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http://www.vernissage.tv | Opening reception of the exhibition Žilvinas Kempinas : Tube at the Lithuanian Pavilion (location: Scuola Grande della Misericordia) of the 53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy. Žilvinas Kempinas is widely recognized for his bold use of videotape as a sculptural medium. This large-scale installation, TUBE (created at the Atelier Calder, Saché, France), resonates with the environment of the floating city and creates a space where vision and movement are linked by means of the body. TUBE addresses the physical and optical experiences of the viewer, and the passage of time, while creating the feeling of being inside and outside simultaneously. One can describe TUBE metaphorically or geometrically but to be appreciated it must be experienced directly. No image can convey the gradual accumulation of sensory experiences awaiting visitors who pass through the translucent tunnel of parallel lines. Kempinas changes the function of magnetic tape ...

http://www.vernissage.tv | Turkish artist duo :mentalKLINIK's installation PuFF reminds of a boxing ring with little black robots fighting against themselves and the glitter that is sprayed on the floor of the ring. The installation PuFF attempts to create an unidentified space, an indecisive zone of repetition replete with the absurdity of a floor, which is continually filled with glitter only so that it can be continually vacuumed. MentalKLINIK was founded in 2000 by Yasemin Baydar and Birol Demir. Art 40 Basel 2009.

Dropstuff.nl has been invited to take part in the 53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia as collateral event. From June 2 -7, 2009, during the opening days of the biennale, Dropstuff.nl set up the gigantic 60 square meters LED screen on the pier between San Marco and Giardini (Riva Ca’ di Dio). Dropstuff’s main focus in Venice was to show a new generation of artists and designers, who approach the audience in a direct manner. No white museum walls, but interactive art in public space. By using SMS, bluetooth, touch screen and sensors, the audience was participating in the art work.

http://www.vernissage.tv | The Saatchi Gallery on King's Road, London, opened in October 2008 with an exhibition dedicated to new art from China. The current exhibition entitled "Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture" (runs until January 17, 2010) brings together new work of more than 40 American artists, among them: Kristin Baker, John Bauer, Mark Bradford, Tom Burr, Joe Bradley, Jedediah Caesar, Carter, Eric and Heather ChanSchatz, Peter Coffin, Guerra de la Paz, Francesca DiMattio, Bart Exposito, Mark Grotjahn, Jacob Hashimoto, Rachel Harrison, Patrick Hill, Ryan Johnson, Matt Johnson, Paul Lee, Chris Martin, Elizabeth Neel, Baker Overstreet, Stephen G. Rhodes, Amanda Ross-Ho, Sterling Ruby, Gedi Sibony, Amy Sillman, Agathe Snow, Kirsten Stoltmann, Dan Walsh, Jonas Wood, Aaron Young. Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture / Saatchi Gallery, London. Exhibition walk through, June 25, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | At Design Miami Basel 2009 Natalie Kovacs curated a show for Carpenters Workshop Gallery entitled Never-Ever Land. Located at the Design Miami entrance, Never-Ever land presented an alternative functional sculpture garden, “exploring the possibility for design to entertain, enliven and enlighten”. Among the pieces on display were the Sensory Deprivation Skull by Atelier van Lieshout, the Mountain Chair by Marc Quinn, the aluminium bench Spaghetti Corten by Pablo Reinoso. Another work by Atelier van Lieshout is the Mini Capsule Hotel. The Mini Capsule Hotel is a self-operated hotel that can house up to 6 couples “in a straightforward lodging, not unlike hutches for rabbits”. Brad Pitt bought the piece for his kids, by the way. In this video, Raphaele Shirley talks with curator Natalie Kovacs about the Mini Capsule Hotel and the concept of her exhibition Never-Ever Land. Design Miami Basel 2009. Basel / Switzerland, June 8, 2009.

The Fondazione Querini Stampalia currently presents a major solo exhibition with new works by Mona Hatoum. The exhibition, entitled Interior Landscape, coincided with the opening of the 53rd International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale and takes place over two floors of the museum – both in the contemporary exhibition spaces as well as within the existing Museum collection in this historic building, formerly the home of the Querini Stampalia family. Mona Hatoum: Interior Landscape includes over 25 works, many of which are new or previously unseen in Europe. Mona Hatoum: Interior Landscape. Fondazione Querini Stampalia. Venice / Italy, June 3, 2009.

