News
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11/17/2011
Amid public outcry, the Arts Commission terminated a $750,000 Central Subway art contract with controversial dog-killing artist Tom Otterness on Tuesday.
from the San Francisco Examiner: "Otterness was selected by the Arts Commission earlier this year to install 59 bronze sculptures in the Moscone station of the proposed Central Subway project, but that was before The San Francisco Examiner reported Otterness’ past work in which he shot a dog for a film he claimed was a piece of art. But Otterness will still receive $700,000 for the Mother with Children sculpture for the new San Francisco General Hospital despite outcry from San Francisco’s animal advocates to also reject that work."
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11/16/2011
A group of street artists is suing AEG in a dispute over lost artwork in a penthouse in downtown L.A.
from the Los Angeles Times: "Anschutz Entertainment Group, which sent treasures from King Tut’s tomb around the world without apparent mishap, operates the Grammy Museum and runs the current touring exhibition, “America I Am: The African American Imprint," now stands accused in U.S. District Court of destroying works by street artists Mear One, Chor Boogie and Shark Toof that had been displayed in a penthouse at its Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. Live hotel and condo tower."
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11/16/2011
San Francisco may terminate $1.4 million in art contracts with Brooklyn artist Tom Otterness after revelations that he shot and killed a dog on film and called it art sparked outrage in San Francisco.
from the San Francisco Examiner: "The San Francisco Arts Commission said it was unaware of the incident when it awarded Otterness earlier this year with a $750,000 contract for 59 bronze sculptures in the Moscone station of the proposed Central Subway project. A $700,000 contract was awarded last year for a sculpture at San Francisco General Hospital...The commission will hold a Wednesday meeting to vote on whether to rescind the contracts."
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11/15/2011
The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, which pairs established figures in the fields of dance, film, literature, music, theatre, and visual arts with up-and-coming talents, has announced its mentors for the 2012-2013 cycle.
from ARTINFO: Mentors "include Margaret Atwood (literature), Gilberto Gil (music), William Kentridge (visual arts),Patrice Chéreau (theater), Lin Hwai-min (dance), and Walter Murch (film). Each protégé, selected by a panel of experts, receives $25,000 with the potential for an additional $25,000 grant for a work of art created during the program. The lucky emerging talents will spend at least six weeks over the course of the year with their mentors."
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11/15/2011
Hours before the deadline, Chinese officials refuse to allow Ai Weiwei to use his mother's house as collateral to pay the 15 million yuan fine.
from The Guardian: "Ai Weiwei has said his life is turning into a "Hollywood movie" as Chinese officials throw up fresh obstacles to his efforts to clear tax charges against his company. Hours before the deadline for paying the 15m yuan (£1.47m) fine, tax officials told the artist and human rights campaigner he could not use his mother's house as collateral and that there were problems with the funds he had raised in a public appeal."
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11/14/2011
Silvio Berlusconi's choice to be the new president of the Venice Biennale has withdrawn his name from consideration after the Italian prime minister's resignation.
from The Art Newspaper: "Giulio Malgara, 73, the foodstuffs concessionary appointed on 6 October to replace Paolo Baratta, 72, as president of the Venice Biennale has withdrawn his candidature, the Italian minister of culture, Giancarlo Galan, announced on 10 November. The real reason, though, for Malgara’s withdrawal is the fall of his chief supporter, prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Baratta’s mandate ends on 18 December and he may be reappointed, but his name is also being mentioned as a possible minister of culture in the new government."
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11/14/2011
Yvonne Rainer denounced Marina Abramovic's planned MOCA gala performance as "grotesque."
from ARTINFO: "Renowned dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer has written a letter to MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch indicting Abramovic’s planned performance for the event, which she calls “grotesque” and “verg[ing] on economic exploitation.” [P]erformers will spend three hours with their their heads protruding through the gala's tabletops, kneeling on Lazy Susans below to slowly rotate in circles while maintaining eye contact with guests. Other performers will lay nude on tables with fake skeletons on top of them, recreating Abramovic's famous "Nude With Skeleton" performance, as reperformers did at her MoMA retrospective."
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11/11/2011
Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton is unveiling the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., on Friday.
from the Wall Street Journal: "This company town has few tourist attractions besides a seven-foot statue of a Confederate soldier and the Sam Walton five-and-dime that started theWal-Mart Stores Inc. empire. That changes Friday with the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, an elaborate edifice built with Walton money that is luring boutique hotels, trendy restaurants and art galleries to this corner of the Ozark Mountains."
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11/10/2011
The City of Pomona is close to enacting a new Art in Public Places law that would require private developers to ante up 1% of a project’s cost to commission artwork for each building site.
from the Los Angeles Times: "The 1% add-on would apply to new construction or remodeling projects with budgets of $500,000 or more. It means that developers would spend an additional $10,000 on art for every $1 million they put into construction. Installing the art would be a condition for receiving a certificate of occupancy."
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11/10/2011
The Cranbrook Art Museum, a contemporary art museum north of Detroit, plans to reopen Friday after a $22 million renovation of its building.
from the Associated Press: "No hidden treasures. That was the primary goal during a two-year, $22 million restoration and expansion of the Cranbrook Art Museum aimed at enlivening the collection and inspiring new artists. A newCollections Wing makes more accessible the museum's permanent collection of about 6,000 works of art, architecture and design, including rarely seen works by Ray Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol."
