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48 articles, 2016-07-02 06:00 1 Morning Links: $3 Billion Art Feud Edition Must-read stories from around the world 2016-07-01 08:37 1KB www.artnews.com

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2 Alexis Silk, 2016 Spotlight Artist Alexis Silk is breaking exciting ground with dramatic new works in blown glass and metal that are at once timeless and thought provoking. Emerging from the intersection of the artist's fascination with the human figure, passion for her molten medium, and desire for conceptual expression,... 2016-07-02 06:00 2KB artexponewyork.com 3 DAY 2 AT ARTEXPO: SPECIAL KEYNOTE, LIVE ART DEMOS & MORE Friday at Artexpo brought throngs of visitors through the gates of Pier 94 to see artwork from over 400 exhibitors from around the world, comprising more than 1,000 artists in total. The doors opened early for the event's Keynote Presentation by Pam Danziger, "Marketing Art... 2016-07-02 06:00 1KB artexponewyork.com 4 AENY 2016 Recap: Highlights from an Incredible Year That's a wrap! Artexpo New York has taken the fine-art scene by storm yet again, and we've got the sales, stories, and gorgeous collection of photos and videos to prove it. We'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone... 2016-07-02 06:00 2KB artexponewyork.com 5 david moreno's sculptures create with steel rods drawings in space the unique motives generated are constantly repeated in an addictive, disturbing and poetic way at the same time. 2016-07-01 23:45 1KB www.designboom.com 6 alta motors 'redshift' electric motorbikes powered by a 14,000 RPM motor and a 5.8 kWh battery, alta motors 'redshift' bikes are faster and more rideable than their gas counterparts 2016-07-01 22:30 2KB www.designboom.com 7 YouTube’s Joey Graceffa Launches Crystal Jewelry Line YouTubeREd Escape the Night star Joey Graceffa launches a line of crystal jewelry 2016-07-01 22:14 2KB wwd.com

8 Christian Wijnants Previews Spring Looks The Belgian designer is merging his pre-collection and core collection into one great collection — in two parts. 2016-07-01 20:43 2KB wwd.com 9 Jade Street Protection Services, Squirrel Girl, Jupiter’s Legacy, Grayson: This Week in Comics #24 Misbehaving 'Sailor Moon'-esque super teens train their powers in one of the four awesome comics of the week. 2016-07-01 20:30 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 10 How a Small Animation Company Created Greatest Battle Scene It took a Iloura eight months to animate Game of Thrones' epic "Battle of the Bastards. " 2016-07-01 19:50 3KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 11 ji-shi disney restaurant by atelier I-N-D-J the interior attempts to accentuate and conceal existing details, with highlights provided by richly-toned furnishings and custom pulley light fixtures. 2016-07-01 19:15 1KB www.designboom.com 12 Björk Reveals Neri Oxman's 3D-Printed Mask Based on Her Face At a performance in Tokyo, Icelandic singer Björk has unveiled a wild 3D-printed mask commissioned from Neri Oxman. 2016-07-01 18:56 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 13 Wael Shawky’s Surreal ‘Cabaret Crusades’ at Kunsthaus Bregenz Wael Shawky’s “Cabaret Crusades” have graced various events and institutions in the past years, from the 2012 documenta 13 in Kassel to the Egyptian artist’s first solo show at MoMA PS1 last year (see a video here). This month, the last two parts of the... 2016-07-01 17:38 1KB www.blouinartinfo.com 14 An Artist Fought a World Champion Kickboxer. Here's What Happened: Czech artist Matyáš Chochola went head to head with 14-time world champion kickboxer Azem Maksutaj at Manifesta 11, the European contemporary art biennial. 2016-07-01 17:35 8KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 15 j. mayer h. designs one of the five museum garage's façades in miami the concept of various architects working on different segments of one building envelope is an exciting innovative design strategy to explore collaboration, adjacencies and cross-referencing. 2016-07-01 17:30 2KB www.designboom.com 16 Meet the Body Painting Artist Blending Humans into Nature Nude bodies get painted into jungle and desert landscapes to show the power of being one with the Earth. 2016-07-01 17:25 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 17 Watch Mirrors Create Substanceless Space, Beautiful Geometry with Lasers The latest piece in Tokyo-based Shohei Fujimoto’s 'Power of One' series uses mirrors to create warped, wiggling laser animations. 2016-07-01 17:20 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 18 Designer agnès b.’s Research Schooner Headed to Miami En Route to a Two-Year Tour Parsi-based designer agnès b is a big supporter of research exploring environmental disruptions linked to climate change and increasing stress from human activities. 2016-07-01 17:00 3KB wwd.com 19 ‘Half of the French Think He’s a Very Bad Writer’: Palais de Tokyo Director Jean de Loisy on His Divisive Michel Houellebecq Show Michel Houellebecq, Irlande. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND AIR DE PARIS It’s hard to explain to people outside of France just how notorious Michel Houellebecq is 2016-07-01 17:00 9KB www.artnews.com 20 Katharina Grosse's "Rockaway! " Spotlights a Fragile Neighborhood Grosse’s installation demonstrates how, with a somewhat rhizomatic approach, the cultural hub of a major city can support even its farthest-flung communities. 2016-07-01 16:50 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 21 Field Trip to Mars in a Real-Life Magic School Bus All aboard the first-ever headset-free VR vehicle. 2016-07-01 16:50 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 22 A New Exhibition Probes the Frightening Field of Neuromarketing On view at FARAGO, 'The Pleasure Principle' explores cultural hybridity and neuromarketing through its storefront façades. 2016-07-01 16:10 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com

23 Manga Art Shakes Up Hamburg’s MKG Hamburg's MKG has joined forces with Hamburg’s Manga trade fair MaGnology to promote its exhibition “Hokusai x Manga” and is hosting the three-day event. 2016-07-01 16:08 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 24 Julia Restoin Roitfeld Named Creative Director of Didier Dubot The designs will launch with a limited, exclusive run at Colette on Monday. 2016-07-01 16:01 1KB wwd.com 25 poacher & hound café the interior by techne architects features a liberal use of earthy materials including terracotta, brick, and granite gravel. 2016-07-01 16:01 1KB www.designboom.com 26 Legal Fight Heats Up over Peter Beard Photo Show in Hamptons Photographer Peter Beard's lawyer is threatening legal action against Gallery Valentine for violating the terms of a settlement. 2016-07-01 15:40 3KB news.artnet.com 27 3D-Printed Zoetropes Use Light to Bring Figures to Life Japanese media artist Akinori Goto's translucent sculptures propel an early animation tool into the future. 2016-07-01 15:40 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 28 Scarlett Johansson Named the Highest- Grossing Female Actress Johansson was honored in Chicago on Thursday night by the Gene Siskel Film Center. 2016-07-01 15:28 1KB wwd.com 29 ‘GLASS’ Exhibition Explores the Medium with Three Art Greats Kiki Smith, Fred Wilson, and Maya Lin explore the material-as- medium in 'GLASS,' a new exhibition at Pace Gallery. 2016-07-01 14:55 3KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 30 Mystical Performance Art Opens an Interdimensional Portal in Miami Lights, music, and projection-mapped fashion dazzled audiences during Aileen Quintana's debut performance of 'Interdimensional Baths.' 2016-07-01 14:35 7KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com

31 Fendi to Host Runway Show at Rome’s Trevi Fountain Held on July 7, the runway show will celebrate the brand’s 90th anniversary. 2016-07-01 14:31 2KB wwd.com 32 Kenny Schachter on the London Auctions, Brexit, and the New Nihilists Our columnist Kenny Schachter attends the heady post-Brexit London auctions and returns with stories from the art world front. 2016-07-01 14:23 15KB news.artnet.com 33 A Vineyard in the French Riviera Had Its Walls Covered in Comic Book Art Monaco-based artist Marc Ferrero talks “Storytelling Art” and his collaboration with the Château Saint-Maur vineyard. 2016-07-01 13:25 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 34 28 MFA Artists Shatter the Boundaries Between Photography and Video Graduating artists push the limits of their mediums in SVA’s MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media thesis exhibition. 2016-07-01 13:10 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 35 The One That Got Away: 12 Art World Insiders Name the Show They Most Regret Missing From home shows to museum surveys, curators, artists, and dealers weigh in on what exhibition they most regret missing, and relate why they didn't make it. 2016-07-01 13:01 14KB news.artnet.com 36 George Henry Longly at Red Bull Studios New York Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday 2016-07-01 12:31 2KB www.artnews.com 37 DOCUMERICA: A Portrait of the Country Come Back to Life The 1970s EPA photo project resulted in images colorfully illustrating the nation’s environmental, health, and social problems. Filed away in 1976, they are now available on line. 2016-07-01 12:12 4KB www.blouinartinfo.com

38 ‘The Work Helps Me Remember’: Nan Goldin’s Photographs of Friends and Lovers, in 1993 and 2006 Nan Goldin, Trixie on the Cot, New York City. 1979, silver dye bleach print, printed 2008.©2016 NAN GOLDIN/MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, ACQUIRED THROUGH THE 2016-07-01 12:00 3KB www.artnews.com 39 Martha Rosler Described Women’s Issues of ’75; They’re Still With Us Read THE DAILY PIC on Rosler's 'postcard-novels' at Alden Projects, which speak of privilege, industrial foods and migrant labor. 2016-07-01 11:50 2KB news.artnet.com 40 Why Christo’s ‘Floating Piers’ Is an Apt Symbol for Post-Brexit Europe Christo's Floating Piers are beautiful in their idealism and execution; they're also illustrative of what arises when connecting shores. 2016-07-01 10:58 5KB news.artnet.com 41 UK Museum of the Year Nominee Profile: V&A Our series of profiles for the Art Fund's Museum of the Year continues with one of the UK's best known and loved museums. 2016-07-01 10:55 3KB www.blouinartinfo.com 42 Martin-Gropius-Bau Brings Berenice Abbott’s New York to Berlin Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau is celebrating one of early Modernism’s most seminal female photographers this summer, with a large-scale exhibition of the works of Berenice Abbott (1898-1991). 2016-07-01 10:54 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 43 ‘The Unpredictable Richness of Collage’: In Zurich, Zaha Hadid’s Final Project, the Design for a Kurt Schwitters Show, Goes on View Installation view of "Kurt Schwitters: Merz,"designed by Zaha Hadid, 2016, at Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich. ©GALERIE GMURZYNSKA In 2010, Galerie Gmurzynska, on 2016-07-01 10:00 10KB www.artnews.com 44 Kings of the Hills: On New York’s Governors Island, Adriaan Geuze, West 8, and Rachel Whiteread Craft a Rustic Landscape View of Outlook Hill from Discovery Hill. Outlook Hill, the tallest of the four hills, rises 70 feet above the island. TIM SCHENCK On July 19, the Hills, ten 2016-07-01 09:30 4KB www.artnews.com 45 Contemporary Design From Belgium Breaks Through Globally Belgian galleries are leading the way in contemporary design. Feature on names to watch. 2016-07-01 09:29 7KB www.blouinartinfo.com 46 Helmut Newton, Alice Springs and Mart Engelen Come Together in Berlin “Alice Springs: The MEP Show/ Helmut Newton: Yellow Press/ Mart Engelen: Portraits” is on display at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in the Museum für Fotografie, through October 11, 2016. 2016-07-01 09:16 3KB www.blouinartinfo.com 47 World’s Oldest Photography Studio in India Closes its Doors After 176-Year Run Responsible for some of the most iconic photographs of the 19th and 20th centuries, Bourne & Shepherd closes after 176 years in business. 2016-07-01 08:00 2KB news.artnet.com 48 The Best Events Happening in New York Over July 4th Weekend After barbeques, fireworks, and parties, there are several special events for families with kids of all ages. Check them out here. 2016-07-01 07:01 6KB news.artnet.com Articles

48 articles, 2016-07-02 06:00

1 Morning Links: $3 Billion Art Feud Edition (1.04/2) Van Gogh’s The Olive Pickers , 1889. VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS FAMILY A $3 billion family art feud concerning the collection of a Greek shipping mogul and his wife. “When Balthus’s biographer, Nicholas Fox Weber, visited the couple in Switzerland, he said the paintings rimming their walls ‘made my knees go wobbly.'” [Wall Street Journal] New York-based architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien have been chosen to design the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. [The Chicago Tribune] CHANGES “Guy Ullens, collector and founder of Beijing’s Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, has announced that he is looking to hand over ownership of the UCCA to someone who can continue to support and develop the institution in the years to come.” [Artforum] Lisa Liebmann, longtime contributor to Artforum , died this past Wednesday night. [Artforum] ART NIGHT On July 2, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London will hold an all-night Art Night festival across the city. [The Guardian] ARTISTS Chicago-based filmmaker and artist Cauleen Smith has won the first Ellsworth Kelly Award. [New York Times] Martine Syms on the way that the entertainment industry constructs identities. [SCPR.org] Thomas Bayrle at Mezzanin in Geneva. [Contemporary Art Daily] 2016-07-01 08:37 The Editors

2 Alexis Silk, 2016 Spotlight Artist Alexis Silk is breaking exciting ground with dramatic new works in blown glass and metal that are at once timeless and thought provoking. Emerging from the intersection of the artist’s fascination with the human figure, passion for her molten medium, and desire for conceptual expression, the work exhibits surprising maturity and depth. Technically, Silk is pushing the boundaries of what is possible, sculpting her glass figures entirely freehand while the glass is hot on the end of a blowpipe or punty rod. Her largest figures are close to half her body weight and take a team of six assistants to handle the glass while she is sculpting it. While making intrinsically beautiful objects, Silk explores issues of human nature, society, and the relationship of humans, nature, and industry. Her hanging figures are an eloquent exploration of objectification of the body. Since receiving her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005, Silk has continued to study with glass masters such as Pino Signoretto, Richard Royal, and Boyd Sugiki. She has been working full time as an artist since 2006. Today she has work in museums, galleries, private collections, and fine art shows around the world. A much-anticipated programming element of Redwood Media Group’s other art shows, the Spotlight Artist Program is being featured for the very first time at Artexpo New York in 2016 and will continue to be a highlight at the show in future years. Alexis Silk is one of four esteemed artists selected for this year’s Spotlight Artist Program. 2016-07-02 06:00 lmullikin

3 DAY 2 AT ARTEXPO: SPECIAL KEYNOTE, LIVE ART DEMOS & MORE Friday at Artexpo brought throngs of visitors through the gates of Pier 94 to see artwork from over 400 exhibitors from around the world, comprising more than 1,000 artists in total. The doors opened early for the event’s Keynote Presentation by Pam Danziger, “Marketing Art in Today’s New Luxury Style,” during which the renowned speaker, author, and market researcher provided tips for artists and gallery owners in attendance. The day was filled with inspiring Meet the Artist events and live art demonstrations, giving attendees the chance to see featured exhibitors in action and learn about their paths to becoming successful artists. Showgoers also enjoyed mingling with exhibitors and other art lovers alike at the night’s two parties: the Meet & Greet Reception sponsored by Art Brand Studios, and the Focus on Design Friday Reception sponsored by Art Design Consultants. It was another fabulous day and evening at Artexpo —and we know Saturday and Sunday will continue the trend! Don’t forget to follow Artexpo New York on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on all the fun happening at the show this weekend! 2016-07-02 06:00 lmullikin

4 AENY 2016 Recap: Highlights from an Incredible Year That’s a wrap! Artexpo New York has taken the fine-art scene by storm yet again, and we’ve got the sales, stories, and gorgeous collection of photos and videos to prove it. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who played a part, from our extraordinary exhibitors and generous sponsors to our ever-eager attendees. Read on to find out more about 2016’s show— we’re proud to say it was another phenomenal one! Moments to Remember Throughout the four-day weekend, attendees enjoyed a number of exciting events, from the VIP Opening Night Preview Party featuring the unveiling of this year’s Poster Challenge winner to inspiring Art Talks, Meet the Artist sessions, and more. Famed dance photographer Jordan Matter wowed us all with his live photo shoots, and painters from around the world gave us a peek at their creative process during live art demonstrations. On Friday, author and industry leader Pamela N. Danziger gave the Keynote Presentation to a rapt audience of exhibitors and trade attendees. 2016 Artexpo Award Winners Over a dozen artists and galleries were given special recognition during Artexpo this year for their work that went above and beyond. Here’s a full list of 2016 award recipients: Top Sales & Success Stories Here’s a sampling of some of our exhibitors’ top sales and feedback for the event. See more testimonials here ! Media Buzz Artexpo New York garnered tons of attention in media outlets in New York and beyond, with coverage including a shout-out in PAPER magazine, which dubbed our show as a “must-see,” a segment on CBS New York , and many others. We also reached tens of thousands of fans via social media, offering followers around the world up-to-the-minute event tidbits and photos on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram. Thanks to everyone liking and following us on our social media channels—we love keeping you engaged! Exhibit in 2017 Inspired by this year’s event to give exhibiting a shot yourself, or want to return to Artexpo after having a successful show this year? Apply for 2017 here , or contact our helpful sales team —they’ll be happy to help you. 2016-07-02 06:00 sdalton

5 david moreno's sculptures create with steel rods drawings in space david moreno is a barcelona-based artist whose work aims and succeeds in transferring the two-dimensions of paper to the three dimensions of space. to do so, he first starts with a drawing that then becomes a sculpture made with steel rods that are juxtaposed several times, resulting in a series of micro-atmospheres. the unique motives generated are constantly repeated in an addictive, disturbing and poetic way at the same time. the rhythm, the gesture, the line drawing and the experiment of drawing with thin steel rods and piano wires are the basis for this exploration of david moreno which results in small pieces with great delicacy and tender characteristics. once the pieces are on a gallery wall, light complements it by creating a game of shadows that gives another level of deepness to the drawings. when seeing the pieces, the viewer can sense a hand that goes around without tiring, over and over again. designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. 2016-07-01 23:45 David Moreno

6 alta motors 'redshift' electric motorbikes alta motors’ electric motorbikes are solely designed for weaving through city traffic the first sketches of the alta motors ‘redshift’ electric motorcycles began in san francisco in 2007. since then, and with the help of experts in fabrication, engineering and design, the company managed to create two-wheel electric machines that are faster and more rideable than their gas counterparts. every component of the chassis and drivetrain is designed from the ground up to achieve maximum strength per pound. this allows alta motors to remove all extraneous material and assign most parts to many jobs, across different systems. that’s why the ‘redshifts’ can reach speeds of 137 km/h and have a range of up to 80 kilometers, which is ideal for urban environments. the ‘alta’ pack crams 5.8 kWh into 30.8 kilograms with a maximum of 350V. the battery team at the company spent three years developing and commercializing a suite of new packs in order to achieve the performance and safety riders demanded of an everyday bike. waterproof and durable, the system can also handle shocks and vibes up to 20G. each bike has a water-cooled 14,000 RPM motor which is pound-for-pound one of the most powerful in moto-sports. it’s optimized to the narrow width of the ‘redshift’s’ bulkhead and is located at the precise roll center of the bike. this placement allows for the lowest polar moment of inertia in motorcycling, drastically minimizing any gyroscopic impediment to handling. freed from the challenges of a hot exhaust system, alta engineers have re- imagined the ideal subframe structure. the core is made entirely of ‘makroblend’ – a resin engineered for durability and comfort. this allows the whole bike to be compliant for rider comfort and to bounce back rather than bend or brake in a crash. to achieve a more efficient structure, the team designed a system of internal ribs and a stressed skin like an airplane fuselage. all together, the ‘redshift’ airframe tests at multiples of the strength of a standard aluminum or polymer subframe. the narrow bulkhead allows the motorbike to slip past traffic 2016-07-01 22:30 Piotr Boruslawski