Liam Gillick's exhibition at the German Pavilion Venice Biennale 09. With statements by Liam Gillick and a review by Ralf Schlüter, Vice Editor-in-chief Art - Das Kunstmagazin (in German language). In Liam Gillick’s German Pavilion at the 53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2009 one meets a kitchen and a cat. The kitchen is inspired by the design of the Frankfurter Küche (Frankfurt Kitchen) by the Viennese architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. Conceived in 1926, the Frankfurt Kitchen with its functional form was intended to optimize household workflows. The first prototypes of today’s built-in kitchen were integrated into more than 10,000 public housing units in Frankfurt, Germany. The (animatronic) cat sits on top of the kitchen and fights against the echo in the building and tells us a circular story of misrepresentation, misunderstanding and desire.

At Design Miami Basel 2009, Carpenters Workshop Gallery presented the installation Audience by design collective rAndom International. Audience is an installation conceived by rAndom International in collaboration with Chris O'Shea and consists of around 64 head-size mirror objects. Each object moves its head in a particular way to give it different characteristics of human behaviour. Some chat amongst themselves, some shy away and others confidently move to grab your attention. Raphaele Shirley in conversation with Hannes Koch (rAndom International).

In this video, Ingar Dragset of the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset talks about their exhibition "The Collectors" that they showed as representation of Denmark and Nordic Countries Finland, Norway and Sweden at the 53rd Venice Biennale 2009 – the idea behind the exhibition, how it came about, the different concepts for the Danish and the Nordic Pavilion, and the audience's reaction to the show.

http://www.vernissage.tv | The Golden Lion for best artist in curator Daniel Birnbaum’s Fare Mondi / Making Worlds art exhibition at the 53rd Venice Biennale went to German artist Tobias Rehberger. Tobias Rehberger designed the cafeteria at the Biennale pavilion (formerly known as Italian Pavilion). The jury stated: “Tobias Rehberger is awarded the Golden Lion as best artist for taking us beyond the white cube, where past modes of exhibition are reinvented and the work of art turns into a cafeteria. In this shift social communication becomes aesthetic practice.” La Biennale di Venezia 2009: Fare Mondi (Making Worlds). Professional Preview, June 4, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Bruce Nauman's exhibition Topological Gardens, currently on view at the U.S. Pavilion in the Giardini at the 53rd Venice Biennale, has won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. The Biennale stated that Bruce Nauman's work "reveals the magic of meaning as it emerges through relentless repetition of language and form." Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens presents a thematic survey comprising four decades of Bruce Nauman’s innovative and provocative work over three exhibition sites: the United States Pavilion at the Giardini della Biennale, Università Iuav di Venezia at Tolentini, and the Exhibition Spaces at Università Ca’ Foscari. In this video, we have a look at the works in the United States Pavilion at the Giardini.

http://www.vernissage.tv | More than forty years ago, a small group of Basel gallerists decided to launch an art fair. Art Basel's debut in 1970 was an art fair with 120 exhibitors from ten countries. It then had around 16000 visitors. Today, Art 40 Basel features galleries from 31 countries in Europe, America, and Asia and more than 60000 visitors are expected. International art fair Art 40 Basel 2009. An extended walkthrough. June 9, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Design Miami Basel left the Markthalle and is now located at the back of Art Basel. In addition to the 27 participating international design galleries, Design Miami Basel 2009 features the Designers of the Future Award Installation, a special exhibition by Marc Newson featuring several of the designers exclusive works including rare prototypes and private commissions, and 3 Satellite exhibitions by rAndom International, Carpenters Workshop Gallery and Maarten Baas. VernissageTV is going to publish episodes on the Satellite exhibitions with rAndom International and Carpenters Workshop Gallery, soon. This video includes a glimpse at Maarten Baas' work Real Time. For this exhibition, Maarten Baas has assumed the role of film director to re-conceptualize traditional clock forms. From the old style analog alarm to the modern digital time counter, he creates the devices from zero, inventing new languages for the interfaces and the external housing. Through lyrical, theatrical ...

