NAN GOLDIN SHOW CLOSES DOWN
We reported last week on the removal of a photograph by American artist Nan Goldin from the BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art's exhibition of Elton John's private collection. The photograph is still being examined by the Northumbrian police to ascertain if it breaches UK pornography legislation. This week Elton John decided to close the exhibition and it has now been taken off public display just over a week after this image was seized by police.
ARTISTS OPEN PAWN SHOP
In October a shop in New York's Lower East side opened its doors as a pawn shop for artists wishing to pawn their work. PAWNSHOP offers artists cash in return for their work. If, after 30 days, the item has not been claimed, the pawnbroker earns the right to sell it, and the pawned object remains on display until it is picked up or purchased by someone else. The shop on Ludlow Street will remain in open until early 2008.
ARTIST BUILDS SECRET APARTMENT IN SHOPPING MALL
The Washington Post reported this week on a secret apartment that has been erected inside a shopping mall's parking garage as part of a project on mall life. The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up the dwelling. Michael Townsend said he and seven other artists built the 750-square-foot apartment beginning in 2003 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time. The artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the loft hidden from the outside world. But inside, the apartment was fully furnished, down to a hutch filled with china and a Sony Playstation 2 _ although a burglar broke in and stole the Playstation last spring. There was no running water - instead they used the mall bathrooms. On his website, Townsend said he was inspired by a Christmastime ad for the mall which featured a "an enthusiastic female voice talking about how great it would be if you (we) could live at the mall." He built the dwelling "out of a compassion to understand the mall more and life as a shopper."
HAUNCH OF VENISON EXCLUDED FROM FRIEZE ART FAIR
Bloomberg reported this week that the London gallery Haunch of Venison, which was bought by the auction house Christie's International earlier this year, has not been selected to appear at this year's Frieze Art Fair. The gallery has exhibited at Frieze since the fair was launched in 2003, and wasn't given a reason for not being selected for 2007. Speculation is that the gallery may have been excluded because it is backed by an auction house that competes with dealers for customers.
SHANGHAI'S CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR DECLARED A SUCCESS
The First Edition of ShContemporary - Shanghai's attempt to launch a top international contemporary
art fair of Asia - has been declared a huge success by visitors, exhibitors and press. The goals and objectives set by the organizers for the first edition of ShContemporary were felt to have been achieved.
The event attracted over 25,000 visitors during the opening and four-day run of the fair in September, with 130 galleries from 23 countries participating in the fair. Exhibitors, both western and Asian galleries, reported strong business and excellent contacts. Due to its business success, the participating galleries have expressed their desire to return to ShContemporary 08.
CONTEMPORARY ART PRICES UP 55 PER CENT
The value of contemporary art has risen by 55% in a year, according to a study of auction sales from around the world. The annual Hiscox Art Market Research report also claimed modern art, produced from the late 19th century to the 1970s, has jumped in value by 44%. The world's most expensive piece of contemporary art went for £50 million in August - a diamond-encrusted skull by Damien Hirst which was, in the end, acquired by a portfolio of investors including the artist himself.
THOMAS SCHUTTE'S FOURTH PLINTH UNVEILED IN NOVEMBER
Thomas Schütte's sculpture for the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square will be unveiled on Wednesday 7 November 2007. The coloured glass sculpture, 'Model for a Hotel', 2007, by the leading German artist, is an architectural model of a 21-storey building, which will collect and reflect the light.
VAL KILMER IN UKLANSKI FILM
We reported earlier this artist Piotr Uklanski's first feature film, 'Summer Love' (2006), which he describes as "the first Polish Western". The film goes on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York from 17 October to 9 December. The movie stars Polish leading man Boguslaw Linda as the Sheriff, Czech art-house actor Karel Roden as the Stranger, Polish stage and screen star Katarzyna Figura as the Woman and one-time Batman Val Kilmer as the Wanted Man.
JOHN MALKOVICH STARS AS GUSTAV KLIMT IN NEW MOVIE
Staying with the movies, John Malkovich is to star as Gustav Klimt in a biopic about the artist which is set to open in New York later this month. The film by Chilean director Raul Ruiz, which is being shown at the International Film Center in Greenwich Village, also stars Saffron Burrows as Klimt's erotic muse Lea De Castro and Nikolai Kinski (son of Klaus) as Egon Schiele.
