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Design: Surface – Gesellschaft für Gestaltung

MANIFESTA 7
Trentino – Alto Adige / Südtirol, Italy
19 July - 2 November 2008

http://www.manifesta7.it

THE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION MANIFESTA IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE

MANIFESTA 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, is curated by Adam Budak, Anselm
Franke / Hila Peleg and Raqs Media Collective. Manifesta 7 takes place in the Italian region of Trentino - Alto Adige / Südtirol and opens for the public on 19 July, 2008.

The professional preview of Manifesta 7 will take place on:

Thursday July 17 and Friday July 18, 2008 from 11am to 7 pm

The press conference and the official opening will take place on:

Saturday July 19, 2008

Accreditation for the professional preview has started. Please refer to our website http://www.manifesta7.it for further details and an online accreditation form.

The exhibition venues for Manifesta 7 are located on one of Europe’s most important travel routes between north and south, in the cities of Franzenfeste / Fortezza, Bozen / Bolzano, Trento and Rovereto. It includes the fortress of Fortezza that dates back to the middle of the 19th century, three industrial buildings from the first decades of the 20th century (Ex-Alumix in Bolzano and Manifattura Tabacchi and Ex Peterlini, both located in Rovereto), as well as the Palazzo delle Poste in Trento, an edifice constructed in the rationalist style in the 1930s. While articulating an overall framework for Manifesta 7, each of the three curatorial units will concentrate on working in one city and its venues, with Raqs Media Collective working in Bozen / Bolzano, Anselm Franke / Hila Peleg in Trento, and Adam Budak in Rovereto. The fourth venue, the fortress Fortezza, will be curated by all
curators collaboratively.

INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION MANIFESTA, located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands is the initiator and co-organiser of Manifesta and its related activities. Responsibility of all executive tasks of Manifesta are in the hands of Founding Director Mrs Hedwig Fijen. The Board of International Foundation Manifesta is made up of senior professionals from the academic world, businesses and the international art world, whose composition changes on an ongoing basis. Henry Meyric Hughes (Chairman), Martin Fritz (Treasurer), Francesco Bonami, Vicente Todoli and Maaretta Jaukkuri have recently stepped down after many fruitful years. International Foundation Manifesta is pleased to announce the new Chairman of the Board, as well as the appointment of three highly qualified
art professionals.

Gilane Tawadros has accepted the position of Chairman of the Board. Gilane Tawadros is a curator and writer, based in London. She was the founding director of INIVA, Institute of International Visual Arts, and curated the Brighton Photo Biennial in 2006. She has been serving on the Board of International Foundation Manifesta since 2002, and now succeeds Henry Meyric Hughes.

Charles Esche, Sirje Helme and Sarat Maharaj joined the Board in 2008. Charles Esche is a curator and writer, and currently the Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and editor of Afterall. Sirje Helme was the Director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia, and is now the director of KUMU Art Museum in Tallinn. Sarat Maharaj is Professor of Visual Art and Knowledge Systems at Lund University in Malmö.

The full Board of International Foundation Manifesta is now composed of Gilane Tawadros (Chair), Renze Hasper (Treasurer), Viktor Misiano (Vice-Chair), Daniel Birnbaum, Iara Boubnova, Fabio Cavallucci, Charles Esche, Massimiliano Gioni, Andreas Hapkemeyer, Sirje Helme, Allard Huizing, Sarat Maharaj and Marieke Sanders – ten Holte.

Further information:

Manifesta 7
T: +39 0471 414 980 (Office Bozen / Bolzano)
T: +39 0461 493 670 (Office Trento)
E: info@manifesta7.it
http://www.manifesta7.it

International Foundation Manifesta NEW ADDRESS
Prinsengracht 175 hs
NL - 1015 DS Amsterdam
T: +31 20 672 1435
E: secretariat@manifesta.org
http://www.manifesta.org

Image 1734: “Amboseel Crossing” (Available at G2 Gallery, 30×45 @ $4700) Photo by Thomas D. Mangelsen, ©Thomas D. Mangelsen, Inc.

RENOWNED WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER TOM MANGELSEN SHOWCASES HIS AWARD-WINNING ARTWORK AT ABBOT KINNEY FIRST FRIDAYS ON APRIL 4, 2008

The G2 Gallery presents its first exhibit showcasing the works of world famous wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen, and will stay open late on the evening of April 4th, 2008 as part of Abbot Kinney First Fridays. The first Friday of every month the merchants on Abbot Kinney Blvd keep their doors open so patrons can experience all the culture offered by the eclectic restaurants, bars, shops and galleries.

As part of its mission to support and promote appreciation and conservation of our natural world, the G2 Gallery will donate 15% of the proceeds from sales to Friends of Ballona Wetlands, the Environmental Media Association and other national and international organizations.

Friday April 4, 2008
Abbot Kinney First Friday
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

G2 Gallery
1503 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 452-2842
www.TheG2Gallery.com

Artforum

April 2008 in Artforum
http://www.artforum.com

This month in Artforum: “Art and Its Markets.” In this special issue featuring more than a dozen essays, case studies, and interviews, Artforum seeks to tease out the root causes—and diagnose the symptoms—of the contemporary art market’s unprecedented recent expansion.

