Longitudes
Longitudes cuts across Latitudes’ projects and research with news, updates, and reportage.
FAQ: Where can I find the publications edited by Latitudes?
Sun, Apr 22 2012
We often receive enquiries from folks interested in purchasing our publications. As editors (or contributors) we only hold a few copies, which over the years have been mostly entirely gifted to colleagues and donated to expand institutional archives.
MACBA’s Centre d'Estudis i Documentació (MACBA Study Centre) and The Banff Centre Library (Banff, Canada) hold reference copies of all of our publications – including the 2006 publication 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (out of print); exhibition catalogues such as Amikejo (2011), 'Greenwashing. Environment: perils, promises and perplexities' (2008) and The Last Newspaper (2010), the monograph 'Lara Almarcegui, Projects 1995–2010’ (2010) publications accompanying projects such as Ignasi Aballí's Nothing or Something (2009), Simon Fujiwara's Museum of Incest (2009), Mataró Chauffeur Service (2010), Campus (2011) or Portscapes' (2010) limited edition which includes Jan Dibbets' DVD with his commissioned film '6 hours tide object with correction of perspective' (1969–2009); exhibition booklets of the exhibition 'Exposition International...' at Meessen de Clercq in Brussels, and that dedicated to Lawrence Weiner 2008 exhibition at Fundació Suñol.
MACBA's library also holds two further references: a recording of the conversation we organised as part of our #OpenCurating research with Dia Art Foundation Curator, Yasmil Raymond in 2013, later published as the #7 in the download-free edition; and Charley Independents, the issue that appeared coinciding with our participation in the second iteration of the festival 'No Soul for Sale' launched at TATE Modern in 2010.
Below is a list of all our publications and links to the distributors from where you can purchase them:
'Amikejo' (Mousse Publishing, 2012)
Available via Mousse Publishing (Milan) and Motto (Berlin)
Available via Archive Books (Berlin)
+ photos
+ info on the publication
Available at the The Århus Art Building, Århus (Denmark)
+ photos
+ info on the exhibition
Available via Motto Distribution (Berlin) and La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid). Special edition (in the box) available via the New Museum store (New York)
Available via Motto Distribution (Berlin) and La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid)
+ photos
+ info on the commissioning series
Available via Archive Books (Berlin) and La Central (stores in Barcelona & Madrid)
Available via Motto Distribution (Berlin)
Three of our earlier publications are out of print:
Out of print. Available for consultation at MACBA's library.
+ photos
+ info on the publication
+ info on the publication
+ info on the exhibition
–
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
'THE LAST EXPRESS' AVAILABLE NOW! #10 and final issue of the Latitudes-edited newspapers for 'The Last Newspaper' exhibition, New Museum
Wed, Dec 8 2010
FINAL ISSUE! Issue 10: 'The Last Express'(READ IT ON ISSUU)
Table of contents:
Cover: Hans Haacke News (1968–2008)
Exclusive interview: Inhotim curator Rodrigo Moura talks to artist Mauro Restiffe
Dirt Sheet column: Janine Armin on TLN Dexter Sinister's 'The First/Last Newspaper (November 4–21, 2009)'
Report: 'Fit to Print?: The newsroom reinvented', conversation at the New Museum between ‘The Last...’ columnist Adam Chadwick and web veteran Jason Fry
100 years ago...: 'Los Angeles Herald' (Los Angeles, California) 1900-1911, December 8, 1910
Focus: Blu Dot's self-assembly office furniture for the ‘The Last Newspaper’ partner organizations
The Next Newspaper (Profiling the organizations, projects, initiatives and individuals redefining ink-and-paper news): The Daily
Focus: 'Do you love milk and honey?', Greg Barton on Emily Jacir's TLN work 'SEXY SEMITE' (2000-02)
Picture Agent-Our singular picture agency: Simon Fujiwara
Media Habits: Michalis Pichler
'Embrace the Ambiguity', ‘The Last Newspaper’ curators Richard Flood and Benjamin Godsill reflect on the project’s journey.
Focus: 'Reading the Reader', Greg Barton and Irina Chernyakova on TLN partner organisation the 'New City Reader'
Exclusive interview: 'The Wires', Janine Armin talks to TLN artist Hans Haacke
Cartoon: 'The Woods: The End' by Francesc Ruiz
Advertising Department: Ester Partegàs
Watch this and other issues on Latitudes' youtube channel.
