Front Page of the Art World: What’s Hot & What’s Not — 1 April 2022
Changes to the NZ film industry, global art gallery visitor figures release, and mullings from artist Tracey Emin
This week, the eyes and screens of the world turned to the Oscars - in both celebration and critique. We delighted in Dame Jane Campion’s success winning best director for ‘Power of the Dog.’ New Zealand Film Commission CEO David Strong said the award shone a spotlight on the talent, skills and locations in New Zealand for film - and even "saved a number of service industries" in the midst of a pandemic-battling economy.
On the more critical side, New Zealand reviewers wrote opinion pieces on this year’s Oscars: Graeme Tucker ponders, Do the Oscars even still matter? and discusses why he’d love the Academy’s big cheeses to embrace Licorice Pizza.
Off the back of the ceremony, New Zealand’s film industry is under review, and the Government is reviewing the multi-million dollar grant it uses to lure productions into the country. In an interview with Virginia Fallon, David Strong asserted “we don’t need to be Hollywood.”
In further festive film-related news, Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival has just announced it will return this year! albeit but with a reduced number of films and venues. On the heels of two challenging years, the festival will plough on - can the festival rise again? Sally Woodfield joined RNZ's Standing Room Only to discuss her plans.
Further afield, our wonderful curator for the New Zealand Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Yuki Kihara, is leading a fantastic initiative called the Firsts Solidarity Network, which will run from 23 April to 27 November. The informal network offers collegial support for artists participating in the Biennale, and an opportunity to initiate discourse around pertinent issues such as the internal structures of national pavilions and their commitment towards equitable representation. Yuki is the first Pasifika, Asian and Fa’afafine to present in the New Zealand Pavilion.
What I’ve been following:
Global News
Art Basel's Paris Fair Unveils Its Name. In early 2022, news broke that Art Basel was planning a new Paris fair, to join an international coterie of events it manages that also includes Art Basel in Miami Beach and Art Basel in Hong Kong. As of today, the concrete plans for the splashy new French fair have been officially unveiled—and, to the surprise of few, it will not be called Art Basel in Paris. To satisfy its French hosts, Art Basel’s new fair will be known as Paris+, by Art Basel. Read the story from Artnet.
Visitor Figures 2021: the 100 most popular art museums in the world—but is Covid still taking its toll? While attendance figures still have some way to go to reach pre-pandemic levels, fewer days of lockdown-related closures coupled with vaccine rollout programmes spelled good news for institutions around the world. Read the story from The Art Newspaper.
How Should Art Reckon With Climate Change? As the environmental crisis accelerates, contemporary artists have taken up the mantle of addressing the precarious present. Read the story from the New York Times.
The Story Behind That Photo of Ketanji Brown Jackson and Her Daughter. A Times photographer talks about documenting history and pride at the Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Read the story from the New York Times.
Anna Sorokin Talks About Making Art. The group art show, “Free Anna Delvey,” is only the beginning for the imprisoned fake heiress. Read the story.
A review of Blake Gopnik’s biography of Andy Warhol. In the first true doorstop biography of the artist, art critic Blake Gopnik claims as the most influential artist of the 20th century. “Andy Warhol was not just an artist; he was a giant evolving sensibility that angled itself through a great portion of the late 20th century, absorbing everything in its passage and altering it, often permanently.” (New York Times). Read journalist Donald Brackett has published an excellent review of the biography.