The Trouble with Art Criticism: Conference

From the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Uploaded December 2011

The alarm bells about the crisis in art criticism have been rung many times in recent years, but what exactly is the crisis? Whilst once art criticism was passionate, polemical and judgmental, today's critics are more likely to find themselves tangled in a web of obscure language and neutrality. This Trouble With discussion panel seeks to tackle the nature of the ominous crisis in art criticism and identify what has changed, why, and whether it makes sense to look back at historic criticism for guidance.

This panel, chaired by curator and writer Teresa Gleadowe, speakers include JJ Charlesworth, associate editor at ArtReview Magazine; Adrian Searle, chief art critic of The Guardian newspaper; Melissa Gronlund; Managing Editor of Afterall journal, as well as Contributing Editor for Frieze, independent writer and curator Tom Morton.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig was born in 1959 in Edinburgh, Scotland, moved to Trinidad, West Indies in 1962, and then to Canada in 1966. In 1979 he moved to London to attend the Wimbledon School of Art. He received his Bachelor of Arts from St. Martin's School of Art in 1983, and earned his Master of Arts degree from the Chelsea School of Art in 1990.

Tate Shot July 2008



"Peter Doig's retrospective at Tate Britain was called 'the most enthralling show in town'. He took us behind the scenes as he finalised the hang just before it opened, and showed us his private collection of photographs that provide the starting point for his mesmerising paintings.
================
Peter Doig / MATRIX 183 (March 2009)

link: http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibition/183

Download the exhibition brochure (PDF) .



"Kicking off a yearlong series of public programs celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of MATRIX was this conversation between artist Peter Doig, who was featured in the MATRIX program in 2000, and Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, MATRIX curator from 1999 through 2005.

Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is currently based in Trinidad, West Indies. MATRIX 183 Echo-Lake was his first one-person museum exhibition in the United States. "

==============

A selection of works



Peter Doig at Gavin Brown's Enterprise, NYC (Jan 2009)



Peter Doig New Paintings at GAVIN BROWN'S ENTERPRISE
Opening Night from James Kalm



Peter Doig at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
From Vernissage TV

" The Peter Doig retrospective at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, offers a comprehensive overview of the artists’s work. On display are 50 paintings, a group of works on paper, and about 130 painted film posters. The show spans 20 years, from Peter Doig’s Hitch Hiker (1989-90) to his Man Dressed as Bat (2007). This video provides you with an exhibition walk-through, and Dorothea Apovnik (head of press at Schirn) gives an introduction to the show. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. October 10, 2008."



===============

Artist Peter Doig speaks about his work, as seen in the exhibition Peter Doig No Foreign Lands at the Scottish National Gallery from 3rd August to 3rd November 2013. (Published on 9 Aug 2013)

Painters Painting: Documentary

".... the documentary is about American painting from the end of World War II through the 1960s. Specifically it was tied to a Metropolitan Museum of Art show titled “New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940-1970″ and comes with the sub-title “A Candid History of the New York Art Scene, 1940-1970″ and supplemented with a similarly titled book. "

"One thing it is not, however, is a look at painters painting. A better title is “Painters Talking” or even “Filmmaker Filming,” given that de Antonio appears in many interview scenes along with his crew, or sometimes there is at least a microphone extended into the frame. The director, who was a prominent part of the New York art scene (as promoter rather than artist) before becoming a filmmaker at the age of 43, took on this subject in part at the suggestion of his wife at the time, Terry Brook.

It was also, while familiar ground, nothing short of a challenge for de Antonio, who was conflicted about the art. He liked the paintings and their creators were his friends, but as a Marxist social critic he saw them as “essentially manifestations of a very conservative aspect of America … part of a machine which runs this country,” because they’re bought by the wealthy and corporate and the artists then too become wealthy and occasionally even corporate. He was also critical of abstract paintings being too uninvolved, socially and politically. Of the work of his close friend Frank Stella, he would say, “Tell me the politics of a stripe…”*"

full article
http://documentarychannel.com/documentary-classics-emile-de-antonios-painters-painting-is-mistitled-and-undervalued/

From Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painters_Painting

"Artists appearing in the film include Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Barnett Newman, Hans Hofmann, Jules Olitski, Philip Pavia, Larry Poons, Robert Motherwell, and Kenneth Noland."



from Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRG-QFeYg8I

Mona Lisa Curse

The Mona Lisa Curse

Documentary by Australian writer and critic art Robert Hughes

part 1 of 6

Art Market Documentary

From the BBC, this documentary explores the world of the art market with particular reference to recent activity. It covers price manipulation and other tactics. Featuring Damien Hirst, Sotherbys, White Cube and other major players.

