary art scene in Turkey between Turkish collector Saruhan Dogan, Kerimcan Güleryüz from Istanbul’s Xist Gallery and Istanbulbased artist Erinç Seymen. 4pm-4.30pm, Frankly Speaking, the Serpentine Gallery’s Hans Ulrich Obrist speaks with Canvas magazine editor Myrna Ayad about Middle Eastern art. 5pm-5.30pm, South Africa: New Art and New Markets, a talk with Liza Essers, director of Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery, art collective Rosenclaire and journalist Camilla Péus. Kunsthaus Baselland St Jakob-Strasse 170 www.kunsthausbaselland.ch 15-16 and 18 June, 11am-6pm 17 June, 11am-8.30pm 19-20 June, 11am-5pm Leopold Kessler: VoksShoeshine Machine Until 4 July Keren Cytter: Repulsion Until 4 July Agnieszka Brzezanska Until 4 July Karin Suter: Dwelling on Matter Until 4 July WINTERTHUR Kunstmuseum Winterthur Museumstrasse 52 www.kmw.ch 15 June, noon-8pm 16-20 June, noon-5pm Rita McBride: Previously Until 5 September WEIL-AM-RHEIN Vitra Design Museum Charles-Eames-Strasse 1 www.design-museum.de 15-16 June, 10am-6pm 17-20 June, 9am-9pm The Essence of Things: Design and the Art of Reduction Until 19 September ZUG Kunsthaus Zug Dorfstrasse 27 www.kunsthauszug.ch 15-18 June, noon-6pm 19-20 June, 10am-5pm Ilya Kabakov: Orbis Pictus Until 20 June ZÜRICH Haus Konstruktiv Selnaustrasse 25 www.hauskonstruktiv.ch 15 and 17-18 June, noon-6pm 16 June, noon-8pm 19-20 June, 11am-6pm Ryan Gander: Zürich Art Prize Until 8 August Franz Mon Until 8 August Kunsthalle Zürich Limmatstrasse 270 www.kunsthallezurich.ch 15-16 and 18 June, noon-6pm 17 June, noon-8pm 19-20 June, 11am-5pm Rosemarie Trockel Until 15 August Kunsthaus Zürich Heimplatz 1 www.kunsthaus.ch 15 and 19-20 June, 1pm-6pm 16-18 June, 10am-8pm Adrian Paci Until 22 August Thomas Struth Until 12 September 6pm-6.30pm, Book Launch for “Creamier: Contemporary Art in Culture” by Zolghadr Tirdad, Chus Martinez and Catherine Wood with a discussion between Spartacus Chetwynd, chief curator and deputy director of exhibitions at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles Douglas Fogle and Phaidon Press editor Craig Garrett. Art Club 11pm-3am Campari Bar, Kunsthalle Basel, Steinenberg 7 Concerts and DJ performances Gc\Xj\m`j`kljXk8ik9Xj\c#9ffk_<(Ale\(-Æ)' 18 East Seventy Ninth Street, New York, New York 10075, 212 734-6300, www.acquavellagalleries.com Alberto Giacometti, Le Vide-Poches, 1930–31 Plaster, 6¾ x 115/8 x 7 7⁄8 inches (17 x 30 x 20 cm) The Collection 18 works of contemporary art Galerie Marc de Puechredon E-halle 11:00 am - 07:00 pm / June 17 - 20, 2010 Erlenmattstrasse 7-11, CH-4058, Basel AMANDA ROSS-HO • ANNE HARDY CLAIRE HEALY & SEAN CORDEIRO DANWEN XING • ELLIOTT HUNDLEY FEFE TALAVERA • FRANCESCA GABBIANI FRANCESCO CUOMO • GULLAUME LEBLON JONATHAN JONES • MODOU DIENG MARCELLA VANZO • MUSTAFA HULUSI SEHER SHAH • THUKRAL & TAGRA TJORG DOUGLAS BEER • WILFRID ALMENDRA Louise Bourgeois 1911–2010 5`OaaW\U Chen Yung-Hsien JULY 24 2010 >/@/27A= SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL WATERMILL SUMMER BENEFIT THE WATERMILL CENTER [email protected] & watermillcenter.org/benefit 03<347B/C1B7=< AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: MARINA ABRAMOVIC, DAVID ADAMO, MONICA BONVICINI, CAROL BOVE FRANCESCO CLEMENTE, MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN, ROSSON CROW SHEPARD FAIREY, PIERRE HUYGHE, JOAN JONAS, ANISH KAPOOR ANSELM KIEFER, MARILYN MINTER, YOUSSEF NABIL, SHIRIN NESHAT OTTO PIENE, LOU REED, PIPILOTTI RIST, TARYN SIMON, ROBERT WILSON AND MORE. [email protected] & watermillcenter.org/auction Cheim & Read 15 THE ART NEWSPAPER ART BASEL DAILY EDITION 17 JUNE 2010 ART BASEL DAILY EDITION Contributors: Georgina Adam is The Art Newspaper’s editor at large. She is also art market correspondent for the Financial Times The last word… Lamé a go-go ramshackle rickshaws were told by the pedal-pusher which watering holes local legend Roger Federer likes to let his pony-tail down at. Charlotte Burns is The Art Newspaper’s assistant editor (art market). She previously worked for Anthony d’Offay, Hauser & Wirth and Bolton & Quinn Katherine Hardy is The Art Newspaper’s photographer. She studied at the Royal College of Art in London and has had a number of solo shows Gareth Harris is The Art Newspaper’s editor at large. He also writes for the Financial Times and the Independent