Front Page of the Art World: What’s Hot & What’s Not — 1 July 2022
Courting controversy this week! Gilbert & George have arrived, Grayson Perry's class-anxiety tapestries, and documenta in Germany is under scrutiny
What’s on
Local
Gilbert & George: The Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Exhibition. Partners in life and in art, British artists and ‘contemporary culture icons’ Gilbert & George are exhibiting for the first time in Aotearoa. Gilbert & George: The Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Exhibition opened last night at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. The duo arrived from London on Thursday - bringing their signature style and reputation with them!
Gilbert 79 and George, 80, have spent the last 50 years together, developing a reputation as cheeky and provocative, not afraid to poke the bear of the status quo. They have never shied away from controversy! Indeed, ‘The exhibition presents artworks from an artistic career that has courted controversy, challenged the status quo and championed alternative viewpoints,’ in the words of Gallery Director, Kirsten Lacy. This piece from the FT provides great background on the nebulous motivation between the artist’s work, NZ’s leading LGBTQ+ publication has offered a valuable take on the Auckland exhibition here.
There is simply so much to say about Gilbert & George - but the 1NEWS interview this morning captured their essence very well - watch it here.
Whanau Mārama - accessible art meets beautiful curation in Auckland. In advance of this July’s exceptional Elemental Akl festival, today I visited Season Gallery in Commercial Bay. The spirit of Season is expansive and outward-looking, whilst also capturing and reinvigorating the beat of Auckland’s downtown waterfront. Co-directors Francis McWhannell and Jade Townsend (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi) are well-known and respected within the Aotearoa art world - a stellar duo in anybody’s book.
The gallery’s newest exhibition, Whanau Mārama (18 June-18 July),
“gathers together Māori artists and researchers under the nine whetū of Matariki to deepen collective understanding of the Māori new year. Presented throughout the Commercial Bay precinct, the artworks reflect Indigenous ways of knowing and being, remembering histories, documenting the present, and re-imagining the world to come.”
It is one of the finest and most thoughtfully curated popup exhibitions around, a shame it is only three weeks! This level of curation and craftsmanship, looking at commercial space in a new way, and making art accessible by bring it into non-traditional space - is a real addition to Tāmaki Makaurau. View the images from my visit in this photo grid. View the exhibition catalogue here. See all the participating artists here
Elemental Akl. Elemental AKL is back this July with a sensational season of curated experiences celebrating the unique culture, cuisine, and creativity of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. 14-31 July 2022. Discover all the events here (some highlights below too!)
Midnight Sun - a new public artwork by Sara Hughes. 22 Jun 2022 to 24 Jul. Midnight Sun is a spectacular, immersive artwork by New Zealand artist Sara Hughes which will bring new life to Tauranga’s Willow Street bus shelter from 22 June. “The expansive, illuminated outdoor painting creates an ever-changing corridor of warm, coloured light, throughout the day and night.” Read the review from the NZ Herald here.
Elemental Akl: Quantum Memories. “An investigation that feels eerily like an episode of Black Mirror, the Quantum Memories exhibition from Refik Anadol Studio poses grand questions about the future of our society.” (Denizen.) Artist Refik Anadol shares the inspiration behind some of his awe-inspiring projects with his Alma Mater, UCLA here. On from 14-31 July at Commercial Bay.
ASB Waterfront Theatre presents: Scenes from a Yellow Peril. The world premiere of kicked off last week and audiences and reviewers alike are loving this confronting, moving and sometimes humorous theatre experience. Last performances are this weekend! More info and tickets here.
Women in Film and Television (NZ) Awards. The biennial WIFT NZ Awards honour the achievements of women in the New Zealand screen industry with an uplifting formal ceremony and a great party afterwards. 8 July at the ASB Waterfront Theatre. An occasion to dress up and party with nominees, friends, supporters and all your industry colleagues, whatever their gender! More info and tickets here.
Elemental Akl: TAKURUA - Nafanua War Goddess. “As the sequel to the sold-out 2021 production, Takurua — Battle of the Brothers, this second iteration promises just as much in the way of culture, entertainment and gastronomic delight. Takurua — Nafanua, War Goddess is a truly unique experience that weaves together hospitality, theatre and dance and is one of the headlining experiences of Elemental.” (Denizen.) On from 14-31 July at Aotea Centre. Buy tickets here.
Whānau Marama: New Zealand International Film Festival. Tāmaki Makaurau's favourite winter festival is almost here. From 28 Jul – 7 Aug at locations around the country. Purchase a 10-trip pass to make the most of the 2022 programme featuring world-class films from Aotearoa, the latest from Cannes and the New Zealand's Best and Ngā Whanaunga Māori and Pasifika short film collections. Find out more.
International
documenta fifteen. documenta, the exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany, is now on. The 15th edition of documenta is taking place in Kassel, Germany until 25 Sept 2022. “The 15th edition of the international art exhibition is a gathering of potentialities, a careful alignment of militant particles, and an assembly of thousands of diverse voices.” (Hyperallergic)
Grayson Perry’s The Vanity of Small Differences. Artist Grayson Perry’s monumental tapestries exploring class mobility are on display from TODAY at Salisbury Cathedral until 25 September. He said the tapestries are designed to "spark debate about class, taste and British society". It is the first time The Vanity of Small Differences has been shown in an ecclesiastical setting, and Perry has said “they belong here.” See the exhibition of tapestries which tap into British class anxiety collated by Artnet here.