"The Great Contemporary Art Bubble" in seven parts

PULSE Art Fair - LA

http://www.pulse-art.com/losangeles/aboutthefair.htm

PULSE Los Angeles 2011

• Press Release

Articles

• ARTINFO - PULSE Director Cornell DeWitt On What It Takes to Make a New Fair Work in Los Angeles
• fabrikmagazine.com - The Art World Comes to Los Angeles
• ARTINFO - When in Los Angeles...for Art Platform and PULSE
• The Los Angeles Times - PULSE aims to bring Miami magic to new L.A. art fair this September
• The Art Newspaper - PULSE New York is on the move
• Artnet - FALL FAIR SCHED IN L.A. FILLS UP
• Artscenecal.com - ART FAIR START-UPS IN L.A. NOT NEW TO NEW YORK

======================== =========================

from vernissage tv

Hanging Fire - NY

Hanging Fire:
Contemporary Art from Pakistan

10 September 2009
- 3 January 2010

New York's "Hanging Fire" exhibition presented by the Asia Society and curated by acclaimed scholar Salima Hashmi is an important and ambitious raising of the curtain on what is an entire cabaret of Pakistani artists, both established and emerging, that are making their way onto the international stage. Artists investigating the fracturing of traditions and ideologies, as well and the spectre of terror; artists who personally and creatively must contend with an influential past and an especially uncertain future. Showcasing fifteen leading artists - Zahoor ul Akhlaq, Imran Qureshi, Anwar Saeed, Rashid Rana, Naiza Khan, Huma Mulji, Hamra Abbas, Bani Abidi, Asma Mundrawala, Ayaz Jhokio, Ali Raza, Mahreen Zuberi, Adeela Suleman, Arif Mahmood and Faiza Butt - this prestigious exhibition gives viewers a taste of Pakistan's rich expressive potential. All these artists have drawn on issues which move and shake them daily. Their responses - often subtle, humorous, theatrical - can be described as a kind of defence mechanism from within a politically and culturally charged creative space.

full article

http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2009/hanging_fire

images

http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2009/hanging_fire/img

Curating Conferences

Comparing conferences is Sydney and Amsterdam.

Sydney
Artspace Public Programs include regular symposia and conference events, often presented in partnership with peer organisations and educational institutions.
http://www.artspace.org.au/public/public_symposia.php

17 - 18 April 2009
Artspace Visual Arts Centre & Art Gallery of New South Wales

Spaces of Art
An international conference on institutional / post-institutional curatorial and related practices in contemporary art
Convenors: Reuben Keehan and Blair French

Spaces of Art engages questions crucial to the future of art institutions and their relationship to contemporary practice in the 21st century, with particular reference to curatorial and artistic strategies in Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

more info
http://www.artspace.org.au/public_archive/conference_spacesofart.php

===================

I missed this conference, but have been assured by Artspace that they will be publishing the procedings

"We will be publishing papers at some point - late this year or early next - and will advertise this on our website."

======================

Amsterdam

I was not able to physically attend the Conference in Amsterdam that took place last night. This was "Positions in flux: On the changing role of the artist and institution in the networked society" a symposium forming part of the 30th anniversary celebrations at the Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst (Montevideo)

"The symposium 'Positions in flux: On the changing role of the artist and institution in the networked society' will center on some of the major parameters for the current and future development of contemporary art. In particular it will reflect on the aspect of cultural sustainability of art projects, art and technology initiatives and art curating."

http://www.nimk.nl/nl/
http://www.nimk.nl/en/index.html

see blog post
http://blakkbyrd.blogspot.com/2009/05/conference-amsterdam.html

When I was in Amsterdam I regularly visited Montevideo for its exhibitions, openings and conferences. I discovered that the conferences were streamed live and that people could particpate remotely via online chat. Thus I was able to watch the proceedings, streamed live over my internet connection last night from here in Sydney.

