https://youtu.be/Vn-WM_Uzuz8 The shuttle Challenger On 28 January 1986 the American space shuttle Challenger exploded, exactly 73 seconds after take-off. There were seven astronauts on board, including Ronald McNair, a seasoned musician who...
Travel through space with Yves Klein
https://youtu.be/OZeB6jA9KY4 With Saint Rita of Cascia “Saint Rita of Cascia, patron of impossible and desperate cases, thank you for all the powerful, decisive, marvellous help that you have given me up to now (…) Even if I am personally...
Tate Modern: this is how art history is made. Cézanne’s influence from Gauguin to Lucian Freud
Visual gust of wind Seeing a substantial exhibition of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is like being caught up in a visual gust of wind. There’s the beauty of the reddish and green hues that caress you, but also the simplified or even crude forms, the...
The new natural illusions of Olafur Eliasson
https://youtu.be/ohJSf3ag_9Q A new vocabulary There are certain artists – and they are rare – who are capable of inventing an entire vocabulary. This is true of the Icelandic-Danish artist who lives in Berlin, Olafur Eliasson (born in 1967),...
Tribute to Rodney Graham (1949-2022)
The Canadian artist Rodney Graham, born in 1949, has just died of cancer. I met him in 2016 at the Dijon Consortium where he had staged an extraordinary exhibition. He invented exceptional stories through his videos and installations...
Fondazione Prada in Venice: Taryn Simon’s conversation piece is a journey through the human brain
https://youtu.be/JweHtN8cZqg Large amount of data The American artist Taryn Simon (born in 1975) has a singular visual oeuvre which always finds unique ways of addressing serious phenomena. She is adept at compiling large amounts of data to...
Kokoschka: A modern artist who foreshadowed the painting of today
https://youtu.be/_BT4Hum8Tm0 A life- size doll He was no stranger to heartbreak. The painter Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), also known as “Kokoschka the madman”, embarked upon a tortured relationship between 1912 and 1914 with one of the mythical...
Biennale de Lyon: an impressive journey through the ruins of contemporary society
Beirut https://youtu.be/wAV6ENMD32Y People never forget Beirut. Take Sam Bardaouil. Born in Lebanon, this world-class art historian is curating the sixteenth Lyon Biennale together with Till Fellrath, on show until 31 December. The duo, who...
Hydra: one of the most beautiful artworks Jeff Koons has ever made will be destroyed after 31 October
https://youtu.be/EylV6niUHss Guilty There is an old slaughterhouse on one of the chicest Greek islands. On this small landmass with no cars, where donkeys still carry the heaviest loads, the American painter Brice Marden regularly stays...
Bourse de Commerce, Paris. Philippe Parreno has created a masterpiece: the artwork for the ultra-present
https://youtu.be/h7l4KUEc3Ks Platform for experimentation In Paris, the spectacular rotunda of the Bourse de Commerce is currently turning into one of the major platforms for experimentation in contemporary art. Following on from the giant wax...
The Daskalopoulos collection: a XXL exhibition in Athens before the enormous donation
Athens With its attractive climate, low rents, large wild spaces but also, it must be said, its very alluring tax system, Athens could become a major platform for contemporary art in Europe. It is like a new Berlin complete with sunshine, where...
Ali Cherri: A 21st-century romantic from the Venice Biennale to the National Gallery in London and even the Cannes Film Festival
https://youtu.be/hyQUAN_lEwI Proust on his deathbed In his studio opposite his desk he has displayed the reproduction of a portrait of Marcel Proust on his deathbed. The French-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri (born in 1976) talks about how when he...