This year Claude Lévêque is the artist who represents France at the 53rd International Exhibition of Art – La Biennale di Venezia. At the French Pavilion, he presents an installation entitled “Le Grand Soir”. According to the press release, the work is a uniquely French concept from the eve of the Revolution. “Le Grand Soir” evokes the moment when the world changed. To support him in this project, Claude Lévêque has selected Christian Bernard, director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva, as curator. Claude Lévêque’s works refer to popular culture, to the everyday environment, and to mental images. He creates ambiances, environments and objects while expanding the installation’s dimensions through the use of the sensory effectiveness of light and sound. La Biennale di Venezia 2009: Fare Mondi (Making Worlds). Professional Preview, June 4, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Takashi Murakami & Pharrell Williams: The Simple Things / Art 40 Basel / Interview with Pharrell Williams At Art 40 Basel, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin presented a 6-foot Takashi Murakami sculpture, made in collaboration with the U.S. record producer and designer Pharrell Williams. The object is titled The Simple Things. It features a glass-fiber, steel and acrylic head based on Murakami's cartoon-inspired signature character Mr. Dob. In its mouth you find objects which are the essentials in Pharrell Williams' everyday life: A can of Pepsi, a cup cake, a sneaker and bottle of Johnsons baby lotion. These objects are encrusted with 26'000 diamonds and gems. In this interview with Ute Thon (Art Magazin), Pharrell Williams talks about how cooperation came about, the idea behind the sculpture, his interest in art and design, the artists and designers he admires, and his own design works. Art 40 Basel 2009, VIP Preview, June 9, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Part one of VernissageTV’s walkthrough of the Art Unlimited sector with large-scale installations, video projections, and massive sculptures at Art 40 Basel International Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland. June 8, 2008. Art 40 Basel, Art Unlimited section. Impressions from the preview. Basel, June 8, 2008.

http://www.vernissage.tv | On Sunday, June 7, 2009, the 53rd International Art Exhibition officially opened its doors. The show is curated by Daniel Birnbaum and is titled Fare Mondi, Making Worlds. VernissageTV starts its coverage with the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (or Biennale Pavilion) in the Giardini. There, visitors find a huge spiderweb-like work by Tomas Saraceno, an installation by Swedish Nathalie Djurberg (who won the Silver Lion for a Promising Young Artist in the Fare Mondi / Making Worlds exhibition) and the Café designed by Tobias Rehberger, who won the Golden Lion for the Best Artist of the exhibition Fare Mondi / Making Worlds (with the work "Was du liebst, bringt dich auch zum Weinen).

http://www.vernissage.tv | With the opening of the Museum Brandhorst in Munich's "Kunstareal", the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen gain an institution with an impressive collection of works of modern and contemporary art. The Museum Brandhorst is the new home of the Udo and Anette Brandhorst Collection. Two focal points of emphasis give the Brandhorst Collection its character. With more than sixty paintings, drawings, and sculptures by the American artist Cy Twombly (born 1928), it offers the greatest overview of Twombly's development outside the USA. The whole upper floor is dedicated to Cy Twombly and shows, among other works the Lepanto and Roses-cycles. The second focal point is Andy Warhol, who is represented with over 100 pieces, among them two huge "Last Supper" and "Oxidation" paintings. The collection features other positions with artists such as Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter, Eric Fischl, Mario Merz, Franz West, Katharina Fritsch, Christopher Wool, Robert Gober, Damien ...

http://www.vernissage.tv | Imi Knoebel. Exhibitions at Neue Nationalgalerie and Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, Germany.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Campana Brothers at Vitra Design Museum Part 1

The current exhibition at Kunsthalle Zürich in Switzerland is dedicated to the work of Philippe Parreno, a French artist born in Algeria. Philippe Parreno: May at Kunsthalle Zürich is the first episode from a planned series of “retrospective” exhibitions that will be shown at Kunsthalle Zürich, the Centre Pompidou, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, and the CCS, Bard College, New York.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Interview with the director of Heidelberger Kunstverein (Heidelberg art association) at Art Cologne 2009. The Heidelberger Kunstverein was awarded the ADKV Art Cologne Prize 2009 for art associations. Johan Holten talks about the specific nature of the art associations in Germany.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Audi Art Night 2009. Art Cologne, in partnership with the Federal Association of German Galleries and Editions (BVDG), has been promoting selected young artists since 1980, providing them with a springboard to the international art market. Free of charge, artists selected for New Positions are provided with an exhibition space of 25 square metres adjacent to the stand of the gallery representing them. From these presentations, an international jury nominates the best artist for the Audi Art Award for New Positions, which comprises a one-artist show in the Cologne Artothek with a published catalogue, worth a total of €10,000. This year’s laureate is Julia Horstmann with her presentation at the booth of Christian Nagel Gallery.

