“Timed to the 50th anniversary of Duchamp’s death, the gift [from Aaron and Barbara Levine] includes 35 works by Duchamp as well as 15 portraits and related photographs and works on paper by his contemporaries Tristan Tzara, Man Ray and others.” Says the Hirshhorn’s board chair, “This is the art-world equivalent of the Wizards getting LeBron James.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Apparition At Lourdes: Artist Who Poses Nude In Front Of Famous Nude Paintings Visits Pilgrimage Site (Nude, Of Course)
The Luxembourgeoise artist Deborah de Robertis, who has been arrested multiple times for displaying herself alongside displays of some of the world’s most famous female nude paintings, “has been charged with ‘sexual exhibitionism’ after she stood in the famous grotto at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, hands clasped as if in prayer, wearing nothing but a blue veil on her head.” (She titled the performance “The Origin of Life.”)
‘Garish, Soulless Leisure Shed’ Wins 2018 Carbuncle Cup
“The warehouse-like buildings of Redrock Stockport beat five other shortlisted candidates to win the Carbuncle Cup, awarded by Building Design to what its readers deem to be the biggest architectural eyesore of the past year. Judges were left unimpressed by the ‘awkward form, disjointed massing and superficial decoration’, while readers called it an ‘absolute monstrosity’.”
Ohad Naharin Turns Over The Reins At Batsheva Dance Company
“This month, Naharin, 66, will transition from artistic director to house choreographer, handing the management reins to Gili Navot, a former dancer with the company. … Navot comes to the position as a longtime member of the Batsheva family, having performed with the troupe for nearly a decade, from 1999 to 2008, before serving as rehearsal director and as a senior Gaga instructor — teaching both that method and Naharin’s work at companies around the world.”
Putin Pushes For High-Profile New Cultural Center In Crimea
“Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has ordered officials to speed up the construction of a cultural centre in Sevastopol, the historic naval capital of Crimea, which will include exhibition space for the State Hermitage Museum, the State Russian Museum and the State Tretyakov Gallery. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.”
Can Autistic People Really ‘Get’ Literature? (Yes)
“According to experts, autism’s ‘triad of impairments’ (in communication, imagination and social interaction) made literature a bad fit for the autistic brain. … If the mental states of others are beyond their reach, how can they possibly manage the moody jungle-gym of make-believe conflict that we call fiction? And if autistic people struggle with the dowsing rods of metaphor and irony, how can they divine a work’s deeper meanings?” Well, Ralph James Savarese begs to differ.
Buying, Selling, And Collecting Conceptual Art (A Brief History)
Nate Heller surveys the, er, concept – from Marcel Duchamp right up to Tino Sehgal’s no-paper-trail-whatsoever performance pieces and Darren Bader’s “lasagna on heroin” (a hunk of lasagna injected with heroin) – and considers such issues with conceptual art as insuring it (tricky) and storage (doesn’t need much).
Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’: The First Triumph Of Trans Literature?
Jeanette Winterson: “The novel … begins with a famously disingenuous sentence: ‘He, for there could be no doubt about his sex … ‘ and then we spend the rest of the novel doubting exactly that. Is Orlando the first English language trans novel? It is, yet in the most playful way. Orlando manages his transition with grace and a profound truth. On seeing himself as a herself for the first time in the mirror, she remarks: ‘Different sex. Same person.'”
Is It Exploitive To Use Real-Life Terrorist Attacks As Subjects For Feature Films?
“This year sees the release of two films which centre on the 2011 attack in Norway by rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, which left 77 people dead. … Questions arise around the ethics of this particular docudrama style of film-making – what can a film based on real events tell us that documentary footage or eyewitness testimony cannot?”
Columbus Considers Ticket Tax To Fund Local Arts, And Local Artists Are Divided On It
“Under the proposal, tickets for events like concerts, movie showings and professional sports games would be subject to a 7 percent tax. The tax, if passed by Columbus City Council, would help fund local arts as well as maintenance at Nationwide Arena. But members of the arts community are divided on how much it would actually benefit the city.”