7 YouTube’s Joey Graceffa Launches Crystal Jewelry Line More Articles By YouTube personality and vlogger Joey Graceffa has mastered the art of multitasking. With a new show called “Escape the Night” just launching on YouTube Red, the 25-year- old Internet star recently introduced a line of jewelry called Crystal Wolf, aimed at his legion of fans and crystal lovers alike. The star first fell in love with the glittering stones about a year ago, during a trip to New Mexico. As he entered a store, “my head just about exploded — there were so many crystals everywhere!” Moving beyond their shiny appeal, he started studying the different healing-, energy- and health- oriented properties traditionally associated with crystals. His web site, which launched June 21, dispenses Graceffa’s knowledge of various stones and their powers. He is especially fond of rose quartz, thought to bring love (including love of self) into one’s life. In fact, his first collection features a rose-quartz arrowhead, based on a piece he owns in titanium quartz. The most challenging aspect of all this? Getting it to, well, crystallize. “I had the idea for a while, but like most things in life, the hardest part is just doing it,” he told WWD at a YouTube video taping. “No one is going to be more passionate than you. I had to keep constantly pushing to make it happen.” He worked with a design team in Los Angeles to help him turn his jewelry ideas into actual designs, taking inspiration from his personal collection of crystal pieces. The new line focuses on pendant necklaces, but also offers one choker on a velvet ribbon, druzy stud earrings and a bracelet. The vlogger said he would like to include more bracelets, and rings as well, into the future collections he hopes to introduce seasonally — even monthly. His crystal aesthetic also carries over into iPhone cases and stick-on nail art, available through the Crystal Wolf web site. Ranging from $14.99 to $19.99, the pieces are comfortably priced — presumably to make them affordable for Graceffa’s young fan base. 2016-07-01 22:14 Roxanne Robinson

8 Christian Wijnants Previews Spring Looks While ready-to-wear label Vetements is to send out its spring 2017 collection on Sunday during couture week, Christian Wijnants , too, is fine-tuning strategy. The Belgian designer is merging its pre-collection and core collection into one — in two parts. “We worked for two-and-a-half years with four collections per year. I was tired of having so many [collections.] I think it’s confusing for the clients, too,” he said. The designer is to continue with four drops a year, but will incorporate his pre-collection into his show during Paris Fashion Week. “The concept of pre-collection is relevant: It’s good to have new merchandise every three months,” said the designer. “Pre-collections often sell better than the core collection. For many designers, they represent up to 70 percent of their turnover,” said Wijnants who, for his part, generates almost half of his sales with his pre-collections. With that in mind, they don’t get the exposure they deserve by simply being featured in a look book and should get a nicer play by being part of a show, according to the designer. While he thinks a show in October is always a good idea, he argued that it comes at the end of the season when buyers often have already spent their budgets. So he started previewing around 150 pieces — some will be in his October show — to buyers at a Paris showroom on 11 Rue des Blancs Manteaux in the Marais district last week, before they travel to other showrooms, including in London, New York and Tokyo. The spring 2017 collection reflects the tweak in his strategy. There are more between-seasons pieces (with jacquards, alpaca and fabrics for spring — knitwear is a Wijnants specialty; he won the International Woolmark prize in 2013) and themes in common between the two parts of the collection for more consistency. “We did a lot of balloon pieces, to give roundness. It will be even more pronounced in the next drop, with more summery fabrics,” he explained. For spring 2017, the designer favors graphic looks mixing polka dots and stripes in different directions. Among the highlights are the jackets with flocked stripes that come in rose and black, or khaki and black. Wijnants plans to open a pop-up store in Tokyo this fall, following a pop-up in Hong Kong. The label counts one standalone boutique in Antwerp, Belgium and around 100 doors worldwide. 2016-07-01 20:43 Laure Guilbault

9 Jade Street Protection Services, Squirrel Girl, Jupiter’s Legacy, Grayson: This Week in Comics #24 Panel from Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #9. Illustrated by Erica Henderson. Screencap via the author. This wasn't a huge week for huge titles, which means there’s plenty of room to check out the side stories of major publishers. Sure, DC’s releasing another Frank Miller comic about angry Batman and cranky Superman, but there’s so much more to slough through. For instance, why get caught up in Civil War II when Marvel’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl has firmly moved from clever fan favorite to near-perfect imprint? This week’s best feature the aforementioned Squirrel Girl, a group of detention-doomed teenage girls with Sailor Moon -like powers, villains trying to save the world from heroes, and an ex-Robin super spy. Cover for Jade Street Protection Services #1. Cover illustrated by Annie Wu. Photo courtesy of Black Mask Studios. Jade Street Protection Services , written by Katy Rex, is a comic about five teenage girls in a private school for the magically-inclined. Each of the girls’ magical abilities are tied to a weapon of choice, from a huge mallet to a small pistol, and when they concentrate they can transform into a magical version of themselves à la Sailor Moon. But these girls are mischevious, class-cutting, rambunctious teens, making this comic feel equal parts Sailor Moon and The Breakfast Club. It’s a brilliant idea, and Jade brings both of those adolescent staples into the present in a way that’s modern, relatable, touching, and gleefully rebellious. Fabian Lelay’s artwork seamlessly slides between American action comic and teenage manga while Mara Jayne Carpenter’s colors keep the non-magical moments grounded in reality while the magical moments explode with neons. Cover for Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #9. Illustrated by Erica Henderson. Photo courtesy of Marvel Comics. When Mole Man interrupts a terrible date with Squirrel Girl, she’s both relieved and ready kick some butt. But Mole Man’s motivations may be, initially, more justified than they seem. And so starts another wonderful, cheery, smart issue of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. The most amazing part about this comic is that it paints Mole Man as a guy who thinks he’s in love with Squirrel Girl, and then thinks he’s owed something romantic from her after he does what he considers a big, romantic gesture. One could almost imagine Mole Man complaining about being “friend-zoned” in this issue, such is his petulant expectations of love and romance. And even though he’s let down softly, he still doesn’t learn, and needs to be taught that one can’t convince someone to like them. It’s a good lesson for young people who may not have learned it yet, and this comic says a lot without being too preachy. This series is absolutely for both newcomers to comics and old die-hards, a must-read. Cover for Jupiter’s Legacy Vol. 2, #1. Illustrated by Frank Quitely. Photo courtesy of Image Comics. Jupiter’s Legacy takes place in a world where a new breed of superheroes take over, and they’re cruel, mean-spirited, and vain. Now, a few heroes who reject that lifestyle team up with all the old supervillains they can find in an attempt to crack back at the “good guys.” This comic’s written by Mark Millar, famous for creating Kick-Ass , among other comics, and this issue is a true refinement of his work. This is mature, wonderfully tense, quick- moving writing that’s perfectly suited to Frank Quitely’s understated, make- you-stare artwork. Though readers don’t need to go back and read volume one, they might as well... it’s such good work. Cover for Grayson: Annual #3. Illustrated by Mikel Janin. Photo courtesy of DC Comics. Grayson is a great comic for an often underrated character. Dick Grayson, formerly Batman’s trusty kid sidekick Robin, is now a secret agent travelling around the world working for a shadow agency. It’s classic “spy stuff,” and this issue is a great introduction to the series. John Constantine, Harley Quinn, Azrael, and the Green Lantern all meet to share stories of the mysterious “Agent 37,” and the reader is treated to four short stories each illustrated by a different artist. This is really solid anthology work on display here, and this comic’s recommended for people who are more into Mission: Impossible than The Dark Knight. What were you reading this week? Let us know on Twitter or in the comments below. Related: Wonder Woman, Shonen Jump, Gwenpool, Rumble: This Week in Comics #23 This Week in Comics #22 This Week in Comics #21 2016-07-01 20:30 Giaco Furino

10 How a Small Animation Company Created Greatest Battle Scene Still from Iloura's 2016 Game of Thrones Season 6 breakdown reel on Vimeo Iloura might be the best visual effects studio you’ve never heard of. Comedy director Seth MacFarlane described their work on his movie Ted as “the finest character animation I’ve ever seen on film.” Last year they scored an Oscar nomination for their VFX work on Mad Max: Fury Road. They’ve produced sequences for Wolverine , The Great Gatsby , and the new Paul Feig Ghostbusters reboot. How did a small Australian animation company end up working with some of the most powerful people in Hollywood? For a start, the Iloura team has spent decades honing their craft. “I’m in my 20th year here,” Iloura’s Head of VFX Simon Rosenthal tells The Creators Project. In that time, he says, the company “has grown from a traditional post business working in advertising to a dedicated feature animation and VFX studio.” Perhaps the studio's greatest recent coup was working on episode nine's "Battle of the Bastards," widely regarded as the pinnacle of Game of Thrones ’ sixth season. Iloura’s involvement with the show was a long time coming, as Rosenthal explains: “We had been in conversations, on and off, with Steve Kullbeck [the Game of Thrones VFX Producer] for a number of years about the possibility of getting involved,” he says. “I took a call from Steve in mid 2015, and the discussions around that sequence began. Steve approached Iloura because we have some history with photo realistic horses, which is obviously a key element of the series.” The detailed battle sequence took eight months of hard work to complete. “We started work on it in October 2015, and for all intents and purposes had wrapped up by May of this year,” Rosenthal explains. Animating the battle was an involved process. “It was extremely complex,” Rosenthal admits. “Certainly one of the most complex pieces of work we have undertaken. The building of photo real horses, digital doubles, crowd duplication of both horses and humans, environmental work that included extensions and matte paintings, plus key frame animation...the list is endless. It truly was one with the lot.” Iloura recently put together a montage reel that breaks down the "Battle of the Bastards" animation process. It provides awe-inspiring insight into the amazing special effects behind an episode that was grueling, even by Game of Thrones ' standards. Iloura 2016 Game of Thrones Season 6 breakdown reel from Iloura on Vimeo . You’d think that after eight months of duplicating muddy blood-covered horses, Rosenthal would have taken a well-deserved break. Instead, he produced major animation sequences for Ghostbusters and Deepwater Horizon. “Quite different projects too,” he says. “ Ghostbusters is very much character animation-based, whereas Deepwater Horizon is VFX-based.” He’s tightlipped on the studio’s future plans, but they sound big. “We have some very interesting opportunities in play, but I can’t mention them just yet.” You can find out more about Iloura's work here . This article originally appeared on The Creators Project Australia/New Zealand. Related: Inside Last Night’s Brutal 'Game of Thrones’ Chase Scene How 'Game of Thrones' Designed Last Night's Fiery Set Piece How 'Game of Thrones' Pulled Off Last Night's Shocking Twist 2016-07-01 19:50 Katherine Gillespie

11 ji-shi disney restaurant by atelier I-N-D-J located in recently-formed disney town, on the outskirts of shanghai, is the ‘ji-shi disney’ eatery designed by atelier I-N-D-J. occupying a plain concrete building, the interior attempts to accentuate and conceal existing details, with highlights of richly-toned furnishings and custom pulley light fixtures. two dining areas are formed by a division of views. the outer limits, characterized by red leather and carefully exposed ductwork, overlooks a lake located just beyond the restaurant’s plot. the second dining area features deep colors that contrast highly with a white ceiling. private rooms utilize a ribbed-radial form to break the squareness of original construction. ‘ji-shi disney’ was designed by auckland-based studio atelier I-N-D-J. always busy, an exposed kitchen provides sensory experience to guests a central ceiling terminates in another wall that encompasses the larger seating area designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. 2016-07-01 19:15 www.designboom

12 Björk Reveals Neri Oxman's 3D-Printed Mask Based on Her Face Björk wore the mask at the opening of the Tokyo leg of her BJÖRK DIGITAL event series, a virtual reality project that will run through July 18. It was billed as the world’s first ever event to be broadcast live with 360-degree virtual reality streaming. The singer is showcasing her latest album, “Vulnicura,” to the backdrop of high-resolution images of the earth, and light projections mapped onto the 3D mask. Named “Rottlace” – a variation of the Icelandic word “skinless,” the mask uses Stratasys’s advances in multi-material 3D printing to reflect the contrasting materials found in the face, from the rigid bone structure to the soft tissue of muscles, within a single printed object. The technology allows the creation of complex geometry, while retaining a unique flexibility and freedom of movement. It is possible for the singer to move her face and neck during the hour-long performances. “I am so incredibly blown away by Neri Oxman’s work and excited to finally work with her,” said Björk. “She is a true pioneer in capturing the biological with 3D printing in such a refined and profound way. It's been a real joy to get to know her!” The singer has long embraced cutting-edge technologies and styles. She wore a 3D-printed Pangolin dress, also by Stratasys, for a BJÖRK DIGITAL event in Sydney on June 4, and the mask is only the latest of innovative headpieces she has recently donned, including a prickly glow-in-the-dark piece by Maiko Takeda. Neri Oxman is currently working on a larger mask collection for Stratasys, titled “The New Ancient,” which will debut later in 2016. “It's an honor to see visionaries such as Björk embrace 3D printing as an expression of her art,” said Naomi Kaempfer, creative director of Art and Fashion Design at Stratasys. “This technology not only provides the freedom to produce perfect fitting costumes for the film and music industries, but also the inimitable capacity to materialize a unique fantasy to such a precise level of detail and 3D expression.” 2016-07-01 18:56 Jana Perkovic

13 Wael Shawky’s Surreal ‘Cabaret Crusades’ at Kunsthaus Bregenz Related Venues Kunsthaus Bregenz-Austria Wael Shawky’s “Cabaret Crusades,” with its puppet protagonists, have become famous for their stylish retelling of history. They have graced various events and institutions in the past years, from the 2012 documenta 13 in Kassel to the Egyptian artist’s first solo show at MoMA PS1 last year (see a video here ). This month, the last two parts of the epic film trilogy are coming to Austria’s Kunsthaus Bregenz. Inspired by French-Lebanese historian Amin Maalouf’s “The Crusades through Arab Eyes,” Shawky’s “Cabaret Crusades” reenact the story of the Christian crusades from 1096 A. D. on, using the seemingly innocent form of child’s play for presentation. While the first part featured antique marionettes from the 200 year old Lupi collection in Turin, the ensembles for the second and third part on view in Bregenz, “The Path to Cairo” (2012) and “The Secrets of Karbala” (2014), were custom made from ceramic and Murano glass, resulting in beautifully designed, yet surreal characters in an equally surreal account of historical religious aggression. Next to the film projections, the Bregenz show will also feature four glass panels engraved with historical maps, as well as “a kind of flying object” intended “both a metaphor for the 9/11 attacks and the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.” 2016-07-01 17:38 Lisa Contag

14 An Artist Fought a World Champion Kickboxer. Here's What Happened: Matyáš Chochola for Manifesta 11. Photo © Manifesta 11/Nora Hauswirth A red foam training mat spans the main floor space of the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art in Zurich, the inviting ground floor gallery of the Löwenbräukunst , one of the European contemporary art biennial Manifesta's two primary exhibition halls. Boxing gloves, heavy bags, and televisions acting as platforms for trophies and combat-born clay sculptures hang from chains affixed to the ceiling. Each TV plays a fight video, but these aren't YouTube's greatest knockouts. Instead, shot MTV- style, complete with neon lights, smoke machines, and pulsating pop music, they document a month of sparring between Czech artist Matyáš Chochola and 14-time world champion Muay Thai kickboxer Azem Maksutaj. Instead of the ass-kicking I expect, sporting electric green shorts, a tanktop, and a thick black beard, in the face of the fact that the Albanian-Swiss Maksutaj has a documented 57 wins by knockout , Chochola actually puts up a pretty good fight. In fact, himself a longtime disciple of kung fu, Chochola is perhaps the best possible sparring partner for Maksutaj in his later career as a kickboxing trainer: the ultimate reason that the artist picked the fighter to host him— each of the 30 projects commissioned for Manifesta 11 , which follows the theme "What people do for money," involved a monthlong "joint venture" between an artist and working professional in Zurich—was the pursuit of a role-reversal. In spending four weeks becoming his own vision of a kickboxing champion, Chochola sought to unleash Maksutaj's inner artist. From the looks of both Chochola's combat-readiness and the clay sculptures, glazed, pulpy, and energy-packed objects that were literally punched and kicked into existence by the artist and his kru (Muay Thai teacher), the transformation was complete. At the opening weekend of Manifesta 11, of which I was a guest, I talked to Matyáš Chochola about art, fights, and the point at which the student becomes the master: Matyáš Chochola for Manifesta 11. Photo © Manifesta 11/Nora Hauswirth The Creators Project: Can you tell me a little bit about your own background in martial arts before the project began? Matyáš Chochola: Oh yeah—I started doing kung fu many years ago. Last year in China, I practiced for a whole month in a temple in the Wudang Mountains. When Christian [Jankowski, the curator of Manifesta 11] asked me for this project, and directly asked me who I was gonna choose and which profession, I immediately answered boxing trainer because I feel there’s a lifestyle cliché behind the image and career of being a champion. After that, the personality of the trainer must be changed—and he has to deal with doing something else, like have a training gym and not fight anymore. This is everything I was interested in exploring: I wanted to see how many parallels or differences there are in between the character of the fighter and the character of the artist, and I was super curious as to how art and the fight can work together. This is the result. Matyáš Chochola, Löwenbräukunst. Photo © Manifesta11/Wolfgang Traeger It’s incredibly high-energy—I think that’s maybe the most striking thing when you walk in. Did you try to charge it with the emotion of a fight? You know, I’m not doing art just to bore people with shit you’ve seen everywhere else. I always try to do something people haven’t seen, haven’t thought about before, and when I think about how things look, I always want something that kicks. You don’t go to a gallery to lose your erection. When you see my art, I want you to be as excited as I want to be when I see it myself. Matyáš Chochola, Löwenbräukunst. Photo © Manifesta11/Wolfgang Traeger Now, all of the individual pieces here were created for this? All of the installation was created and set up during this project, just for this project, yeah. Matyáš Chochola and Azem Maksutaj, multiple Thai boxing world champion, manager and trainer Azem Kampfsport. Photo © Manifesta 11 Can you tell me about a few of the different types of objects? Yes, absolutely. So the videos, which are here on the screens, work as small shelves for the trophies. I got this idea to catch the atmosphere of the fight—to ask Azem to fight—and bring colored lights and smoke machines to the gym, because for training he usually uses kind of speedy pop music. So I thought, ok, I’m gonna do music video-style videos, kind of hip-hop, kind of lifestyle, to see the cliched image of the fighter and how we fought together. These are the videos made from that performance, and also from how we held the trophies at the end of the fight, Azem giving me his championship belt, saying, “Now, you are the champion. You fight well.” This is how we exchanged the role of the artist for the fighter, as well as the symbolic process of fighting, where those opposite opportunities were shared between us. Matyáš Chochola and Azem Maksutaj, multiple Thai boxing world champion, manager and trainer Azem Kampfsport. Photo © Manifesta 11 The ceramics collect the life and energy from the fights from different perspectives and were made as documentation of the whole process. Fighting, kicking, punching the clay with [the other] people training, I gathered all the energy inside. Then, there are the colors of their glazes, quite wild-striped. After the time in the gym, I wanted to invite people into my kind of situation. As an artist, I usually work with performances and rituals, so I arranged a ritual on what is said to be the legendary hill where Azem ran every day for 25 years to build up his career. I made a fire there, we said some prayers together, and I invited people from the gym into my situation. There, with some esoteric music, some UV lights, and a diesel engine making noise and pollution in the forest to support all the psychedelic stuff, we took the glazes and put them on the sculptures so they’re also documentation of that moment as well. Both the gym fighting and the artistic situations are merged here in one point. Matyáš Chochola for Manifesta 11. Photo © Manifesta 11/Nora Hauswirth You yourself had a background in fighting, so it wasn’t too hard to get into the fighter’s mindset. But for Azem, was it a challenge to take on the role of the artist? Yeah, yeah. Actually, there was a was nice moment of an absolute flip of our roles at the end, in this [first] fight, where Azem is obviously in condition, and I was just blocking his kicks to my head the whole time. He said it was a good fight. I know that the second one was much better—I got fit after one month, and because of my previous kung fu experience, I went for a good fight, really good. Even he said, “Matyáš, you are really getting better than me because I am older and you are young.” And I realized while we were punching color onto the [paintings], I wanted to destroy them. He said, “Please don’t. Explore them—they are so cool, they are so nice I want to keep them.” I realized I was more in the fight mood while he was more in the creative, artistic mood I knew he had inside from the beginning. In that moment, I was so surprised, I of course said, “Yeah, let’s keep it.” And we opened bottles of prosecco and just enjoyed, y’know? Courtesy Matyáš Chochola. Photo © Manifesta 11/Nora Hauswirth And that was when you knew it was finished? ... And now it’s finished, and we both came back. He’s back for the fight, I’m back for art, but we exchanged something: I got his power, he got this gratifying moment was here taking selfies of the installation, telling me, “Oh man, it’s my first time that I’ve been in this kind of museum in my life.” And he was really surprised. So that’s it. Courtesy Matyáš Chochola. Photo © Manifesta 11/Nora Hauswirth Manifesta 11 is on view through September 18, 2016. Click here to visit Matyáš Chochola's website. Related: Watch Kung Fu Physics Materialize Before Your Eyes 36,000 Kung Fu Kids Star in M. I. A. and GENER8ION's Video Here's a Robot Doing the 'Karate Kid' Crane Kick 2016-07-01 17:35 Emerson Rosenthal