Lindsay Pollock is a New Yorkbased writer who has been covering the art market since 2000. Besides The Art Newspaper, she writes regularly for Bloomberg News Cristina Ruiz is a former editor of The Art Newspaper and is an arts correspondent for The Sunday Times Anny Shaw is a freelance journalist based in London. She was a staff writer at Art World magazine Jean Wainwright is the presenter of The Art Newspaper TV. An art critic and art historian, she has published extensively as well as appearing on television and radio Ossian Ward is the visual arts editor of Time Out London and is a former editor of Art Review Editorial and production: Carry on cruising Temptations abound at the Fondation Beyeler’s Felix Gonzalez-Torres retrospective, “Specific Objects Without Specific Forms”(until 29 August). While piles of wrapped candies will appeal to sweet-toothed visitors, those more thrilled by the pleasures of the flesh should look out for a buff-bodied dancer—dressed only in sneakers and silver lamé shorts—who comes on to a small platform to strut his funky stuff for five minutes each day. Gallery director Sam Keller is particularly proud of the positioning of the 1991 piece, Untitled (Go-Go Dancing Platform): “He has the body of an Adonis, so the women love it. But we put him in the gallery with all the nude Picasso women because usually everyone is looking longingly at them, so it’s about time that they got a beautiful view.” Catch him if you can. C’est charmant, non? Deep throat Artist Rob Pruitt is one person not suffering from fair-fatigue. The happy punter, on his third visit to an art fair in 20 years, said: “It’s like a reunion! Sadie Coles’s stand (H1) was like being in a room of my friends.” The artist was also pleased with his self-portraits at Gavin Brown’s stand (N6): “Look at the one of me with a 12-inch plastic dildo in my mouth!” They are just like “ any other loved-up couple looking for furniture for their home ” Dealer overheard at Design Miami Basel, talking about Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich, who were browsing the one-off pieces on display Editor: Jane Morris Deputy editor: Javier Pes Assistant editor: Emily Sharpe Copy editors: James Hobbs, Simon Stephens Designer: Emma Goodman Editorial researcher/picture editor: William Oliver Contributors: Robert Bound, Alex Coles, Brook Mason, Iain Millar, András Szántó, Linda Yablonsky Editorial assitance: Katharine Albritton, Rob Curran Group editorial director: Anna Somers Cocks Managing director: James Knox Associate publisher: Patrick Kelly Advertising sales UK: Ben Tomlinson, Louise Hamlin Advertising sales US: Caitlin Miller Advertising executives: Julia Michalska, Justin Kouri Push the button tunic and sporting her trademark two-tone hair, paid homage to her dealer, the cheeky cinéaste got fresh with other gallerists: “It is wonderful to be among you, collectors, curators and…snake-oil salesmen.” Tough questions Legendary LA artist Paul McCarthy was introduced by curator Massimiliano Gioni at the Art Basel Conversations yesterday with the question whether, beneath his “crazy expressionist” reputation, he is really an incredibly erudite, intelligent and thoughtprovoking artist? “Umm, well… ah… yeah,” came the gravely voiced reply. Game, set and... Veteran film director and grande dame of the French New Wave, Agnès Varda, was on fine form at a dinner thrown in her honour by the Nathalie Obadia gallery (H7). While Varda, resplendent in a silk If the raucous after-party to the dinner hosted by Design Miami Basel’s director Ambra Medda and gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin almost got out of hand—revellers threatened to break the flimsy floor of floating river disco Das Schiff—the actual repast was no less throbbing. On board was a real pro—sex-toy saleswoman Tatjana Sprick (real name), who was most forthcoming about styles, colours and, yes, design. Those sick of World Cup football fever and pining for tennis at Wimbledon missed a trick this week. VIPs ferried from the Schaulager to the nearby Volta fair on a fleet of An interactive treat on Martin Klosterfelde’s (J11) stand for anyone with a God complex keen to try their hand at dystopic town planning. An architectural model of a German town is fitted with push buttons that allow visitors to create mayhem by turning