BUT IS IT PERFORMANCE DESIGN? | A ghost train from Bulgaria, composed of sound and lights, speeds through Berlin’s city center
HR-Stamenov’s The Phenomenon of W24°58’59,43″ N42°07’55,29″ is very much a site-specific, media, sound and light installation. This time, he toys with the image of a ghost metro train which has traveled throughout Europe and suddenly appears in Berlin. It ignores physics, gaps between buildings, space and time.
BUT IS IT PERFORMANCE DESIGN? | Tino Sehgal’s “This situation” dreamily implicates the art experience, and quite likely elite academia itself
“The situation” is purely experiential, engaging viewers immediately in real time and space to implore a questioning of the art experience, and experience itself. If “This situation” is not a work of performance design, I don’t know what is. It is not surprising to learn that Sehgal is a trained choreographer; he composes what is then physically interpreted by non-actors, actors and dancers, and in the case of “This Situation,” intellectuals.
FESTIVAL WATCH | Performance actions teem in Bulgaria’s festival for independent theater
Of particular interest would the November 9, Open Space Forum, which organizers say “will explore several key factors in the development of contemporary culture that we consider important. They are: the development of international partnerships, the establishment of independent art spaces, as well as the development of new audiences and international mobility of artists and creative products.”
IN EXHIBITION | “Fluxus as architecture” argues for the structural coherence of George Maciunas’s universal language
It’s a prefab vision, but the exhibition seems to be arguing for a Fluxcity vision. that allows a single module to form into clusters, communities and hives. The concept leans on Maciunas’s prefab design for Fluxhouse, which was completed in 1965. An architect, George Maciunas, educated in architecture at Cooper Union and Carnegie Institute of Technology, held several prestigious professional positions in firms including Skidmore, Owing and Merrill, Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation and Knoll Associates. For sure, Fluxcity is not a fancy idea.
IN EXHIBITION | Photographic landscapes of sexual intimacy raise “Wonderlust’s” temperature
In “Wonderlust,” Canadian artist Sarah Anne Johnson’s work pushes the boundaries of photography by incorporating burning, scratching, gouging and glitter into her practice. These effects, she believes, “make visible the elation, beauty and self-consciousness of sex.” She photographed her subjects in their homes and then worked with the resulting prints in her studio
![Alfonso Ossorio (1916-1990)
Untitled [MR88], 1949
ink, wax, watercolor and gouache on paper
25 1/2 x 20 5/8 inches, signed and dated](../../../2013/10/ossorio_untitled_mr88_image_only0-w-155-h-110-crop-1.jpg)
IN EXHIBITION | Last chance to see the secret history of postwar painter Alfonso Ossorio at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Alfonso Ossorio is a central figure of postwar American art, but he has been virtually absent from standard art history texts. Some people have claimed that Ossorio was just imitating Jackson Pollock. This exhibition shows that Ossorio had his own unique “wax-resist” painting technique that really no one else had used. He forged his own wild assemblages that he called “congregations.” It’s time to re-draft the history of postwar American art.
CRIT SNIT | Curators are the new enemy of the art world
The British art critic Waldemar Januszczak rails against curators in today’s Letters Page of the Guardian
IN EXHIBITION | Tyler Rollins Fine Art hosts Philippine artist Patricia Perez Eustaquio
The works in The Future That Was exhibitions in New York and Manila are reflections upon the structures and ideas that produce, frame and promote art and design. Philippine artist Patricia Perez Eustaquio weaves an open-ended narrative that examines notions of innovation and novelty, timeliness and timelessness, particularly as they relate to the language of design and fashion. She is interested in how material, fabrication, and intention combine to form an object that then takes on a life of its own.
IN EXHIBITION | Women as biomorphic abstractions in Ashley Bickerton’s fourth Neo-Geo solo show
Ashley Bickerton (b. 1959, Barbados, West Indies) graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1982 and continued his education in the Independent Studies Program (ISP) at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. A seminal figure in the East Village scene of the 1980s, Bickerton has been associated with the “Neo-Geo” approach to art making.
ART OPENING | Iranian painter portrays faceless people in Dubai art gallery
These paintings are based on studies of the gestures of resistance and defiance. They are permanent records of the ‘faceless’ individuals who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
IN EXHIBITION | View “LaMaMa Family Show” artworks in this exclusive slideshow
Forty LaMaMa artists are featured in the “Family Show”. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday 1:00-7:30 PM. La Galleria is located on 6 East First Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery.
GALLERY REPORT | Gender fluidity inspires Singaporean artist’s video works in Indonesia
The Elo Progo exhibition centers on Ong’s first public showing of video works, which were inspired by the rituals of water meditation and informed by themes of gender fluidity and mythic transformation.
CURATORIAL ESSAY | From the Edge: Performance Design in the Divided States of America
I would go so far to say that, after post-structuralism, communication is now the dominant force in design innovations. PQ provides designers with an international art-based platform where they can wrest back the current valorization of time-based performance modes, which visual artists have ruthlessly co-opted for their own ends
INTERVIEW Part 2 | From the Edge: Active Searching & The Value of the Prague Quadrennial
“These events, on a practical level, raise the public’s level of awareness of the importance of good creative design. They affirm the professionalism and creativity of outstanding designers and theater architects. And these events have demonstrated an economic impact to the countries that host them.”
Postcards from the Inge interview, Part 3 | A Ripple Effect
The following interview originally appeared in Postcards from the Inge, a blog. It is re-posted here with the kind permission of the author. Interview by AMANDA WHITE THIETJE Well, here … Continue reading
Visual Art News | Painter Manuel Ocampo returns with solo exhibit and curated group show
Concurrently with his own gallery show, Ocampo is curating a group exhibition of Manila-based artists, entitled “Bastards of Misrepresentation,” taking place at several New York venues, including the Queens Museum, NYU, TOPAZ Arts, and Crossing Art.
Venice Biennial | United Arab Emirates selects Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem for 2013 national pavilion
Our founder, Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan, is a passionate patron of the arts and a committed supporter of Emirati artists, and so it is with great pleasure that we are able to play a role in the program,” stated Dr Salvatore LaSpada, Executive Director of the Foundation.
Brazilian painter Adriana Varejão gets retrospective treatment at Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo
“Histories at the Margins,” a retrospective of Adriana Varejão’s paintings, showcases works that have never before been exhibited in Brazil, on loan from renowned collections including Fundació “La Caixa” (Barcelona), Solomon R. Guggenheim (New York), and Tate Modern (London)
Queens arts gallery re-members Philippine martial law with exhibit, performance and salon talk
The event, which will take place in Queens, consists of an exhibition by Eric De Leon Zamuco, an installation performance piece by Jeho Bitancor; and a salon-style talk by transnational writer Ninotchka Rosca, the author of “Endgame: The Fall of Marcos.”
Iranian photographer zooms toward staged narrative in Dubai gallery
In a new exhibition in a Dubai gallery, entitled “Collage Tales,” Iranian photographer Arman Stephanian invokes the tradition of story telling by using photographic images to tell stories of past and present.
