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Geneva Free Port
by Rea McNamara on May 30, 2016
- Only in Japan would a bullet train become an art gallery. Last month, the Genbi Shinkansen opened on the Jōetsu Shinkansen railway line, and features art by contemporary Japanese artists. Some of the art ranges from the more traditional wall hanging (see Kentaro Kobuke’s pencil drawings in the train’s cafe) while others, like the above Nao Matsumoto’s Car No 11, sees the Brooklyn-based sculptor transforming the entire car. Wonder what the install budget was? [ARTINFO]
- Despite the public furor over Drouot Richelieu’s Paris auction of sacred indigenous objects, the auction is proceeding today. Hyperallergic’s Allison C. Meier is following the auction live; keep up with it via the hashtags #ParisAuction and #StopParisAuction. It appears, however, that one of the most contentious items — the Acoma Shield — has just been withdrawn. [Twitter]
- Related: Erin Joyce checks in on the Phoenix Art Museum’s retrospective of Fritz Scholder. The Luiseño artist passed away in 2005, but left an indelible impact parsing American Indian stereotypes with pop art imagery. [Hyperallergic]
- Even artists agree that the possibility of a “Brexit” — Britain exiting the European Union (EU) — is a bad idea. Tacita Dean, among over 280 cultural figures who signed an open letter warning that the Brexit would make London as an arts center “provincial”, is making a large blackboard drawing inspired by The Tempest. During Photo London back in May, Wolfgang Tillmans displayed a series of 26 posters outlining why Britain needs to stay in the EU. [The Art Newspaper]
- This is what happens when art is treated as a capital asset: it gets stowed away in a free port, never to be seen again for decades. Good to see some institution directors (Jean-Luc Martinez) and collectors (Eli Broad) voicing their dissent for this increasingly common practice among the superrich, which has come to light following the Bouvier-Rybolovlev affair. Given that the Geneva Free Port in particular is facing reforms following the backlash, why don’t these spaces open their doors, and let the public view their collections? At least it become accessible once more. [New York Times]
- Clifton Benevento Gallery is closing. The SoHo gallery was known for giving an impressive roster of artists their first solos, including Wu Tsang, Ned Vena, and Gina Beavers. When Paddy and Michael were in Mexico City for Material, they were both impressed with Benvento’s booth featuring Beavers’s deliberately bad paintings. The gallery’s last day is tomorrow. [Artforum]
- It’s commencement address season, and it looks like SVA got a stirring speech/prose poem earlier this month from Carrie Mae Weems on the demands of making art and how to measure your life: “open and alert, you respond sensitively to the world around you, and it causes you a great deal of pain and tremendous trepidation. But, of course, these are the natural byproducts of a closely examined life.” The whole speech is worth watching. [Brainpickings]
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