In cooperation with the Excelsior Hotel Ernst, Art Cologne staged a presentation of Contemporary Russian Art. Petr Shvetsov (Anna Nova, St. Petersburg), Anna Parkina (Coma, Berlin), Leonid Sokhranski (Thomas Flor, Düsseldorf), Vadim Zhakharov (After Gallery, Moscow), Vladimir Kozin (M + J Guelman, Moscow) and Yury Kharchenko (Otto Schweins, Cologne). Le Salon Russe – A presentation of Contemporary Russian Art, Excelsior Hotel Ernst, Germany. Reception, April 23, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | The exhibition H F | R G brings together the visions of two contemporary artists, Harun Farocki and Rodney Graham, whose work has a great deal in common, not least their film and video and their interest in the medium and its history and in self-representation. Harun Farocki and Rodney Graham present film-based installations reflecting four themes that structure their respective bodies of work: the archive, the nonverbal, the machine (and devices), and editing. Both artists will produce a new work for this exhibition. In this video by Christophe Ecoffet, the curator of the exhibition, Chantal Pontbriand, talks about the concept of the exhibition and the work of the two artist.

For OPEN SPACE at Art Cologne 2009 German artist Tjorg Douglas Beer had invited several colleagues to realize the installation Central Nervous System. The installation included paintings, sculptures, objects with an hourly program of videos, performance and music. Interview with Tjorg Douglas Beer.

With Vincent van Gogh - Between Earth and Heaven: The Landscapes the Kunstmuseum Basel stages a spectacular, comprehensive exhibition of Vincent van Gogh’s landscape paintings. The show comprises seventy paintings, both world-famous key works as well as paintings barely seen previously by the general public. In addition, forty masterpieces by contemporaries from Kunstmuseum Basel’s collection place Vincent van Gogh’s groundbreaking approach to nature in a broader context. Vincent van Gogh - Between Earth and Heaven: The Landscapes at Kunstmuseum Basel runs until September 27, 2009. Vincent van Gogh, Kunstmuseum Basel / Switzerland. Press Preview, April 23, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | German artist Claus Richter's installation RATS!, presented by Galerie Eva Winkeler at the OPEN SPACE section of Art Cologne 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | At Art Cologne 2009 Galerie Hans Mayer showed a piece by Nam June Paik, a painted aluminium infrastructure with a multi painted satellite dish, 24 color TV sets and laser disc player. In this video, Hans Mayer provides us with a short introduction to the work. Nam June Paik (1932-2006) worked with a variety of media and is consiered to be the first video artist. He was trained as a classical pianist. Nam June Paik and his family had to flee from their home in Korea in 1950. They fled to Hong Kong, and later moved to Japan and then to Germany. While studying in Germany, Nam June Paik met the composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage and the artists Joseph Beuys and Wolf Vostell. Wolf Vostell inspired him to work in the field of electronic art. The Hans Mayer Gallery was established in 1965 in Esslingen, Germany. Because of exhibitions on Op Art, Contemporary Contstructivism, and Kinetic Art, the gallery became very well known in the 1960s. In 1967 he co-founded the world's f...

In her first institutional solo exhibition, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0, Nora Schultz (*1975) shows comprehensive installations, slide projections and films that express, in an abstract way, her intensive examination of a tangible reality. A direct language and the framing of cultural, political and ethnographic values are the parameters that mutually pervade in her works.

At Art Cologne 2009 Galerie Gillian Morris from Berlin presents a group of work by Jenny Michel and Micha Hoepfel. In their artistic work Jenny Michel and Micha Hoepfel move within the grey area where art and science meet, exploring what lies between one’s own imagination and empirically ‘verified’ knowledge. In the installation Staub (dust), which consists of several parts, Jenny Michel and Micha Hoepfel explore the concept of dust, the inconspicuous phenomenon which – forming the beginning and end of all existence – represents the vertices of life and the universe.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Restart for the Art Cologne: The fair not only has a new director, the former gallerist Daniel Hug, but has relocated to a new venue, Hall 1 at the Cologne Trade Fair Center. The hall is more popular, because it's closer to the entrance and the fair is more compact. The fair has been consolidated in scope and format. The 43rd Art Cologne, 43. Internationaler Kunstmarkt, features three main sections: modern classics, post-war art and contemporary art.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Opening reception at Museum Ludwig of the exhibition Christopher Wool: Porto-Köln. Christopher Wool is not only an abstract painter, he is also an explorer of abstraction. In his paintings he brings together figures and the disfigured, drawing and painting, spontaneous impulses and well thought-out ideas. He draws lines on the canvas with a spray gun and then, directly after, wipes them out again with a rag drenched in solvent – to give a new picture in which clear lines have to stand their own against smeared surfaces. Wool's paintings reveal the entire gamut of his techniques. And in his silkscreen prints on paper we once again encounter his interest in abstraction, in the relationship between line and surface. For this, Wool pieces together especially compelling parts from his paintings to make ideal compositions, which he places on equal footing with his canvases. The exhibition traces Wool's recent developments, not least the unmistakable interest he has found in composit...