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11/09/2011
Thanks to its Grants for the Arts program, San Francisco has become the largest per capita municipal arts funder in the nation.
from the San Francisco Chronicle: "Fifty years ago this fall, San Francisco leaders got a novel idea to put a small surcharge on every hotel bill to fund city arts programs. Grants for the Arts was intended to be symbiotic - City Hall would use the hotel tax to fund its Ballet, Opera, Symphony, museums and music festivals, which in turn would promote San Francisco and draw more tourists. As the city's reputation as an arts center grew, more artists would move here."
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11/08/2011
Federal regulators approved a $50 million installation of anchored fabric over the Arkansas River in southern Colorado by the artist Christo, whose larger-than-life vision has divided environmentalists, residents and politicians for years over questions of aesthetics, nature and economic impact.
from the New York Times: "The project, “Over the River,” will include eight suspended panel segments totaling 5.9 miles along a 42-mile stretch of the river, about three hours southwest of Denver. Construction could begin next year, pending final local approvals, with the goal being a two-week display of the work as early as August 2014."
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11/07/2011
Thousands of people have sent more than $800,000 to artist Ai Weiwei, some tossing cash folded into airplanes over his gate, to help him pay a tax bill they see as government harassment.
from the Washington Post: "The donation campaign — also in the form of wire transfers and cash stuffed in envelopes or wrapped around fruit that is thrown into his yard — is rare for Chinese dissidents because of the threat of retaliation that comes with supporting high-profile government critics...A state-run newspaper criticized the outpouring and warned it could be illegal."
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11/04/2011
Art Practical is very excited to announce that we are the recipients of a special commission for critical engagement.
Rocket Grants, a program of Charlotte Street Foundation and KU Spencer Museum of Art in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, has awarded Art Practical a special commission to critically engage with artist-driven activity in the Kansas City area. With this commission, Art Practical’s editors and writers will produce an issue in March 2012 focused on the collective, community-oriented, and alternative public art practices in operation in Kansas City, MO, in collaboration with writers from the area.
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11/04/2011
Art Practical and the Asian Contemporary Arts Consortium (ACAC) are pleased to announce the finalists for the ACAC Writing Fellowship.
The finalists are: Michele Carlson, Liz Glass, Joshua Kim, Charlotte Miller, Jeffrey Songco, and Ellen Tani. The finalists will submit shotgun reviews for the upcoming issue of Art Practical, and the recipient of the fellowship will be announced on November 18.
The jurors for the ACAC Writing Fellowship are Britta Erickson, Glen Helfand, Hou Hanru, Santhi Kavuri‐Bauer, and Patricia Maloney.
Click here for more information about the fellowship, and here for more information about ACAC.
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11/04/2011
A cleaning lady at a German museum inadvertently ruined a valuable sculpture by artist Martin Kippenberger when she attempted to scrub it.
from The Guardian: "The sculpture by the German artist Martin Kippenberger, widely regarded as one of the most talented artists of his generation until his death in 1997, had been on loan to the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund when it fell prey to the cleaner's scouring pad. The work, called When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling (Wenn's anfängt durch die Decke zu tropfen), comprised a rubber trough placed underneath a rickety wooden tower made from slats. Inside the trough, Kippenberger had spread a layer of paint representing dried rainwater. A spokeswoman for the museum told German media that the female cleaner 'removed the patina from the four walls of the trough.'"
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11/03/2011
Applications are now available for The Philadelphia Art Hotel, an urban artist residency where local, national, and international artists receive free temporary living and studio space.
from the Philadelphia Art Hotel web site: "We will offer residencies lasting between 3 and 6 weeks during our residency season (May 1st – September 30th 2012. The Philadelphia Art Hotel occupies a rowhouse in the urban neighborhood of East Kensington, very close to Center City Philadelphia as well as many wonderful local spots. Public transportation is within a couple blocks of PAH (subway and bus lines) while many amenities are within walking distance." Click here for application information.
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11/03/2011
The office of a French satirical magazine was badly damaged by a firebomb after the magazine published a spoof issue “guest edited” by the Prophet Muhammad to salute the victory of an Islamist party in Tunisian elections.
from the New York Times: "The publication also said hackers had disrupted its Web site. The magazine, Charlie Hebdo, had announced a special issue for publication Wednesday, renamed “Charia Hebdo,” a play on the word in French for Shariah law. The special edition was on its way to the newsstands, the editor said, and will appear as scheduled. But, he added: 'We are homeless and we have no way to put out the magazine. We hope this won’t be the last issue.'"
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11/02/2011
The Arthouse at the Jones Center and the Austin Museum of Art have merged to create a new museum for Austin and central Texas.
from the press release: "With a strong vote of confidence, both boards approved the merger, with a primary goal to exhibit and program modern and contemporary art for the citizens of Austin, Texas, and far beyond. With an annual operating budget of $3.2 million and zero debt, combining the two organizations will save more than $1 million in operational costs in the first year alone."
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11/01/2011
The Present Group has launched Art Micro Patronage, a new platform dedicated to funding and showcasing artwork that is ideally viewed online.
from the press release: "What started as a few vague ideas about the possibilities of micro-donations mixed in with questions about “collecting” digital artwork is now a full-blown, beautifully designed, web application for supporting online artists. Each month for the next six months we will release a new show that explores different ideas of what that could mean. Curators from across the field have put together exhibitions exploring topics from mapping technologies to web hacks, from pixel pushers to dedicated open source net artists thinking about monetization."
