via Art Daily
Pictured above, Anton Corbijn poses infront of his photographs of Ai Weiwei (left) and Damien Hirst (right). According to ArtDaily other artists in Corbijn’s series include Gerhard Richter, Alexander McQueen, Richard Prince, Iggy Pop, Anselm Kiefer, Tom Waits, Peter Doig, Bruce Springsteen, Lucian Freud, and Karel Appel.
On another note, Ai Weiwei’s dioramas of his time imprisoned by the Chinese government and don’t forget his new single “Dumbass”.
GLOBAL: Above portraits by Gabriel Galimberti of tykes and their toys from around the world via Cup of Jo
SEOUL: Vagina Monologues in Seoul! To prep, read a few of the books from this list. Both via The Grand Narrative
BEIJING: Ai Weiwei is releasing a hard rock album?! via Art Daily
SHANGHAI // MALAYSIA: More creativity with food by Hong Yi (Red) via DesignBoom
SWEDEN: H&M uses more life-like mannequins and creates an “Internet Praise-a-thon” via Knife & Fork and a bit on models’ labor rights.
ITHACA: Movement: The Body and Object in Motion, the Cornell University Art History Graduate Conference for 2013
VENICE // SEOUL: Kimsooja will represent South Korea at the 2013 Venice Biennale. See the full list of artists here. Kim Seung-duk will curate the South Korean pavilion. Via the Korea Herald and the Gallerist NY
HONG KONG: Sotheby’s Hong Kong will hold a contemporary Asian art sale on April 5, 2013 via Art Daily
Kara Walker will be at the AIC in February!
Today I’m visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s exhibition Color Bind: The MCA Collection in Black and White. As the MCA’s website says, “With dozens of works in all media, Color Bind muses on the ways the English words “black” and “white” evoke both simple formal notions and metaphors for race, politics, and historical movements. Set to coincide with the recent US presidential election, this exhibition calls attention to the ways seemingly neutral formal terms assume moral dimensions that, in turn, complicate and politicize the very works assumed to be neutral.”
To prep for my trip to the museum I read part of Linda Alcoff’s Visible Identities and this quick discussion on Art Info with Christopher K. Ho and Roger White about the idea surrounding Ho’s exhibition “Privileged White People” at Forever & Today, Inc. in NYC.
In light of the Oscar nomination list being released: NY Times, “Female Directors Gain Ground, Slowly.” Alison Klayman, the director of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, was featured in the piece. I can’t wait to hear what Coming off the Reels has to say about it.
On Tuesday evening I was invited to watch the new film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry streaming in my living room. I invited a few friends over and hosted an intimate screening. The first two-thirds of the film consisted of documentation I had seen from various short films about Ai Weiwei (such as Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds and Who’s Afraid of Ai Weiwei?) but the last part included some clips I hadn’t seen. Regardless, the film was well put together and informative and paints a picture of Ai Weiwei. Though his art is clearly a main thread of the film, they put great emphasis on him as a dissident in China. After the screening director, Alison Klayman, hosted a breif qestion and answer session. I didn’t have time to squeeze a question in and would like to share some of my questions here. Full disclosure, many of my questions are based on a class a took last semester called Post Asia. If you’re interested in a more thorough review read this article on Art Journal. I definitely recommend seeing it in the theatre when it is released in July.
My questions:
Is Never Sorry showing in China? Does the Chinese public have access to and know about Ai Weiwei’s actions?
I am curious about language. So much of the film is in English and the majority of the tweets highlighted in the movie are in English. Despite that, many of Ai Weiwei’s works comment on Chinese culture and people.
Who is Ai Weiwei’s audience? Does the group he is representing have access to the sources (Twitter, Blogging, etc.) that he uses to promote his ideas?
Finally, I want to congratulate Alison Klayman. She chose to tackle incredibly volatile subject matter and she executed it beautifully. I greatly look forward to her next project.
Ex-North Korean artwork shown in the U.S.
Speaking of North Korea, please check out this project! Young Sun Han is an SAIC grad and currently lives in Chicago. Some of his family is from North Korea and a portion of the proceeds from his sales go to Life Fund for North Korean Refugees. (Yes, Zane Davis, I am highly recommending you watch the short video.)
On the Wallstreet Journal Blog, Singapore Considers “No-Censorship Zones”
Art Radar’s 16 most searched Asian artists from July-December 2011. It looks like Ai Weiwei was number one but they also reported a surge in searches for Korean artists (I hope thats not just me doing thesis research!). Lee Yong-baek is number 8 on the list, I am in the midst of writing a chapter on him.
The Barbie above was made by Jocelyne Grivaud. This piece about Grivaud’s work was brought to my attention by Hazel Dooney on Facebook. Dooney’s response to Barbie is here.
“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” successfully debuted at Sundance!
During some thesis research last week I was reminded of Changwon Lee’s work I saw for the first time in 2009. It is great in a photo and even better in person.
Remember when I did the Body Project at IKEA in Beijing? Here is more IKEA art. If you like it you can support the Kickstarter.
Sunday Morning Coffee will soon become a Jewsroch family pastime! Keep your eyes posted here.
Have a great week!
Robert Mapplethorpe’s Derrick Cross, 1983
Betsy, I though you would enjoy this artist’s work!
Liumang Yan is speaking up for sex workers in China, she is also one of the women in One Tiger Eight Breasts with Ai Weiwei.
More on affordable art!
This article is about scandalous muses. I would have added Robert Mapplethorpe’s models to the list. If you are interested in Mapplethorpe and his muses you should read two chapters by Kobena Mercer on Mapplethorpe’s work. To summarize briefly, in the first chapter Mercer is quite angry about the objectification of the models in the photographs. A few years later he wrote a second article revisiting his initial reaction and accepting the work.
“What is ahead for contemporary Asian art, 2012, and beyond?” Part II.
Yesterday I went to a great pannel at SAIC called “Getting on the Map.” Sharon Louden moderated a conversation with Carron Little, Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey, and David Parker.
There is a horse hanging from the ceiling at the Guggenheim in New York!
From Miru Kim’s The Pig That Therefor I Am
Miru Kim’s pigs got sick at Art Basel on Huffington Post.
Updates on Ai Weiwei–Art21, a bit about his alleged tax evasion, the sunflower seeds are coming to New York!
Is the postal rendition of year of the dragon too “monstrous”?
Genderbread Person. I originally found it here.
Do you know about whats going on in Bosnia? This monument deserves its own post.
Take some time to learn a bit about North Korea.
This is a great new tumblr. Nepotism? No, it is simply lovely.
Quick Facts:
*The Gwangju Biennale started in order to commemorate the Gwangju Massacre.
*The artistic directors are six young women, quite a change from last year’s crew.
*This article highlights the themes from the past Gwangju Biennale.
I woke up this morning to an email stating that Ai Weiwei was released from 81 days of detainment. He is now a 10 minute can ride from where i am staying in Beijing! Obviously, many news sources have covered the story. Below is a screen shot of a portion of the email i received from Alison Klayman and Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. Please check out the links!
Links:
New York Times: Ai Weiwei, DIssident Artist is Released
Huffington Post: Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Released from Chinese Prison (VIDEO)
Los Angeles Times: China frees artist Ai Weiwei on bail
