New York’s art marathon has just started with two weeks dominated by contemporary art where curators, critics and artists from all over the world will converge on the events’ offerings.
The first of which was the opening of the Whitney Biennial, curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari, who have chosen for this year’s biennial to rediscover participating artists from the past, while presenting young and established artists in the show. Among the veterans are Ari Marcopoulos, Michael Asher, Charles Ray, Robert Williams, James Casebere, Huma Bhabha, George Condo, Suzan Freon, Robert Grosvenor, Babette Mangolte, Lorraine O’Grady, Nina Barman, Dawn Clemente, Julia Fish, Roland Flexner, Maureen Fallace, Jim Lutes. The title is the sign of a broad, but yet precise and clear curatorial idea: “2010,” which expresses the aim to highlight art production of the moment. The fifth floor of the museum is entirely devoted to those artists whose works had been presented during previous biennials in a separate exhibition entitled “Collecting Biennals”.
On February 27 at P.S.1, Marina Abramović is signing the monograph dedicated to her work for the occasion of her retrospective at MoMA, opening on March 14. At the same signing at P.S. 1, Davide Balliano will perform, But I wasn’t young anymore.
The exhibition “Skin Fruit,” curated by Jeff Koons is one of the most anticipated events scheduled, it will open on March 3 as the first instalment of “The Imagery Museum” series at the NewMuseum. On this occasion the Dakis Joannou collection, one of the largest contemporary art collections in the world, will be exhibited for the first time in the US. The event has caused a sensation because Dakis happens to be a trustee of the museum and one of Koons’s biggest collectors.
Artists on view will include: David Altmejd, Janine Antoni, Nathalie Djurberg, Robert Gober, Terence Koh, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker and Franz West. “Skin Fruit” will also include the work Revolution Counter-Revolution (1990/2010) by Charles Ray and Séhgal and Althamer’s “Living sculptures.”
From March 4 on 55th Avenue one of the biggest contemporary art fairs in the world will play the protagnanist: The Armory Show. The fair is carrying on its winning strategy, to focus more on business than on fashionable parties, a typical staple of European fairs like Art Basel and Frieze. Also on the agenda are satellite events PooL, Pulse and Scope.
Another star is the INDEPENDENT opening on March 4, which will be a hybrid forum created by Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook at the X Initiative and DiaCenter for the Arts.
Main participants in this event are commercial galleries, independent curators, non-for-profit spaces and other INDEPENDENT players, as opposed to the usual application process of more institutionalized fairs.
The event will also host free lectures and performances. Participants will include : The Approach (London), Artists Space (New York), Laura Bartlett (London), BolteLang (Zurich), Bortolami Gallery (New York), Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi (Berlin), Elizabeth Dee (New York), Dispatch (New York), Farimani Gavlak Gallery (Palm Beach), gb agency (Paris), Hard Hat (Geneva), Hotel (London), Galerie Ben Kaufmann (Berlin), Johann König (Berlin), Andrew Kreps Gallery (New York), Kate MacGarry (London), McCaffrey Fine Art (New York), Mestre Projects (Barcelona/New York), mitterrand + sanz (Zurich), Moss/Westreich-Wagner (New York), New Galerie (Paris), October, Maureen Paley (London), Renwick Gallery (New York), Reserved for Leo Castelli, Rodeo (Istanbul), Sabot (Cluj-Napoca), Stuart Shave/Modern Art (London), Sutton Lane (London/Paris), White Columns (New York), Winkleman Gallery (New York), Galerie Jocelyn Wolff (Paris), Zero (Milan).
On the same day at MoMA, the William Kentridge performance. I am not me, the horse is not mine, will run in conjunction with an exhibition devoted to him , which opened on February 24. The performance is based on the short novel, The Nose’s Story (1837) by Nikolai Gogol. It tells the story of a Russian bureaucrat who, one morning discovers he has lost his nose and decides to mend the wound with a clout larger than he.
If you still have some days to spend in the Big Apple you can visit the MoMA’s exhibition, “Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography,”a selection of works from female artists of the modern age. Among the artists exhibited are: Diane Arbus, Berenice Abbott, Claude Cahun, Imogen Cunningham, Rineke Dijkstra, Florence Henri, Roni Horn, Nan Goldin, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, Lucia Moholy, Tina Modotti, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith and Carrie Mae Weems.
And don’t forget these are also the final days to visit Tino Sehgal’s exhibition at the Guggenheim that closes on March 10.
New Yorkers may find this schedule normal but it will keep the rest of us it’s very busy!!!
www.whitney.org
www.thearmoryshow.com
www.independentnewyork.com
www.newmuseum.org
www.ps1.org
www.guggenheim.org