http://www.vernissage.tv | After a sales tour through Maison des Cartes, a show model “shanty timeshare” at the gallery Invisible-Exports in New York, art advisor and commentator Althea Viafora-Kress sits down with artist Lisa Kirk to discuss her exhibition House of Cards and the idea behind the private residence club that will enable shareholders to experience shanty living in the scenic Brooklyn Navy Yard. Lisa Kirk: House of Cards (Maison des Cartes) at Invisible-Exports, New York. March 7, 2009. Part 2 of the interview: http://vernissage.tv/blog/2009/04/04/lisa-kirk-in-conversation-with-althea-viafora-kress-part-22/ Performance: http://vernissage.tv/blog/2009/03/25/lisa-kirk-house-of-cards-maison-des-cartes-invisible-exports-new-york-sales-tour/

http://www.vernissage.tv | Exhibition with photographs by Czech photographer Miroslav Tichy at Ivory Press, Madrid / Spain.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Holbein to Tillmans - Prominent Guests from the Kunstmuseum Basel at Schaulager in Basel, Switzerland, brings together approximately two hundred works from the museum of fine arts in Basel, together from others from the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation and private collections. The external cause for this unusual project is the upcoming Van Gogh-exhibition, a spectacular, comprehensive exhibition taking place from April to September 2009 at the Kunstmuseum Basel. To create space for the show, parts of the Kunstmuseum’s collection had to be removed. The Schaulager’s proposal was to host these work and to present them in an exhibition. The show Holbein to Tillmans - Prominente Gäste aus dem Kunstmuseum Basel allows to see these works in a different light at Schaulager. Some of them have been spread out on a monumental wall in Petersburger hanging style, providing the framework for the interior spaces of the exhibition. Among the works on display are Allegory of Folly by Rodney Graha...

http://www.vernissage.tv | Opening reception of the exhibition Tracey Emin. 20 Years at the Kunstmuseum Bern (Museum of Fine Arts) in Bern, Switzerland. With statements by Tracey Emin and curator Kathleen Bühler.

http://www.vernissage.tv | Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s, the first major showing of Photorealism in Germany in nearly thirty years, features thirty-one paintings, a number of them the most iconic works of the period, by fourteen artists: Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, Ron Kleeman, Richard McLean, Malcolm Morley, John Salt, and Ben Schonzeit. The works in this exhibition provide a snapshot of both this important chapter in art history and a particular moment in American history. The exhibition will acknowledge the recognition accorded to American Photorealism in Germany during the 1970s through the inclusion of numerous works collected by Peter and Irene Ludwig and a portfolio of ten lithographs produced in conjunction with Documenta V, which included a major presentation dedicated to the movement. This video by Martin Griessmüller and Daniel Miller provides an exhibition walkthrough during th...

Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe at the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao is a comprehensive retrospective of the work of Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang. It's the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao's first solo show devoted to a Chinese-born artist. Cai Guo-Qiang was born in Quanzhou, China in 1957. He was a core member of the creative team that planned the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The exhibition I Want to Believe charts the artist's creation across four mediums: gunpowder drawings, explosion events, installations, and social projects. Among the works on display are Innoportune: Stage one (2004, installation consisting of nine cars and sequenced multichannel light tubes), Reflection - A Gift from Iwaki (2004, excavated wooden boat and porcelain), and Head On (wolves jumping head on against a glass wall, first realized for Cai Guo-Qiang's solo exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin). In the 1980s Cai studied stage design in Shanghai. In 1986, he moved to Japan, and in 1995, he ...