Your concise New York art guide for July 2022 - from Hyperallergic. “Your list of must-see, fun, insightful, and very New York art events this month, including Lee Lozano, Cindy Sherman, Tokuko Ushioda, Anas Albraehe, and more.” Read here.
Max Gimblett’s archives at The Getty Research Institute Collection. Early this year, The Getty Research Institute acquired an archive of more than 250 artist’s books from celebrated New Zealand and American artist Max Gimblett. The Max Gimblett Artist’s Book Collection, created by painter, calligrapher, and Zen monk Max Gimblett, are a gift by the artist and his wife, scholar and curator Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. These volumes join the GRI’s internationally known Artist’s Books Collection. For more information click here.
Global Aotearoa
Vanishing Act featuring Areez Katki. Featuring nearly 20 artists from around the world including Areez Katki (represented by Tim Melville Gallert), Vanishing Act is a survey of queer artistic practices from the Global South – South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and their diasporas. Held at Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art on 2 July - this weekend! More info here.
Heuchte Nacht geträumt [I dreamt last night] by Ruth Buchanan. Freshly announced as the next director of Artspace Aotearoa, Ruth Buchanan currently presents a solo exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart in Switzerland, open until 14 August 2022. In this essay from Contemporary HUM, writer and curator Clémentine Deliss walks us through a museum space in which viewers’ experience of existing collections, curatorial practices, and their own bodily relationship to the institution is put to the test.
Closed Down Clubs by Fiona Connor. Los Angeles-based Aotearoa artist Fiona Connor’s first solo exhibition at her gallery Château Shatto in Los Angeles presents an archive of forgotten memories. Five years in the making, Closed Down Clubs consists of a series of replicas—front doors of clubs, restaurants and bookstores, recreated down to the very last detail. Andrew Berardini of Contemporary HUM visited the exhibition at Château Shatto, where the artist’s carefully rendered replicas of the doors of closed down clubs conjure up memories of forgotten youth. Read his piece ‘The way through doors’ here. Hyperallergic review here.
What Makes Taika Waititi Run and Run and Run? The “Thor: Love and Thunder” director can’t say no - to starring in “Our Flag Means Death,” making a soccer movie, writing a “Star Wars” idea, adapting Roald Dahl. For starters. Read more from the NY Times here.
News and opinions
Maastricht TEFAF raid. Thieves hit the renowned Dutch art fair in a daylight heist on Tuesday morning. One witness tweeted this video of the men smashing a glass case and stealing jewellery from London jewellery dealer Symbolic & Chase. Two men have been arrested. The the fair was temporarily evacuated but remains open to visitors and exhibitors.
documenta under scrutiny following the removal of antisemitic artwork. Politicians in Germany are calling for structural reform of the prestigious international art exhibition, documenta. The artwork in question was a banner by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi portraying a Mossad agent and a caricature of a Jew. The 15th edition of documenta, on until 25 September is eluding description more than usual - the New York Times covered this as well as the scandal here.
The arts is facing a “leadership crisis” in New Zealand. The Big Idea reported this week on the unusual “exodus” we are seeing in the upper ranks of key organisations in Aotearoa. They were able to speak with a number of respected figures in arts leadership positions - including some who have recently moved on from their roles to find out what is driving this change. Read the piece here.
NYTimes Interactive presents ‘Anatomy of a Product Placement.’ As consumers skip ads and streaming content balloons, brands aim to be everywhere all at once. 74 percent of online adults say that they often skip ads. “People aren’t paying attention to ads. It’s the holy grail for a brand to be integrated into the actual content itself.” NYTimes investigates whether the growth in product placement will have an impact when viewers hit the grocery store aisle. Check out the interactive piece here.
Sam Gilliam, the celebrated abstract artist of drape paintings, has died at 88. “A brilliant colourist, he hung his canvases from ceilings in great curves and loops, or pinned them, gathered, to walls, taking his medium into three dimensions.” The artists Melvin Edwards and Rashid Johnson reflected on the legacy of their friend here; he “took a step most people didn’t understand was possible.’
NFTs are transforming the global art market, but are they worth the hype? Fine art steps into the metaverse with NFTs, enabling collectors to display their digital artworks anywhere they please — on the smart TV at home, at a hotel or the bach. Read the report from Viva.
DALL-E could power a creative revolution. The Verge has reviewed the use of OpenAI’s incredible text-to-image AI tool from the last few weeks, and interviews OpenAI. While the tool is currently only in Beta, the number of use cases artists have discovered for DALL-E is surprising. One artist is using DALL-E to create augmented reality filters for social apps. A chef in Miami is using it to get new ideas for how to plate his dishes.
Helen Klisser During is recognised by Kea as a World Class New Zealander, is a Global Woman, and Ambassador of Auckland University of Technology.
The ArtCafé blog is put together with the help of Laura Cheftel.