15 j. mayer h. designs one of the five museum garage's façades in miami j. mayer h. designs one of the five museum garage's façades in miami j. mayer h. designs one of the five museum garage’s façades in miami image © j. mayer h. architekten curated by terence riley of K/R (keenen/riley), the ‘museum garage’ is commissioned as part of phase III development of the miami design district, a neighborhood dedicated to innovative art, design, and architecture. the seven-story mixed-used structure has a capacity for 800 vehicles and will host a retail area in the ground floor. the project will feature five dramatically different façades by j. mayer h., WORKac, clavel arquitectos, nicolas buffe and K/R, along with a mural by sagmeister & walsh. the project will feature five dramatically different façades designed by varios studios image © j. mayer h. architekten j. mayer h.’s façade design takes the idea of adjacencies and mediation and translates the voids by WORKac on the left into positive volumetric echoes. the red and white striped traffic pattern proposed by K/R architects on the other end of the garage finds referential graphics on j. mayer h.’s design. built in steel and aluminium, and painted in different colors, the façade is embedded with lighting that glow at night. as the idea of puzzling and interlocking is shown on the left side, the right edge of the façade segment is cut off with a straight vertical line analogue to all the other segments of the overall skin. built in steel and aluminium, and painted in different colors, the façade is embedded with lighting image © j. mayer h. architekten infrastructures and car spaces are rarely seen as architectural projects. in the context of the design district, the ‘museum garage’ becomes an urban component including commercial space on street level. the concept of various architects working on different segments of one building envelope is an exciting innovative design strategy to explore collaboration, adjacencies and cross-referencing. the right edge of the façade segment is cut off with a straight vertical line image © j. mayer h. architekten 2016-07-01 17:30 Juliana Neira

16 Meet the Body Painting Artist Blending Humans into Nature This article contains nudity. Images courtesy of the artist To represent humanity’s fragile relationship with Earth, Orly Faya paints her subjects into natural environments, each line and fold of their bodies used as a natural feature, camouflaging them into the terrain of their surrounding landscape. Inspired by the diverse aesthetics of various landscapes and cultures, the multidisciplinary artist travels to remote areas of the globe and blends people into their surroundings. Using body paint, she hides them in in forests, on plateaus, or amidst waterfalls. This requires a lot of patience and willpower from both parties, as Faya tells The Creators Project, “People are literally and metaphorically standing for the cause—and this stand takes a lot of willpower, focus, commitment and determination. People actually merge with the earth in ways that words cannot do justice. It is an intensely beautiful experience.” Faya looks to tell powerful stories in her paintings, using the human body to connect society to the natural world from whence we came. She says, “My art communicates the fundamental truth that we as human beings come from the earth itself and our sustainability as a species depends upon this recognition, and lives lived harmonious with nature.” Her work, in no small part a creative and spiritual journey, also comments on the increasing effects of consumerism on the environment. Faya is the founder of CreationsCalling.org , a platform harnessing creative potential in aid of environmental activism; her work tackles vital concepts around sustainability. Faya says, “Our lifestyles are generally over consumptive and we are taking from the earth more than we are giving. My intention is to help people wake up and remember themselves as pieces of earth.” To learn more about Orly Faya's work, click here. Related: Body Paintings and Activist Art In the Arizona Desert A Very-Pregnant Amanda Palmer Recreated a Damien Hirst Trippy Advertisements Make the Body More Than a Canvas 2016-07-01 17:25 Anna Marks

17 Watch Mirrors Create Substanceless Space, Beautiful Geometry with Lasers Images courtesy of the artist Programmed motors and lasers project trippy shapes onto mirrors in Surface , Tokyo-based mixed-media artist Shohei Fujimoto's latest addition to his Power of One installation series. Bathed in purple light, the lasers move in into different arrangements in time with a rhythmic beat. Meanwhile, two vertically symmetrical mirrors reflect images which multiply and disappear as the viewer moves around the installation. The entire piece creates a mirror-like effect, playing with both the strangeness of the surfaces, and the irregularity of the movement. A demonstration of Power of One #Surface can now be seen below. The piece was previously on display at the Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto. Fujimoto previously created a disco-ball-like installment as another piece in the Power of One series, called Power of One #Point. Another piece, Power of One #Timeline , uses a laser to project a light pattern onto objects and then output a visual representation of the data collected. Fujimoto has also previously extracted data from calligraphers and turned it into live music. Watch Power of One #Surface below: power of one #surface / test pattern 1 from Shohei FUJIMOTO on Vimeo. Visit Shohei Fujimoto's website for more. Related: X Marks the Art in Minimalist Light Installation ‘Convergence’ Immersive Dream Installations Ask Viewers to Slow Down How To Create a Carnival of Light Art 2016-07-01 17:20 Francesca Capossela

18 Designer agnès b.’s Research Schooner Headed to Miami En Route to a Two-Year Tour More Articles By About to sail for the Asia- Pacific region for a two-year study, the boat will examine the biodiversity of reefs and the impact of climate change on the corals of the Pacific. During its stopover in Miami from June 28 through July 5, visitors can explore the schooner on July 3 and 4. The designer was present when the Tara B departed from Lorient on May 28, starting a nearly 100,000-km Pacific Ocean tour expected to end in September 2018. The interdisciplinary team of scientists will consider the biodiversity and evolution of coral reefs in the context of major environmental disruptions linked to climate change and increasing stress from human activities. For 13 years, the Tara has been conducting research to understand how climate change and ecological crises are impacting the world’s oceans through 10 expeditions. As owner and main supporter of Tara, agnès b. has been very vocal about her concern about the fate of the planet. She said, “I have personally committed myself to this project, which in 2003, could seem like a complete utopia. But today, it is a remarkable story. Above all, it is a program that gave progress to science and which will continue. We succeeded to raise awareness to many of today’s youth to the environment, thanks to Tara’s human and scientific adventures.” The company has also reissued some of its favorite Tara-inspired pieces including a striped T-shirt with an image of the schooner. The 10-piece offering is available online and in the designer’s Howard Street store in New York for a limited time. After what should be a 23-day crossing to Miami, Tara will participate in the French-American Climate Talks on Oceans on July 1 at the Miami Dade College. From the Panama Canal to the archipelago of Japan in the first year and then on from New Zealand to China on the second, the schooner will cross 11 time zones and visit most remote islands and reefs to collect 40,000 samples. Easter Island, Auckland, Shanghai and Micronesia will be among the many stops. What will make this different is this expedition’s combination of coral biologists, oceanographers and plankton specialists, enabling us to get an overview on much larger scale than ever before. Besides pursuing our scientific goals, the Tara Expeditions Foundation is conducting a long-term advocacy plan to mobilize civil society and encourage decision makers and the business community to find solutions for protecting solutions for preserving the Ocean. “Miami will be an opportunity to explain our work and raise public awareness about the environment, with special attention to young people,” says Romain Troublé, executive director of the Tara Expeditions Foundation. 2016-07-01 17:00 Rosemary Feitelberg

19 ‘Half of the French Think He’s a Very Bad Writer’: Palais de Tokyo Director Jean de Loisy on His Divisive Michel Houellebecq Show Michel Houellebecq, Irlande. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND AIR DE PARIS It’s hard to explain to people outside of France just how notorious Michel Houellebecq is inside of France. “Half of the French think he’s a very bad writer,” said Jean de Loisy, the director of the Palais de Tokyo, the contemporary arts center, told me earlier this week. Houellebecq has been famous in the country for years now, as a novelist and gadfly, approaching topics such as the Thai sex trade, the rise of Muslim extremism, cloning, and nuclear apocalypse in his work with a lack of regard for political correctness that has made him the scourge of the Human Rights League, the World Islamic League, most critics, and all famous French intellectuals (including Bernard Henri-Lévy, with whom he co-authored a book called Public Enemies ). And he gained even more worldwide attention in January of last year for the unfortunate reason that he was depicted as a cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo at the time of the terrorist attack at that publication’s newsroom. Houellebecq COURTESY THE ARTIST AND AIR DE PARIS This summer he’s having a big moment in the contemporary art world. Having been involved with the Lyon Biennale in 2007, and having penned a book, The Map and the Territory , that features Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst as minor characters as it charts the international art market, Houellebecq has now become a full-on artist himself. A show called “Rester Vivant” (”To Stay Alive”), devoted to his work in visual art just opened at the Palais de Tokyo last week, and he’s featured prominently in Manifesta 11, Europe’s roving contemporary art biennale, which is now on view in Zurich, Switzerland. “I’ve known Michel for many years, 25 years, when he was publishing his first poems,” de Loisy told me, “and his publisher initiated Michel to the art world, as they were publishing a lot of catalogues and things. Since 1992 Michel has been in the art world, and that’s the period when I met him.” Still, it had never occurred to de Loisy to give one of France’s most infamous novelists a show at his museum, which typically focuses on promising young artists, until he saw a series of photographs by Houellebecq displayed in a small space across town. He thought they could be the germ for a kind of show. “I knew he was doing pictures and I didn’t see them until two years ago,” de Loisy said. “At the Palais de Tokyo we have a strong link to poetry, and we wanted to look at the relationship between art and literature.” I asked about the process of putting together a show by an artist who has never had a museum show before—de Loisy is listed as the sole curator— and he said it was quite easy, for one simple reason: he didn’t do anything. “At the end, there is nothing in the show that is not decided, conceived even, entirely by him, totally,” he said. “And since that moment it was a situation where the curator became totally useless. He did everything himself, with a strong obsession. He told me, ‘I don’t want it to be a show on Houellebecq, but a show by Houellebecq.’ ” Installation view of Michel Houellebecq, ‘Rester Vivant.’ COURTESY THE ARTIST AND AIR DE PARIS However, given the artist involved here, the show, which I saw last week, inevitably is both on and by Houellebecq, completely embodying him, and embodying his persistent need to insert himself into his own work. (Books by Michel Houellebecq often include characters named Michel Houellebecq.) “Rester Vivant” is split into two haves, a dark side and a light side. The dark side contains mostly of gloomy photos of a rotting Europe, besotted with terrorism and evil corporations. In case you don’t really feel the sense of death, there’s a tomb of Coca-Cola cans, on which rests a skull and a plaque that reads “Michel Houellebecq: 1958–2037.” Pictures accompanied by text have an aesthetic and a thematic approach that recalls the collaborations between Alex Israel and Bret Easton Ellis that were on display at Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles this February. (Maybe not a coincidence, given Ellis’s vocal support for Houellebecq: “ Michel Houellebecq is the most interesting, provocative and important European novelist of my generation. Period. No one else comes close.”) The light side is, well, much lighter. It’s filled with things that Michel Houellebecq likes, which mostly consists of Michel Houellebecq, but a few other things, too: his deceased Welsh corgi Clement, girl-on-girl pornography, shag carpets, The Stooges, poetry, and smoking. Yes, there’s actually a smoking room, completely sanctioned by the museum—welcome to Paris!—where you can listen to a jukebox filled with songs by Michel Houellebecq, or a Carla Bruni song recorded for the soundtrack of a movie based off of a Michel Houellebecq novel. Instead of reading as a gimmick, or a vacuous vanity project, the show exudes grace, humor, and self-awareness, which equivalent celebrity-driven shows in the U. S. never seem to deliver, for fear of not being taken seriously. “We work mostly with cutting-edge artists, and in a way, his fame is very cutting edge, too,” de Loisy told me. “It’s so seldom to have someone who has a public persona like this. He performs, he participates.” Like his books, the show has not won over everyone. Installation view of Michel Houellebecq, ‘Rester Vivant.’ COURTESY THE ARTIST AND AIR DE PARIS “The art magazines are totally divided,” de Loisy said. “Half of them say it’s not interesting, the photos are not good. And then half say they love it. I’d say it’s about 60 percent for it and 40 percent very against, which is very nice, a nice ratio.” De Loisy started laughing, absolutely gleeful at this mixed reaction. “We are a strange country, as you know,” he said. “We love revolutions.” That said, the show certainly could have been much more controversial: there are no references to the recent terrorist attacks in the city, such as the shooting at the Bataclan nightclub last year and the murders of staffers at Charlie Hebdo. After that attack, Houellebecq canceled all his promotional tours for Submission , the book that had landed him on the cover of Charlie Hebdo that week and that was released on the very day of the attacks. Submission is a political satire in which France elects a Muslim government in the year 2022. This is not a topic he has shied away from. In 2002, he faced charges of racial hatred at trial after proclaiming “Islam is the stupidest religion.” (He was acquitted, then sued by a civil rights group, then won the case on the grounds of free speech.) His old friend de Loisy thinks that the decision to make a tame show, relatively speaking, had to do with the artist’s mellowed temperament following the terrorist attacks. In his first interviews after Charlie Hebdo, Houellebecq was tearful. De Loisy told me, “He could have done exactly what[ever] he wanted, but he was very touched by the Bataclan and it’s part of the consequences of this. It’s painful, and he probably doesn’t want to return to it.” And so the works include a recreation of his man cave, complete with old beer cans on top of books and a record spinning off the needle, images of pin-up girls, that smoking room, bright photos of people on vacation, and snapshots of the Andalusian countryside. There’s a lounge with a bunch of nice couches, and chairs in every room, which suggests that Houellebecq just really wanted to make sure everyone was having a nice, comfortable time looking at his contemporary art exhibition. (Asked in the catalogue what kind of political statement he was making by putting a smoking room in a museum, he replies, simply, that he was just looking out for his fellow addicts.) Most prominently, there is the tribute to his late dog Clement, whom he clearly adored more than any human. There are a bunch of little stuffed animals in Clement’s likeness, drawings of the dog by his ex-wife with whom he shared the little guy, and a slide show that’s so outrageously cute and moving that it’s perversely hilarious in a way that makes you burst out laughing and then feel awful. Houellebecq even asked his good friend Iggy Pop to write a song about Clement that plays with the slide show. “Iggy Pop, we went together to the exhibition and he was so impressed,” de Loisy told me. “He saw the first photograph, and he thought that it was beautiful.” “He’s a real punk, and I love this guy, but he’s gotten older,” de Loisy went on. “After punk, we have to stay alive.” 2016-07-01 17:00 Nate Freeman

20 Katharina Grosse's "Rockaway! " Spotlights a Fragile Neighborhood Related Artists Katharina Grosse As Biesenbach, PS1’s director and a longtime Rockaway resident, points out, the Rockaways are fragile, by virtue of their location. This became clear in the wake of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, whose devastation hit these neighborhoods on the peninsula hardest. Although communities banded together to help the area recover, progress has at times been slow (the opening of this commission also coincides with the first time the fully restored Rockaway boardwalk will be accessible to the public). And with constant news of rising sea levels and the likelihood of more violent weather events to come, residents are concerned about keeping their neighbors across the city aware of the issue and continuing efforts to fortify the area against these threats. Grosse’s installation makes use of an old aquatics building from when Fort Tilden was a military base. The structure was condemned because of Sandy-inflicted damage. Biesenbach invited the artist to give the building a vibrant sendoff (Prospect Biennial commissioned her to undertake a similar project with a Katrina-ravaged house in the Ninth Ward for its first edition). To help, he enlisted not only his organization but the Rockaway Artists Alliance, the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, the National Park Service, the Central Park Conservancy, the NYC Department of Parks & Rec, and the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, as well. The hope is to raise awareness of the vulnerability of this natural treasure sitting on New York City’s outskirts and build support for creating a stronger long-term strategy for its preservation. Juliet Helmke 2016-07-01 16:50 Juliet Helmke

21 Field Trip to Mars in a Real-Life Magic School Bus Screencaps via Life on Mars has been the subject of countless films, books, and television shows, as far back as the 18th century , but never before has there been a Red Planet experience as immersive as this. The Mars Experience bus, the first-ever vehicle VR system, transports passengers from Earth to the barren Martian desert. Combining elements of artistic design and engineering, the team at Generation Beyond converted an everyday yellow school bus into a giant VR console that took a classroom of kids on an actual field trip—a long drive around DC included—to another world. The virtual landscape of the planet was designed by Framestore , the major VFX studio behind The Martian , Guardians of the Galaxy , and so many more. Using the Unreal game engine, the Framestore team created their own real-world environments, including cascading mountain ranges and bleak desert valleys. Up until this point, virtual reality has been resulted in a somewhat isolating experience for the individual. Generation Beyond's first big hurdle was to create a VR system that could a group could engaged with. By replacing each window on the bus with a transparent 4K display and a layer of switchable glass film, they were able to remove the headset, as adding electricity to this "smart" film causes the surfaces of the window glass to switch from transparent to opaque. This allowed the team to seamlessly switch between the world outside of the bus and their simulated environment. Sue McNamara, one of the Senior Producers at Framestore, says, “I think what makes it magical is that when the bus starts moving all of the hardware and software disappears and it just feels like you’re on Mars.” The simulator operates in sync with the actual movements of the bus. The vehicle's position and velocity is monitored using a GPS, a three-axis accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a laser surface velocimeter. The laser, fastened to the side of the bus, is pointed down at the floor, measuring how far the bus has moved in any particular direction, then recreating it on Mars' surface. Similarly, should the bus hit a pothole or speed bump, the simulator registers the information and recreates it on Mars. Whatever turns the bus makes, the simulator makes, too. In order to create such large and responsive grid, Generation Beyond and Framestore had to render their virtual Mars in real time. Developers mapped every street in Washington DC onto the virtual surface of Mars so the bus could travel anywhere in the city. They ended up developing a driveable area that came out to about 250 square miles, which is about four-fifths the area of New York City. Sound is another essential part of the experience. The simulated Mars ride takes place during a desert sandstorm. Fixed with a surround sound system, it's as close as it gets to being trapped in a deadly Martian typhoon. What's more, Generation Beyond is the educational subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. The program focuses on exploring creative new ways technology can be applied in and out of the classroom. Thus far, Generation Beyond’s program centers around space travel and the exploration of the Red Planet. In addition to the Mars Experience bus, the group has developed an interactive trip to Mars aboard the Orion spacecraft. Check out the Mars Experience below: How to Take a Field Trip to Mars from LM Bus on Vimeo. Learn more about the Generation Beyond program here . Related: How to Fly to Mars on a DIY Spaceship Now You Can Chart a Medieval Map of Mars Amanda Williams Envisions The Environmental Mysteries Of Mars 2016-07-01 16:50 Nathaniel Ainley