The program, stream and chat are here

http://www.montevideo.nl/en/agenda/detail_agenda.php?id=303&archief=

http://www.montevideo.nl/en/agenda/detail_agenda.php?id=297&archief=

So somparing the two events, Artspace looks at the future of curating and the art institution with particular reference to the Asia Pacific Region. It is only accessible to physical participants and there is a year's wait for the opportunity to purchase written proceedings. The presenters are named but there are no links to their websites or works.

Montevideo looks at the future of curating and the art institution in an internationally networked society. The proceedings are accessible immediately, internationally by anyone with an internet connection. I think they will load the conference videos online soon. There are links to the websites and artworks presented at the conferences.

It is difficulties in accessing information about art events in Australia and the lack of access to new technologies that are keeping the Australian art scene from international participation in the 21st century.

Kunstgeschichte - Art Journal

Conceived as a forum for the entire discipline, its first edition covers a range of subjects: Italian Romanesque architecture, a critical opinion on Old Masters’ exhibitions led by connoisseurship, French and German 19^th century painting, Ed Ruscha’s photography, as well as installation art by Paul Thek. One paper investigates the potential of Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of perception for the visual studies; another describes in terms of system theory the museum as a place of learning and experience.

Besides publishing new and innovative research, the journal offers a forum for the reassessment of elder scholarly literature, i.e. texts that initially did not meet with the reception they deserved, or those that offer new perspectives today. The rubric ›Reconsidered‹ starts off with Heinrich Wölfflin's Prolegomena zu einer Psychologie der Architektur of 1886. His analogy between the human body and architectural form may be of interest to modern art history, which places the body at the center of its interest. Also, the ›spatial turn‹ might profitably relate to this short text.

Under the rubric ›Theses and Points of View‹, Kunstgeschichte. Open Peer Reviewed Journal wishes to give space for debates, particularly on the current status of art history and on perspectives for its future development. To begin with, we will soon publish the contributions to the panel on the »Historiography of Art History«, which will be held on the occasion of the 30th Deutscher Kunsthistorikertag (Biannual German Art History Convention) in Marburg on March 27, 2009.

Kunstgeschichte. Open Peer Reviewed Journal is committed to the principles of public peer review. Papers submitted to the e-journal are first put up as ›Discussion Papers‹ for public peer assessment over a period of six months. After this stage, the authors have the option of revising their work according to the public comments. Only then will the definitive papers be published as ›Journal Articles‹. By proceeding thus we capitalize on the specific possibilities of the internet: It allows scholars to interact immediately, and to contribute comments, criticism, and additional information online to the papers published in Kunstgeschichte. Open Peer Reviewed Journal. We would like to underline that all comments will be furnished with a proper URL so as to be citable as independent publications.

Finally, the format of online publishing gives readers different kinds of access to the papers: searches may be conducted by authors, epochs, sort of text, or publication date. Moreover, the journal offers full-text search, i.e. the search by names or keywords.

We wish you exciting and inspiring readings, and we look forward to your suggestions, wishes, and comments.

http://www.kunstgeschichte-ejournal.net/

'If I Can't Dance...' - review

'If I Can't Dance...' at De Appel
Bart van der Heide
1st March 2007

Curators Frederique Bergholtz and Annie Fletcher have been exploring their desired synergy between 'celebration' and 'the ability of art to take a political and critical stance' in a series of performance projects that operate in response to Emma Goldman’s declaration, 'If I Can't Dance I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution'.¹ Since its conception in 2005, ‘If I Can't Dance...' has managed to substantially influence the Dutch cultural landscape, avoiding the dominant vortex of temporary exhibitions and successfully reshaping conventional curatorial practice. 'If I Can't Dance...' abandons the model of brief, one-off collaborations between artist and curator in favor of a multiplicity of public and creative contexts, different in location, time and character.