REPORT
'Fit to Print?: The newsroom reinvented'
27 November 2010: Public gathered for the talk on the 4th floor's 'Peace Arena'.On November 27, Latitudes organized a conversation at the New Museum between ‘Fit to Print’ filmmaker (and ‘The Last...’ columnist) Adam Chadwick, and Jason Fry, an expert in the challenges faced by newspapers in the digital world.
Jason Fry: I started at The Wall Street Journal in 1995 when they were a single free section and after thirteen years I had seen it become a full paper and go beyond its roots of being a financial paper to become a source of general news. It became a subscription site far ahead of anyone else. One reason why so many jobs are disappearing in newspapers now is that some top publishing executives do not understand the business they are in and are only slowly realizing that is suicide. They have become very confused between the mission of journalism and the business of journalism. The business is decaying, leaving the mission looking for new financial backing.
Jason Fry during the talkAdam Chadwick: How did journalism come to this breaking point? It began in the early 1960s, starting with how television affected the newspaper industry as it became the media where most people got their information from. Newspapers started changing their priorities back then...
Adam Chadwick during the talkJF: Newspapers were mostly family-owned operations, others were true public servants. Soon after some became owned by corporations and that changed the calculus for the business and how they made money. They were depending on performance and shareholders. Even in the 1990s newspapers were making a profit margin of 30% year after year, without really understanding the business they were in. Television has certainly created a star mentality amongst reporters which is not entirely working to the benefit of journalism. Newspapers have been historically successful because publishers essentially had a localized monopoly on printing and distribution. Retail stores would communicate their products by placing ads in a newspaper – the publishers owned distribution mechanisms. In the last ten to fifteen years that has changed, as advertising has moved to the internet – everything from furniture to job listings. Advertising was the business that funded journalism – the financial underpinnings have been knocked down.
AC: 80% of the content that is broadcast on National Public Radio comes from newspapers. It’s the same with CBS News – Russell Mitchell, for instance, has told me they are pulling content from The New York Times and The Washington Post. So the erosion of the newspaper is also hugely affecting the TV.
Public watching the trailer of 'Fit to print' screened at the beginning for the talk.JF: Newspapers used to compete with whoever started a new one locally; now they try to compete with the entire world. There is way too much content out there. How many thousands of movie reviews can you find online of the latest Harry Potter movie? And how many do we actually need?
AC: Is the web an echo-chamber of news, particularly with search engine optimization and ‘content farms’ dragging traffic? Or, if you boil it down, is it all only coming from The New York Times or The Washington Post? What is being lost now that the business model is broken? Investigative reporting?
JF: I’m not worried about journalism, I am worried about newspapers. We cannot confuse the two. The web has been wonderful to open up voices and to demystify reporting while letting a lot more people use their own expertise. But yes, investigative journalism is missing and it takes a long time and it’s very expensive. If The New York Times wants to cover a story on the dodgy doings of an organization, they will continue doing it, even if the organization goes into battle with lawyers, they won’t be intimidated. But that won’t happen if you are a blogger or freelancer no matter how smart or committed you are. I wonder if that kind of reporting has to be done institutionally though.
The public gathered for the talk on the 4th floor's 'Peace Arena'.AC: ProPublica is one of the only models, they are a non-profit for investigative reporting organisation with about thirty reporters and editors. [See The Last Post, page 9] They have deep pockets which enable them to pay competitive salaries. Other smaller examples are Investigative Voice from Baltimore led by Stephen Janis, who started it with Alan Forman, a former Baltimore Sun journalist. It focuses on crime and corruption in west Baltimore, which if you’ve seen The Wire you’ll know about. They don’t compete with the Baltimore Sun, as they cover stories they wouldn’t. They also operate thanks to donations but don’t know for how much longer they can continue working like this. How sustainable this model is, nobody knows. Even with grant organisations like the Knight Foundation, there is only so much money they can throw in. Carmen, what is your experience at The Trenton Times?
Carmen Cusido: I’m a full-time reporter now, we have five members in the staff – it used to be more than twenty. It does get tougher because we don’t have the resources to cover investigative stories. I have to pull out the resources on my own. I cover education, county news, and immigration news because I’m the only Spanish speaking reporter. When we were a larger organisation, we used to have lunch breaks and discuss things as a group, but now you really need to prioritise. It’s hugely difficult as you have to take work home with you and there are no boundaries with your private life; it’s a 24/7 job. Before you could go out and talk to people, get their trust and understand their perspective. Now I cannot even leave the desk, as I have to cover three stories and have to do everything over the telephone.