22 22 A New Exhibition Probes the Frightening Field of Neuromarketing Works by Whitney Valgrin Both in its physical layout and through the theme of its ongoing group exhibition, The Pleasure Principle , Los Angeles gallery FARAGO embodies the contemporary phenomenon that involves the singular—our physical existence—making way for the plural, the digital. Cultural spheres and industries previously unrelated now blend together, two sides of the same coin, to create new fields never seen before. Farago’s Storefront Façade Founded by artist Max Farago in 2014, FARAGO is reminiscent of your run- of-the-mill white cube, but it also has a “window-shopping” aspect to it, not dissimilar to a furniture or retail store. The space is made up of three sequential storefronts with transparent façades, encouraging the passerby to stop momentarily and contemplate what is inside but not necessarily wander in, an unusual tendency for a gallery space. Comfort Zone, Ada Sokol The Pleasure Principle , the current exhibition at FARAGO, takes this hybridization to even further heights. Curator Courtney Mallick has setup an exhibition revolving around neuromarketing , a relatively new field that fuses neuroscience research with marketing to further enhance capitalism’s penetration into the human psyche. The theme came to Mallick after learning about neuromarketing from Ada Sokol , one of the artists included in the exhibition, whose textual work Comfort Zone deals specifically with the ways neuromarketing interacts within the beauty industry. For women who loves bees, and raven brains, Lucy Chinen “While the idea of utilizing psychological findings towards marketing and media of all kinds is of course nothing new, the level of penetration with which neuromarketing attempts to parse the human brain and trigger its pleasure centers mark an important new direction in this type of persuasion politics,” Mallick explains to The Creators Project. “This is particularly because of the ever-increasing amount of time that most individuals spend online and the increasing amount of personal and sensitive information that they share therein.” http://yoshuaokon.com/ing/works/freedomfries/video_vi.html from Yoshua Okon on Vimeo . The idea of the preyed-upon consumer controlled by the capitalist monolith is highlighted in Yoshua Okon 's Freedom Fries. The short video depicts a nude, morbidly obese individual lying helplessly on top of a McDonald’s table. The individual stares at a McDonald's employee who is outside of the structure, separated by a thin wall of glass, polishing the commercial storefront and paying no attention to the struggling consumer. The idea: make the product’s surface impeccably attractive, even if its consumption is destructive. Things are complicated further, however, when considering that the employee outside also struggles and is equally implicated, though oblivious or not to what they enable. Prey seeking Prey – Buddy Quest, Ryan Trecartin The complexity at work here is an intentional part of the exhibition’s curation: “I would argue that the strategies the show’s artists use for grappling with such issues goes beyond the kinds of mirroring or enhancing of the aesthetics of such systems that have become standard of much of contemporary art today,” Mallick elaborates. “Instead, these artists further complicate the issues at hand—in this case, the calculated grafting of individual, neurological information onto larger, corporatized strategies for branding.” Empathy Camp & Refugee Petting Zoo, Ryan Trecartin View the aforementioned artworks as well as works by Lucy Chinen , Ryan Trecartin , Whitney Vangrin , Yuehao Jiang , and Matt Doyle at FARAGO in Los Angeles until July 16th. Related: Our Instant Gratification Obsession Gets a Group Show Facebook Photos and Collages Converge in Portraits of Digital Lives An Immersive Installation Turns Earth’s Sounds into Psychedelics 2016-07-01 16:10 Andrew Nunes

23 Manga Art Shakes Up Hamburg’s MKG Related Venues Museum fr Kunst und Gewerbe Located directly opposite the central main station, Hamburg’s Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, or MKG, is usually a calm and cultured place with a calm and cultured clientele. From July 1 through July 3, things may get a little wilder than usual. The museum has joined forces with Hamburg’s trade fair MaGnology, dedicated to comics, games and Japanese manga. MKG will promote its exhibition “Hokusai x Manga” and will be hosting the three-day event with its bustling program. Founded by Hirofumi Yamada, Silvia Normann, and Wolf-Eckhard Lang, MaGnology targets the video game industry, professionals, manga experts and fans. Japanese video game developer Capcom will be presenting new projects, as will 3D developer Threaks, local independent developer Behind the Stone and publishers such as Carlsen and Pyramond. The program also includes cosplay (costume play) competitions, photo shoots, workshops, portfolio presentations, and talks. According to the organizers, this year’s edition will be particularly interested in augmented reality technology and its potential for the scene. MKG also hopes to attract many new visitors to its extensive survey exhibition, Hokusai x Manga, during the three day event. Tracing Japanese pop culture from the 1680s to today, the exhibition presents themes and characters that have been consistently fascinating mass audiences for centuries, such as samurais, ghosts, and mythical creatures. The show starts with woodblock prints in the 17th century as a first form of mass medium. It runs up to present-day manga books or video games. Next to more than 200 historical woodblock prints, books, drawings, and sketches, the show also features more than 60 Japanese manga books, high quality reproductions and original drawings, as well as video games, anime screenings, cosplay costumes and merchandising articles from both manga and anime productions. 2016-07-01 16:08 Lisa Contag

24 Julia Restoin Roitfeld Named Creative Director of Didier Dubot The initial run includes stackable rings, cuffs and hair pieces, priced from $500 to $23,000. A fuller fledged offering will be released during New York Fashion Week, where promotional, “provocative” imagery shot by Sante D’Orazio will also be unveiled. “The main inspiration was my grandmother’s ring that I have very fond memories of from my childhood. I love details, little tiny things, delicate and feminine…I wanted to experiment and create unique shapes and intricate ensembles by piecing together a puzzle of tiny precious stones. Also the creative pairing of different rings and bracelets – stacking – is the key statement of the entire collection,” Roitfeld told WWD of her designs. 2016-07-01 16:01 Misty White

25 poacher & hound café techne architects has shared their latest interior fit-out of the ‘poacher & hound café’ in melbourne, australia. the scheme integrates the use of natural materials, brass and graphic elements, and responds as a physical representation of a poacher and a hound narrative. terracotta has been used on the bar counter located on the ground floor of a commercial building in an industrial area, the cafe offers a valuable point of difference to mount waverley’s cafe scene. techne’s design embodies a slight industrial aesthetic, the liberal use of other earthy materials including terracotta, brick, and granite gravel add further texture and color to the space. meanwhile, the surrounding floor and wall planes have been kept deliberately minimal to highlight the textured elements. earthy materials have been districuted including terracotta, brick, and granite gravel the surrounding floor and wall planes have been kept deliberately minimal to allow the textured objects space rattan finishes can be seen on the planters the design is a physical representation of a poacher and a hound narrative brass objects scattered throughout the space are found treasured pieces the cafe is located on the ground floor of a commercial building 2016-07-01 16:01 Natasha Kwok

26 Legal Fight Heats Up over Peter Beard Photo Show in Hamptons Star photographer Peter Beard is threatening legal action against an art gallery in East Hampton, New York, that’s planning to open a show of Beard’s photographs on Saturday, July 2. The show is organized by model Natalie White, who sued Beard over possession of some of his photographs, which she allegedly paid to produce. The show is set to include portraits of numerous models, including model Nina Agdal (who is reportedly dating Leonardo DiCaprio), Pamela Anderson, Derek Jeter’s fiancée Hannah Davis, Chanel Iman, and Alexandra Richards. The photos are priced as high as $150,000. The venue, Gallery Valentine, is owned by former Sony Records impresario (and Mariah Carey ex) Tommy Mottola along with one Ryan Ross. The letter, from Beard’s New York attorney, Judd B. Grossman, references a June 23 press release touting “Exclusive Never Before Seen PETER BEARD Artworks For Sale.” Grossman claims that the release “contains several materially false, or at the very least misleading statements about the approximately two dozen pieces (the ‘Giant Polaroids’) that you plan to offer for sale.” It disputes the claim that the works have never before been seen, pointing out that some of them recently sold on the secondary market. Page Six recently reported that the photos in question had been tied up for years in a legal dispute between Beard and White, and that the case was eventually settled. Grossman addresses this in the letter, saying, “We are troubled by your claim that ’25 of the artworks were provided to [Natalie] White in a lawsuit settlement with Beard. … As an initial matter, the terms of the Court- endorsed settlement are strictly confidential. So if Ms. White provided you information about the settlement terms, then she has breached that mandatory confidentiality. Your publication of any such statements would therefore render you complicit in her breaches … for which Mr. Beard and the Studio will seek to hold you liable.” According to Page Six , White claimed in a 2014 lawsuit that she spent $100,000 to produce the photographs, in return for 50 of the works, but that Beard’s wife, Nejma, blocked the deal. The Observer reported on June 30 that plans for the show are “moving forward” despite the letter. A major solo show of Beard’s work, “Last Word From Paradise,” is currently on view at Guild Hall in East Hampton (through July 31). Grossman further criticized Ross and Mottola for their attempts to “insinuate a connection between your small-time show and Mr. Beard’s major Guild Hall solo exhibition. Of course there is no relationship between your spectacle and Mr. Beard’s museum show—even the New York Post is observant enough to recognize that at best the timing is pure ‘coincidence.'” The press release says that “additional works” by Beard are on view at Guild Hall. Grossman urges Gallery Valentine to “reconsider your plans to proceed with your show,” asserting that the owners’ promotional efforts have “already have violated federal copyright law, and likely a federal-Court endorsed settlement.” Beard is considering seeking “immediate injunctive relief … as well as monetary damages based on your false publications and copyright infringements,” says Grossman. The gallery’s website does not have an exhibition schedule or any information about the show. It has a lengthy list of artists, though Beard’s name does not appear among them. Gallery Valentine has not responded to requests for comment. 2016-07-01 15:40 Senior Market

27 3D-Printed Zoetropes Use Light to Bring Figures to Life Screencap via The proto-animation tool known as the zoetrope takes on a new form thanks to the creative mind of Japanese media artist Akinori Goto and a little 3D- printed magic. A recent YouTube video , posted by user Ying Chai Su, shows one of Goto’s exquisite rotating zoetropes animating a small ballet dancer performing an ever-elegant leg lift. A nearby projector shoots sharp concentrated beams of light at the rotating wheel, illuminating the character’s narrow silhouette. As the wheel spins, the light traces the subject’s movements in a seamless analog animation. Goto’s ballerina sculpture was submitted to the 2016 Spiral Independent Creators Festival , an open call design competition in Japan, where it won both the Runner up Grand Prix and the Audience Award. In a video posted to Goto’s Vimeo , the artist explains how he created the same effect for a previous project, toki , a sculpture that instead animates a walking figure. The video shows the step-by-step process Goto used to transform the traditional zoetrope model. First, he creates a two-dimensional time axis of a figure outline taking a two steps forward. He then converts this progression to a three-dimensional axis, placing it onto a vertical plane. That data is translated into a 3D computer graphic, or 3DCG, and morphed based on the fourth dimension, time. This model is then 3D-printed and placed on a motor powered rotating platform. Goto shines a projector onto to the rotating wire grid and a walking person appears. It’s as simple as that. Right? See for yourself. toki- Process & WALK_short ver. from Akinori Goto on Vimeo . Head over Akinori Goto's website for more. Via Colossal , Prosthetic Knowledge Related: Meet the Giant 3D-Printed Zoetrope Inspired by a Gruesome Painting [Exclusive] SBTRKT Teams Up with an Animator for a Massive Moving Sculpture This Pumpkin Zoetrope Is the Jack o' Lantern King 2016-07-01 15:40 Nathaniel Ainley

28 28 Scarlett Johansson Named the Highest- Grossing Female Actress Scarlett Johansson was honored in Chicago on Thursday night by the Gene Siskel Film Center after being named the highest grossing female actress of all time. The Box Office Mojo ranked her at number 10, beating out the likes of Robin Williams, Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. The actress has starred in 37 movies that collectively grossed more than $3.3 billion in the U. S., including “Lost in Translation,” “Her” and the very successful “ Avengers ” franchise. At 31 years old this not only puts Johansson as the youngest person on the list but also the only female included in the top 10. Cameron Diaz was the next actress on the list, ranked at number 19. Other actresses mentioned include Helena Bonham Carter, Julia Roberts and Emma Watson. Johansson recently lent her voice to the remake of Disney’s “ The Jungle Book ,” released last month. Up next for the actress is a role in the animated comedy “Sing” alongside Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Leslie Jones and Taron Egerton, being released later this year. 2016-07-01 15:28 Alexis Noelle

29 ‘GLASS’ Exhibition Explores the Medium with Three Art Greats Installation view of Maya Lin Kiki Smith Fred Wilson: GLASS Photo by: Tom Barratt / Pace Gallery © Fred Wilson, courtesy Pace Gallery © Kiki Smith, courtesy Pace Gallery © Maya Lin, courtesy Pace Gallery Glass represents elements of nature, explores the connection between the cosmic and the personal, and challenges narratives of race and culture in an NYC-based group show that opens this week. To explore the use of glass as an artistic medium, Pace Gallery presents the works of Kiki Smith , Maya Lin , and Fred Wilson over the last few decades. GLASS is a collection of pieces, which are either made of glass or which use glass as a found object. The three highly-celebrated artists, born within five years of each other, use the material to strikingly different effects, creating at once a varied and exceptional exhibition. Lin, who received a National Medal of the Arts in 2009, uses the material to contemplate the state of the environment. Starting in 1994, at a residency in Stanwood, WA, Lin began to use glass to mimic natural elements, originally creating glass representations of water-worn rocks. Now, she creates brown drops of water out of glass in an 11- part floor piece called Point 11. Her wall piece Wahweap , which traces the water from Lake Powell to Lake Mead with glass marbles, will also be displayed. Maya Lin, Wahweap, 2016, glass marbles and adhesive. 16' 6" x 16' 9" x 1" (502.9 cm x 510.5 cm x 2.5 cm). Photo by: Tom Barratt / Pace Gallery © Maya Lin, courtesy Pace Gallery Kiki Smith, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has worked with glass since the mid 1980s, and a variety of her work will be on display at the exhibition. Her work targets the connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. In a floor piece called Mine , Smith scatters 3D red glass stars. The piece asks questions about the individual’s connection to the universe. Her glass plate prints, and a collection of glassware, will also be displayed. Smith recently debuted her collection of amazingly vibrant electronically-woven tapestries. Installation view of Maya Lin Kiki Smith Fred Wilson: GLASS Photo by: Tom Barratt / Pace Gallery © Fred Wilson, courtesy Pace Gallery © Kiki Smith, courtesy Pace Gallery © Maya Lin, courtesy Pace Gallery Fred Wilson, who was a recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "Genius" Grant, the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture, and the Alain Locke Award, has worked with glass to explore race and culture in America. In his piece Love, Loss, and the Milky Way , he placed milk glasses next to classical-style statues and a cookie jar which depicted a racial caricature. He's also created black glass drips, and collaborated with Venetian glassmakers to create black mirrors and chandeliers. The mirror displayed in GLASS is called I Saw Othello’s Visage In His Mind. GLASS is open until August 19th at Pace Gallery. Learn more about it here. Related: Kiki Smith’s Massive, Electronically-Woven Tapestries Touch Down In Santa Fe Old School Video Games Inspire Layered Glass Artworks Spend Your 4/20 At This Custom Glass Art Show 2016-07-01 14:55 Francesca Capossela

30 Mystical Performance Art Opens an Interdimensional Portal in Miami InterDimensional Baths 2016. Images courtesy of Alex Markow An improvised journey through time, space, light, and color recently dazzled audiences beneath the stars on the rooftop of Soho Beach House in Miami during the debut of fashion performance artist Aileen Quintana 's Interdimensional Baths. As the intimate crowd of invited guests gathered around the mysterious set piece—two disco balls floating in space over a small pool of multicolored fabric, with sacred geometric symbols projection-mapped on top of them—the eerie sounds of cosmic house duo Legs Benedict filled the air. Donning ChromaDepth 3D glasses, the audience watched on as Quintana, dressed in white, metamorphosized into marbled creation of the heavens through projection mapping. Her dance is catalyzed by the sounds, which she has never heard before, and Quintana reacts purely through movement. The synchronicity seems as if it were relentlessly choreographed, but in reality, this moment of magic is for only us, shared here for the very first and only time. The Creators Project had a chance to catch up with Aileen Quintana amidst the spectacle that was Interdimensional Baths : Interdimensional Baths from a(2)=3 on Vimeo. The following interview has been condensed for clarity. The Creators Project: Inter-Dimensional Baths was one of the most creative performances I have ever experienced. How would you describe it’s creation and execution? Aileen Quintana: Interdimensional Baths was an intimate, romantic, and uninhibited experience of moving art that took place at Soho Beach House in Miami Beach. It was an intricate and un-choreographed performance, and it truly allowed me to express myself while allowing guests to escape into my world of magic. The foundation of the performance was truly fashion; given my background in that industry, I’ve always liked having a way to express myself through that aspect, whether it be beauty, makeup, or hair. With the help of an amazing team on audio, visual, and technical levels, I was able to take the color spectrum and the theory behind it and translate it into the ideology of love and light. Utilizing the pool on the 16th floor, I began with white, and its organic relationship with the universe, I then transitioned into a hypnotic portal of color. I gradually transitioned through a gateway where I emerged completely marbleized, resembling a ritual or religious experience and becoming one with the color. My body and clothing were completely transformed from a white canvas to every color of the rainbow, thanks to the amazing light mapping skills of my friend Tbot. As an added bonus, everyone who attended was asked to wear ChromaDepth glasses, which brings cooler colors to the back of the frame while bringing warm colors to the front, adding another dimension of texture to the Baths. The musical aspect was brought by the producers of Legs Benedict. Given our relationship, they were able to know exactly what tracks complemented the exhibition and like my performance, their setlist was unplanned and therefore added another level of authenticity to the purity of it. I was able to anticipate what was going to play next and it made a magical harmony. It was a surreal and intense piece, where I felt the connection and relationship with everyone who attended. What was your inspiration that drove your creative process to achieve Inter- Dimensional Travel? Basically my friends are my creative process. They inspire me to explore my creativity and encourage my thought processes. There are trigger words, trigger ideas that set off ripple effects in my mind that take me on hypnotic adventures that compose the body of my work. Once I learned the environment for this adventure was the 16th floor penthouse pool of Soho House, the idea emerged to create an interdimensional bath and then wanting to marbleize the human body in color, after all of my consent travels to music festivals throughout the world. The hypothetical vibrations of the sounds of music translated through the beauty of paint that becomes now a conceptual fashion. This was the inspiration I wanted to translate during this performance. How did the music programming contribute to the performance? Legs Benedict (David Sinopoli and Will Buck) have been strong influences in my work as well as my personal life. Our connection has allowed us to create so much together, and I feel as if they are my galactic brothers, which is a beautiful thing in this world. We were all there for the same vibrations that make things happen and I believe that was translated into the romantic and magical feelings of the Interdimensional Baths. Your performance was so unique to those who were there. How do you share it with those who couldn’t be there while still producing a mystical resonating effect? This is is translated by my creative partner Alex Markow , who really helps translate my work. As a director of photography, he grabs the perfect scene and shot and translates them from the performance into beautiful stills and videos. I feel that post-production is just as important as the live performance itself; it allows the magic and emotion that was felt in the moment to be encapsulated. So we creative this body of work for the rest of the world to see and experience the magic of what we create... What experiences have brought you to this point in your career? Every day I’m inspired by something, whether it be my friends, music, my environment, colors, textures. Every moment, whether it be good or bad, has brought me to this point in my career. I’ve been so blessed that I have been able to travel the world and meet incredible people that have shaped me and are now part of my day-to-day life. I truly want to give back to the universe everything that has been given to me and continue that cycle of growth. Your very first art installation and performance was at III Points Festival in 2013, and you have continued to show an evolution in your talents at the festival each year. What do you have planned for 2016? Sunset at Noon is my next installation for III Points Music Festival, premiering October 7th-9th. III Points has given me so much and truly pushed me to become the artist I am today, and that group of individuals inspires me daily. It is my biggest installation to date, allowing me to transform 6,000 square feet into a multisensory mall. It’s inspired by vaporwave culture, a sub-genre driven by audio, aesthetics, fashion, and technology. It’s going to be a wormhole with transcending performance art and all the components of a mall. I’m very excited to build it and I cannot wait for everyone will get to experience … Click here to visit Aileen Quintana's website, and here to stay up-to-date with III Points Music, Art & Technology Festival. Follow Veronica Gessa on Twitter: @mokibaby_ Related: A Luminous Wearable Headpiece Imitates Melting Glaciers Dance, Religion, and Ritual Collide in an Abandoned Pool Masked and Unafraid: Narcissister On the Naked Choreography of Performance 2016-07-01 14:35 Veronica Gessa

