Author: xerkss

Susan Meiselas

American documentary photographer Susan Meiselas won the prestigious 2019 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. The Baltimore native took the prize home at a ceremony in London on May 19. Awarding Meiselas the prize for her retrospective show “Mediations” at the Jeu de Paume gallery in Paris last year.

Meiselas’ career began early on. Her first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New England country fairs. There she photographed during three consecutive summers while teaching photography in New York public schools. Carnival Strippers was originally published in 1976. A selection of her photographs was installed at the Whitney Museum of Art in June 2000. More recently her work focuses on the conflict zones of Central America between 1978 and 1983. In particular her coverage of the Nicaraguan Revolution. Meiselas continues to make outstanding contributions to her art.

“Susan’s consistent approach to the medium and her personal investment in the stories, histories, and communities she documents. She has carved out a new and important form of socially engaged photography,” said Brett Rogers, director of the Photographers’ Gallery in London.

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize

“The camera is an excuse to be someplace you don’t otherwise belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.” Susan Meiselas

Announcing the winner of the prestigious award for European photography at an event at the Photographers’ Gallery. Where an exhibition featuring work by shortlisted artists has been on display since March 8. Meiselas chose to show her long-term project “Kurdistan/aka Kurdistan,” which focuses on the Kurdish diaspora, at the gallery.

The award includes a prize of £30,000 ($38,600) in prize money. Photographers Laia Abril, Arwed Messmer, and Mark Ruwedel were also on the shortlist for projected winners. On June 14, the exhibition will move to the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Where it will be on display until August 23.

Workers Strike at the Louvre

Closing its famous doors and consequently leaving a mass of tourists outside amid its famous glass pyramids. The Louvre shut down due to workers strike. The Paris museum’s security and reception, protesting “unprecedented deterioration of conditions” amid record crowds.

The museum, attracted a record 10.2 million visitors last year, a figure that is on the steady incline. An increase of over 20% from the year before. “No other museum in the world has ever equaled this figure,” the museum trumpeted in January.

Unfortunately, the strain of the museums fame is not unique to staff members. Workers say both visitors and staff are suffering from such massive popularity.

According to the Sud Culture Solidaires Union “The Louvre is suffocating,”. “While the public has increased by more than 20% since 2009, the palace has not grown. … Today the situation is untenable.”

According to the union, staff members at the Louvre declined from 2,161, to 2,005 in a 9 year span.

Shocked and disappointed American visitors tweeted their experiences to the museums unusual closing. “Well this is great,” tweeted one Californian. “Glad I got to the Louvre early.”

In an attempt to mollify the public the museum is offering refunds for tickets purchased for the day.

Overcrowding and Online Sales

Citing several problems, the Sud Culture Solidaires Union, states the bulk of the problem is due to the overcrowding conditions. Amplified by an aggressive and impatient public, jostling crowds and inadequate emergency evacuation measures.

“What to say about visiting conditions when people are confronted with noise, trampling, crowds, extreme fatigue and the total inadequacy of museum facilities at such a high volume of visitors?” the union said in the statement. “The Louvre does not have the means of its ambitions.”

Closing its doors as is customary on Tuesday the museum saw the opportunity to forewarn the public. Following the workers strike, the museum website issued a notice stating the Louvre would open again late on Wednesday; after “a general meeting attended by members of the Musée du Louvre’s Reception and Security staff.” Warning that a large number of visitors were expected in the coming days recommending they buy tickets online.

A Louvre employee and union representative, Pierre Zinenberg, told the Associated Press that the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting would determine whether the museum would re-open that day, or whether the strike would continue.

The Whitney Biennial

The Whitney Biennial in New York often proves a reflection point for US social politics. Since the curator, Elizabeth Sussman’s landmark 1993 edition. She directly took on the Reagan-era Culture Wars using provocative works by women and LGBTQ artists. No stranger to controversy this year’s edition curators Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley, face protest by the group – Decolonize This Place; DTP.

Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley, the curators behind the 2019 edition, are posed to navigate these political waters. This year’s organizers are on staff and know first-hand the controversies that the biennial can inspire.

“We’ve tried to use the challenges and conversations that came out of the last [edition] as a productive lens for our work,” Panetta says. There is a great deal of work in the show that comes to terms with socio-political concerns. Not excluding challenging race and gender, financial inequality, gentrification and the vulnerability of the body.