Carmen Cusido during the talkQuestion: Do people really want hard news anymore? Do newspapers understand their readers?
JF: Take the recent health care discussion: a hugely complex issue to follow and one that matters to all of us. Newspapers would cover the most recent political victory, but never show the bones of the story. This isn’t easy stuff. To the shock of newspaper editors, a lot of people read Wikipedia to understand complex situations as you get a straight forward recitation of what’s going on. That’s a model newspapers haven’t done as they continue to follow a telegraph system for getting the news out. It’s not satisfying readers’ needs.
AC: Most people I’ve spoken to want the hard news, the meat and potatoes of good journalism. Readers have stopped trusting newspapers for various reasons, some felt they were not catering a certain demographic of people or literally because news organizations have removed the newspaper dispenser boxes from poorer communities, to reach out to richer ones that would potentially advertise with them.
Question from the audience: What is your view on paywalls?
JF: News organisations should realize they are competing with the web. The success of The Wall Street Journal’s paywall has been in that it is targeted mostly at business readers, yet The New York Times covers everything. You pay for something, therefore, you think it’s valuable. Paywalls are getting in trouble in two ways: the hassle of entering a password, finding a reliable payment method. It’s not very immediate. Secondly, in the way they are implemented. If you are seeing nothing of the content you are about to buy you’re taking a blind leap of faith in paying for something you are likely going to read only once.
AC: It’s not cheap to produce content for the iPad either. If you put up a paywall you are no longer part of the linking culture such as The Huffington Post.
IF: You cannot create a walled garden that nobody can get into. You have to tease readers and let them share.
Question from the audience: Is hyper-local journalism the way to go? Or to be more brutal, what will ultimately save journalism?
AC: Paying reporters and establishing a sustainable business model. Does the non-profit model work? It does right now – but for how long?
– Transcribed by Mariana Cánepa Luna
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Two Latitudes' publications at The New York Art Book Fair, 5–7 November, MoMA PS1
Fri, Nov 5 2010Two of Latitudes' publications are currently available at The New York Art Book Fair taking place this weekend (5–7 November) at MoMA PS1.
Simon Fujiwara's 'The Incest Museum: A Guide' is available from Archive Books/Archive Journal. The publication is related to his 'The Incest Museum' project and performance lecture. Fujiwara is presenting the performance in New York with Public Art Fund on 10 November, 6.30pm (John Tishman Auditoriu, 66 West 12th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues).
'Portscapes' (see inside the publication box) is also available from SKOR's stand, placed in the 'Dutch Pavilion' section. 'Portscapes' was an evolving series of newly commissioned projects produced and presented throughout 2009 alongside the construction of Rotterdam's [51° 55' N 4° 29' E] Maasvlakte 2 – the extension to Europe's largest seaport and industrial area.
Participating artists & writers: Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets, Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller, Paulien Oltheten, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus (website: Maria Barnas (poetry) and Markus Miessen (interviews)).
The New York Art Book Fair
5–7 November 2010
MoMA PS1
http://nyartbookfair.com/
latitudes, New York, Portscapes, PS1, publications, Simon Fujiwara
Simon Fujiwara's 'The Incest Museum: A Guide' is available from Archive Books/Archive Journal. The publication is related to his 'The Incest Museum' project and performance lecture. Fujiwara is presenting the performance in New York with Public Art Fund on 10 November, 6.30pm (John Tishman Auditoriu, 66 West 12th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues).
'Portscapes' (see inside the publication box) is also available from SKOR's stand, placed in the 'Dutch Pavilion' section. 'Portscapes' was an evolving series of newly commissioned projects produced and presented throughout 2009 alongside the construction of Rotterdam's [51° 55' N 4° 29' E] Maasvlakte 2 – the extension to Europe's largest seaport and industrial area.Participating artists & writers: Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets, Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller, Paulien Oltheten, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus (website: Maria Barnas (poetry) and Markus Miessen (interviews)).
The New York Art Book Fair
5–7 November 2010
MoMA PS1
http://nyartbookfair.com/
Photo-impressions of Art Basel 2010
Tue, Jun 22 2010All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
Includes a selection of images from Art Basel's Unlimited, Statements, Art Feature and the fair section as well as Matthew Barney's show 'Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail' at Schaulager (only outside, sadly pictures not allowed inside), the exhibition 'Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession)' Kunsthalle Basel and Liste 15.
