A Sprawling New Anthology on Race, Art and Value
Saturation evokes visual intensity, sonic density and institutional perceptibility—all with the awareness that representation in cultural structures is not enough
Public: Big Ambitions
As one of the primary exhibitions for Contact 2012, “Public: Collective Identity | Occupied Spaces” is ambitious. Charlene K. Lau observes that the two-venue show mirrors the fractures of contemporary life: public and private, visible and invisible, place and non-place.
Ryan Gander: A Not-So-Quick Study of Art and Artifice
In a rare Toronto show, UK artist Ryan Gander offers a hall-of-mirrors “documentary” on art students. As Charlene Lau observes, the layers of truth and falsity in Gander’s work—which features a cameo by Frieze critic Dan Fox—are convincing, and quite clever.
Interview with Sarah Thornton: Seven Days in the Art World
From CalArts crits to the Venice art blitz, there’s many subcultures in the art world. Who better to investigate them than sociologist and art lover Sarah Thornton, author of the recent bestseller Seven Days in the Art World? With lectures upcoming on April 15 in Toronto and April 18 in Vancouver, an interview reveals some of Thornton’s research savvy and secrets.
Elmgreen & Dragset
A neon-pink sign that reads “The Mirror” twitches promisingly above the exterior door to the gallery on a rainy, grey London day. “ADMISSION OVER 18 ONLY” warns a steely plaque on the door. The gallery entrance looks foreign; once inside, I realize that the shelter from the rain only generates a deeper depression.
Jin-me Yoon: Passages through Phantasmagoria
Where is home in an increasingly global world? Do we have to choose one home, or can there be many? Vancouver-based artist Jin-me Yoon investigates pressing questions of nationhood and belonging in her latest series of performance and video works at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.
Lee Bul
Never before having visited the Fondation Cartier, I had diamond-encrusted visions of the Jean Nouvel–designed building.
Luc Tuymans
As part of a recent spell of Luc Tuymans fever in Antwerp, Zeno X Gallery presented an exhibition of the artist’s new watercolour works on paper. The series The Spiritual Exercises investigates one of Belgium’s “ghosts,” the Jesuit order.
Marla Hlady
In the most general sense, I find sound art fun to make but hard to like. It can be densely theoretical and conjure up visions of unmetred noise, percussion or found sound. These aesthetics pervade in this continually experimental medium, often taking cues from musique concrète and John Cage.
Where Are We Going?
A constant stage for spectacle, Venice is home to a new one...