31 Fendi to Host Runway Show at Rome’s Trevi Fountain Fendi will be the first fashion brand to host a runway show at Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain. On Thursday, the Roman house, which restored the fountain last year, will celebrate its 90th anniversary bringing on the runway its latest collection of luxurious fur garments and accessories, designed by Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi . “A fashion show in Rome at the Trevi Fountain is the best way to celebrate Fendi ’s 90th anniversary as it expresses our roots and DNA while transmitting daring creativity and craftsmanship,” said Fendi chairman and chief executive officer Pietro Beccari . “The Trevi Fountain is a unique place and it represents Fendi’s preservation of values, tradition and historic patronage while looking toward the future.” The fashion show will be followed by a private dinner at Villa Borghese’s Pincio Terrace. Fendi contributed to restoring the restored Trevi Fountain, which was unveiled last November. At that event, Beccari revealed that, in 2016, Fendi would support the restoration and preservation of another group of four fountains: The Fontana dell’Acqua Paola al Gianicolo, also known as the “Fontanone” and recently seen in the Academy Award-winning film “The Great Beauty,” and the Mosé al Pincio, del Ninfeo and del Peschiera fountains. Fendi has earmarked 300,000 euros, or $329,000 at current exchange, for the works. They are all part of the Fendi for Fountains project. The first Fendi for Fountains project, which also included works on another group of four fountains in the city, was unveiled in January 2013. The company spent 2.18 million euros, or $2.4 million at average exchange for the period, on the restoration of the Trevi Fountain. 2016-07-01 14:31 Alessandra Turra

32 Kenny Schachter on the London Auctions, Brexit, and the New Nihilists The New Nihilists Covering the art market today is not unlike being a war reporter working from the trenches—fair and auction aisles—dodging grenades launched by frustrated consultants, dealers and auction personnel (for me anyway). There have been easier periods in which to make a living in art. Perhaps we participants should don designer military fatigues; I guess we already do, by Prada. As the world frays to the point of coming loose altogether, from the UK’s decoupling from the European Union to the US confronting Trump and what he represents (and elections looming for both) the art world has never been so topsy-turvy. I can’t remember in the past 25 years politics trickling down into the discourse to the extent it has during the June sales of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art in London the past two weeks. As much as Brexit was a backlash against immigration and affluence it was also a blow against the status quo, a move crystallizing into an international phenomenon, call them the new nihilists. They want change and tumult (for it’s own sake?) but don’t seem too sure what form it should take. Related: Kenny Schachter Casts Dark Shadows Over Armory Week I’ve lived in London for 12 years and can sense the disenfranchisement and why many feel excited and nervous by the upheaval, as invigorating as enervating, but hopefully driven by more than retribution and resentment. Brexit was supposed to be a generationally divided issue with the young for remaining but unfortunately the vote coincided with Glastonbury and they must have been stuck in the mud partying. For a chunk of the press and general public, a big price for a relatively small piece of canvas is a leap few will ever accept. People say globalization failed but I’m delighted by it, still. There will never be a cessation of journalists trying to cast aspersions over the market no matter what the climate. As Winston Churchill, the esteemed painter and politician, put it: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter” (or journalist, I’d add). For better or worse, the art market is far from democratic but equally resilient; it requires a pile of chips to sit at the table, and the naysayers will never be able to simply talk it down. By the way, it’s absurd to contend that Brexit figured into collector’s readiness to consign before these sales, I assure you it was on nobody’s radar back then, just another ex post facto negative spin by reporters; smaller sales are a continuation of a recent downward trend in volume (not prices for good works), a reflection of macroeconomic vicissitudes. Related: Kenny Schachter Declares Basel the New Art Hajj More worrisome than any lack of European solidarity is the passage on June 23rd of the draconian German Cultural Property Protection Act giving the government far-reaching rights to prohibit the export of any artworks deemed cultural treasures. What’s different is not having to seek approval to sell art works outside the European Union, but for art older than seventy-five years, appraised at €300k or more, now requires permission before it could be sold within the EU. Based on suspicion alone, local government officials can barge into your home and conduct a search for booty. Sound familiar? Like commodity trading pits, auction rooms are windowless halls where the passage of time is marked by overhead bidding screens, a clock that clicks in currencies. Britain, with due respect, is a market minnow, which for a moment when I first relocated in 2004 was considered a contender for international supremacy, a brief glimmer that never materialized. Past filling old manors with old masters, England never had a very deep collecting culture so nothing too major can or will unfold here. At times auctions resemble a Hogarth composition, a cesspit of moral turpitude, but the upshot of being a less significant arena is a commensurate reduction of sleaze and shenanigans in the salerooms as the overall numbers are relatively too small (as opposed to New York) to attract such dirty deeds. An unintended consequence of the EU defection was a market imposed currency devaluation adding a fat 10% discount due to the drop-off of the pound, feeding Asian and US buying power. Bonhams dealt with the abrupt fluctuation in their concurrent Goodwood Festival of Speed classic car auction by presenting an innovative pricing scheme on their website— estimates in multiple currencies before and after the Brexit vote. Sitting outside of Scott’s restaurant just prior to the onset of activities, a dealer passed our table and offered to guarantee the Sterling Ruby my lunch mate was offering the following evening with payment proffered in gold bullions. Trading gold for Rubys, there’s an unusual tactic! What’s to come: art Bitcoins, created by an algorithm calculating the amount of masterpieces per generation back to, say, the renaissance projected forward, selling mathematically derived shares of the action? Related: Kenny Schachter on Why Art Basel in Miami Beach Is the End of Art History Ours is an age fraught with suspicions, fears and flaring tempers as echoed by the dealer that employed a corporate espionage specialist to assure the authentication of a contemporary painting and the advisor I sat next to at a dinner party that launched into a (loud and furious) tirade against me for mere association with a friend that identified her client in the provenance of a work he auctioned. Was his behavior any better or worse than that of the flipping collector? Before I get underway with the proceedings, I want to call for an immediate cessation of the further publication of auction catalogues—in the screen fed era of near total connectivity, for the art world at least, let devices suffice. Enough. The houses colluded on price fixing, why not do it again for a valiant cause, saving trees; I’m beginning to sound like an eco-warrior worthy of becoming sanctioned to sell to top 100 collector Leonardo DiCaprio. In trying to devise recycling ideas for the billions of pre-existing volumes in circulation I thought fuel, furniture or weapons of mass destruction that can be blanket bombed into warzones, advancing by the sheer force of blunt impact or scaring combatants into submission with crappy day sale art. When was the last time you paged through one? See? Ok I’m done editorializing. Phillips, Sticking to It I’m having lunch with CEO Ed Dolman who I don’t know but look forward to meeting. From what I understand he was rather encouraged to consider alternative dining plans. I don’t wish anything bad on anyone (well, almost) but Sotheby’s and Christie’s are on another level in terms of the quality of their offerings, theatricality and revved up energy. I admire Amy Cappellazzo, Brett Gorvy and even Phillips if only for their stick-to-itiveness. The talented Cheyenne Westphal should inject something extra when she reports after completing her enforced gardening leave from Sotheby’s (the UK version of a non-compete clause). Gone are allotted seats vs. Christie’s and Sotheby’s where they are as difficult to come by as securing a coveted table at the (sadly demised) Four Seasons restaurant. At Phillips nobody really wanted to sit up front anyway as repeated rows remained empty. Kemal Cingillioglu and Helly Nahmad were among the only monied players in the room. On an improved note, they changed auctioneers (not soon enough) and on the very first art-trading day of the week, zero lots were withdrawn. Related: Kenny Schachter On Why Gstaad Is the Perfect Setting for James Franco’s ‘Resort Paintings’ Colin Gleadell, the esteemed warhorse correspondent for the Telegraph as well as this site handed me a dose of classic backhanded Brit humor: “I’ve seen a lot of your writing lately, are you after my job? You must be really failing as an art dealer.” Sounds like something my wife would say. When Phillips’ Russian speaking specialist is engaged on the phone banks, more likely than not it’s the proprietor of the house on the other end keeping things afloat. I find Anselm Kiefer heavy handed but his abstract painting featuring a toy submarine affixed to the surface motored out of the showroom at £2,389,000 on an estimate of £400-£600,000, a pound record though third in dollar value. Yue Minjun , whose market has been sleepy since soaring to a high of nearly $7 million in 2008, fetched a shocking £965,000 for an Untitled painting from 2006, estimated at £100,000-£150,000: Phillips rocks! Not even my Chinese friends could get their arms around that one. Phillips has been feeling the effects of one thing or another since it’s inception but fared well meeting the medium of presale expectations. Chrysler was always the third party out after Ford and General Motors before being subsumed after multiple attempts to resuscitate the company; which begs the question, what is Phillips’s business model? Sotheby’s, Only as Good as Your Last Sale Having to systematically stage auctions is a hapless job like putting out a magazine, you are only as good as your last sale and it starts anew the day after. And extricating art is no easy task, not to mention having to sell so much of it. I counted at least 65 people manning the phones at Sotheby’s; I guess not exactly everyone has fled the company. The evening was a resounding success, above the high estimate and I’m thrilled for them, wow. But they could do without the loud music video before the sale that resembled a sports match promo. Former Sotheby’s contemporary executive Lisa Reuben, a close friend, bagged a red Rudolf Stingel resembling the impression of an oriental carpet, bidding over the phone. With fees the well bought painting made £1,745,000 on an estimate of £1.5-£2 million but the hammer price was below the low estimate. Deep Pockets informed me the consignor turned down two higher third party guarantee offers moments before the sale, a loss down to the vagaries of art gaming, a verified gambling category in itself. Related: Kenny Schachter on the Good, the Bad, and the (Very) Ugly of London Frieze Week, Part I When one of the multitude of sloppy abstract/figurative hybrids by market darling (for now) Adrian Ghenie up for offer during the week (10 in all) appeared on the block the independent curator seated next to me chortled, “Adrian Ghenie looks like he belongs in The Affordable Art Fair,” and refused to mark her catalogue with the selling price as is customary (civil disobedience). Another pal told me Pace had to shut down our friend LDC (DiCaprio) the waiting list is so long and formidable. Ha. Catching up to her male peers, and rightfully so, a Jenny Saville oversized canvas made £6,813,000 (stuff that, Mr. Baselitz), estimated at £1.5-£2 million and went to the Long museum in China, just off the purchase of an endless Richter stripe painting in Basel. Is there something to the Long museum only collecting long art? Christie’s, More a Scalping Than a Haircut One minute you hear confidence reinstalled in the market until the next sale that generates less than the total of a single decent 1960s Ferrari. Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sale was more a scalping than a haircut for what was a day sale gussied up, masquerading as a night event. It didn’t work. A positive was that the Chinese appear to be beginning to buy a wider array of Western contemporary art and I can only see this continuing to grow. It’s very generous of artnet News to translate my articles into Chinese, receiving criticism by an entirely fresh and expanded audience is something I truly appreciate. But it goes to show you where the market for contemporary is headed…everywhere. A saccharine green and violet Gerhard Richter squeegee painting, Abstraktes Bild (1994) erred on being too tasteful in relation to the artists sought after works with jarring, contrasting colors. This was the second two-meter Richter withdrawn in London within six months for what could only be construed as lack of interest. Sometimes a wall consuming Richter is enough of a wealth signifier to warrant mega bucks, but not in the last two cases. Most significantly why this work was pulled might have had something to do with the fact I was offered it by no less than four galleries in the last year alone. Related: Kenny Schachter on the Good, the Bad, and the (Very) Ugly of London Frieze Week, Part II Johnny Depp, prominently featured in posters around Christie’s, sold his Basquiat collection for a whopping profit—when you buy his art you get a singed headshot signaling thanks for contributing to his legal defense fund for his impending hotly contested divorce. One British collector found a novel way to convert his or her pounds into dollars of another sort by buying Warhol’s “Two Dollar Bills (Fronts) [40 Two Dollar Bills in Red]” from 1962 that hammered under estimate but still equaled a robust £4,450,500 (est. £4-£6m). Lastly, a 250th Anniversary Show, another cockamamie themed sale, testing collective collecting limits: art by largely dead Brits. Let me add that loan exhibits don’t belong intermingled in auctions, sorry. Three centuries of great British art is as problematic and pompous as the sentiment that drives divisions. Besides a Freudian scaled drama where a featured Lucien Freud bought-in, they made considerably more selling Henry Moore , £24,722,500, Bridget Riley , £4,338,500, John Constable, £14,082,500 and Francis Bacon at £27,242,500, among others, where many records were made and the highest tally of the week was achieved, so what the Hay? What’s to Come The only certainty in life is uncertainty, as Luther Vandross sang it, always and forever. I’m exhausted and I’m sure you are too (especially if you’ve been reading this column), a good time to take it in and digest what will unfold next. In the face of unprecedented madness art performed faultlessly in London’s June sales. Even Phillips. Brexit was a wakeup call that represents a lack of societal cooperation and scaremongering in a world occasionally riven apart by the shortsightedness of prejudice and politics. I say Brexit schmexit; the art alliance is a bond stronger than any union, uniting all in its path. During catastrophic flooding of the Arno River in Florence in 1964, the worst since the sixteenth century, more than a hundred died and thousands of artworks destroyed but also as many saved by a brigade of volunteers that came to be known as the mud angels. The unbridled passion for the preservation of art brought people together for a common enterprise and nothing has changed in that regard. Aside from the complete breakdown of leadership across the British political spectrum, the roiled world financial markets are fast returning to pre-Brexit levels. The next barometer, the November sales in New York, will gain on the results of May; who am I to argue against the momentum? You can slow the flow (of art and the market) but nothing can or will ever stop it —the production or consumption. At the expense of sounding as sanctimonious as a Kiefer painting looks, I am left with pride and empathy, nothing but compassion for those responsible for indisputably hard fought battles during some of the most volatile times in recent memory, and relief! But I’m not surprised. 2016-07-01 14:23 Kenny Schachter

33 A Vineyard in the French Riviera Had Its Walls Covered in Comic Book Art Paintings featuring the character Lisa L'Aventura, by Marc Ferrero. Photo courtesy of Marc Ferrero Nestled snugly between the Maures Mountains and sun- bleached beaches of Saint- Tropez in France lies a happy little vineyard filled to the brim with brash, bold paintings inspired by comics and crime shows. Château Saint-Maur , an up-and-coming winery focusing on crisp and clear rosés and white wines, is also one of the host wineries involved in the 18th annual Art et Vin program in France, which brings together artists and independent wineries. This year, Château Saint-Maur pairs up with Marc Ferrero , the self-taught painter and creator of “ Storytelling Art ,” to fill the modern French vineyard with a winding tale of intrigue through oil paintings and writing. Painter Marc Ferrero describing one of his paintings to a crowd at Château Saint-Maur in France. Photograph by Benjamin David-Testanière. Photo courtesy of Château Saint-Maur/Deussen Global Like a comic book broken into huge pieces and scattered across the vineyard’s main estate building, Once Upon a Time La Comitive… weaves a painted story of three adventuring antiheroes trying to bust up a big Monaco bank. “I create fictional characters and I write stories,” explains Ferrero, calling into The Creators Project from Monaco. “What I have to say, I paint through stories. And the idea was to use all the space of the castle to do a ‘Storytelling Art’ show, and to tell a story in the different places of the castle.” And so 66 original works are displayed throughout the three levels of the Château Saint-Maur castle, including oil paintings, writing, and sculptures. A painting of Andrew Michael Percival as Duke, one of the major players in Marc Ferrero’s “Storytelling Art.” Photo courtesy of Marc Ferrero Ferrero emphasizes that the writings included in and around the paintings are important to understanding and experiencing the work. “You have the lines of the characters, you have the different writings about my thinkings on Pop. You enter the story when you enter the castle. That was the idea, it was really to make people enter into a complete, fictional world.” Ferrero’s populated this fictional world with crooks, gamblers, high-powered stockbrokers, and other murkily intentioned heroes. “In U. S. and France we have two different visions of comics,” Ferrero says of his earliest inspirations, “In the U. S. when I was younger they had superhero comics, but here in France we didn't’ have superheroes... we had antiheroes. It’s more complex, concerning the morality of the characters.” A painting of The Banksters, the central villains of Marc Ferrero’s “Storytelling Art.” Photo courtesy of Marc Ferrero. “I think it’s new art, and a lot of people don’t know this kind of art, this ‘Storytelling Art,’” explains Marc Monrose, Directeur Général of Château Saint-Maur. “And I think it’s a good opportunity for us to show this art.” Monrose explains that because of the vast array of colors and styles used in the work it all holds a wide appeal, “it’s more contemporary, and more modern, and more Pop.” And the reaction to the show, which is on display until the end of July, has been tremendous. And though some are surprised to see such boisterous work at a winery, Ferrero thinks that’s all part of the process. “When you develop new ideas in art you need alternative spaces to show the work. Conventional places are always late. People are surprised because they don’t expect to enter into a vineyard and to see a story, but in a way it’s perfect. I think art must surprise people.” Château Saint-Maur a sprawling vineyard thirty minutes from Saint-Tropez, France, and home to Marc Ferrero’s “Storytelling Art” paintings until July 31st. Photo courtesy of Château Saint-Maur/Deussen Global. Check out the “ Storytelling Art ” website for more details, or stop by Château Saint-Maur and visit the work in person if you’re travelling through the Riviera this summer. Related: Marsala Named Pantone's 2015 Color of the Year Conversation through Comics: Two New York Aritsts Bonding French Artist Builds Illegal Secret Installations Beneath Paris 2016-07-01 13:25 Giaco Furino

