A Living encyclopedia of 20th century art The art historian and curator Germano Celant(1940-2020) has passed away on 29 April 2020, after contracting the coronavirus . He was one of the most fascinating figures in 20th-century art, which he...
The world afterwards (3) Albanian prime minister and artist Edi Rama: “It’s a major failure. The world is unable to be together”
Tirana in bright colors His first great exploit dates from the 2000s. Edi Rama (born in 1964) was the newly elected mayor of Tirana, the capital of Albania (a country with 2.8 million inhabitants), when he decided to have a number of the...
The world afterwards (2) Subodh Gupta: “what is happening to us now must not be forgotten”
To reinvent obsessions The main strength of artists lies in their ability to reinvent identical obsessions. We are familiar with Subodh Gupta’s work through his installations – accumulations of metal kitchen utensils that have become the...
The world afterwards (1): Anish Kapoor: “ As long as we continue with a system that banks everything on profits, nothing will change”
Leviathan: 72000m3 It was announced in 2011 but it was very difficult to grasp its importance at the time. When the Grand Palais in Paris staged an extraordinary show entitled Monumenta, following the participation of Richard Serra and Anselm...
The art market during the Second World War: fake bargains and overlooked promising values
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1LdRmFZdnU War War. Economists and politicians alike are readily comparing the impact of the coronavirus to that of a military conflict. The 20th century’s most devastating and traumatising conflict was the...
How museums are responding to the crisis : the reactions of directors from Los Angeles to Saint Petersburg (1)
Museums: the highest idea of a man “The museum, after all, is one of the places that give us the highest idea of man (…) The role of museums in our relationship with works of art is so great that we can hardly conceive of the fact that they...
Art market: Lessons from previous crises, from an unpaid for Van Gogh to the resurgence of young artists…
Crises comes and go Crises in the art market come and go, and no two are quite alike, but they can help us to understand how market values may be called into question. The crisis sweeping the world today and affecting the economy and the art...
Acute Art: augmented reality and virtual reality from Kaws to Ai Weiwei, how a new kind of art is invading our homes now
Seen by tens of millions of people The figure has been seen and shared on social media over the past few days by tens of millions of people. It’s what’s known as an “art toy”, a figurine now sold as a work of art – we can also see it as a...
Tefaf, Maastricht: a spectacular antiques fair through hell and high water
An air of bleakness The world is at a standstill and it seems as though the love of art is unable to change anything. China aside, the announcement of the temporary closure of museums in Italy, the cancellation of the Art Basel Hong Kong fair and the fair in Dubai at...
Hans Ulrich Obrist goes green: resolutions and warnings. A video interview
https://youtu.be/ot4aupt4VkY History of contemporary art Swiss-born Hans Ulrich Obrist (born in 1968) is now part of the history of contemporary art. The artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery in London has become a phenomenon in his own right thanks to...
Steve McQueen at the Tate Modern: the man with two brains
The filmaker There are certain rare people who seem to have two brains. This is the case of the English filmmaker and artist who lives in Amsterdam, Steve McQueen (born in 1969). Turner Prize In 1999 the video artist was awarded the Turner Prize, Britain’s highest...
Eugenio Lopez: a video interview with the very influential Mexican collector
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe5XsVzwOwo Trends in contemporary art There are trends within contemporary art. Mexico It’s been several years since Mexico started to become an attractive country for fans of current artistic creation. Firstly because certain...