Simon Fujiwara wins the 2010 Cartier Award
Thu, Jun 3 2010
Rendering of 'Frozen'. Courtesy the artist and Frieze FoundationAccording to the press release "at Frieze Art Fair 2010 Fujiwara plans to present a new site-specific work, Frozen: an installation based on the fictive premise that an ancient lost city has been discovered beneath the site of the fair."
Installation of 'The Museum of Incest' during the 2009 Frieze. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Latitudes | www.lttds.orgFujiwara presented 'The Museum of Incest' during the 2009 Frieze in the newly inaugurated section FRAME (see Latitudes' post here) with Frankfurt–based gallery Galerie Neue Alte Brücke.
Before then, a version of the museum was presented at the Latitudes-curated exhibition 'Provenances' at Umberto di Marino, Naples, during which 'The Incest Museum: A Guided Tour' was published by Archive Books.
Installation of 'The Museum of Incest', Provenances, Umberto di Marino, Naples (14 May–14 September 2009). Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Simon Fujiwara
'The Incest Museum: A Guided Tour' published by Archive Books. Photo: Archive BooksFujiwara will participate in the forthcoming 29th Bienal de Sao Paulo (25 September–12 December 2010), Manifesta 8 in Murcia (2 October 2010-9 January 2011), Performa, the 2011 edition of the New York performance biennial and a solo exhibition at TATE, St.Ives (2011).
The 2009 Cartier Award winner was Jordan Wolfson (New York, 1980) – see Latitudes' post here and an exhibition review by Max Andrews' from Latitudes here) and the 2008 winner was Cuban artist Wilfredo Prieto (1978) (see Latitudes' post here and artist profile here).
Performance 'The Museum of Incest' de Simon Fujiwara, sábado 19 Septiembre a las 19h en Hangar, Barcelona
Tue, Sep 15 2009
19 de septiembre 2009, 19h
Hangar, Barcelona
La performance será en inglés con subtítulos en castellano. Entrada gratuita
Vena (por la) anuncia su primer evento de la temporada: la performance 'The Museum of Incest: A Guided Tour' (El Museo del Incesto: una visita guiada) del artista británico afincado en Berlin/Londres Simon Fujiwara. El evento está organizado por Vena (por la) en colaboración con Hangar en el contexto de 'Hangar Obert'.
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| Simon Fujiwara durante su performance presentada el 14 mayo 2009 durante la inauguración de la exposición ‘Provenances’ en Umberto di Marino, Napoli, comisariada Latitudes. Foto: Danilo Donzelli. |
'The Museum of Incest' (El Museo del Incesto) es un proyecto que se manifiesta en tres partes: como una instalación, una performance-lecture (véanse imágenes arriba) y como publicación. La performance consiste en un tour a través del edificio de un museo ficticio que representa la historia alternativa a los orígenes del hombre a través de prácticas incestuosas. El tour se acompaña de diapositivas, un mural y artefactos provenientes de los yacimientos arqueológicos de la Garganta de Olduvai en Tanzania, conocida también como 'cuna de la humanidad' por descubrise allí restos de los primeros homínidos.
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| Presentación del ‘Museum of Incest’ de Simon Fujiwara dentro de la exposición ‘Provenances’ en Umberto di Marino, Napoli, comisariada Latitudes. Fotos: Danilo Donzelli. |
En ocasión de la exposición 'Provenances' en Nápoles, Latitudes editó la publicación 'The Museum of Incest. A Guided Tour' publicada por Archive Books (Turin/Berlin) (imágenes a continuación), que se podrá adquirir por 6 Euros una vez finalizada la performance.
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| 'The Museum of Incest. A Guided Tour' publicada por Archive Books. Fotos: Latitudes. |
Simon Fujiwara (1982, Londres, Inglaterra. Vive en Berlin y Londres). Recientemente ha sido artista en residencia del MAK Center for Art & Architecture, Schindler House, Los Angeles (2008–9) y ha participado en 'Office of Real Time Activity', Royal College of Art, Londres (Marzo 2009); 'Provenances', Umberto di Marino, Nápoles (comisariada por Latitudes - imágenes aquí) (Mayo–Septiembre 2009) y 'The Collectors', Danish and Nordic Pavilions, 53rd Biennale di Venezia. Próximamente presentará el 'The Museum of Incest' en Frieze Art Fair (sección Frame), Londres, con Galerie Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt.