“Historical Returns.” In his keynote essay, art historian Thomas Crow traces the origins of today’s art market from early-modern patronage systems to contemporary relationships between artists and megacollectors such as Eli Broad and Charles Saatchi, arguing that recent spectacles—be they glistening balloon dogs, monumentally scaled Cor-Ten steel geometries, or a diamond-encrusted vanitas—should trouble us less than certain shifts in attitude among the philanthropic class.

“Who needs iconoclasts at the door when the vandals are inside the walls? There is a symbiosis emerging at the moment between what appears to be a peaking art market and a disquieting development in trustee culture: that is, a desire to enjoy the prestige of position while off-loading the obligations to give and to raise money that traditionally came with it.” —Thomas Crow

“Art and Its Markets: A Roundtable Discussion.” To look at the various factors contributing to the creation of values in art, Artforum assembled a cross-section of art-world figures: Beijing-based artist Ai Weiwei; Amy Cappellazzo, international cohead of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s; Thomas Crow; Donna De Salvo, chief curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Isabelle Graw, a founding editor of Texte zur Kunst; Dakis Joannou, collector and president of the Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece; and Robert Pincus-Witten, scholar, critic, and former director of exhibitions at L & M Arts in New York. Artforum contributing editor James Meyer moderates with editor Tim Griffin.

“The taste for the successful and celebrated is fickle. What waxes, wanes. Artists can be as quickly discarded even as they once may have been pressed with invitations to the laden table. Talk to the middle-aged abstractionist and listen to what is said.” —Robert Pincus-Witten

Also: Art historian and sociologist Olav Velthuis crunches the numbers of the art market boom; Joe Scanlan muses on artists’ inevitable creation of new markets through conceptual work; Christine Mehring describes the birth of the contemporary art fair in Cologne; Tim Griffin speaks with Frieze Art Fair founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover; Martin Herbert reports on the changing relationships of public and private funding for the arts in Britain; Johanna Burton interviews Museum of Modern Art, New York, curator Ann Temkin about “Color Chart”; Bidoun editor Negar Azimi looks at the newly invented art world of the United Arab Emirates; case studies on Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Lee Lozano, Barry McGee, and Anselm Reyle examine how individual market successes reflect the various influences of institutional, gallery, and scholarly forces; and retail anthropologist Paco Underhill offers his views on art’s place within the broader landscape of mass commerce.

“We can say that art has evolved into a way of overcoming status inconsistency.” —Paco Underhill

Plus: Gregory Sholette considers how artists have abandoned the label “worker” for “entrepreneur”; Tom Vanderbilt finds uncanny oil troubles in “1973: Sorry, Out of Gas” at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Graham Larkin discusses the Getty Museum’s “The Object in Transition,” a recent forum on conservation issues in contemporary art; Jeffrey Kastner probes the controversy surrounding the oil drilling proposed near Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty; Paul Arthur views Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris’s new documentary on Abu Ghraib; Arthur C. Danto lauds architect Steven Holl’s interior renovation of the philosophy department at New York University; Yve-Alain Bois weighs in on “Georges Seurat: The Drawings” at MoMA; and Berlin-based artist Nora Schultz lists her Top Ten.

Visit Artforum online at http://www.artforum.com

To subscribe, visit http://www.artforum.com/subscribe

Visit artguide—Artforum’s free directory of the international art world, listing art fairs, auctions, and current gallery and museum shows in more than four hundred cities—at http://www.artforum.com/guide

LPEPMP3-JOHN FEKNER CITY SQUAD-SELECTIONS

With this new release entitled LPEPMP , street-artist John Fekner (DECAY, BROKEN PROMISES, WHEELS OVER INDIAN TRAILS, etc.) creates an aural soundtrack to his urban art experiences. For years, Fekner made the city itself his exhibition space by creating his own form of art with social commentary. He used stencils and spraypaint to create text-based messages, icons and logos throughout the five boroughs of New York.

When Fekner returned to an “indoor” studio environment, he made a decision to bring his ’street experience’ to a recording studio instead of a painting studio. An interesting choice for Fekner; one which allowed him the opportunity to bring his vision to another level. Fekner’s intense sound works are collaborative in nature with musicians and non-musicians alike.

The spirit and sounds of his City Squad is driven right from the streets; Concrete People, The Beat ‘08 and Oil Drum Mix supply high-energy with a mix of rap, industrial, jazz and sampling vignettes. Throughout LPEPMP3 , there are looping sound collages, spoken words etc., ignited with a sound production that is eclectic, harsh, poetic and difficult at times. Sight of the Child is a total contrast with a stark and delicate production. A small boy’s voice is heard from a barren futuristic back alley with only a sweetly played accompanying harmonica completing the desolate scene. The message-driven lyrics about TV, Native Indians, toxic waste, technology, greed, consumerism and space invaders are an extension to Fekner’s street works. Cover art “Space Invader” is with long-time collaborator Bronx artist Don Leicht.
LPEPMP3 is available to download at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00168ZFT6/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1207057871&sr=8-3
More information: http://www.fekner.net

European Press Conference
Seventh Shanghai Biennale

TRANSLOCALMOTION

Curatorial Team:
Zhang Qing, Julian Heynen and
Henk Slager

Berlin, ifa Gallery, April 4, 11.30-12.30

http://www.shanghaibiennale.com

TRANSLOCALMOTION

Since its inauguration the Shanghai Biennale has repeatedly taken the city itself and its urban conditions as a starting point for its artistic explorations. In line with this inner logic, the curatorial team of the 2008 edition proposes to focus on one of the most import cornerstones of urban design: the public square which is a prime location of transfer, connection, connectivity, meeting, social and
economical exchange.