After the success of Edition I, in which artists such as Johanna Billing, Gerard Byrne, Yael Davids and Matti Braun presented their work in various festival and publication formats, 'If I Can't Dance...' took up residence at De Appel in Amsterdam for the production of Edition II. De Appel, renowned for its influential support of performance and installation art in the 1970s within the European context, proved to be ideal for this event, both as partner and location.

full article
http://www.afterall.org/onlinearchive.html?online_id=12

Modern Australian Women

Artlink » Vol 21 no 1 » Modern Australian Women: paintings & prints 1925-1945 and In Context: Australian Women Modernists


Curator: Jane Hylton
Art Gallery of South Australia
24 November 2000 - 25 February 2001

Curator: Paula Furby
Flinders University Art Museum
8 December 2000 - 17 February 2001

"I was more than a little surprised by the exhibition Modern Australian Women: paintings & prints 1925-1945, not because the work on show is in any way unusual but, on the contrary, because it all seems so familiar. An appealing and accessible show, it necessarily includes works by some of the more well known women artists such as the harbour bridge paintings by Grace Cossington Smith and Grace Crowley, Margaret Preston's colourful and bold prints, still-life and flower paintings, and Thea Proctor's The Rose - works that surely, by now, have become Australian icons."

full article
http://www.artlink.com.au/articles.cfm?id=2470

letter to the editor

"We have decided not to include
Blakkbyrd (http://blakkbyrd.blogspot.com/) and
Bellebyrd (http://printaustralia.blogspot.com/).

These websites do not fit with our current policy for the inclusion of websites. We feel that they do not meet the essential criteria of focus, on Australian culture and recreation, which is evident from their primary concerns, access to information and comprehensive nature of the information. Although information is provided about Australian culture and the arts, a significant proportion of the site is concerned with international events and activities, such as those in Amsterdam.

For this reason we are unable to list these websites"

================
If there appears to be confusion as to the website's contents the writer admits to this.

"we found the URLs a little confusing"

================

Kenneth Branagh puts it far more elequently than I.



====================

Book Arts Newsletter

Every month/two months, The Book Arts Newsletter is published at the CFPR, Edited by Sarah Bodman and available to anyone on our Book Arts Mailing list as a 'hard copy'.

To supplement the publication, we have also made all back copies (up to the current issue at any given time) available as downloadable, print-quality pdf files, which can also be simply read in any web browser that has a basic Acrobat Reader plug in.

Newsletter for August - September 2007: Issue 36

http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/banlists.htm

Venice Biennial - Photos

UNIVERSES IN UNIVERSE - Worlds of Art
Visual arts of Africa, Asia, Latin America
within the context of international art processes

our extensive photo tour through the 52nd International Art Exhibition of
the Venice Biennial is ready now. You will find in it, photos and
information on 24 pavilions and exhibitions with works by 114
participants.


*Venice Biennial - Photo Tour*
You can directly go to particular exhibitions or follow the alphabetical
tour (Start top right):
http://universes-in-universe.de/car/venezia/eng/2007/tour/index.htm

Documenta 12 - Photos

UNIVERSES IN UNIVERSE - Worlds of Art
Visual arts of Africa, Asia, Latin America
within the context of international art processes


we have published now a Tour through Documenta 12, where you will find
photos and information on works by 33 participants from Africa, Asia,
Latin America, and on the exhibition venues, as well as the complete list
of artists with brief biographies, and some critical remarks about the
event.


*Documenta 12 - Photo Tour*
http://universes-in-universe.de/car/documenta/eng/2007/index.htm

"Despite occasional bright spots, this documenta leaves a rather weak impression – because of the diverse theoretical ambitions that are not fulfilled and in part because of major curatorial weaknesses. These are especially obvious in the wretched Aue Pavilion (see our tour). This twelfth edition in no way fulfills the claim, found again in the official statements, that the documenta is “an authoritative worldwide seismograph of contemporary art”."

Website: www.documenta12.de

Documenta - review

"The economics of Documenta are a prime example for the functioning of
the art system. Our experiences as participants of the magazines
project. "


http://magazines.documenta.de/frontend/article.php?IdLanguage=1&NrArticle=1714
(English version)

by Kati Morawek and Beat Weber



The opening of documenta12 in June was an event in many respects:
While new price records for art worksin auctions and art fairs were
the main topic of art journalism in recent years, reporting on
Documenta focused on artistic content only. The documenta positions
itself as a countermodel to the market dominated art world. Its main
claims are "education" and "emancipation" which was reflected in
reports about documenta. At the same time, there are no reports about
working conditions or internal economies of the event. Aesthetic
questions dominate - despite the fact that the economics of documenta
are a prime example for the functioning of the art system. As
participant of documenta magazines project, Malmoe got a glimpse of
how it works.

The documenta Magazines project invited around 90 independent and self
organized non-profit publications from the fields of culture and
political theory from around the world to come together and reflect on
the main topics of documenta.

