Over the past week Marina Abromović, or the center pieces and rotating heads she unveiled on the tables at the 2011 MOCA Gala in Los Angeles, had stirred up quite the controversy. Mostly from legendary dancer Yvonne Rainer.
While Abramović was in Los Angeles this week auditioning performers to become living centerpieces of sort at the gala dinner tables (they will be kneeling beneath tables, poking their head through holes in them), Rainer has been circulating a letter, addressed to MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch and signed by such art-world luminaries as critic Douglas Crimp, calling the work “exploitative” and a “grotesque spectacle.”
But in its report on the controversy, Artinfo.com published long quotes from one version of the letter, and got a response from Abramović: “I hope the performance itself will bring some kind of dignity, serenity, and concentration to the normal situation of a gala, and actually change the energy of the space and bring the performance into an everyday life situation.” via: Culture Monster – L.A. Times
As with most reaction to a performance or piece of art before it is actually unveiled, it was mostly hyperbole (go figure) and the performers left the event with their dignity in tact.
Yesterday, Forth Wall Project unveiled “Temporal Works,” a new show of of video, sculptural and performance work investigates the connection between the audience, artist and the ephemerality of the art by Zsuzsanna Szegedi. Viewers are full fledged participants in the art… and the exhibition also includes several life performances by the Hungarian-born artist.
“Temporal Works” remains on view through June 26, 2011.
Filmed on July 24, 2010, at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, creative duo Henrik Vibskov and Andreas Emenius performance of ‘Circular Series: Section 4’ caught the eyes of our friends at SlamxHype.
The piece was part of Interwoven: Evenings in Performance, which was sponsored in part by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs for Denmark and highlighted Danish creativity.
Eatlacmaopened in late June and will run through November 11, 2010. In essence, the exhibition functions as an inventive way to utilize the institutions great collection – focusing on a specific theme and tying objects from across disciplines together.
About the exhibition -
LACMA is a year-long investigation into food, art, culture and politics. Fusing the richness of LACMA’s permanent collection with the ephemerality of food and the natural growth cycle, EATLACMA’s projects consider food as a common ground that explores the social role of art and ritual in community and human relationships. EATLACMA unfolds seasonally, with artist’s gardens planted and harvested on the museum campus, hands-on public events, and a concurrent exhibition, Fallen Fruit Presents The Fruit of LACMA (June 27-November 7, 2010). It culminates in a day-long event (November 7, 2010) in which over fifty artists and collectives will activate, intervene, and re-imagine the entire museum’s campus and galleries. EATLACMA is curated by Fallen Fruit—David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young—and LACMA curator Michele Urton.
The exhibition also includes “Show Us How You Eat,” a social networking art experiment that investigates how people chew and swallow and enjoy food. Above is Brett McKenzie eating a hamburger.
The 2010 Whitney Biennial opens on February 25, 2010. As the institutions signature event, the Biennial of 2010 hits a cross section of contemporary art rather than focusing on a specific theme. It’s the 75th edition, and through a balance of media (painting, video, performance, etc) the exhibition explores both past and present of the Whitney Museum.
In preparation for the event several informative videos were produced. I’ve chosen to highlight those which tackle the process of putting together the Biennial. Above is the most basic – “What is the Whitney Biennial?” After the jump, I’ve posted two videos detailing the process of choosing exhibiting artists.
Complementing the Biennial, a secondary exhibition entitled Collecting the Biennial highlights those pieces that have entered the core collection following showing during the event. 2010 sees Ari Marcoupolis, Aurel Schmidt, Storm Tharp, Robert Williams, and many more.
On view through March 21, 2010, Dance with Camerabrings together works on film, video and still photography to investigate the crossover between artists and dancers. The items exhibited begins in the 1960s, with work by Bruce Conner and Bruce Nauman. Dance with Camera then explores how video artists of the 1960s took to dance as a subject.
Through all, documenting dance is never the primary concern. The artists presented capture movement, shape, and the dynamism of dance. The synergy between artistic medium is strong, the balance of still and video helpful in setting a cohesive tone for the exhibition.
ICA Philadelphia is located at 118 S. 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA.
