In his 2013 video “Second-Hand Reading,” South African artist William Kentridge appears as if walking across the pages of a dictionary. Beside him, as he makes this contemplative passage, words in black block letters briefly overlay the alphabetic entries: “WHICHEVER PAGE YOU OPEN,/THERE YOU ARE.” It’s classic Kentridge — the artist tweaking scale and space to physically occupy an authoritative text, both locating and implicating himself within.
Read MoreAt any one time, the NGV has a significant percentage of its riches hidden away out of sight. It’s the same in any of the world’s large galleries, as their floor space simply does not allow all works to be exhibited at once. This exhibition offers a glimpse into some of the key works acquired by the NGV over the past decade – in some ways acting as a survey of the state gallery’s collection across art and design, including contemporary furniture, lighting, painting, film, sculpture and installation, many of which have not been on display for years.
Read MoreA series of enormous mosaic murals by Yayoi Kusama and Kiki Smith, first announced in October, have been revealed inside the new Grand Central Madison train terminal, which opens to the public later this month in Manhattan. The glass mosaics are the main public art attractions in the terminal, which is part of an $11bn project to connect the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to Grand Central Terminal that stretches between 43rd and 48th streets along Madison Avenue.
Read MoreIranian scholars, critics, art historians, and curators made a statement declaring solidarity with art students protesting at Iranian universities. It has now garnered over 7,000 signatures. Originally released on 29 October with 600 initial signatures, the open letter was drafted by an anonymous steering committee. Signatories include Iranian artists such as Shirin Neshat, Nicky Nodjoumi, Nairy Baghramian, Tala Madani, and Shirazeh Houshiary.
Read MoreArts non-profit Woman Life Freedom have unveiled a new installation on New York’s Roosevelt Island to raise awareness to the humanitarian crisis happening in Iran. Made in collaboration with French artist JR and For Freedoms, a civil rights platform founded by Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman, Iranian artists Aphrodite Deìsireìe Navab, Icy and Sot, Shirin Neshat, Sepideh Mehraban, and Sheida Soleimani present a series of large-scale artworks entitled Eyes on Iran.
Read MoreFrequently referred to as South Africa’s Goya for his rough-hewn depictions of life in Johannesburg through the politically tempestuous 1980s and 1990s, he could also be called that country’s Duchamp, Disney, or Daumier. Such comparisons are feeble and reductive. William Kentridge is William Kentridge. His practice is best described not by words but by his work in a career survey currently showing at LA’s The Broad museum through April 9.
Read More“William Kentridge’s prodigious creative output as a visual artist, filmmaker, and theater and opera director has graced many of the world’s stages, galleries, and museums for several decades. I have keenly followed his work for many years, but when his production of The Head and the Load landed at New York City’s vast Park Avenue Armory in 2018, I found it truly revelatory; it was one of those rare productions that simply fired on all cylinders—a veritable Gesamtkunstwerk.”
Read MoreWorks related to the themes of peace from the oeuvre of Yoko Ono, the best-known contemporary Japanese artist and musician and former wife of John Lennon, will be on display at the exhibition The War is Over! If You Want It – Tribute to Yoko Ono, an exhibition opening on Sunday at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.
Read MoreBANGKOK – Set in the capital of bustling Thailand, the Bangkok Art Biennale explores two opposite notions of chaos and calm with more than 200 works by 73 international and Thai artists at 12 venues across Bangkok.
Read MoreThe collection show Changes—the title refers to Gilliam’s work and is intentionally in the plural—focuses on recent acquisitions to the collection, with works by Leidy Churchman, János Fájo, Philipp Fleischmann, Birke Gorm, Jojo Gronostay, Frida Orupabo, and Emily Wardill, and other works from the collection that have not yet been shown at mumok, and confronts these with older holdings which can thus be seen afresh. A number of thematic areas address relevant contexts from today’s perspective: abstractions, textures, environments, and in/visibilities.
Read MoreRosemarie Trockel became famous in the 1980s with her knitted wool paintings. What the artist called her "knitting pictures" wasn't the result of turning a hobby into art, however: Trockel's wool artworks were rather machine-generated. By shifting the way traditionally feminine materials were used, she criticized traditional role models as well as the established hierarchy of art forms, which places painting above crafts.
Read MoreDie Differenz aus Wildheit als Ideal und dem Mach- und Lebbaren ist das Agens der 1952 in Schwerte geborenen Künstlerin Rosemarie Trockel. Auf der „Skulptur.Projekte Münster“ von 2007 etwa zeugte davon ihr semiakkurater Heckenriegel „Less Sauvage than Others (Weniger wild als andere)“, der zwar im Ganzen ordentlich getrimmt wirkte. Zu den Seiten hin schoss er jedoch in anarchischem Wildwuchs über die ihm von Gartennazis auferlegten Grenzen hinaus. Bei einer anderen Land-Art-Arbeit entsprang glucksend Wasser aus der Mitte eines Teichs – es war jedoch mitnichten ein Geysir, der sich da urwüchsig Bahn brach, sondern eine Gartenpumpe.
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