Participating magazines were asked to publish and discuss articles
among them through an electronic platform provided by the institution,
on the topics proposed by the documenta team. The documenta would then
select the most interesting ones for their own three magazine issues,
which accompany the exhibition. In return, possibilities for
networking and exchange with other magazines would be provided as well
as the outlook of getting invited to workshops and conferences abroad.
But no money was offered for the work of the participating magazines,
except for the authors chosen for publication in documenta's own
magazines.

On the one hand, this is an interesting project: Instead of
cooperating with established fancy elite art journals from the centers
of the global art world, documenta brought together marginal and
critical publications from all over the world and provides them with a
unique visibility and possibility for exchange.

On the other hand, the form and framing of this project are very
typical for the art field. They make the project a good example for
the functioning of the art system in general. Seven aspects come to
mind here:

1. Outsourcing of idea scouting

The magazines project is designated as "research system" by the
documenta directro. It shall provide the curators with information to
be used in the exhibition. As remarked by participating magazine
Radical Philosophy, this is a form of outsourcing of innovation on
independent small players, which is typical for the cultural
industries. With this move, the institution gets their credibility on
board and cheaply procures information from decentral networks, which
would have required a major research effort for outsiders. Similar to
deals between majors and indie labels in the music business, the
question of balance of costs and benefits, giving and taking is key in
assessing this situation.

2. Casting show principle

The intellectual cooperation within the documenta magazines project
seems to represent the total opposite of commercialised events like
the casting shows of the "Pop Idols" variant. But on a structural
level there are striking parallels: A limited amount of participatns
is selected to take part in a kind of competition, where they are to
provide unpaid work containing performative aspects within a
prespecified framework involving special tasks. Among these, winners
are selected via a mixture of group processes and expert decisions.
This is nothing unusual in the art world, but the common model in most
exhibitions below the upper segment of the market.

3. The attraction of the promise of glamour

Why is this offer to work on assignments of an institution without
getting paid accepted by the cultural workers? Because taking part in
such a project promises social and symbolic capital which is valuable
in itself and might even be transformed into economic capital in the
future.

All gate keeping systems in the art world like galleries, exhibitions
etc. work on the assumption that people are willing to work for
reputation, without expecting to get paid. This is especially visible
at documenta, where a legion of interns are working for 400 euros a
month.

The only "real" payment documenta magazines project offers are rare
and sporadic fringe benefits like tickets for conferences, free issues
of magazines. The rest is the promise of social and symbolic capital:
Getting in contact with other magazines, profiting from the reputation
effect of participating in documenta.

Some of the participating magazines seemed to be satisfied with these
opportunities, and made documenta subject of their cover stories and
their promotional material. In other editiorial groups, doubts were
raised tot the point of internal conflict, centering around the
problem of taking part in a state-sponsored project under exploitative
conditions.

4. Distribution of money according to the principle of maximum
representational effect

One of the rules of the cultural field: Money is primarily used for
representation. The more distant the contributing work processes are,
the lesser the chances for them to getting paid (except if they are
indispensable for other reasons).

At the presentation party of the first documenta magazine edition in
Vienna, a rather opulent buffet was offered compared to local
standards. Everything which has representational value is being
financed generously. But people from publications participating in the
documenta magazines project do not get travel funds to visit the
exhibition, even if they have an official presentation - their
representational value is too small.

5. Maximum number of participants - minimum individual payout

Another characteristic feature is the minimisation of the payout for
individual participants as a result of the maximisation of the
representative dimensions.

Of course it would cost a lot of money to pay author's fees and travel
expenses etc. for the 90 participating magazines from around the
world. But why does it have to be that many? Which audience can
appreciate such a vast amount in a reasonable way? Who in the small
editorial team can handle such an enormous project in an appropriate
manner? Experience has shown: It is too much, and this leads to
mistakes, defects, discontent and overcharge among the participants.
This could have been foreseen, but it was not the decivise point in
the selection by the curators, because the attraction of big numbers
predominated their choice. They wanted to signal: Our project is
representative, and it is of unprecedented, gigantic, astonishing
dimensions. In exhibitions there are also usually too many artists
invited, so that the available budget does not allow the payout of any
meaningful sums for individual artists.