For this reason, twenty emerging and established artists have been invited to take People’s Square as visual metaphor for the complex dynamics of the people’s mobility. Their work will be displayed on various media within and outside of the museum. Works that are shown outside were created with an intent to interact with the environment or the public. Each artist will also create an additional piece to be shown on the ground floor of the museum.

On the second floor, the curatorial team will focus on solo-exhibitions of three prominent artists. This rather unusual proposal was conceived in reaction to a tendency among many Biennales to present a vast number of hardly distinguishable artistic positions. As a guideline for the choice of artists in this section a more reflective and general attitude towards the issue of mobility related to the urban, economical and social development should be apparent in their artistic production.

On the third floor, under the same theme, another twenty artists will be showing their work using non-shanghainese elements, to explore and discuss mobility issues in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

First group of confirmed artists: Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan, Bu Hua, Bethan Huws, Mike Kelley, Kim Sanggil, Hito Steyerl, Clemens von Wedermeyer. Yin Xiu and Zhou Chang Jiang.

CURATORIAL TEAM

Zhang Qing (artistic director) serves as Deputy Director of the Shanghai Art Museum and Director of the Shanghai Biennale Office. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the China Academy of Art and a member of the CIMAM. Since 1989 Zhang has been a regular contributor to numerous leading Chinese journals including Jiangsu Pictorial, Art Monthly, Dushu, Avant-garde Today and Shanghai Culture. He served as the editor-in-chief of Chinese Art in the 1990s. In 2000 he was named one of the “top curators in China” by China’s national TV station CCTV and other fifty media organizations.

Julian Heynen (curator), studied art history and literature. Ph.D. thesis on Barnett Newman’s writings on art. Worked at several museums for modern and contemporary art, notably at Museum Haus Lange and Museum Haus Esters in Krefeld (Germany) and since 2001 as artistic director of K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfahlen in Dusseldorf (Germany). Commissioner of the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and 2005. http://www.kunstsammlung.de

Henk Slager (curator) studied philosophy, art history and general literature. In 1989, he earned a Ph.D. (University of Amsterdam) writing an art philosophical thesis entitled Fomalistic Temperament. In 1993 he established the Global Vernunft Foundation that organizes and executes projects (exhibitions, symposia, graduate teaching programs, publications) concerning the interface of philosophy and contemporary art. Currently Henk Slager is Dean of the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (MaHKU) and its professor of Artistic Research. http://www.mahku.nl

PRESS CONFERENCE

Ifa Gallery Berlin, Linienstrasse 139-141, April 4, 11.30-12.30

SEVENTH SHANGHAI BIENNALE

Opening Ceremony: 8 September 2008
Duration: 9 September - 16 November 2008

Hosted by the Organizing Committee of the Shanghai Biennale
Shanghai Art Museum, 325 Nanjing Road Wst
Shanghai 200003 China

http://www.shanghaibiennale.com

Book Works

Semina — where the novel has a nervous breakdown
Published by
Book Works
19 Holywell Row
London
EC2A 4JB

http://www.bookworks.org.uk

We are looking for artists and writers interested in experimental prose fiction, drawing inspiration from art as much as it does from literature. Think of the ways in which time and space died yesterday, how acceleration exceeds accumulation, the dead city and the perpetual twilight of technology: Georges Bataille, Henri Michaux, Alexander Trocchi, William Burroughs, Ann Quin, Clarence Cooper Jr, Claude Cahun etc. Above all we’re looking for artists and writers willing to take risks with their prose and who demonstrate total disregard for the conventions that structure received ideas about fiction.

Semina takes its inspiration from a series of nine loose-leaf magazines issued by Californian beat artist Wallace Berman in the 1950s and 1960s. The series is commissioned and edited by artist and writer Stewart Home. The series will publish nine books, six of which will be selected from open submission, two commissioned by the editor, with Blood Rites of the Bourgeoisie by Stewart Home the final title in the series.

The selection from open submissions will be made by Stewart Home and Book Works. The series is designed by Fraser Muggeridge studio.

Deadline for applications is 30 May 2008.

Contact gavin@bookworks.org.uk or visit our website for more information http://www.bookworks.org.uk

Forthcoming in the Semina series
No. 1 Index by Bridget Penney (2008)
No. 2 One Break, A Thousand Blows! by Maxi Kim (2008)
No. 3 Bubble Entendre by Mark Waugh (2009)
No. 9 Blood Rites of the Bourgeoise by Stewart Home (2010)