A continuación imágenes de la performance en Hangar:
+ info:
– Texto "Simon Fujiwara_ES.pdf" en el archivo de textos de Latitudes (pdfs en Español e Inglés)
– Artículo sobre 'Provenances', 3 Junio, La Repubblica (italiano)
– Entrevista que se ha publicado en la revista italiana Kult Magazine de Septiembre, realizada por Daniele Perra (pdf italiano)
LAST CHANCE: 'Provenances', Umberto di Marino, Naples & 'Sequelism Part 3: Possible, Probable or Preferable Futures', Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Mon, Sep 7 2009
Jordi Mitjà 'Floating Lines' (2009). Photo: Danilo Donzelli.
Simon Fujiwara, 'The Museum of Incest', 2008-ongoing, hexagonal table, chairs, projection screen, wood veneer paneling, vinyl mural, map, framed portraits, six framed book pages (“The Incest Museum Cast of Actors”), slide projection loop, Museum orientation video (25 min.), Museum guidebooks, various objects, and artifacts. Photo: Danilo Donzelli.
'Provenances'
Erick Beltrán, Jordi Mitjà and Simon Fujiwara
Umberto di Marino Arte Contemporanea, Naples, Italy
until 14 September 2009
EXHIBITION PHOTO TOUR HERE.
'Provenances' reflects on the heritage industry and the museumification of history, as well as the creation, transmission, and fidelity of cultural worth. The artists share an aesthetic and pragmatic concern with the principle of the personal archive or the pre-museal wunderkammer – the categorization and veracity of objects, images, and words are always provisional. + info...
Erick Beltrán presents four works each focussed around a relic-like artifact made of a particular natural substance. Each object is accompanied by a text diagram, and together they elicit a dense proliferation of references, narratives, contexts, and interconnections. In 'Floating Lines' (2009) Jordi Mitjà reflects on practices of information retrieval, falsification, and accumulation. In his seemingly sparse installation, clusters of photocollages are hidden from immediate view by a string curtain which protects them from light while necessitating the visitor’s gesture to reveal them. Simon Fujiwara's 'The Museum of Incest' (2009) is a multipart project that unearths an implicit myth of human origins and an explicit sexual archeology. Fujiwara realised the performance-lecture 'The Museum of Incest. A Guided Tour' during the opening night.
A guide of the museum has been published by Archive Books (Softcover / 21 x 15cm / 52pp / ISBN 978-88-95702-09-4).
Press links here.
UMBERTO DI MARINO
Via Alabardieri 1, Piazza dei Martiri
80121 Napoli, ITALIA
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 15–20h
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 15–20h
'Provenances' has been kindly supported by the Institut Ramon Llull.
(Above and below) Haegue Yang, 'Holiday for Tomorrow', 2007. Painted wooden screens with metal feet (Yes-I-Know-Screen); PVC, shells (Shell Sculpture); 10 coloured Venetian blinds, steel cable (Blind Department); wooden platform with monitor showing 13 min DVD (Holiday Story). Courtesy of the artist and Barbara Wien, Berlin. Photo: Carl Newland.
Arnolfini, Bristol, United Kingdom
until 20 September 2009
Free admission
EXHIBITION PHOTO TOUR HERE.
Artists: Mariana Castillo Deball (1975, Mexico City. Lives in Berlin/Amsterdam), Heman Chong (1977, Malaysia. Lives in Berlin/Singapore), Graham Gussin (1960, London. Lives in London), Victor Man (1974, Cluj–Napoca. Lives in Cluj), Francesc Ruiz (1971 Barcelona. Lives in Barcelona/Berlin), Jordan Wolfson (1980, New York. Lives New York/Berlin) and Haegue Yang (1977, Malaysia. Lives in Berlin/Singapore), (1971 Seoul. Lives in Berlin/Seoul)
Curated by: Nav Haq (Curator, Arnolfini) and Latitudes
'Sequelism...' is an exhibition reflecting on the future and that which is yet to happen. It looks at the political, social, and ecological implications of the inexact arena of futurology: the science and interdisciplinary practice of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures from the present. This is the first in a trilogy of Sequelism exhibitions, with Part 2 in 2010. + info...