a serene street scene into a calamitous car crash, or a sleepy shopping precinct into a toxic road spill. Two security men took a keen interest in the pile-up on main strasse. Touchy feely There were gasps on the Messeplatz as a shadowy figure took a broom to Heimo Zobernig’s imposing Black Cube, 2010. “It’s being Mea culpa It was indeed a long night in TAN’s editing office on Tuesday, when we dropped a few clangers, for which we apologise. The errors have been corrected online, but for the record: Left: This is what Hauser & Wirth’s stand looks like (B19). Right: And this is Sprüth Magers’ (B12). We mixed them up (p7). Left: Luc Tuymans at Zeno X (M7) Dalida (detail), 2010, sold for €600,000. Right: Luc Tuymans at David Zwirner (E10) The Stage, 2010, sold for $760,000. We got this wrong, too (p1). At Design Miami Basel, Nacho Carbonell's Bush of Iron, 2010, is at Galleria Rossana Orlandi (G04) not Galleria Rossella Colombari (G26, p2). defaced!” cried one onlooker. But there was relief all round when the mysterious interloper turned out to be a technician trying to get rid of the rainwater. Passers-by haven’t been much more respectful— several have rapped their knuckles on Ai Weiwei’s blueand-white porcelain work, Field, 2010, despite the looming “Do Not Touch” signs. Published by Umberto Allemandi & Co. Publishing Ltd UK office: 70 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3331 Fax: +44 (0)20 7735 3332 Email: [email protected] US office: 594 Broadway, Suite 406, New York, NY 10012 Tel: +1 212 343 0727 Fax: +1 212 965 5367 Email: [email protected] American continent subscription enquiries Tel: +1 888 475 5993 Rest of the world subscription enquiries Tel: +44 (0)1795 414 863 www.theartnewspaper.com Printed by Bazdruckzentrum © 2010 The Art Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this newspaper may be reproduced without written consent of copyright proprietor. The Art Newspaper is not responsible for statements expressed in the signed articles and interviews. While every care is taken by the publishers, the contents of advertisements are the responsibility of the individual advertisers Confessions of an art dealer Borkur Arnarson, the director of i8 Gallery, Reykjavik (K12) My biggest mistake... was agreeing to do this. My secret passion... is not a secret (stand K12). The museum I’d like to lead... no thanks, not today. The artist I should have signed... The Rolling Stones. Things that keep me awake at 3am... Fondation Beyeler F1, Hall 2.0 www.fondationbeyeler.ch/acanthes www.nationalesuisse.ch/artas I always sleep like a baby at 3am. I last cooked for... Lawrence and Alice Weiner. I should have been... an astronaut. I enjoy the company of... humans. Dealers are misunderstood because... is it because what they deal in doesn’t have a barcode? Fairs are important... for us they are very important —is this where I mention that the gallery is located at K12? Small talk is... the most painful. A recurring nightmare involves... small talk in a dream within a dream, within a dream. I was happiest when... I finished installing the last show, the one before that, etc. My greatest achievement is... yet to come. The most under-rated art movement is.... Súm [a 1970s, Iceland-based art movement]. The next big thing... is going to be the two artists that I am showing at Basel. I wish I had met... you. Travel broadens the mind... Interview by yes, it does... Gareth Harris The Gulf rather than Europe (or vice versa) because... I have yet to visit the Gulf. Life’s too short to... read this nonsense. My favourite person in the art world is... an elderly gentleman that I spend an hour on the phone with every day—he is not a Borkur client. Arnarso n My Art Basel dream is to..... have no works of art to ship back. Art awakens new ways of seeing the world. At UBS, we are proud to be in our 17th year as the main sponsor of Art Basel, the world’s leading international art show. Sharing new perspectives with people is one of the purposes of art. We believe in making that possible through the sponsorship of important events. www.ubs.com/sponsorship © UBS 2010. All rights reserved. Quote: The purpose of art is to make visible the invisible. Artist: Franco Fontana. Some of his works are represented in The UBS Art Collection.
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