Art Of The Day Weekly
#48 - from 24 May 2007 to 30 July 2007
IN THE AIR
The grand Kiefer at the Grand Palais
PARIS – There is no doubt Anselm Kiefer is one of the major artists of our day and his installations really fill the space they are in. He works in France, near Nîmes. Therefore he would correspond perfectly to the projext launched by the ministry of Culture, pompously named Monumenta: it consists in asking plastic artists to occupy the immense nave of the Grand-Palais with a unique creation. The huge budget that has been allocated to the project, the call to major artists such as Richard Serra in 2008, Christian Boltanski in 2009 is due as we can well imagine to the wish to show that France still holds its place in the global concert . With the title Sternenfall (Chute d’étoiles), Kiefer has installed houses and gigantic towers (one 17 meters tall, another fallen down) made in his favorite materials – concrete, steel, earth, lead books – as well as a palm tree or paintings. The price is moderate (4 €) and we have been promised to witness an exceptional cultural "mediation" with «multilingual, enthusiastic and pedagogic» guides. The initiative is not totally new – we immediatly think of the installations at the Tate Modern, sponsored by Unilever, or of selective stagings such as that of Ernesto Neto at the Pantheon in Paris. Does it matter? The public is king and all seems to indicate that he wants shows that are increasingly spectacular. Here it is.
EXHIBITIONS
MILANO– The Triennale is venturing into the rather difficult project of an exhibition on architecture and is dedicating it to one of the Italian world stars, Renzo Piano, the co-author with Richard Rogers of the Pompidou Center. The exhibition is cut out into sections, with drawings and models, and studies given themes such as the arts center, the one of music, the water center, and leaves a large space to the cities the Genovese master has adopted, such as Milano, Paris, New York (where he is currently finishing the new headquarters of the New York Times). The Lingotto in Torino, his work in the port of Genoa, the town projects in Lyons, Berlin and Sesto San Giovanni (suburb of Milano) show the interest Piano has in accompanying the transition of the large industrial cities towards a new economy of leisure and services. A fan of technical feats and of light, Renzo Piano chose to be under the patronage of Italo Calvino in chosing the title of one of the latter's books to name his exhibition.
Electricity and design
PARIS – Design has favored cars, furniture or the kitchen for years. It is still not obvious that it enter the world of objects less visible or more "lowly" useful such as electrical appliances. The space Electra, financed by the EDF foundation, is interested as it should be in this matter and presents a panorama of it . From Gilles Belley's extruded multiplugs to the Static! awnings that change opacity according to the level of energy consumption in the house, there are many innovations. Radi, Design Council, 5.5 Designers, Solarlab are just some of the 40 design agencies that have been invited to present their projects, either already carried out or simply utopic, supported by a very simple idea: make invisible electricity finally tangible, through the game of colors and noises, to be able to control its consumption.
Moser, the handy man
VIENNA – He personifies the vitality of the Vienese artistic scene, the Vienna of the end of the century of so highly refined it became a symbol of European civilization. Koloman Moser (1868-1918) was remarkably eclectic, and he drew furniture as well as coffee pots, tinted glass windows for churches as well as materials, magazine covers as well as bank notes. The exhibition shows his role in the genesis of the movement of the Viennese Secession (by recreating in particular his workshop, furnished by his friend Josef Hoffmann). Moser drifted away from this version of Art nouveau and put all of his energy into giving life to the Wiener Werkstätte, workshops of applied arts founded in 1903 with Hoffman, while, simultaneously, his work became increasingly geometric. His paintings and drawings, an aspect much less known to the public and marked by the influence of Hodler and Klimt, are largely exhibited.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
AKI KURODA Flomer bench, painted aluminium , 150 x 68 x 156 cm, 2007 © Galerie Maeght, Paris and Galerie Rabih Hage, Londres, 2007
Aki Kuroda in all directions
Aki Kuroda (born in 1944), a Japanese artist settled in France for 30 years is not easily confined. His work is very varied, both by the materials he uses as by his expressions: theatre set, monumental frescoes, posters (for the festival of Avignon), photography, scupture, drawning and painting. He combines various, heterogeneous influences, compositions in Matisse's glued paper with stylised characters with the gestual fury of the Gutai. This somewhat disconcerting diversity explains his discreet presence in auctions, where very rare pieces re presented at contained prices. In his last exhibition, Kuroda amuses himself a little more in mixing up clues. He presents at the Maeght gallery in Paris and Rabih Hage in London paintings that are practically expressionist and sculptures-furniture with funny and fun outlines, colors and materials (bench in two colors with a flower, a foam screen). We are curious to see the rest…
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photo Espana, ten!