34 28 MFA Artists Shatter the Boundaries Between Photography and Video Installation View: 2016 SVA MFA Photo, Video, and Related Media Thesis Exhibition. Photo by Marysia Gacek After the conclusion of the 2016 SVA MFA Fine Arts thesis show last month, the school’s MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media thesis exhibition opened at the SVA Chelsea Gallery. Different than the fine arts show, which had a specific thematic focus on American politics and power dynamics, this thesis exhibition presented works by 28 graduating artists that were open-ended and unbound by any singular topic or theme. “Some fine arts programs become known for a ‘house style’ of sorts, but in our program, students are encouraged to develop their own ideas,” explains the exhibition's curator, Bonnie Yochelson , to The Creators Project. “As a result, the curator’s job is pretty daunting. At the very least, I tried to ‘do no harm,’ in that I try to bring works together that do not interfere with each other. At best, I am able to create ensembles in which works play off each other in subject or mood.” Image from Third Space, Sara Meghdari Despite the unrestrained nature of the exhibition, many of the artists seemed to converge on ideas of identity within their works. Sara Meghdari 's Third Space is a digital archive of conversations held between Americans and Iranians through Skype, arranged and organized by the artist, who gave the participants specific guidelines to follow in an effort to create a safe “third space. " xoxo, Darlene, Nick Alciati xoxo, Darlene by Nick Alciati is an installation of the artist’s dream bedroom from his childhood. A fusion of 90s and 2000s iconography from posters of Christina Aguilera and Lenny Kravitz to dolls of Britney Spears and *NSYNC are mixed with videos and hung photographs of the artist portraying female idols from his childhood, reflecting the complex dynamics inherent to growing up as an individual who identifies as genderfluid. I Take My Body Back, Kelsey Lynn Our bodies and the sexual abuse often forced upon them are another prominent topic within the thesis exhibition. I Take My Body Back by Kelsey Lynn deals with sexual assault. A retelling of the artist’s experience of sexual assault is inscribed onto panties hanging on the gallery wall, which visitors are allowed to rip off in an effort to help overcome the trauma. A hanging structure made of panties lies next to the wall work, strong enough to physically hold the weight of the artist and others who are dealing with sexually traumatic experiences. Hair from Aftertaste, Hope Antonella Guzzo Hope Antonella Guzzo engages with the ephemerality of our physical bodies in her project Aftertaste. This series of photographic still lives depict plastic-wrapped consumable goods, decaying fruit peels, and a discarded head of hair to reference the human tendency to frenetically preserve our slowly weakening bodies through the course of our lives, despite the ultimate, engrained futility in doing so. “The shift toward body and identity has been steadily growing since the 1990s, when so-called identity politics took enter stage in the culture generally. For a time, the impact of this critique was negative: many students felt that to focus on subjects beyond their own experience was inauthentic and presumptuous,” Yochelson tells The Creators Project. “As the debate over the nature of race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality have blossomed, students have found many ingenious ways to explore these issues through their personal experiences.” Installation View: 2016 SVA MFA Photo, Video, and Related Media Thesis Exhibition. Photo by Marysia Gacek Throughout most of these projects, there is a distinct lack of framed, straight-on photography, a fact reflective of a time where digital culture is beyond pervasive and art mediums intermix with one another ceaselessly. Yochelson sees both the positive and negative consequences of this shift: “Students no longer feel as urgently connected to the history of photography. Fewer and fewer students are showing traditional, framed prints in the thesis shows, instead experimenting with installation. Sometimes the content is not strong enough to justify the means, but even in these cases, the students have honed their skills.” Despite this, Yochelson sees a future where there may be a reversion to older photographic tendencies: “I suspect the pendulum may swing back towards simpler means and even a closer scrutiny of photographic traditions.” Installation View: 2016 SVA MFA Photo, Video, and Related Media Thesis Exhibition. Photo by Marysia Gacek SVA’s MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media thesis exhibition was on display until July 1st, but an online archive of the works can be found here. Related: Art School Exhibition Explores the Politics of Pop Culture Facebook Photos and Collages Converge in Portraits of Digital Lives NYU’s Spring Showcase Takes on the Future of Interactive Tech Art 2016-07-01 13:10 Andrew Nunes

35 The One That Got Away: 12 Art World Insiders Name the Show They Most Regret Missing If you are an art lover in, say, New York, where I live, you can go crazy trying to keep up on the shows at the hundreds of galleries, museums and nonprofit exhibition spaces, not to mention the public art, the pop-up shows, and the auction house previews, etc., etc. That’s to say nothing of the busy art scenes in big and small cities, towns, and burgs everywhere else on the planet. Many of us still deeply rue missing numerous shows. But for most of us there’s probably one that really stings. For me, it’s the Tino Sehgal exhibition “ This Progress ,” at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, in 2010. In my defense, it was on view for a shorter period than most museum shows, and I work full-time, and my apartment isn’t going to clean itself, but really, I just screwed up. I know some were a bit skeptical , but to me it sounded, frankly, magical. Art-world FOMO may only get worse. Seemingly every museum on the planet is expanding , meaning we will all miss more museum shows. Galleries are opening new venues abroad left and right, or growing their existing facilities , so you’ll have to fake having seen yet more shows by your artist friends. What’s more, art fairs are meanwhile branching out across the oceans. As a way to try to help us all feel a little less bad about the ones that got away, we polled art-world experts and insiders across the US to find out what exhibition they are still kicking themselves for not seeing. They missed gallery shows, museum shows, and apartment shows, for reasons that range from being just a teenager at the time took place to train delays. Claudia Altman-Siegel Altman Siegel Gallery , San Francisco “ Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs ,” at the Museum of Modern Art , New York, 2014–15. This question is basically impossible, especially for me since I live outside of center. No matter how much I travel I still miss a lot. Recently I have been regretting missing the Matisse exhibition, though. At the time, in some sort of haze of hubris, I thought I knew the work and that it was really a popular show meant to bring ticket sales. But during the Basel fair this month, I saw a gallery of Matisse cut-outs at the Fondation Beyeler and they were so sensitive, touching, and bigger than their component parts. I realized the power of the work and the greatness of Matisse that even in his simplest gestures he was able to convey a spirited immediacy. So back home in San Francisco, the work is sticking with me and I am feeling bad that I missed my chance to see it in depth. Kevin Beasley Artist “ Anri Sala: Answer Me ” at the New Museum , New York, 2016 Of all of the shows I have missed lately this would have to be the one I regret most. The last striking video exhibition I saw at the New Museum was “ Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Primitive ,” and although it was on only one floor, it was a brilliant use of the space. I could only imagine what Sala’s multi-floor installation felt like, considering its intent to engage the architecture and various slippages of institutional sonic space. As described by Sala in a New York Times interview , “Ravel Ravel” is a work where the history of classical music slips (quite literally) in and out of sync, transporting the concertos into other, more recently evolved genres of music. This was right up my alley. That said, I must revert back to the idea that as an artist, sometimes mythology creates far more interesting experiences than what reality presents, and as I continue to work (my excuse for missing so many shows) I hope to collapse both reality and the imaginary into some kind of approach towards a future. Thank you, Anri, for making an exhibition we dream about experiencing. Sara Friedlander Vice President, Head of Evening Sale, Christie’s “ Pretty Raw: After and Around Helen Frankenthaler ,” at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, 2015 This is embarrassing because I had read about the show—and even purchased the catalogue—and I’m a huge fan of everything [curator] Katy Siegel does. For some reason the quick trip to Boston to visit the Rose kept slipping away. But then I read Roberta Smith’s beautiful “Last Chance” review in the New York Times and I knew it was a sign. I had to get there! IMMEDIATELY! I booked my train ticket for the closing date, I remember, it was June 7th, a Sunday, because I couldn’t go during the week. Due to signal delays the train stalled at New Haven for 5½ hours. 5½ hours! Damn you, Amtrak! By the time it was ready to leave, I knew I wouldn’t get to Waltham until it was too late. I got out at New Haven and had an entire pizza pie, completely depressed to have missed the exhibition. For a university museum to do a show that had such wide critical acclaim—I knew it would be something special. Plus, group shows can be a challenge but I heard that the presentation of artists from Morris Louis to Lynda Benglis, Polly Apfelbaum and Mark Bradford , Laura Owens and Christopher Wool , created entirely new dialogues between postwar and contemporary artists. And even though it was only last year, the exhibition was still a precursor to so many exhibitions that would happen this year involving women artists, like the Denver Museum’s “Women of Abstract Expressionism” and Hauser Wirth & Schimmel’s beautiful “ Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016 ,” so in that sense it felt like the Rose was on the brink of something big to come. Not only did it appear that the exhibition created a more prominent place for Frankenthaler within the broader context of Abstract Expressionism, it also illustrated several generations of artists working in a variety of mediums (painting, ceramics, performance) and, as Roberta said in her review, “It approaches postwar art from a new, implicitly revisionist perspective that expands it beyond the usual male suspects.” Rachel Harrison Artist “ Martin Wong: Human Instamatic ,” at the Bronx Museum of the Arts , 2016. I missed the show because I work too much, and had a deadline, or three, around the same time. Really, no excuse. Everyone I know who saw it loved it and said I shouldn’t miss it. Huge regret. (If you, too, missed the show, check out artnet News’s video .) Rhona Hoffman Rhona Hoffman Gallery , Chicago Christo’s Floating Piers , Lake Iseo, Italy, 2016. Christo is a visionary land artist who makes many of his big dreams come true. Floating Piers was only an idea 46 years ago. For many reasons and as usual it took these many years to make it a reality. I was in Basel for the art fair that week, not as a participant but as a visitor, and could easily have gone to see this BUT I forgot to go and I will regret this for a very long time. I am a Christo fan. I drove the entire Umbrella project in California, I walked the Gates in New York on a very cold February day, and I spent a week in Berlin watching Christo wrap the Reichstag. How could I have forgotten this? I was only a short train and cab ride away. Gianni Jetzer Curator at Large, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Washington, D. C., and curator of Art Basel’s Unlimited The 1991 group show Hans Ulrich Obrist organized in his kitchen in St. Gallen. I missed it because at the time I was a troubled teenager in Switzerland. I guess it was the beginning of his gluttonous appetite for art and artists. I would have loved to witness Hans Ulrich Obrist unplugged, so to say. Gabriela Palmieri Chairman, contemporary art, Sotheby’s Americas “ Louise Bourgeois. Structures of Existence: The Cells ” at Haus Der Kunst , Munich, 2015. It was the first exhibition of its kind to concentrate on her “Cells” series, and the Haus der Kunst assembled the largest number of “Cells” presented to date! I’ve always been fascinated by the “Cells,” which were spectacularly ambitious architectural spaces that occupied the Bourgeois’s artistic production during a span of 20 years. They’re intensely psychological and emotional, so to see them installed together in the museum context would have been an experience as the artist intended—a charged barrier between the interior world of the artist and the exterior world that is the other all harnessed by the exhibition space. I have no excuses for missing the show, only regrets! I have put it on all “must sees” for collectors going to Europe, since the show is continuing to travel, and those who have seen it said it was even better than I had promised. It brilliantly went on from Haus der Kunst and to the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. It’s presently on view at Guggenheim Bilbao and concludes at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, so there is time for me (and all Bourgeois enthusiasts) yet! Ann Philbin Director, Hammer Museum , UCLA “ Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty ” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York, in 2011. I usually make it back to New York City a few times a year, but for this one, I just couldn’t get from Los Angeles to New York to see it. Everyone I spoke to who saw it, without exception, was awed by his process, by his journey from the point of inspiration to the final collection. Jerry Saltz Critic, New York magazine Roberto Cuoghi , “ Šuillakku Corral ,” at the New Museum , New York, 2014 I love Cuoghi’s work; I was at the opening; the image/sound main installation was too crowded and noisy to hear or see. Somehow, someway, even though I think Cuoghi’s great and I admire Massimiliano Gioni as one of the best curators in the world, and know how hard it is to present art in this prison-like space, I never made it back. My wife still can’t believe it. I call this the “I Never Went to the Mudd Club” or “You Don’t Have to Live like a Refugee” category. I mean, I lived in New York most of the time this place was open but somehow I never felt cool enough to go there or could stay up late enough. Even then. If there’s an “I Missed a Whole Career” category, I met the artist Lizzi Bougatsos in the 1990s when she must have been like 19 years old. It was in some Summer Art Workshop thing where I spoke. I did a studio visit with her; her work was okay; but then she said she wanted to sing for me. She did; I was smitten, struck, stunned. I said, “You have a destiny.” Bougatsos went on to be part of 50 downtown scenes, a part of Gang Gang Dance, and a performer in her own right; I used to talk to her all the time when she worked for Colin de Land. But somehow, through all this, even being the first to glimpse her magic, I have never seen her perform once. Somehow, after promising myself 20 times that I’d finish my work early, go out, and see her, my social disorder and inability to really hang out after midnight when things get great means that I never made it. I’ve so wanted to make it to a bunch of shows by younger artists who were my students or whose work I see in group shows and promise myself that I’m going to see their first solo shows. But being a busy weekly critic and teaching and lecturing regularly has kept me away from a lot of this over the last 15 years; and it makes me sad. I can think of like six artists right off the top of my head who fit into this category right now but feel too depressed to name them. I’m still watching from afar, however. On the good side I just took the A train to Rockaway Beach for the first time in my life and had one of the best days of my life there. If anyone wants to sell us a bungalow to retire in, make me an offer. Franklin Sirmans Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami “ Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979 ,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles , organized by curator Paul Schimmel in 1998. This show would become a bible for me and affected everything I wrote, and probably thought, about contemporary art from the time I got the catalog in 1998 onward. I still have it, filled with post-its, and the book stays front and center amongst group shows on my shelf, even throughout moving four or five times. I missed it because I was living in Italy and working for Flash Art but even if I were home in New York, I don’t think I could have afforded to go to LA then. What made it special? Gosh, everything is in there, everything you need to know to make a consideration of art in the big dirty world. Nancy Spector Chief curator, Brooklyn Museum “Utopia Station” at the Venice Biennale in 2003, organized by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Molly Nesbit, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. The exhibition combined performative projects, art works, posters, and creative thought leadership about a keenly relevant issue. I was not able to travel to Venice that year because I was pregnant with my youngest daughter. Because I missed it and because the topic of utopia is particularly urgent today, we’ve invited the curators to reinvent the exhibition and its related programming for the Brooklyn Museum in 2017. Olga Viso Director, Walker Art Center , Minneapolis William Pope. L’s 2015 exhibition “ Trinket ,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. I had just been to LA the month before the show opened and was too consumed with the planning and fundraising for our new sculpture garden and campus renovation. I was not able to make it back to LA in time to see it before it closed. Based on what my Walker curatorial colleagues Adrienne Edwards and Fionn Meade shared, the exhibition provided a Rosetta stone for unpacking Pope. L’s multivalent, cross-disciplinary practice. The exhibition, with its centerpiece a monumental American flag blowing in the center of the Geffen, was not only timely and emblematic of the current political moment, but a focal point of Adrienne’s unforgettable conversation with the artist held at the Walker in the months that followed. The talk was part of “New Circuits,” a curatorial research convening organized by the Walker in September 2015 focused on the intersection of performance and the visual arts. 2016-07-01 13:01 Senior Writer

36 George Henry Longly at Red Bull Studios New York Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday. Today’s show: “ George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life ” is on view at Red Bull Studios New York through Sunday, July 31. The solo exhibition, the London-based artist’s first in the United States, presents an immersive installation over the two floors of the gallery. Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK Installation view of “George Henry Longly: We All Love Your Life,” 2016, at Red Bull Studios New York. LANCE BREWER/COURTESY RED BULL STUDIOS NEW YORK 2016-07-01 12:31 The Editors

37 DOCUMERICA: A Portrait of the Country Come Back to Life Related Artists Walker Evans Dorothea Lange Arthur Rothstein Danny Lyon In November 1971, one month short of a year after it began operations, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced a large-scale photo project whose mission, according to Life Magazine, was “to document the condition of the environment during the next 10 years.” Environmental issues were becoming more prominent in the cultural conversation, including air pollution from factories and events like the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969, which was written about in Time magazine. In its ambition and government support, the project was reminiscent of Rex Tugwell and Roy Stryker’s decade-long Farm Security Administration program of the 1930s and 1940s, which enlisted photographers — most famously, Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange — to compile, as Stuart Cohen writes in his book “The Likes of Us: America in the Eyes of the Farm Security Administration,” a visual record of “the unseen or at least inadequately publicized everyday life of Americans under duress.” DOCUMERICA, as the EPA project came to be known, had clear ties to its predecessor through the guidance of Arthur Rothstein and John Vachon. Both were legendary photojournalists who had been part of the group of original photographers hired by Stryker and Tugwell, and they were brought in to assist on DOCUMERICA by Gifford Hampshire, the project’s director. (In addition to serving as consultant, Vachon also participated as a photographer.) Hampshire – working at the time for the EPA’s office of public affairs under its first administrator, William D. Ruckelshaus — was himself a photographer, as well as onetime photo editor at National Geographic, and was deeply influenced by the FSA’s body of work. There was a feeling that something similar could happen here. According to Bruce I. Bustard , a curator at the National Archives who has written about the project, DOCUMERICA was “both idealistic and pragmatic”: On the one hand, its “existence was tied to the agency`s mission to ‘protect and enhance our environment’ because future Americans should ‘understand our successes and failures.’ ” On the other, it was “establish[ing] ‘a visual baseline’ of images of 1970s America from which progress on environmental issues could be measured.” In 1972, less than a year after the project was announced, the EPA began contracting with such photographers as Danny Lyon, Yoichi Okamoto (the first official U. S. presidential photographer), and Arthur Tress to carry out assignments. Lyon, for instance, focused on urban neighborhoods in New York, El Paso, Chicago, and elsewhere, Tress on the area surrounding the New York Harbor. Each was given $150 a day, plus all materials, and the chosen photos were added to the collection, becoming the property of the government. (The photographer retained the rights to any image that wasn’t chosen.) The resulting images, archivist C. Jerry Simmons writes in an article about the project, “colorfully and explicitly illustrate the breadth of the nation’s problems and struggles with noise, water and air pollution, health problems, and social decay.” But they go beyond recording a series of problems. Taken by more than 100 photographers in different parts of the United States, they form a sweeping portrait of a country in flux — emerging from the tumult of the 1960s and about to fall into recession. In just two years, more than 80,000 images were produced, over 20,000 of which were catalogued by the National Archives. But even this early in the project, momentum began to fade: Ruckelshaus left the EPA for a job with the FBI, and Hampshire lost his key supporter within the agency. When the recession hit, in 1974, others felt DOCUMERICA was an indulgence. Hampshire also had health issues during this period and was not able to give the project the time it needed. By 1976, the images had been filed away and DOCUMERICA was aborted. The National Archives has released around 15,000 of those photographs to be viewed online. Click through the slideshow to see a selection of the best photographs. 2016-07-01 12:12 Craig Hubert