At the Armory Show 2009, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin from Paris and Miami showed a group of works by the French conceptual art duo Kolkoz, consisting of Samuel Boutruche and Benjamin Moreau. Called “The American Collection” (La Collection Americaine), the presentation displayed a group of frames framing frames. Why that? “Because we wanted to make some paintings but as we are not very good painters, we stopped at the frames”, claims Benjamin Moreau in the short interview we did with Kolkoz at The Armory Show. In June 2009 Kolkoz will be participating in the official Art Film Program of Art Basel curated by Marc Glöde, This Brunner, and John Armleder with Holiday Movie: Formentera. Samuel Boutruche (born in Avranche in 1972) and Benjamin Moreau (born in 1973 in Paris) live and work in Paris, France. Kolkoz: La Collection Americaine / The Armory Show 2009. March 4, 2009.

Eyebeam is a gallery / art event space in New York’s Chelsea district. Eyebeam’s MIXER series is dedicated to showcasing leading artists in the fields of live video and audio performance, interactivity and participatory practice. This video documents the first of the two nights of performance and installations that turned Eyebeams warehouse space into a temporary village of creatively engineered pavilions themed around the idea of utopia. The event takes on the concept of the World’s Fair and presents surveillance balloons, a World of Warcraft-inspired living space, a computerized prayer booth with a direct line to the guy upstairs, Loud Objects, and Tim Sweeney as the DJ who provides the soundtrack to the event. MIXER: EXPO 09 features: Taeyoon Choi + Cheon pyo Lee; Angela Co + Aeolab; Dennis Del Zotto, Chris Jordan, Caspar Stracke; The Institute for Faith-Based Technology; The Loud Objects; Di Mainstone; Not An Alternative; Mark Shepard; Cati Vaucelle, Steve Shada, Marisa Jahn. MIXER: ...

http://www.vernissage.tv | At the booth of Galerie Haas & Fischer, artist Joshua Callaghan presented a monument to the American century, The 100 Year Anniversary Commemorative Model-T Ford. Callaghan constructed a full-size sculptural representation of a Model-T, the iconic machine that, through the innovation of assembly line production, put the power of Manifest Destiny into the hands of everyman. This technological revolution essentially created the culture of auto-based civic planning and the nightmare of suburban sprawl that most Americans today call home.

The exhibition Divertimeno - Notes for the esthetical education of the masses at Galeria Juana de Aizpuru in Madrid, Spain, by Spanish artist Fernando Sanchez Castillo revolves around one project: a ballet with (anti-riot) water gun vehicles. Fernando Sánchez Castillo utilizes different media to investigate power and counter power: Bronze sculpture, still life photography, and painting. Their motiv: barricades and the primitive weapons used in riots: tires, Molotov cocktails, stones, nails, megaphones. And then there’s a video documentation of the project around which the whole exhibition is organized: Pegasus Dance, coreografía para camions antidisturbios (Pegasus Dance, a choreography for watergun-vehicles), a ballet realized in collaboration with the dutch police in Rotterdam. Fernando Sánchez Castillo: Divertimeno - Notes for the esthetical education of the masses. Galeria Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid. February 13, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | The exhibition La Sombra (Shadows) is an exploration of the role of the shadow as a theme in Western art. It’s a show that is split between the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Caja Madrid Foundation in Madrid, Spain. The main aim of this exhibition is to draw the visitor’s attention to the host of implications, problems and solutions inherent in the representation of the shadow in art from the Renaissance to the present day. Other objectives are to highlight the existence of paths that branch off in different directions and to reveal the sometimes unnoticed links between periods and artists, despite distances in time. The show at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is divided in six sections: The invention of Painting, The Renaissance, The Baroque, Romanticism, Symbolism and fin de Siècle and Impressionism. Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza: Shadows. Exhibition walk-through, February 10, 2009. The exhibition runs until the 17th May, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo launches its program of activities for 2009 with exhibition Bestué / Vives: Cisnes y Ratas (Swans and Rats). David Bestué and Marc Vives present two installations: Acciones en el Universo (Actions in the Universe) and their latest work, La Confirmación (The Confirmation). The show also comprises a documentation desk where visitors can view previous projects be the David Bestué and Marc Vives. The exhibition curator and CA2M director Ferran Barenblit has attempted to offer the visitors a comprehensive insight into the work of the two young artists who will represent Spain at the upcoming 53rd Venice Biennale. Bestué / Vives use different formats that range from small gestures in public spaces and stage performance to video-installation art with the aim of provoking a reaction from the general public. In La Confirmación, Bestué / Vives invite the visitors to tour a film set with different scenes that only make sense when they watch a video at the ...