GALLERY AND MUSEUM NEWS
The Approach is celebrating its 10th Anniversary by opening a second gallery on Mortimer Street in London's Fitzrovia. The Approach W1 will launch on 21 November with a show of new collage works by John Stezaker.
Andreas Leventis, assistant curator at Tate Britain has joined Alison Jacques Gallery in London as assistant director.
Sadie Coles HQ is staging four exhibitions this autumn to celebrate the expansion of the gallery. A new gallery at 69 South Audley Street, designed by Douglas Stewart Architects, will open at the end of the Frieze Art Fair with an exhibition by Rudolf Stingel. In the same week two further exhibitions, one by Christiana Soulou at 35 Heddon Street and one by Urs Fischer at 9 Balfour Mews will open on October 9th and 11th. A further off-site exhibition by Matthew Barney will be open from October 2nd until the November 17th, at 53 Central Street.
Regen Projects has opened a new 4,000 square-foot space on Santa Monica Blvd in LA, while Patrick Painter has opened his third space on Melrose Avenue.
PRIZES
Frieze Art Fair announced this week a call for entries to The Cartier Award 2008. This major award is open to emerging artists living outside the UK, under thirty years of age or within five years of graduating from an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. The recipient of the prize will have the opportunity to present their work at Frieze Art Fair 2008, guaranteeing a major international audience. Additionally the prize will cover production costs of up to £10,000, an artist's fee, per diems, travel expenses and a studio residency at Gasworks in London from August to October 2008. The selection committee for The Cartier Award 2008 comprises Neville Wakefield (Curator, Frieze Projects), Hervé Chandès (Director, Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art), Mia Jankowicz (Residency Curator, Gasworks) and Richard Wentworth (Artist). The deadline for applicants is 7 January 2008. For further details and the application form please refer to frieze.com
Daniel Buren and Tony Cragg have been awarded the 2007 Praemium Imperiale for painting and sculpture, respectively, from the Japan Art Association.
The awarding ceremony of the 52nd International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will take place on 17 October. Since opening in June, the exhibition has been Italy's most visited art event, with more than 12,000 visitors per week and 200,000 visitors in about 100 opening days. The members of the International Jury proposed by Robert Storr, Director of the 52nd International Art Exhibition, are: Manuel J. Borja-Villel (President), Director Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Iwona Blazwick, Director Whitechapel Gallery, London; Ilaria Bonacossa, curator Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino;
Abdellah Karroum, independent curator, Paris; and Rabat José Roca, Director of Arts, Banco de la República, Bogotá and Artistic Director Philagrafika 2010, Philadelphia. The International Jury will award various prizes but not the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, which was given to the Malian artist Malick Sidibé when the Biennale opened in June.
John Baldessari has been awarded the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art award for 2007.
The shortlist for the next Vincent Van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe has been announced. The five short-listed artists are Francis Alÿs, Peter Friedl, Liam Gillick, Deimantas Narkevicius, and Rebecca Warren. This year's jury comprised Manuel Borja-Villel, director of MACBA in Barcelona; Ian Dunlop, a London-based art historian; Ingvild Goetz, collector and proprietor of Sammlung Goetz in Munich; Viktor Misiano, a critic and curator based in Moscow; Beatrix Ruf, director of the Kunsthalle Zurich; and Gijs van Tuyl, director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, who chairs the jury. Th award will be given at a ceremony in September 2008.
Artist Jeff Koons is the recipient of a Blouin Award for 2007 for his contribution to "the creative potential of the human brain".
The shortlist for the third Artes Mundi prize has been announced - ,the artists in the running for the award of £40,000 ($81,561) are Lida Abdul (Kabul and California), Vasco Araújo (Lisbon), Mircea Cantor (Romania and Paris), Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion (Scotland), N. S. Harsha (Mysore, India), Abdoulaye Konaté (Bamoko, Mali), Susan Norrie (Sydney), and Rosângela Rennó (Rio de Janeiro). The winner will be announced in April 2008.
The winners of the DaimlerChrysler Financial Services' Emerging Artist Award are Dharmesh Patel and Marty McElveen.
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