38 38 ‘The Work Helps Me Remember’: Nan Goldin’s Photographs of Friends and Lovers, in 1993 and 2006 Nan Goldin, Trixie on the Cot , New York City. 1979, silver dye bleach print, printed 2008. ©2016 NAN GOLDIN/MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, ACQUIRED THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF MARIAN AND JAMES H. COHEN IN MEMORY OF THEIR SON MICHAEL HARRISON COHEN With the Museum of Modern Art in New York having recently put on view Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency —a 1993 slide show of photographs of herself, her friends, and her lovers during the AIDS crisis— here are two excerpts from the ARTnews archives about Goldin. Below is a 1993 look at Goldin as an up-and-coming artist, and, from 2006, Barbara Pollack’s review of a Goldin show at Matthew Marks. “Fast Forward: Nan Goldin” By Mary Haus November 1993 Nan Goldin is best known for her fairylike chronicle, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency , which was first produced in 1985 and took the form of a book, an exhibition, and a slide show. With its frank portraits of herself, friends, and lovers, in New York’s East Village and elsewhere, it is an intimate record of lives on the edge, of the battlings and couplings that made up the often desperate emotional and sexual relationships of those around her, and of her own. Now many of the people in these pictures have died and Goldin has quit drugs. “Since then there’s been a kind of fissure in my life between before and after,” says the 40-year-old artist. “In a way, the work helps me remember.” […] “I’ve been trying to find a way to deal with my friends dying. Not much else is really important anymore. I’m only interested in the moment, in life and death, friends having children and friends dying. Things are going into existential overload.” Nan Goldin (American, born 1953). Buzz and Nan at the Afterhours, New York City. 1980, cilver dye bleach print, printed 2008. ©2016 NAN GOLDIN/MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, ACQUIRED THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF MARIAN AND JAMES H. COHEN IN MEMORY OF THEIR SON MICHAEL HARRISON COHEN “Nan Goldin: Matthew Marks” By Barbara Pollack Summer 2006 The centerpiece of Goldin’s show was a 40-minute, three-screen multimedia projection, Sisters, Saints & Sibyls (2004), which equates the story of her sister’s suicide and her own history of drug dependency with the martyrdom of Saint Barbara. Family snapshots are coupled with the artist’s solemn voice-over, one of many clichés relied on in this project. As the projection shifts to more recent pictures—images of Goldin’s suburban childhood, the railroad tracks where her sister died, or the artist at a rehab clinic—the work turns maudlin and sentimental, relying on the goodwill of sympathetic viewers. […] Goldin’s strength has always been self-portraits, and the ones on view here were the most psychologically revealing and emotionally searing pictures in the sow. It is impossible to look at an image like the one of the now middle- aged photographer with self-inflicted cigarette burns on her arm and not wonder why such a talented, original woman is so consumed with the myth of the self-destructive artist. Goldin continues to court pity and condescension, rather than appreciating that the best of her photographs have already won her our respect and admiration. 2016-07-01 12:00 The Editors

39 Martha Rosler Described Women’s Issues of ’75; They’re Still With Us MY DAILY PIC (#1583): In 1974 and 1975, Martha Rosler made three “postcard novels” – more like first-person short-stories, really, that she mailed out in three-by-five-inch installments every week or so. They are fairly well known from the book version she put together in 1978 (today’s Pic is from its cover), but a full set of the more poignant original cards are on view at Alden Projects in New York, one of the most original galleries in the city. The subjects of Rosler’s tiny novels seem as topical today as when she was writing. One, called A Budding Gourmet (see image below ) is written in the voice of a spoiled, complacent rich woman – a one-per-center before they were called that – who boasts about her knowledge and skills as a gastronome: “The Indians are extremely spiritual. It’s a kind of reverence for the food. The Orientals all have it” and “If I didn’t have a good education, wasn’t well brought up, I might not realize that there were better things, higher things” ​– meaning crepes and “Ris de Veau des Gourmets.” Another is the tale of a fast-food worker who first describes the horrors of the food-system she’s working in: cattle living in tiny pens and pumped full of antibiotics; artificial bread-smell added to the bread. Then she talks about the secret steps she and her fellow wage-slaves take to add more flavor to the foods they serve (also, marijuana) and to improve their working conditions. The final novelette is written entirely in Spanish, from the viewpoint of an illegal immigrant who jumps the border to San Diego, finds work as a maid and then suffers all the standard indignities and terrors of immigrant labor: The father in one family expects her to cook him “Mexican” chili con carne, and then tries to rape her. It’s wonderful that Rosler managed to dig so deep into the female condition of her moment, in a new medium of her own devising. It’s unbelievable that, 40 years later, we are still dogged by precisely the same issues of privilege, food production and immigrant labor, barely changed in any of their details. Rosler’s prescience is impressive, but what could be more disappointing, especially for someone from these optimistic United States, than foreseeing a grim future by simply describing your own present. For a full survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive . 2016-07-01 11:50 Blake Gopnik

40 Why Christo’s ‘Floating Piers’ Is an Apt Symbol for Post-Brexit Europe Last Thursday, June 23, I boarded a plane early in the morning at Berlin’s Schönefeld airport. One flight and a couple train transfers later, I was stepping onto Christo’s Floating Piers installation on Italy’s Lake Iseo, the sun glinting off the lake’s rippling surface and setting aglow the saffron- colored fabric draped over the three-kilometer-long water walkway. Being from enormous, geographically isolated Canada, I never fail to marvel at how easy it is to hop from one nation to another in Europe. Not a single border checkpoint slowed my journey that day. Arriving in Italy, I paid for my train tickets with the same Euro notes that I use back home in Berlin. While I was making my way to the little town of Sulzano in the northeast region of Lombardy, more than 33 million UK citizens were casting their votes in the Brexit referendum. By the time the polling stations closed that night, it was done: A small majority of 52 percent had tipped the balance in favor of their country leaving the European Union after more than four decades in, setting into motion a political, economic, and social fallout that Britain, not to mention the rest of Europe, is still reeling from today. I doubt Brexit was on the minds of any of the thousands of people experiencing Christo’s magnanimous installation that Thursday. We were all too busy frolicking across the water, marveling at the scenery, and snapping selfies. And I’m sure any such symbolism was the furthest thing from the artist’s intentions—he and his late wife Jeanne-Claude first hatched the idea for the piers in the 1970s. “All the artwork Jeanne-Claude and I do is work of joy and beauty. They don’t serve anything except to be a work of art,” he said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in April. I could see that joy on people’s faces, and I felt it myself. The atmosphere was one of glee and exhilaration, despite the sweltering glare of the sun. As I walked across the lake, I took off my shoes, as did many others, to feel a connection to the springy, buoyant surface beneath my feet and the gentle rhythm of the water undulating in the wake of passing boats. Around me I heard mostly Italian, but also French, English, German, Swedish, Spanish, Chinese. Parents pushed their toddlers in strollers, others pushed their loved ones in wheelchairs, kids spun cartwheels, and dogs pranced, not even the animals immune to the mood of excitement. There was something quite democratic about the whole thing, which the artist always insisted must be free and open. “The Floating Piers are an extension of the street and belong to everyone,” Christo has said of the project, the entire cost of which—€15 million—came out of his own deep pockets. The idealism of The Floating Piers is earnest, and it is enticing. It would be naïve, however, to ignore the reality. Truth is, the region is buckling under the influx of the tens of thousands who show up every day eager to experience the piers for themselves. Christo’s vivid fabric has become stained and ripped under the shuffling footsteps of well over half a million visitors, the rows of portable toilets on the shoreline reek in the sun, and I can’t imagine the local residents aren’t fervently awaiting the coming day when they can have their peace and quiet back. Many trains into Sulzano have been cancelled due to dangerous overcrowding, roads closed, thousands of irate and desperate travelers stranded. People have suffered heatstroke while they wait for hours, penned in like cattle, for the chance to step onto the piers, and extra security needed to be hauled in to keep the situation under control. Christo wanted the piers to be accessible 24 hours a day, but about a week in, the local mayor put his foot down, and now they close overnight. There are many issues with the lumbering bureaucracy and the infighting of the EU, and the pressures of the migrant crisis over the last year have put the union to a serious test. Christo’s Floating Piers are beautiful in both their idealism and their execution, but they are also illustrative of the reality of what arises when you build bridges and connect two shores that fate set up to be separate. For the 16 days that the installation lasts, two isolated islands in the middle of the lake are joined for the first time in history to the mainland: Monte Isola, with a small but established tourism infrastructure, and San Paolo, a lone, isolated rock with only a single villa on it, owned by the multi-millionaire Beretta family, manufacturing firearms in the region since the 1520s. But these connections are short-lived. After July 3, the piers’ 220,000 polyethylene cubes will be crushed, shredded, and recycled, the 100,000 square meters of yellow-orange nylon fabric too, and the islands will be alone again. As for Brexit, what will happen to the long-established and hard-won connections between the British Isles and the European continent remains to be seen. A country has voted for separateness over unity. The ideal of European togetherness has been shaken—perhaps it was always too utopian to begin with. By a coincidence of timing, Christo’s Floating Piers became a symbol of how art can (quite literally) bring people together, but also how these connections are fraught. Soon, the piers will disappear and life on Lake Iseo will go back to normal. The EU will go back to normal, too, though we already know it won’t quite be the same. 2016-07-01 10:58 Hilda Hoy

41 UK Museum of the Year Nominee Profile: V&A Related Venues Victoria & Albert Museum In the lead up to the announcement of UK's Museum of the Year on July 6, ARTINFO profiles the five nominees: Bristol’s Arnolfini, London’s V&A and Bethlem Museum of the Mind, Jupiter Artland in West Lothian, and the York Art Gallery in Yorkshire. The biggest and most popular museum on the 2016 shortlist, the Victoria and Albert Museum is the UK’s 4th most visited museum, and 11th in the world. Dedicated to applied and decorative arts, its extensive collection numbers over 2 million items and ranges from stained glass and furniture to fashion and jewelry. When ARTINFO asked V&A director Martin Roth what it meant for the museum to be nominated for this award, he said: “The V&A is thriving as a world-class museum and center of excellence for research and expertise. With a cutting edge public program and ambitious gallery construction projects, the Museum is continually broadening access to its unparalleled collections of art and design, and bringing the V&A to new national and international audiences. “To be shortlisted by the Art Fund for their prestigious Museum of the Year 2016 is a great accolade and, should we be successful, would enhance and foster the continued achievement of the V&A during this truly exciting period of our growth,” Roth added. In a press release, the Art Fund called 2015 a year of “remarkable transformation for the Museum.” The V&A achieved its highest ever visitor figures, and toured 30 exhibitions worldwide, including the David Bowie exhibition which reached its millionth visitor whilst in Paris. In fact, recent years have seen a number of particularly well-received exhibitions hosted at the museum, focusing on subjects like Hollywood costumes and British design, and on individual creatives like Julia Margaret Cameron, Alexander McQueen (which set a record for viewers to the museum), David Bowie and Botticelli. The latter has had a major exhibition in 2016, closing July 3, that looks at the painter's influence on art and design through the years. Other exhibitions this year at the museum have focused on photographer Paul Strand, engineer Ove Arup, and the history of underwear and the wide range of its output. The V&A's Europe 1600-1815 galleries also re-opened in 2016, described by the Art Fund as a “major gallery restoration project” that “has transformed seven prominent galleries, and redisplayed and reinterpreted this world-renowned collection of 17th and 18th century art and design.” 2016 has also been the year for future planning at the V&A. A proposed “V&A East” sister museum has been announced, which will open on the Stratford Waterfront in 2021 opposite the Zaha Hadid-designed London Aquatics Centre. In the nearer future, in 2017, the V&A will also be inaugurating an extension to its South Kensington home, creating a new entrance, courtyard, and exhibition space. 2016-07-01 10:55 Samuel Spencer

42 Martin-Gropius-Bau Brings Berenice Abbott’s New York to Berlin Related Events Berenice Abbott – Photographs Venues Martin-Gropius-Bau Artists Man Ray Edward Hopper Berenice Abbott Berenice Abbott, one of early Modernism’s most seminal female photographers and chronicler of New York, is being celebrated this summer – in Berlin. Martin-Gropius-Bau’s exhibition of 80 photographs provides insights into various stages of the illustrious life and career of Abbott (1898-1991). The Ohio-born photographer originally studied journalism, lived and worked in New York as a sculptor for a while, with author Djuna Barnes as a flat mate, before relocating to Paris in the early 1920s, where she partied with the young and bustling avant-garde. A chance encounter with Man Ray , whom she had met earlier in New York and who had moved to France like her, marked the beginning of her career as a photographer. Abbott became his assistant and discovered her passion for the then still relatively new medium. She also met Eugène Atget, whose pioneering documentary photographs of old Paris she greatly admired and later helped promote through various publications – after her return to the US in the late 1920s they would be the inspiration for her iconic “Changing New York” series. Abbott’s stunning portrayal of the city, then in a state of profound transition, is prominently featured in the Berlin exhibition. Documenting New York’s material culture and urban environments — the old as well as the new that was built in its place — Abbott created one of the most ambitious city documentations in the history of photography. Next to these exquisite architecture photographs and cityscapes, the Berlin show also highlights Abbott’s achievements in portrait photography, featuring contemporaries from Edward Hopper and James Joyce to Jean Cocteau, and Sylvia Beach, as well as her later shift to scientific motifs after she became an editor for “Science Illustrated”. With its concurrent exhibition of the works of German photographer and Bernd and Hilla Becher student Thomas Struth, whose portrayals of scientific and artificially created environments show a strong connection to Abbott’s legacy, the museum also initiates an enticing dialogue between two very different yet surprisingly like-minded photographers and their eras. 2016-07-01 10:54 Lisa Contag

43 ‘The Unpredictable Richness of Collage’: In Zurich, Zaha Hadid’s Final Project, the Design for a Kurt Schwitters Show, Goes on View Installation view of “Kurt Schwitters: Merz,”designed by Zaha Hadid, 2016, at Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich. ©GALERIE GMURZYNSKA I n 2010, Galerie Gmurzynska , on the occasion of its show on the great Russian liberator Kazimir Malevich, enlisted Zaha Hadid to fashion its modest storefront space in downtown Zurich into a Suprematist fantasia of exploding geometry. It was an apt pairing. At the time, Hadid’s designs spoke in a particularly Suprematist grammar: buildings like the Vitra Fire Station and the Phaeno Science Center buoyed strict, rectilinear planes that floated happily in suspended motion. Hadid had been wrapped up in Malevich since at least her time as a student at the Architectural Association in London, where she submitted projects that applied the painter’s conceptions of spatial organization to architecture and insisted on painting her proposals as geometric abstractions instead of drawing them like everyone else. For Hadid, the Suprematist exhibition left debts unpaid, which is why this month, as Zurich fêtes the 100th anniversary of Dada’s start, Gmurzynska has again been transformed, this time into a swooping, searingly white Futurist altar at which one may kneel before the German modernist Kurt Schwitters. The show of 70 works and the swelling walls on which they’re mounted do double duty as both a retrospective of a nonconformist master shunted out to the margins and as a paean by someone who recognized herself in kind. That this was Hadid’s final project before she died in March lets the whole proceeding flirt with elegy. Museum design has long been a notch in the architect’s portfolio: a high-key public monument to their particular genius. Individual exhibitions—tucked away and temporary by definition—would not seem to offer the same allure. Yet here we are: Santiago Calatrava’s biomorphic platforms for a Calder show at Dominique Lévy last spring, Annabelle Selldorf carving up the limpid column-free fifth floor of the Whitney Museum for its Frank Stella retrospective last fall. Hadid dipped a toe in here early, contributing to “The Great Utopia,” the Guggenheim Museum’s massive, tepidly received survey of the Russian and Soviet avant-garde in 1992. Installation view of “Kurt Schwitters: Merz,”designed by Zaha Hadid, 2016, at Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich. ©GALERIE GMURZYNSKA Gmurzynska is, of course, small in comparison to the Guggenheim. It sits in the tony Paradeplatz square, about an hour’s car drive away from where the collector class just wrapped up another session of schmoozing in Basel. Its neighbors are the world headquarters of Credit Suisse and UBS, which is an ironic thing, considering it also occupies the site of Galerie Dada, an early seat of the aggressively anti-establishment movement. Schwitters is often lumped into the Dada demimonde, though he is probably better described as Dada-adjacent. His art flowered from a personal culture of resistance, but he was never counted in the Dadaists’ official roll calls and probably would have declined membership if it had been offered. Schwitters’s major idea, to which this exhibition is devoted, is “Merz,” a word which meant nothing when he chopped up the name of the German Kommerzbank and rechristened its second syllable a declaration of creative freedom, a semiotic jailbreak of art from commerce’s cloistered vaults. Merz met the vectors of Cubism and German Expressionism and refocused them into a cosmic dialogue of muddy, muted collages. It was plastic, both in its philosophy and, literally, in its makeup—reliefs of discarded children’s toys, bits of cigarette packaging, scraps of magazines and spent bus tickets—the flotsam of modern life ennobled as high art. Schwitters considered the found, readymade material with which he created his assemblages as important (or, perhaps, as arbitrary) as any other media: “A perambulator wheel, wire-netting, string and cotton wool are factors having equal rights with paint,” he wrote. Whereas Duchamp’s famous readymades might be seen as a thumb in the eye of global power structures, Schwitters’s Merz was a frenetic, joyous amalgam of garbage from which beauty could be rendered. It trafficked in the void between art and life, to paraphrase Rauschenberg’s line about where he himself liked to work. Installation view of “Kurt Schwitters: Merz,”designed by Zaha Hadid, 2016, at Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich. ©GALERIE GMURZYNSKA In the 1920s, Schwitters began creating the first Merz construction, his Merzbau , in his Hanover home, gradually forming plaster columns and bursae dedicated to admirable contemporaries (In an essay on the Merzbau subtitled “The Desiring House,” art historian Jaleh Mansoor writes that “friends frequently noted that a possession was missing, only to visit Schwitters and find the absent item exhibited in a grotto. Hannah Höch worried over a missing key and later found it part of a sculpture; Mies van der Rohe noted that Schwitters filched a drawing pencil and placed it in one of the caves”). By the early ‘30s, the Merzbau had colonized the artist’s entire living space, a gesamtkunstwerk of accreted stalactites subsuming whole rooms. It resembled La Sagrada Familia—intricate buttresses and crevices devoted to the gospel not of god but of creative energy. Schwitters called it the Cathedral of Erotic Misery. Hadid’s late-era projects, sinuous buildings like the London Aquatic Center, the spiral jetty set done for a 2014 Los Angeles Philharmonic production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte , and the undulating Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan—a building so sensual as to provoke similes like “as pure and sexy as Marilyn’s blown skirt” —come together in plasmic, near-amoebic forms, and in that way can seem to echo the Merzbau ’s cellular expansion. “A lot of the architecture of [Hadid’s] later years is an accumulation of found elements that she then groups together in an organic way, and so in that part she was very close to Schwitters,” Mathias Rastorfer, Galerie Gmurzynska’s director, said. Hadid’s idea for the Gmurzynska show was to create a latter day Merzbau , an interpretation which wears her imprimatur openly. Its slick, swelling forms are wedged into one side of the ground floor gallery. The walls protrude and bulge in places and warp in others, as though stretched through time itself— Dalí’s Persistence of Memory as shelving unit. There are intellectual difficulties posed by interpreting a structure that was bombed into oblivion during World War II and which only survives in a handful of photographs and a static recreation in Hanover, Germany. Patrik Schumacher, Hadid’s longtime partner and the director of Zaha Hadid Architects, said via email that they wanted to express the “complex variegated order we might find in nature.” “Kurt Schwitters’s Merzbau has been described as a living collage and what we have created here will also take on a life of its own as it might reemerge in various guises and constellations,” Schumacher said. “We embrace the unpredictable ontological richness of collage as a starting point—it pushes us beyond the homogenous, predictable monotony of a simple order.” Installation view of “Kurt Schwitters: Merz,”designed by Zaha Hadid, 2016, at Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich. ©GALERIE GMURZYNSKA Also here are designs from Hadid’s archive: the coil of a “Vortexx” chandelier in conversation with a spiral in a Schwitters collage; the corkscrew form in another echoed in the tendril of a “Genesy” lamp; a “Mew table” so fluid it seems like it must have spilled out from a pitcher. These Hadid works function like readymades whose inclusion Schumacher described as “the starting point for an elaborate search for potential symbiotic and synergetic relations.” Another view might be that Hadid is telling us something highly personal: that she sees herself as having come out of Schwitters’s overcoat. That toward the end of his life Schwitters, mired in the red tape of postwar international law, struggled to collect even a third of a $3,000 stipend from the Museum of Modern Art in New York while creating a Merzbau in a damp barn in England’s Lake District (a single wall from it was valued at £10,000 not but seven years after he died) offers an analog, albeit a much less dour one, in Hadid, a Pritzker Prize recipient whose forthcoming condos along Manhattan’s High Line will sell for about $5 million to $50 million, but who couldn’t so much as secure a single commission for the first two decades of her career. The parallels between Schwitters’s and Hadid’s all-encompassing practices are not lost on Rastorfer. “Schwitters was a rebel who didn’t really care what other people thought, and it took him a long time to be recognized, a little bit like Zaha in the earlier years where she was not compromising on anything,” he said. “Both of them were these people who were much more concerned about bringing their own message across, without having to compromise for other people’s opinions.” It’s worth noting that Hadid’s original plans for the 1992 Guggenheim exhibition included a recreation of Tatlin’s Tower, a spiraling, steel monument to modernity and industry (and the Third International) which would have shamed the Eiffel Tower. It was to augur a global revolution but was never actually built. At the Guggenheim, the recreation would have filled the museum’s rotunda, thus completing Frank Lloyd Wright’s nautilus—his ode to nature’s grand design—to form a sublime declaration of total creative freedom, not unlike the kind envisioned by Schwitters more than 70 years earlier. In the end, the museum nixed Hadid’s design, citing budgetary concerns. 2016-07-01 10:00 Max Lakin

