Sack of Summer Palace The scene takes place on 18 October 1860. Over the course of what was known as the sack of the Summer Palace, English and French troops burn and pillage the Chinese Emperor’s summer residence. The aim of the conflict which began in 1856 consists,...
Leonardo in Paris As the whole world descends on Paris to see the masterpieces at the magnificent Leonardo retrospective, there is another very important exhibition also taking place in Europe: in Vienna. The giant of the German Renaissance It has the advantage of...
USA as China We are living through an age of dispersal and multiplicity. There’s no longer a global centre for art and it may well be the case that the United States is as rich a melting pot in this respect as China, for example. Nor is there a single prevailing...
American consumers The contemporary art market that attracts the most media attention is driven by American consumers who buy certain artists for astronomical prices, in the millions of dollars. Handful of signatures For this constantly changing handful of signatures,...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PwFht9Ua1c Pastiche, nostalgia, nihilism In history there are moments of great fruitfulness that are, however, described as decadent. These occur when what is believed to be the high point of a civilization begins to all decline...
Their defense A good justice system works in such a way that when an individual is on trial we ask them to explain themselves or better yet to organize their defense. A moral history of art At the stake of a new and more moral history of art, no defense has been...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdiEui18_dw An esthetic from Catholicism The American artist Kiki Smith (born in 1954) fascinates the world of contemporary art (see her exhibitions at the Venice Biennale before last or on the island of Hydra at the invitation...
Political and economic upheavals As 2019 comes to a close, in a year shaken by various political and economic upheavals, observers may wonder what fate has in store for the modern and contemporary art market. Stratospheric prices Over the past few years, auction...
A question of language Each language possesses a certain way of communicating that goes beyond even words. To put it another way, there are means of self-expression that are widely practised, and others that are not. Not to lose face While France is known for a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQJVMwmNaAk Various perspectives Our present day is too complex to be comprehended unambiguously. There are numerous artists who talk about this phenomenon, like William Kentridge who addresses the issue of History, which...
The question of autorship The problem with exhibitions devoted to the old masters is that you never really know what you’re looking at. Works from this era are constantly being contested and the field itself is rife with subtle disputes over the authorship of...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5oF-HBcCh4 Beloved of collectors You have to hear him talk about art history. Urs Fischer (born in 1973), the Swiss artist based in New York, beloved of contemporary art collectors who exhibit him all over, from Peter Brant in...