Posts tagged as:

Thomas Hirschhorn

How Do People Feel About the Gramsci Monument, One Year Later ?

by Whitney Kimball on August 20, 2014
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One year after Thomas Hirschhorn’s Gramsci Monument came down, I wondered: was this a net gain for a Bronx housing project? Or will it ultimately be remembered as art world conscience-laundering?

I went back to the Bronx for follow-up interviews.

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Week Ten: Oprah Winfrey Is the New Curator at the Palais de Tokyo

by Corinna Kirsch on January 14, 2014
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Because why not?

This week’s dream exhibitions brought to you by Joshua Weibley, Jessica MacCormack, Angela Washko, and Laura Swanson.

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People Controlling People: Art Review’s Power 100 List Is Out

by Whitney Kimball on October 24, 2013
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Today, Art Review releases its annual Power 100 list, a ranked list of the contemporary art world’s figures with the most “power,” a word defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “the ability or right to control people or things.”

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How Do People Feel About the Gramsci Monument?

by Whitney Kimball on August 16, 2013
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“Another monument to his monumental ego,” Ken Johnson recently labelled Thomas Hirschhorn’s Gramsci Monument, a big wooden community center which looks like a set from Peter Pan, and occupies the Bronx’s Forest Housing Projects through September. Rather than a towering chrome figurehead, the monument is an intellectual playground; a drastic improvement to the quality of life at Forest; and an overwhelmingly loving event.

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Art Fag City at The L Magazine: Gramsci Monument Talks

by Paddy Johnson on August 15, 2013
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To form an opinion about Thomas Hirschhorn’s GRAMSCI MONUMENT, you only have to hear about it. In my first significant conversation about the project, a curator friend lit up as she excitedly told me Hirschhorn would host a daily lecture by philosopher Marcus Steinweg for the residents of Forest Houses, a housing project in the Bronx. Whatever the rest of the work was about, I instantly had concerns. The value of imposing scholarship on a group that would likely have few means of interpreting it seemed limited at best. After all, wouldn’t such alienating lectures do more to discourage people from self-education than encourage it?

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Venice Redux: Best Art Viewing Strategies Highlights from 2011

by Paddy Johnson on May 27, 2013
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Two years ago I wrote a wrap-up of the Venice Biennale for Rupert Murdock’s iPad only publication, The Daily. The site folded about a year later, and is now off line, so I’m republishing the review as a refresher for those going into the show. The lede: If the Venice Biennale were a race, no one would finish.

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Should Artists Go To The Venice Biennale?

by Paddy Johnson on June 9, 2011
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Are biennales like art fairs – a quick way to kill an artist’s soul? I sometimes had this impression while I was in Venice last week, even though nothing is for sale. There’s a lot of art to see, sure, but more importantly, people to schmooze! Given that the day the Biennale opens to the public the crowds thin dramatically — this is same day the three-day advance press and VIP preview closes — it’s hard to think the show is mostly about the art.

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Paddy Johnson at The Daily: Best in Show at The Venice Biennale

by Paddy Johnson on June 7, 2011
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If the Venice Biennale were a race, no one would finish. There's too much art to see, which means people look at what's talked about and make empty promises to return in the summer – the exhibition is up through November 27th.

But how effective a viewing strategy is following the buzz? Better than one would think.

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