6. Personal relations make it hard to keep critical distance

At the documenta which is run mostly by people from our city (Vienna),
we experienced what is typical for local art scenes: One is acquainted
or even befriended with the people involved, one is part of the same
networks, appreciates each other, sometimes is even dependent from
each other. This involvement makes it hard from time to time to keep
up critical standards, which one would hold firmly onto in other
contexts.

7. Star system and invidualising, anti-collective framework conditions

Despite the fact that he is heading the documenta together with Ruth
Noack, Roger Buergel officially functions as the artistic director,
because the rules of documenta enforce the appointment of an
individual. This is not an exception, it is characteristic of the
individualistic art system. This also shows in the way of dealing with
groups participating in the magazines project: There was only one
ticket available per editorial team for project conferences - forcing
editorial collectives to choose a representative among them, which is
sometimes in stark contrast to the working style of the magazine
concerned. The principle of individualisation is put aside only when
the collective itself gains a spectacular quality: For instance in Wei
Wei's project of bringing 1001 people from China to Kassel.

Dealing with the double role as on the one hand individual eager for
symbolic capital and on the other hand memeber of a collective,
sometimes leads to conflicts of interest which can be explosive for
collective projects.

This individualising pressure makes it difficult in most cases to
challenge the problematic distribution of resources in cultural
projects. Even more than in regular employment relationships, whrer
there are many regulatory protections, the collectivisation of
discussions about distribution of resources is absolutely necessary in
project work. Even more so in projects which claim to be critical. In
that respect, documenta is not worse, but also not better than the
usual exhibition project.

The participating magazines, scattered around the globe and mostly
unacquainted with each other outside the project, have failed to
collectively articulate their annoyance about the working conditions
offered to them, or organize. The exhibition guides in Kassel at least
have succeeded in negotiating about their salaries. How the artists
participating in the exhibition have fared still longs to be
researched by paid journalists in the art sections of commercial media.



MALMOE magazine - http://www.malmoe.org

discussion

Three major contemporary art exhibitions are taking place this summer - Documenta in Kassel, the Venice Biennale and Sculpture Projects in Munster. Hopes that these exhibitions would present a representative overview of contemporary art have not been fulfilled, however, as a glance in European newspaper shows. The question of what constitutes "good" art remains controversial.

http://www.eurotopics.net/en/magazin

Commenting on the Documenta 12 in Kassel, Richard Dorment, art critic for the British Daily Telegraph, called it "the single worst art exhibition I have ever seen anywhere, ever." Meanwhile his German colleague Thomas Wagner gave the same exhibition an enthusiastic review in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 16 June 2007, saying "Documenta is making art accessible again."




A visitor contemplates "Love Songs: Multi-Story House” by Mary Kelly.



a Chinese woman applies makeup in her bedroom as part of the installation "Fairytale” at

selection of reviews

Here you will find information and a selection of reviews of the three major exhibitions taking place in summer 2007 and of the Art Basel art fair. Also included are a number of viewpoints and analyses of contemporary art.

The Venice Biennale

The homepage of the exhibition in Venice
» Biennale (English/Italian)

Review by Sarah Donaldson
» Observer (English)

Review by Adrian Searle
» Guardian (English)

Review by Vincent Noce
» Libération (French)

Review by Peter Richter
» Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (German)


Documenta

Homepage of the exhibition in Kassel
» documenta 12 (German, English)

The Kassel Academy of Art's blog on Documenta
» documenta12blog (German)

Review by Adrian Searle
» Guardian (English)

Review by Richard Dorment
» Daily Telegraph (English)

Review by Emanuelle Lequeux
» Le monde (French)

Review by Guy Duplat
» La Libre Belgique (French)

Review by Claudia Spinelli
» Weltwoche (German)

Review by Holger Liebs
» Süddeutsche Zeitung (German)

Review by Thomas Wagner
» Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German)


Sculpture Projects

Homepage of the exhibition in Münster
» Skulptur Projekte (German/English)

Review by Markus Mittringer
» Der Standard (German)

Review by Nikola Kuhn
» Der Tagesspiegel (German)

Review by Philippe Mathonnet
» Le Temps (French)


The Art Basel art fair

Virtual Art Basel
» artnet (German)

Report by Rose-Maria Gropp
» Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (German)

Report by Valérie Duponchelle
» Le Figaro (French)

Report by Judith Benhamou-Huet
» Les Echos (French)


Viewpoints on the influence of the art market

Daniel Binswanger on the power of the art market
» Das Magazin (Tagesanzeiger) (German)