The activist group Decolonize This Place (DTP) held weekly protests against Warren B. Kanders, the owner of a company, Safariland, that produces military supplies. A letter recently published calls for his removal by Verso press. The letter includes around 200 signatures from artists, curators, critics the letter includes signatures of more than half of the artists in the exhibition. Among these are Colectivo los Ingrávidos, Fernandes and Nicole Eisenman.

Drama at the Whitney

Considering the stress on inclusion and diversity, the 2019 biennial is in political hot water. Artist Michael Rakowitz refused to participate in the show. This act of protest against the Whitney Museum is due to their financial ties to Safariland. A company owned by the museum’s vice-chairman Warren Kanders. Safariland manufactures tear gas canisters that have been used against asylum seekers along the US-Mexico border.

It is not surprising considering the current political climate that passionate artist take issue with board members at the Whitney Museum. We are in a crisis, the environment, the poor, the truth are all in the crosshairs of the political machine. However, it is the art museum, to take a stand, and take place on the grandstand of the political play.

The mounting pressure has yet to yield any action on the Whitney’s part. However, it has prompted concern that these actions place undue duress on artists. For whom being included in the exhibition is a huge boon to their career.

Marz Saffore is one of the core members of DTP. She is helping the protest taking place. She states that the issues are collective. “As a queer black woman who is also an artist, there is no separation between politics and livelihood,” she says. Although she notes that there was never any call by DTP for this year’s artists to withdraw.

This Years Artist

After visiting over 300 studios, Panetta and Hockley assembled one of the Whitney Biennial’s most diverse rosters of emerging and mid-career American artists. The majority of artists this year are of color. There is also an even divide between male and female participants. “We wanted our biennial to feel [as though it was] of this historical moment and to be reflective of the world we actually live in,” Hockley says, adding that it was “critically important” to present a multiplicity of voices in a wide range of mediums.

The 2019 biennial boasts a larger range of new media and performance works than in previous years. Including significant video components in the galleries and in a standalone program in the museum’s theatre. The galleries feature work by Korakrit Arunanondchai, Garrett Bradley, Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, Thirza Cuthand, Forensic Architecture, Ellie Ga and Ilana Harris-Babou. Consequently, this years group of artists is also younger than in previous years. Three-quarters of the artists are under 40, and 20 of them under 33.

Arts And Politics

All museums have ethical practice guidelines in place. Unfortunately, these don’t always cover the full range of potential objections to trustee appointments. At present these issues include involving arms manufacture, corporate drug production, and climate change. These issues are global issues. As Marz Saffore states, these are issues that affect the collective community. The judging panel is charged with reviewing these circumstances case by case. Tasking them with the hard goal of finding a balance between idealism and funding.

Consequently, the question of Mr. Kanders’s staying or going doesn’t outweigh the discussion and protest his presence has raised. Hopefully, leading to further discussions about institutional ethics, and politics in our art.

Vincent Van Gogh Paintings

Two classic Vincent Van Gogh paintings are back on public display after seventeen years. Stealing the painting in 2002, the thieves used a ladder to enter the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The Dutch master’s pieces, “View of the Sea at Scheveningen” and “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen,” are currently back on display at the museum. Placing these Vincent Van Gogh paintings back in their rightful homes.

Authorities were led to the paintings after a 14-year search and investigation into a group linked to the Italian mafia. Museum staff spent two years examining the damage to the paintings and restoring them. Hanging them up recently in the museum galleries. “We are delighted to be able to put these significant works in our collection. Back on display in the museum, where they belong,” museum director Axel Ruger said in a statement. “The conservators have done a brilliant job and the paintings will now go back on permanent display in their full glory, for everyone to see.”

Both paintings required conservation treatment

Undergoing conservation treatment the paintings, which date from the 1880s, restorators assessed their damages before they returned to public display. During its time away from the museum, “View of the Sea at Scheveningen,” one of Van Gogh’s earliest works in oil paint, sustained some harm. According to the museum, the significance of this painting is two-fold, as it is one of two seascapes by Van Gogh in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, during the theft, a piece of paint was missing from the bottom left-hand corner. However, museum conservators using a 3D-printed mold replicating the original brushstrokes were able to restore the painting.

During the conservation treatment process, they found the remains of a signature “Vincent.” However, the museum believes that Van Gogh himself did not write it. Fortunately, “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen,” sustained hardly any damage, the museum said. The painting depicts the church in Nuenen, a city in the Netherlands, where Van Gogh’s father was the minister.

