Begun in 1955, the quinquennial art festival, Documenta, in Kassel, sprawls across the small German city in venues large and small, some easy to find and some, more challenging. Documenta 14, this year’s version, involves multitudes of artists and two cities, Kassel, Germany and Athens, Greece. The curatorial theme is displacement, dispossession, power, colonialism and restitution. Some art lovers feel that theme personally, as they struggle to find the art, get lost and experience their own lack of power. Roberta visited and reports.
Read MoreMatthew Rose reflects on how artists, architects, and designers alike deal with objects that remind us of the dead. Catch a ride with Matthew as he explores the depiction of mortality dating back as far as the 16th century, and up to modern times.
Read MoreAndrea reviews “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” curated by Megan Fontanella, with artwork from five collectors whose gifts to the museum helped the Guggenheim define itself as a pioneering institution. A rare chance to see beautifully-conserved works by Modern masters like Brancusi, Pollock, Mondrian, the show is a must-see this summer, says Andrea.
Read MoreThe University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology hosts a powerful exhibition that juxtaposes work of contemporary Syrian artist Issam Hourbaj with antiquities from the regions of Iraq and Syria. The result is a meditation on loss and destruction that emphasizes the human face of the complex past and present of this region.
Read MoreAndrea immerses herself in Doug Wheeler’s “PSAD Synthetic Desert III” from 1971, currently on view at the Guggenheim. Wheeler created a soundless environment inspired by the deserts of northern Arizona. Unfortunately, she writes, the 10 minute slot allotted to visitors isn’t quite enough to feel the full sensory effect of this remarkable piece.
Read MoreTake in two great shows with the good people of Artblog on Saturday, June 10 from 2–5 pm. Free and open to everyone!
Read MoreIn the second part of a two-part series, Andrea reviews two books that tackle the status of performance art in the museum. Intended to be ephemeral, fleeting, time-bound, how does performance art fit in museum collection, which are by their very nature static?
Read MoreA great motley assortment of congratulations, opportunities, a lecture, a job fair and a free online seminar in today’s News Post. The News you need of Our World.
Read MoreCongratulations to Michelle Angela Ortiz, who has been recognized as a Citizen Artist Fellow, and to Eastern State Penitentiary, which received an award for excellence in exhibitions. Monument Lab has announced more details about the 21 artist projects for fall 2017, including stalwarts like RAIR. Printmakers, check out the fellowship opportunity at Second State Press (deadline 5/22). Plus, queer sci-fi reading at Vox Populi, Lenka Clayton and Dan Byers in conversation at the Fabric Workshop, PAFA’s 116th Annual Student Exhibition, Broad Street Review hosts a discussion about arts funding, and a good read about cartoonist Roz Chast’s embroidery.
Read MoreA More Perfect Union? at the Woodmere Art Museum brings together the personal and the political, exploring the most intimate images of love and tenderness between individuals. In the current political climate, Michael says, these images, which include both gay and straight relationships, as well as interracial relationships, take on an important new urgency. This is an ambitious show, not to be missed!
Read MoreRoberta chats with Paul Chan about his installation, “Pillowsophia,” at PAFA’s Morris Gallery. The haunting piece is a hollow hooded figure made of black nylon placed high against a wall. In continuous motion from wind blown into its cavity by a powerful and noisy industrial fan, the piece is engineered and stitched in such a way that it dances what seems like an ecstatic death dance. A response to the times, which are filled with violence against black men, the piece is powerful and emotionally moving.
Read MoreIn honor of Barkley Hendricks, who died on Tuesday, April 18, 2017, we are running this interview we did with the artist in 2009, when Hendricks was having a solo museum exhibition at that time at his alma mater, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the interview, he talks about painting, photography and jazz.
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Support for Artblog has been provided by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