MADRID – The Spanish festival has been part of our habits for ten years now. It is themost visited among the photography events in the world. It plays on the effect of quantity: 60 exhibitions presented in major sites (the Reina Sofía museum, the Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Canal show room and this year, the Slaughter house or the historical Price Circus resurected). From Depardon to Italian neo-Realism, from Bruce Davidson to Lynn Davies, from Salgado to the heros of Mexican lucha libre (wrestling - by Lourdes Grobet, at the Casa de América), the rule is eclectism. Like the festival of Avignon, PhotoEspaña now has its own "off" festival: dozens of galleries from Madrid, from Aele-Evelyn Botella (where Javier Romero tries to givelife to the house of his youth) to Vacío 9 (where Miguel Calderón focuses on children with grey hair) complete the program. And following the example of the Tour de France, PhotoEspaña has decided to relocate. But in this case it is not the prologue but rather the final sprint that will take place on the Champs-Elysées with a night PhotoEspaña, on 25 June, ment to coincide with the opening of the Pierre et Gilles exhibitin at the Jeu de Paume.
BOOKS
A generous spirit
We are so used to seeing art books formated according to the same models – exhibition catalogue, artist's monography, studey of an historic period – that we are always pleasantly surprised to discover works that make the exception. Such is the case of this text (difficult to comprehend,we should point out) by Jean Starobinski, who studies the representation in art of the concept of largitio (generosity), so important in past centuries. Litterary references go from Plinius to Rousseau, from Valère Maxime to the Countess of Ségur. It is illustrated in a very eclectic way as well, going from expected allegories on Abundance or the Rain of Gold of Danae to more curious images, such as Satan planting rye grass by Félicien Rops or this other rain of gold, poured by Eisenstein on his Ivan the Terrible. To say the truth, the first version of this book accompanied a themed exhibition at the Louvre. But that was 14 years ago and the author has had time to prolong his thoughts.
IN BRIEF
BUFFALO – Two autochromes from 1908 by Edward Steichen, one of the most expensive photographers in history (his Pnd in the moonlight was sold for 3 million $ in 2006), have been discovered in Buffalo. They will be exposed at the Eastman House in Rochester.
GENT – The museum of Beaux-Arts will reopen on 26 mai, after 4 years of works and a complete restauration of the building (thanks to Charles Van Rysselberghe, the brother of the painter Théo). Among the works of art in the museum, some Magritte, Permeke, Ensor and the Carrying of the Cross by Jérôme Bosch.
NEW YORK - Following the excellent results at Sotheby's, Christie's has even done better in its sales of modern and contemporary art and totalised 477 million $ in sales in the week of 17 May. The most disputed piece was Andy Warhol's, Green Car Crash, sold for 71 million $, three times its initial estimate.
PARIS – The Ptolémée Forum, held each year in Paris, at the Cité des Sciences, is dedicated to 29 and 30 mai on the following theme: does the immaterial allows the development of new resources for cultural and scientific institutions?
PRAGUE – The 3rd biennale of Prague, directed by Giancarlo Politi (the editor of Flash Art) will be held from 24 May to 16 September. It puts forward Slovac actionism, Czech minimalism and the current school of Cluj.
ROTTERDAM - The 3rd biennale of architecture of Rotterdam will open on 24 May on the theme of «the house of the future».
ON ART OF THE DAY.INFO
THIS WEEK, DO NOT MISS
Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky, Manufactured landscapes
PARIS - The Canadian Cultural center offers his first Parisian exhibition to one of Canada's most in vogue photographers. Without any ecological aim, Burtynsky captures images of landscapes modified by the mining, chemical and car industries, and shows the emotional print man can leave on his environment.