The museum found that both paintings were covered with a varnish. The varnish was not present before and subsequently yellowed over time. Conservators were able to remove the layers of varnish and retouch the paintings. Consequently, in the process of removing varnish from “Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen,” they discovered Van Gogh likely applied himself. Clues pointing to the protein-based and marks the first time confirmed their suspicions. Noting that this particular varnish being used painter’s early work. The museum has also selected new frames for both paintings. The thieves removing the previous ones. This is not the first happy ending in recent Dutch history – hopefully, this pattern of restoring paintings to their rightful owners will continue.

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Venice Biennale Top Shows

A record high 90 countries participated in what is considered the Olympics of the art world. They compete to win the coveted Golden Lion for the best national pavilion. Countries from around the world descend on the Italian city to show off the best art their country has to offer. However it’s impossible to see all 90, we’ve rounded up a few of the Venice Biennale tops shows. Here are a few of the national pavilions not to miss at the Venice Biennale.

France

Deep See Blue Surrounding You / Vois Ce Bleu Profond Te Fondre Artist: Laure Prouvost

Curator: Martha Kirszenbaum

Location: Giardini

Beneath her dreamlike creation of the French pavilion, Laure Prouvost is digging an illicit tunnel to the nearby British Pavilion. This Venice Benniale top show represents France but the artist feels a strong connection to England. She hasn’t asked permission to dig her tunnel. However, she’s done it anyway with hiding it. The action itself illuminates the transparent nationalist values in an international event like the Biennale. The hour-long lines for the main event of the pavilion is a direct correlation with its effect on the audience. Its characters flip between English and French, steering into nonsensical mistranslations. Consequently throwing into question some of the assumptions embedded within a language.

Brazil

SwinguerraArtists: Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca

Curator: Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro

Location: Giardini

Artist duo Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca’s video installation transports the viewer into the world of swingueira. Swingueira is a style of dance popular on the outskirts of Recife. The artists capture the life of the dancers at work, their interactions with each other on the sidelines as they video each other with their cellphones. The video, made in close collaboration with the dancers captures a routine practice session. Captivating us in and out of their individual music video fantasies. However, it’s not all glitter and gyrations. The name of the project, Swinguerra, combines the style of dance and the Portuguese word for war. Referencing the fact that these dancers are also at the focus point of an offscreen sociopolitical debate in Brazil. Similarly to the countries politics, asking the question of whether their bodies have the right to exist.

Lithuania

Sun & Sea (Marina) Artists: Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, and Lina Lapelytė

Curator: Lucia Pietroiusti

Location: Marina Militare, Calle de la Celestia, Castello, 30122

The winner of the Venice Biennale shows, Lithuanian Pavilion seems to placate us at first. An opera about climate change set at the beach? However, it’s delicate touch is one of the most unique works of art about climate change. Consequently making it one of the most affecting. The performers’ sing about the monotony of their vacations and minor grievances. All the while the sandy sunny holiday hides the destruction taking place backstage. The production is breathtaking. And while it does not attempt to be brutish in its portrayal of the problem; the result, presenting a world not so different from our own.

Ghana

Ghana FreedomA rtists: Felicia Abban, John Akomfrah, El Anatsui, Ibrahim Mahama, Selasi Awusi Sosu, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Curator: Nana Oforiatta Ayim

Location: Arsenale

If the Venice Biennale offered a golden lion for outbreak stars, the Ghana Pavilion would win it. Housing the all-star line up in the newly designed space by architect David Adjaye is the shimmering bottle-cap tapestries by sculptor El Anatsui. Also included are new portraits by painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and a sweeping video tracing West Africa’s violent history by John Akomfrah. While these artists will be familiar to the international audience, on the other hand, the exhibition offers, an opportunity for discovery. Gripping black-and-white portraits by Felicia Abban highlights a glimpse of an art historical canon in the process of recalibration. While a video installation tracing Ghana’s abandoned glass factories by the little-known Selasi Awusi Sosuan gestures to the depth of contemporary talent coming out of the country.

Denmark

Heirloom Artists: Larissa Sansour

Curator: Nat Muller

Location: Giardini

On the other side of the building, an imposing, monumental black disc stands in a darkened room. While the other half of the Danish pavilion is a theatre. The audience can sit and watch Larissa Sansour’s science fiction film, In Vitro A Monument for Lost Time. The protagonist stands positioned to take the leadership role in her community. The founder escaped the ecological disaster that left the surface uninhabitable. The conversation between the two characters is heartbreaking, complicated by the fight for the survival of the human race. While the lead questions her readiness to lead, she is, resentful that so much of her knowledge is secondhand. Consequently based on the memories of those who remember life before the disaster. But as her predecessor sagely reminds her, “we are all raised on nostalgia, our own experiences blended we others’ we are told.”