Niklas Maak on the art frenzy
» Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (German)

Daniel Birnbaum writes that art's future is where the money is
» Texte zur Kunst (German/ English)

Hanno Rauterberg on the booming art market
» Die Zeit (German)

Charlotte Higgins on the booming art market as a problem for museums
» Guardian (English)


Viewpoints on contemporary art in general

Hanno Rauterberg on political art at the Venice Biennial and Documenta
» Die Zeit (German)
» signandsight.com (English)

Barbara Basting on contemporary art
» Tagesanzeiger (German)

Documenta 12 - reviewed

Magazine / The Summer of Art / From the press | 19/07/2007

A Supermarket for Art or a School for Seeing?

Art critics take stock of the Venice Biennale, Documenta, Sculpture Projects and Art Basel. The newspapers either report on the rise of the major exhibitions or take them as an opportunity to reflect on the future of art. They analyse the growing impact of the market on art.

About the Exhibitions

Italy - Corriere della Sera | Wednesday, 6. June 2007

Manifold exhibitons around the Venice Biennale

The 52nd Venice Biennale, directed by Robert Storr, the first ever American to do so, opens this Sunday, June 10th. The writer and critic Sebastiano ... » more

France - Télérama | Wednesday, 30. May 2007

Sophie Calle artistic remedy for break-up blues

As the multi media artist Sophie Calle prepares to represent France at the Venice Biennale this summer, the journalists Erwan Desplanques and Virginie Félix have ... » more

Germany - Süddeutsche Zeitung | Tuesday, 17. July 2007

Cuisine and artful dishes at Ferran Adrià's restaurant

Ferran Adrià is the first cook to participate in an exhibition of contemporary art - Documenta in Kassel - as an artist. Every day a ... » more

Poland - Polityka | Wednesday, 4. July 2007

Artur Zmijewski's documenta exhibit as an instructive work on intolerance

"If prizes were awarded at the documenta exhibition, Zmijewski would be my favourite," writes Piotr Sarzynski about Polish artist Artur Zmijewski and his 15-minute video ... » more

Germany - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | Friday, 22. June 2007

Productive failure at the documenta 12

As if it wasn't bad enough that Kassel's street cleaners removed the work of Chilean artist Lotty Rosenfeld, the documenta 12 exhibition is also having ... » more

Germany - Frankfurter Rundschau | Friday, 15. June 2007

Documenta 12 - the succesful 'migration of form'

Elke Buhr went to a preview of the Documenta art exhibition, which opens on Saturday in the German city of Kassel: "The artistic director Roger ... » more

Germany - Die Welt | Thursday, 10. May 2007

Ferran Adrià on cuisine and art

Spanish super-chef Ferran Adrià, who runs the restaurant El Bulli on the Costa Brava, is taking part in this year's Documenta in Kassel. He tells ... » more

Germany - Süddeutsche Zeitung | Tuesday, 3. April 2007

1001 Chinese at the Documenta exhibition in Kassel

In an interview with Henrik Bork, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei explains why he is bringing 1001 Chinese to the Documenta exhibition in Kassel for his ... » more

Germany - Die Welt | Friday, 24. February 2006

Documenta 2007

"Never before has this been done so early", remarks Uta Baier after a press conference at which Roger M. Buergel, director of the 2007 international ... » more

Germany - die tageszeitung | Saturday, 16. June 2007

Münster becomes an open-air museum

Every ten years the "Sculpture Projects" exhibition takes place in Münster, where sculptures and installations change the face of the city. Henrike Thomson writes that ... » more

About Art Basel

Switzerland - Le Temps | Monday, 18. June 2007

'Art Basel' has pointed the way to artistic consensus

Laurent Wolf takes stock of the 38th 'Art Basel', art fair in Switzerland, that ended on June 17th. "Never before, in twenty years, has been ... » more

Switzerland - Neue Zürcher Zeitung | Wednesday, 13. June 2007

The Art Basel fair

Philipp Meier had a look at the Art Basel art fair and came to the following conclusion: "Discoveries are becoming increasingly rare; commerce is king ... » more

About the art market

France - Le Monde | Tuesday, 17. July 2007

Contemporary art, the last bastion of insider trading

Harry Bellet and Emmanuel de Roux note the arrival of speculators in the burgeoning contemporary art market. "Insider trading, which will land a trader in ... » more