44 Kings of the Hills: On New York’s Governors Island, Adriaan Geuze, West 8, and Rachel Whiteread Craft a Rustic Landscape View of Outlook Hill from Discovery Hill. Outlook Hill, the tallest of the four hills, rises 70 feet above the island. TIM SCHENCK On July 19, the Hills, ten acres of parkland on the southern edge of Governors Island will open to the public after three years of construction, accessible by a seven-minute ferry ride from Lower Manhattan. In those three years of work, Dutch landscape architect Adriaan Geuze and his firm West 8 have overseen the construction of rolling parkland, complete with climbable rock formations and metal slides on the former site of a drab military- owned parking lot and apartment complex. On an overcast and humid morning this week, I went over on the ferry for a media preview, accompanied by a slightly rowdy group of kids and teenagers who attend a summer camp program on the northern part of the island. After landing, we were whisked off by a caravan of golf carts to the other side of island, where we were met by a jovial Geuze, who together with Leslie Koch, the president of the Trust for Governors Island (never an apostrophe, to be clear), energetically led us on a brisk tour of the four hills that make up the Hills. Liberty Moment, from the top of Slide Hill. TIM SCHENCK Geuze described at length the park’s new topographical features, with Koch playing the part of the group leader, guiding us around winding paths that seemed to come out of nowhere and encouraging us to climb the hillside however we pleased. She talked about the strategic challenges of the construction process, while Geuze spoke passionately about the landscape, explaining that the gentle incline of the hills functions to conceal and reveal the skyline as you walk through the environment. We all somewhat clumsily puttered around these grassy slopes and the stone scrambles, the experience as much a group nature walk as it was a chance to see the remarkable views of the horizon afforded by the new elevation. Rachel Whiteread’s Cabin (2015) on Discovery Hill. TIM SCHENCK The symbolic rustication of the site is completed by Rachel Whiteread’s Cabin (2015), a solid concrete sculpture that is perched on an outcropping of Discovery Hill. Taken from a cast of the interior of a cabin, the work reads like an appropriate fictional complement to the wooded hills, a nod to Walden , and an acknowledgement of the faux-wilderness Geuze and his team have created. Koch talked about how the curator who commissioned the work, CCS Bard macher Tom Eccles, wanted to give Whiteread a thoughtful opportunity to respond to the space. The sparseness of the design conveys both the singular outsider history of Governors Island as well as the future of these hills as a place of retreat. Whiteread’s sculpture makes use of the spectacular views of the harbor and the Statue of Liberty in order to put the project in dialogue with the city itself. (A note to art types: a sound piece by Susan Philipsz and a group of four sculptures by Mark Handforth are also on display.) When we finally made it over to Slide Hill, where, yes, the slides reside, Koch’s team had set up a table with bowls of Governors Island official new signature ice cream flavor, made by the Brooklyn-based Blue Marble. The journalists ate ice cream, watching as a few people happily whizzed down the metal chutes. 2016-07-01 09:30 Tessa Goldsher

45 Contemporary Design From Belgium Breaks Through Globally Related Events Design Miami Basel 2016 Venues Ammann Gallery Gallery Fumi What is it with Belgium and collectible design? At the recent Design Miami/ Basel, it was impossible to overlook the abundance of Belgian galleries, showing everything from jewelry and ceramics, to Murano glass. Some seemed to be leading the way in contemporary design, with the youngest gallerists and edgiest new designs. The emergence of Brussels as a center for contemporary art has been noted. “Brussels has become one of the most dynamic art cities in Europe – an unpredictable and energizing mix of the local and the global,” Rachel Donadio wrote in the New York Times in July 2015. The situation has evolved even further since then. Known for the dedication of its art collectors (Belgium has the highest number per capita in Europe), who remain both open to experimentation and dedicated to artists throughout their career, and for its liberal tax laws (there is no tax on resale of artworks), the country has, in the recent years, attracted both galleries and artists from neighboring countries, particularly France. Low living costs, availability of large spaces, proximity to the great cities in the region, and a fluid sense of local identity, has made it easy to settle in Belgium. Less, however, has been written about its design ecology. “Belgium is good for contemporary art – particularly Brussels, and it's one of the reasons why we’re here,” says Amaryllis Jacobs, who runs Maniera, a new gallery that specializes in commissioning furniture and design pieces from architects and artists that do not normally design furniture. “Brussels is so open-minded. We have many art collectors: we wanted to show them good architecture and design. And it works.” Maniera was founded in 2014 only – Jacobs and her partner Kwinten Lavigne previously worked for major art institutions in Brussels – yet it already has a strong presence, not only in the city, but on the global design market: It has just joined the prestigious gallery line-up at Design Miami/ Basel. “I think growing this fast would only be possible in Brussels,” says Jacobs. “Brussels is very interesting today, with a lot of new galleries moving in. We are quite lucky.” While the design galleries form only a small part of the galleries crowding Brussels, they are significant global players. “We were selling ceramics before anybody did,” says Sophie Boels, of Galerie Pierre Marie Giraud, founded in 2005, which specializes in limited-edition and unique art ceramics. “Our market is global. We may be in Brussels, but we sell around the world, from Miami to New York.” The city is also home to Marc Heiremans, one of the top experts in Murano glass, as well as the highly- regarded contemporary jewelry gallery Caroline van Hoek. Go to any major collectible design fair in the world, and you are likely to see them. “The reason why we get along is that everyone does something else,” says Alexis Ryngaert, the founder of Victor Hunt Designart Dealer. “Our advantage in Brussels is that most of our galleries are contemporary: Marc Heiremans is not contemporary, but Caroline van Hoek, Pierre Marie Giraud, Maniera, all are; and we are uber-contemporary.” Ryngaert was long the youngest person at Design Miami – he was 27 when he first exhibited there. “We started in an industrial building, in a back yard in Anderlecht, in 2009-2010. We got serious in 2011, when we started participating in international fairs.” His company Victor Hunt – not a real person, more on this below – commissions collectible pieces by young designers, unique or in in limited edition, that sit comfortably in the overlap between design and art. “I am not in the business of naming things. We enforce the more artistic side, but…,” he sighs. “We show stuff that was made yesterday: what is the point in classifying it?” Commissioning is an important distinction of Belgian design galleries, and it sets them apart from the best-known design galleries in France and the US, which tend to focus on collecting historical pieces. For Rygnaert, this is simply where contemporary design is at: after the high-end industrial design of the big Italian brands of the 1970s and 1980s, the industry has undergone a revolution and settled on the small, artisanal, fine, and limited- edition. “It's a new way of working with design,” says Jasper Peeters, the production director at Victor Hunt, whose job is to transform the works from the sketch to the final product. A number of important commissioning galleries exist in the broader region – Gallery FUMI in London, as well as the venerable ammann // gallery in Cologne, just across the German border. The proximity to the fashion and design centers of Antwerp and Eindhoven is also an important factor. However, for Peeters, the location has another significant, yet possibly unexpected, advantage: its production facilities. “The region has some of the best manufacturers: both the most impressive contemporary machinery you can find, and some of Europe’s best artisans,” says Ryngaert: “People who have been doing their craft for two or three generations, who know their processes and materials in ways you cannot imagine: metalwork, framing, marble work, all the way down to box-making and crate-making. And it is never going to cost what it costs in New York or London, because we don’t have the overheads they have. It keeps our prices down.” Like others, Victor Hunt relies on foreign sales for 90% of its trade – the collecting centers of New York, London, and the middle-tier cities such as Beirut. “The Belgian art scene? They’re there, they’re strong, they don't buy with us. We’re basically an export gallery.” And yet, there is something of a Belgian understatement there, a lack of will to define a spirit that, from the outside, seems rather distinct. It is a playful, experimental, laid-back approach to both aesthetics and the art of running a business. In a world of big bucks and high tempers, these are some of the youngest faces you will see, wearing colorful socks, refusing to do strong selling, and professing, like Amaryllis Jacobs, that they are interested in the adventure of the unknown commission, more than the star names. Even Victor Hunt, the name of the gallery, was chosen by Rygnaert almost off-handedly, as a way to deflect attention from himself and onto the works: “At some point we had a list of a hundred names. I was in a bar with my girlfriend, and I asked the waiter: ‘If someone said Victor Hunt, what kind of person would you expect in front of you?’ She said: ‘Maybe some sort of design dealer or something?’” It cut short the laborious process of the branding agencies. Finally, it is a country that appreciates good things, in its humblest, most utilitarian sense: from its fine beer and chocolate, to its holidays and strikes, to its comics, fashion, Art Nouveau and antiquities. “We’re definitely object people, making-people,” says Rygnaert. “We’re very bad at music, for example, but as soon as it comes to making things – art, design, industrial production, a building, clothes… What we basically do is make stuff.” 2016-07-01 09:29 Jana Perkovic

46 Helmut Newton, Alice Springs and Mart Engelen Come Together in Berlin Related Events Alice Springs: The MEP Show/ Helmut Newton: Yellow Press / Mart Engelen: Portraits Artists Helmut Newton Barely three months before he died in a car crash in 2004, Helmut Newton founded the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin. It was no secret that Newton loved women, especially “strong women” who made him feel secure, as he’s known to have said in the 1995 film, “Helmut by June.” When he saw the young Australian actress June Browne at his studio in Melbourne, little did he know that she’d be the pillar of force in his personal and professional life. Later married to become June Newton, she was blindfolded when she gave herself the name “Alice Springs,” by choosing a random location on a map of Australia. That was her byline for her first shoot, an advertising campaign for Gitanes cigarettes. The duo’s portraits of each other were exhibited at the Helmut Newton Foundation’s debut show. Now at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in the Museum für Fotografie, the foundation is showing, “Alice Springs: The MEP Show/ Helmut Newton: Yellow Press/ Mart Engelen: Portraits” through November 20, 2016. Like Newton, Springs too was drawn to portraiture, but not limited by the genre. Her fondness for the street was well-known, and it was along Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles that she made photographs of the Californian punk and hip-hop scene of the 1980s, which are on display at this exhibition. It is clear that Springs’ approach was more casual while she was photographing on the street and she was not inhibited by the anarchic youth culture and its accesorized existence. One can see this in her pictures of Malibu and Melrose Avenue. The punks posed for her with ease and even though the movement showed itself the way out in a few years, her photographs stand testimony of a time that was turbulent for some. Everyone knows of Newton’s fashion and nude works but little is known of his interest in “yellow journalism.” Crime stories, police photographs as well as paparazzi images had him so intrigued that in his former gallery at Zurich, he put up a show called “Yellow Press” in 2002. Many works from that show make their appearance in this exhibition, especially a striking clip called “Yellow Press, Sequestrata,” 1992, which shows a large photograph of a woman on the news page lying half-naked on the floor, handcuffed to a room heater. Drawing from detective-fiction, there’s also an 18-part, black- and-white series titled, “The Woman on Level 4,” where Newton photographed a woman in a small, windowless room. She plays out the mystery well as she’s sometimes seen holding a gun, clad in a leather jacket or even nude, dictating a narrative that robs the story of a beginning or end. The third part of the exhibition is a series of black-and-white portraits by photographer Mart Engelen of figures from contemporary culture such as Pete Doherty and writer Michel Houellebecq. Not as striking as Newton or Springs’ work, but having fulfilled Newton’s desire to have someone exhibit in “June’s Room,” Engelen manages to stay closer to Springs’ approach by way of lending a casual demeanor to his portraits. 2016-07-01 09:16 Paroma Mukherjee

47 World’s Oldest Photography Studio in India Closes its Doors After 176-Year Run Bourne & Shepherd, the oldest photography studio in the world, has closed its doors to public this month after an unparalleled 176 years in business. Located in Koltaka, India, the studio was started by British photographers Samuel Bourne and Charles Shepherd around 1840. One of the most successful commercial enterprises in India throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Bourne & Shepherd is responsible for some of the most iconic photographs from the time. At its peak, the studio had agencies in London and Paris, and was assigned important tasks such as the documentation of the Delhi Durbar held to commemorate the coronation of Kind George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India in 1911, according to India Today. The former owner of the studio, Jayant Gandhi, made the decision to put an end to the 176-year legacy partly due to aging, but also due to the fact that the studio had been in decline for some time. Ever since a fire struck Bourne & Shepherd 25 years ago, the building has been decaying and the business suffered greatly when a great part of its archival collection perished in the flames. Although the Bourne & Shepherd studio has ceased to operate, a host of photographs produced during its glorious 176 years of operation remain to preserve its memory. Some of these photographs are displayed in world- renowned institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Portraits in London, and the Cambridge University library, as reported by The Indian Express. 2016-07-01 08:00 Carol Civre

48 The Best Events Happening in New York Over July 4th Weekend Independence Day is almost upon us, and those in the New York City area are in luck: The art world is offering a great many ways to celebrate July 4th weekend. In these engaging and interactive events and exhibitions, some of which are specifically designed for the holiday festivities, families can engage in museum workshops, learn about the history of GIFs, and even watch artist Tom Sachs prepare a cup of tea. With a focus on fun-filled activities that appeal to all, we’ve compiled a list of events that promise to deliver. June 15, 2016 – July 31, 2016 1. “ The Reaction GIF: Moving Image as Gesture ” at the Museum of the Moving Image Regardless of how you pronounce the word , Graphics Interchange Format, or GIFs, are now a part of how we communicate with friends and coworkers. There’s still time to catch the current exhibition dedicated to this phenomenon at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, which presents a broad range of the most popular reaction GIFs used by Redditors. The show, in effect, creates what the exhibition’s website states as “animated GIFs used not for artistic expression but as an element of nonverbal communication, as performed language.” Location: 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria Price: $15 adults Time: Wednesdays–Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; Fridays, 10:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m. free admission 4:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m; Saturdays and Sundays, 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m. Friday, July 1, 2016 2. First Fridays! Outdoor Film Screening at the Bronx Museum In collaboration with the New York African Film Festival, the Bronx Museum is presenting Africa United , directed by Debs Gardner-Paterson. The documentary tells the tale of three Rwandan children and their quest to fulfill their lifelong dream of taking part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg. The event will also feature a special performance by Afro-Cuban jazz artist Dayramir Gonzalez and the group Habana enTRANCE, along with a set by DJ Asho. Location: Joyce Kilmer Park (Grand Concourse between E 161st and E 164th) Rain location: The Bronx Museum of the Arts Price: Free Time: 6:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2016 – Sunday, July 3, 2016 3. Open Studios for Families at the Whitney Museum of American Art Families are invited to bring their kids and spend the day making art based on different works in the museum’s current exhibitions. One exhibition currently on view is “Mirror Cells,” which showcases furniture and objects in direct dialogue with one another to reference our brain neurons that allow us to observe the behavior of others and experience joy and pain. Another exhibition, “June Leaf: Thought Is Infinite,” focuses on aspects of surreal creatures in a deeply imaged world of unreal settings. For future dates, visit Whitney Museum Open Studio Family Programs. The Whitney will also be open 7 days a week during July and August, and will continue to be open late on Fridays and Saturdays until 10:00 p.m. Location: Whitney Museum of American Art, Floor 3, Laurie M. Tisch Education Center, Hearst Artspace Price: Free with museum admission Time: 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2016 4. Stanley Casselman: Recent Works at Mark Borghi Fine Art Mark Borgi Fine Art presents Stanely Casselman’s one-man show to premiere this weekend, July 2 at the Bridgehampton Gallery. Thriving with abstract acrylic paintings, his show Recent Works is the end result of a 30- year-long project to investigate and study the art of using paint. Breaking up each masterpiece is part of Casselman’s mission, and to inflict thought- provoking questions from his audience as to how the lines and shapes on the canvas board contribute to the meaning of the painting as a whole. Location: Mark Borgi Fine Art, Bridgehampton Gallery Price: Contact Gallery for price details: (631) 537-7245 Time: Opening Reception: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Through September 4, 2016 5. Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible at the Met Breuer The inaugural exhibition at the recently-opened Met Breuer takes the term unfinished to a whole new level. With works dating back to the Renaissance era, “incomplete” paintings by art history’s pantheon of masters, such as Titian, Rembrandt, and J. M. W. Turner, are shown in a new light. Modern and contemporary artists such as Lygia Clark, Janine Antoni, and Robert Rauschenberg also have offerings on view. Location: The Met Breuer, Floor 3 and 4 Price: $25 suggestion Time: Tuesday and Wednesday, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Through July 31, 2016 6. Crime Stories: Photography and Foul Play at the Met Fifth Avenue In a thrilling new exhibition, the Met Fifth Avenue will be showcasing rare photographs of criminals and lawbreakers by modern artists such as Walker Evans, Diane Arbus , and Larry Clark. Highlights include Alexander Gardner’s “Execution of the Conspirators,” a series that tracks the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, as well as surveillance photographs of Patricia Hearst’s 1974 bank heist. With a total of 70 installations, the Met collection has mixed old photographs with new works by modern artists. Location: The Met Fifth, Gallery 852 Price: $25 suggestion Time: Sunday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Through July 24 7. Tom Sachs: Tea Ceremony at Noguchi Museum To mark their 30th anniversary, the Noguchi Museum is currently offering a solo exhibition by someone other than Noguchi. Artist Tom Sachs is reimagning the practice of chanoyu, a distinct method of preparing and serving tea according to ancient Japanese tradition. Visitors are allowed to watch as Sachs and his companion, Johnny Fogg, perform the tea ceremony for a few guests. Those interested in participating may select one of the times available to apply. Location: Noguchi Museum Price: $10 general admission Time: Saturday, July 2 and Sunday, July 3, 12:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. 2016-07-01 07:01 Daniela Rios

Total 48 articles. Created at 2016-07-02 06:00