The 11th edition of the Armory Show presents 243 international galleries. Many galleries are devoting their stands to single artist presentations. Ronald Feldman Fine Arts for instance is presenting The Volksboutique Armory Apothecary by Christine Hill, where visitors will have the opportunity to describe their maladies to the artist, who will prescribe remedies for a small fee. The Armory Show introduced a new section called Special Projects that feature a selection of large-scale works and site specific installations. The projects include Kenny Scharf's Carzy Roy-Al, a customized, smiling golf-cart that serves as shuttle between Pier 92 and 94, Richard Dupont's 180 cast polyurethane figures in the VIP Lounge, an installation by El Anatsui attached to the VIP Lounge's exterior, and Doug + Mike Starn's dynamic Amaterasu. The Armory Show 2009, Impressions of the opening reception, March 5, 2009.

http://www.vernissage.tv | True Cities at Architekturforum Aedes is a photo(geo)graphical installation by Dutch artist Charlie Koolhaas. True Cities is a collection of photos that show four metropolises which each in a specific way form the current political and cultural landscape. The installation is a patchwork, bringing together the urban structures of Guangzhou, Dubai, Lagos and London. The exhibition comprises hundreds of different pictures that show the interconnectedness of the world. Charlie Koolhaas, raised in London, lives and works in her studio in Guangzhou. She has a background as sociologist, and worked as editor for several magazines, curator and writer. In this video she talks about the concept of the exhibition. The show runs until the 26th March 2009. Architekturforum Aedes, Berlin / Germany. January 30, 2009. Video by Martin Griessmüller.

Gakona is a small village in the center of Alaska. Gakona, that's a few houses, a service station, a post office, and – the American research program HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program). Inspired by the work of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), researchers there are studying the possibility of the wireless transmission of electricity by means of ionizing the high strata of the atmosphere. But because of its military funding and the phantasms associated with electromagnetism since the 19th century, HAARP has also become an inexhaustible source of rumors: Climatic disruption, influence on human behavior, etc. And that's what the Gakona session at the contemporary art center Palais de Tokyo in Paris relates to: Gakona at the Palais de Tokyo lies at the intersection of fact and rumor, reality and phantasm, science and imagination. It is made up of four solo exhibitions: Micol Assaël, Ceal Floyer, Laurent Grasso and Roman Signer. In this video by Christophe Ecoffet, Laurent Grasso (see also ...

http://www.vernissage.tv | As part of our trip to Madrid we visited the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC) in Sevilla (2.20 hours away from Madrid by High Speed Train). Located right in the front of the CAAC we encountered an installation by Matthew Richie. The installation was commissioned by the Thyssen Bornemisza Contemporary Foundation (T-B A21). The Morning Line is a new experimental project by Matthew Richie, designed in collaboration with architects Aranda / Lasch and Daniel Bosia of Arup Advanced Geometry Unit. The Morning Line explores the interdisciplinary interplays betweeen art, architecture, mathematics, cosmology, music, and science. The Morning Line was presented at biacs3: youniverse, the 3rd Sevilla Biennial (Bienal de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla). Matthew Ritchie was born in London in 1964. He began exhibiting in New York in 1995 with Basilico Fine Arts, after many years working as a building superintendant. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide ...

http://www.vernissage.tv | Until the 3rd May, La Maison Rouge in Paris presents an exhibition about Andy Warhol's ventures in the world of television: Warhol TV. Curated by Judith Benhamou-Huet, the show zaps through Andy Warhol's TV universe. For Andy Warhol, television was an ideal tool for artistic, social, and self-promotion. As early as 1964 Andy Warhol made an imitation soap opera. At the beginning of the 70s, Warhol played around at producing telenovelas that were the reflection of his aesthetic and fantastical universe. In 1979 Andy Warhol put together a small team who were in charge of creating TV programs to be aired on the brand-new New York Cable. They created Fashion, a talk show devoted to the world of fashion, followed by Andy Warhol's TV, a Factory style reality-TV show, before producing the famous Andy Warhol's fifteen minutes, inspired by his renowned quote on the subject of fame. In 1987, the TV broadcast of Andy Warhol's funeral service became the tragic final chapter in the life of ...