United Kingdom - The Guardian | Thursday, 28. June 2007

Charlotte Higgens questions the cost of art

Following the record-breaking sale of a Damien Hirst sculpture last week, Charlotte Higgens, the Guardian's art correspondent, reflects on the increasing power of money in ... » more

United Kingdom - The Times | Friday, 26. January 2007

A virtual campaign for preserving British art in Britain

The art critic Ben Macintyre has invested £5 in a virtual brushstroke of a painting by Turner, 'The Blue Rigi', for sale online. Last year ... » more

Belgium - Le Soir | Thursday, 30. November 2006

Art taken hostatge by money

The self-taught Belgian painter Jacques Charlier denounces the harmful role of money on the art market in an interview conducted by Dominique Legrand. "We are ... » more

Spain - ABC | Friday, 10. November 2006

Speculation on the art market

"A speculative tendency has returned to the art market", notes the daily, listing several record bids in auctions over the past few weeks, including the ... » more

United Kingdom - The Guardian | Friday, 13. October 2006

Frieze, London's lucrative art fair

"Frieze represents the moment in London's calendar when commerce and art become most nakedly and shamelessly entwined", considers arts correspondent Charlotte Higgins regarding Britain's biggest ... » more

Belgium - La Libre Belgique | Wednesday, 21. June 2006

The art market marches to beat of global economy

A portrait by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt has sold for $135 million (107 million euros), the highest price ever paid for a painting at ... » more

Germany - Die Zeit | Thursday, 15. December 2005

International Art Market

The international art market has never been as frenetic and over-hyped as it is today, comments Hanno Rauterberg. The works of contemporary artists are currently ... » more

About art in general

Germany - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | Friday, 29. June 2007

Thomas Wagner on the future of the museum

The museum is the "ventricle" of contemporary art, writes Thomas Wagner, who has visited all three of this summer's major exhibitions: the Venice Biennale, the ... » more

Germany - Berliner Zeitung | Tuesday, 12. June 2007

Sebastian Preuss on art as a mass phenomenon

This year's "hot summer of art", with the Biennale arts festival, the Art Basel art show, the Documenta art exposition in Kassel and the sculpture ... » more

France - Le Monde | Friday, 8. June 2007

Every town wants its own contemporary art biennale

"112 contemporary art biennales now exist in the world. The multiplication is exponential, testifying to the rampant globalisation of contemporary art. In June, the action ... » more

National Trust Ripoffs

We went to the UK for some R&R and to make pilgrimage to our ancestral heritage. We started at Dover, ended at Cardiff and visited many historical sites in between.

What we discovered was that the National Trust is consistently overcharging tourists with unnecessary parking or entry fees. In some cases it was little more than taking money under false pretences, ie outright fraud.

No disability services, or free parking for disability parking pass holders. In fact very few disability parking spaces in evidence.

Dover was the first experience. We followed the signs to the clifftop lookout. We paid three pounds to park, and then discovered that the lookout was a two mile walk from the car park. We drove to a neighbouring village and saw the cliffs for free.

It was one of many similar rorts. Frequently, any suitable alternate parking in close proximity was singposted no parking.

At Avebury, the signs direct you to the NT carpark where the parking fee is five pounds - if you drive past and take the next exit, you can park in the pub for free. Lets face it you were having that beer in the beergarden anyway, weren't you?

In the roman baths where the mineral water bubbles up out of the ground free from nature, they had signs up everywhere saying don't drink the water it is untreated. Upstairs, if you wanted to taste the water they were selling it at 60p per glass. Same untreated water. Maybe it was glass hire?

At Cardiff, where we flew out from, there were two attractions, the castle and the art collection at the gallery. The gallery was closed, between hangs, and the castle did not live up to the hype, or the price, in short - don't bother.

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before you pay and park, drive around and check out where the locals park

before you pay to enter, can you see it from outside, can you see it afterhours, is there a free one close by?

Reading the catalogue in the gift shop is a good way of pre-assessing the site. Its also a good way of previewing the content of pay to enter blockbuster art exhibitions.

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Some of the sites we paid to enter were well worth the entry fee.

The Hastings Battle site for example. They give you a self tour talking thingy, the info centre is good, the site well maintained.

The Roman Villa with its undercover mosaics was a good place to be when it was raining.