Wednesday 15 December 2010

'CACTUS CRAZE' CURATED BY JEAN-MICHEL WICKER WITH GREGORIO MAGNANI AT KW BERLIN


Holmqvist/Arakawa


Kerbel



Hopf


Holmqvist/Arakawa


Kerbel


Hopf, Kerbel


Popper, MacKillop


exhibition view


Hopf, Holmqvist/Arakawa, Kerbel


Kerbel, Popper, Mac Killop





Popper



Mac Killop




Holmqvist, Arakawa


Cactus Craze
Curated by Jean-Michel Wicker in collaboration with Gregorio Magnani.
Artist: Judith Hopf
With books and works by Emanuel Rossetti, Simon Popper, Sara MacKillop, Janice Kerbel, Karl Holmqvist / Ei Arakawa.

In October 2010, KW Institute for Contemporary Art launched a new exhibition series in the front building, entitled KW69. This series provides a space for dialogue for artists, a kind of experimental stage that for one year will be the home to a number of artistic projects in quick succession. Moving on from one project to the next, the participants will shift roles, as the artists exhibiting then invite the next project. This dynamic interplay will enable unconventional points of reference, continuous shifts in perspective, and uses of the exhibition space that refer to and build on one another.
The series began with 'Molecular Etwas' by Angela Bulloch, followed by 'cactus craze'; Judith Hopf will curate the next installment.


KW69 #2
cactus craze by Jean-Michel Wicker in collaboration with Gregorio Magnani
December 9, 2010 – January 9, 2011
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststr. 69
D-10117 Berlin
www.kw-berlin.de

Monday 13 December 2010

MUSEO DE LA CATASTROFE VENEZOLANA, CARACAS ART MUSEUM TRANSFORMED INTO A SHELTER









Art Museums in Caracas are being occupied as emergency shelter for victims of the recent very strong rains that have happened in Venezuela, a scenario similar to the one anticipated by Dominique Gonzalez Foerster's installation at the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. Here fotos of the Museo Alejandro Otero being occupied as a shelter. Notice the Gego sculpture being removed and taken to storage.

Images reposted from http://confarruco.blogspot.com/2010/12/desde-la-izquierda-lagrimas-de.html

Saturday 11 December 2010

'VANITY FAIR' ILLUSTRATED BY DONALD URQUHART, THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT
















VANITY FAIR
by William M Thackeray
Illustrated by Donald Urquhart
Published by Four Corner Books

Vanity Fair is book number six in the Familiars series (where contemporary artists are invited to produce a new edition of a classic novel or short story) and has been created by British artist Donald Urquhart. Vanity Fair follows the fortunes of its strong-minded and strong-willed anti-heroine Becky Sharp through early 19th century British society.

The images, inspired by 1930s Hollywood star Bette Davies, focus exclusively on Becky Sharp. “I wanted to sideline all the secondary characters,” says Urquhart. “The way that I’ve done it, the chapters she’s not in, there’s no pictures."

As with all of the books in the series, the original text of the novel is included complete, and newly typeset. The text is set in Perpetua and Felicity (partly chosen for their feminine names), two typefaces designed by Eric Gill.

Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1847–48, satirizing society in early 19th-century Britain. The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the time of Thackeray's novel. Vanity fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim's progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things.

Becky Sharp is the anti-heroine, and Amelia's opposite, she's an intelligent young woman with a gift for satire. She is described as a petite sandy haired girl who has green eyes and a great deal of wit. Fluent in both French and English, Becky has a beautiful singing voice, plays the piano, and shows great talent as an actress. She is also completely amoral and without conscience. She does not seem to have the ability to get attached to other people, and lies easily and intelligently to get her way. She is extremely manipulative and, after the first few chapters and her failure to attract Jos Sedley, is not shown as being particularly sincere. Never having known financial or social security even as a child, Becky desires it above all things. Nearly everything she does is with the intention of securing a stable position for herself, or herself and her husband after she and Rawdon are married. She advances Rawdon's interests tirelessly, flirting with men such as General Tufto and the Marquis of Steyne in order to get him promoted. She also uses her feminine wiles to distract men at card parties while Rawdon cheats them blind. Marrying Rawdon Crawley in secret was a mistake, as was running off instead of begging Miss Crawley's forgiveness. She also fails to manipulate Miss Crawley through Rawdon so as to obtain an inheritance. Although Becky manipulates men very easily, she does not even try to cultivate the friendship of most women. Lady Jane, the Dobbin sisters, and Lady Steyne see right through her. Amelia and (initially) Miss Crawley are exceptions to the rule.

"I first read Vanity Fair some 20 years ago, I discovered that one of my literary heroes, Dorothy Parker, would read the book regularly each year up to the point where poor sweet Amelia's faithless husband lies dead with a bullet through his heart. Why she stopped there I will never know, but I could clearly see how Thackeray's sophisticated humour would appeal to her as a model for her own razor-sharp prose. I have lost count of how many times I have enjoyed the serious pleasures of this book and am thrilled that I have been able to make illustrations for it." Donald Urquhart

VANITY FAIR
by William M Thackeray
Illustrated by Donald Urquhart
Published by Four Corner Books
Hardback.
848 pages
40 illustrations
230 x 165mm.
ISBN 978-0-9561928-4-4
£16.99

Buy it live at the great price of £15 cash, directly from Four Corner Books at Raven Row Gallery, or order it online from Amazon.co.uk

http://www.fourcornersbooks.co.uk/vanityfair.html

Tuesday 7 December 2010

'ULTRASLOW', PROYECTOS ULTRAVIOLETA, GUATEMALA AT GALERIA DES PACIO, COSTA RICA









'Donación del Pueblo de Guatemala al Pueblo de Costa Rica', Intervention by Buro de Intervenciones Publicas in an empty lot neighbouring Des Pacio Gallery, the re-tropicalisation of the forgotten


exterior of Des Pacio Gallery


Byron Marmol, Photographs


Stefan Benchoam, S.T. (Homage to Félix), Documentation



Stefan Benchoam, Tape Modern, Sculpture


Proyectos Ultravioleta is a platform for experimentation in contemporary art, located in the centre of Guatemala City, Guatemala. Proyectos Ultravioleta works in many ways. On one hand they house a physical space where they showcase exhibitions, concerts, and parties. On the other, the collaborating artists work on various projects outside of the gallery space, which include public interventions and selected commissions. Additionally, Proyectos Ultravioleta also publishes El Terrible, an art and literature fanzine. Ultravioleta are Stefan Benchoam, Juan Brenner and Byron Mármol
http://uvuvuv.com

The Buró de Intervenciones Públicas (Bureau of Public Interventions, BIP) is a collaborative project by Stefan Benchoam and Christian Ochaita that originated as a direct response to the lack of public spaces and infrastructures for recreation and socialization in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Their work incorporates various elements of architecture, art, design, and urbanism, hoping to modify the way in which citizens relate with the open spaces of their cities. Their projects encourage the use of public spaces through playful elements and unusual occurrences, and are developed through their collaboration with other artists, collectives and people in general. The interventions and occurrences that they organize can be read as Situationist gestures that generate reflection and debate about their city. On the other hand, each one is presented as a viable solution to the lack of initiative from the municipal and central government agencies.
http://elbipbip.com/

Des Pacio is a gallery and project space located in San Jose, Costa Rica, it is a project by artist Federico Herrero with curator Clara Astiasaran.
http://www.des.pacio.org/