More on the public programme related to the exhibition on http://futurologyprogramme.org
Arnolfini 16 Narrow Quay
Bristol BS1 4QA
UNITED KINGDOM
Opens: 10am-6pm Tues-Sun & Bank Holiday Mondays. Closed Mondays. Free entrance
'Sequelism' is generously supported by the Institut Ramon Llull and the Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural en el Exterior (SEACEX), IFA, the National Arts Council Singapore and The Ratiu Family.
2024 update: Images of Victor Man's works have been removed at the request of the artist.
(Above and below) Francesc Ruiz, 'Untitled' (Bristol) (2009). Self-adhesive digital prints. Courtesy of the artist, Maribel López Gallery, Berlin, and Galeria Estrany-De la Mota, Barcelona. Photo: Carl Newland.
Latitudes' "out of office" photo album 2008-9
Thu, Jul 30 2009As the 2008–9 artistic cycle turns for many towards a holiday exodus and 'out of office' autoresponders, below is a selection of some unseen and 'behind the scenes' moments from our projects since last summer.
A big thank you to everyone involved in our 2008-9 projects y felices vacaciones!
– Latitudes
(Three images above): Mariana with Lawrence Weiner during the installation of Lawrence Weiner's exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at the Fundació Suñol, Barcelona, in October–November 2008; during the press conference; Lawrence, Latitudes and Fundació Suñol team (Sergi Aguilar, Maga Ruiz, Xavier De Luca, Mireia Arnau and Jaume Brunet) photographed by Pierre-Jean Moulis after tossing a horseshoe upon the crest of a wave.
16–19 October 2008: presentation of the Danish artist Tue Greenfort 'transparent' bins outside Frieze Art Fair, London, commissioned by the Royal Society of Arts' 'Arts & Ecology' programme.
5–9 November 2008: Leaving the 'X, Y, etc!' Videolounge in Artissima Art Fair, Torino, Italy; admiring the phenomenal long table arrangement Artissima dinner hosted at the equally phenomenal Venaria Reale.
November 2008: fourth visit to Rotterdam – evening boat trip with some of 'Portscapes' artists, site visit to the port with the Port of Rotterdam's Sjaak Poppe (Hans Schabus and Roman Keller alongside) and discussions in Marjolijn Dijkman's studio (Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer – with Ilana Halperin on Skype)
November 2008: ‘La, la, la, la: on winning and losing’ co-curator Aimar Arriola arranging a work with artist Verónica Aguilera and (below) selecting images with Fermín Jimenez Landa and Oriol Vilanova.
8 February 2009: SKOR curator Theo Tegelaers and Jan Dibbets during the filming of Jan Dibbets' '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective'; some of 'Portscapes' artists including Bik Van der Pol and Marjolijn Dijkman visit the beach while waiting for the tide to go up; Christiane Bosman (SKOR press coordinator) and curator Theo Tegelaers from SKOR at 'Portscapes' during Art Rotterdam opening evening.
18 February 2009: Vena (por la) talk with (the then) Walker Art Center associate curator Doryun Chong (now Associate Curator at MoMA in New York).
April 2009: The Associació d'Art Crítics de Catalunya awards Fundació Suñol for their exhibition programme (Latitudes-curated projects Lawrence Weiner's 'THE CREST OF THE WAVE' and the Land Art film programme 'A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art's Expanded Field, 1968–2008' were part of this season).
(7 images above): First Neapolitan lunch with Simon Fujiwara and Jordi Mitjà on May 8, 2009: deep-fried maccheroni; Erick Beltrán installing during 'Provenances', Umberto di Marino, Naples; preparing Simon's 'Museum of incest'; subtitling session with Nicoletta Daldanise; delightful Sicilian cuisine at Umberto's house, documenting Erick's work during the opening night and audience during Simon's performance 'The Museum of Incest: A Guided Tour' (publication here).
(3 Above): During the installation of 'The Garden of Forking Paths', Maisterravalbuena, Madrid, May 2009; installation instructions for Rosalind Nashashibi & Lucy Skaer's photographic pieces and post-opening beer landscape at Maisterravalbuena office, 29 May 2009.
15 June 2009: Hans Schabus, Port of Rotterdam team and curators mulling over the location options for Hans's photo shoot of his 'Portscapes' project 'Europahaven, Port of Rotterdam, 17 Juni 2009'.
24–28 June 2009 (2 above): At our temporary office during the non-profit festival 'No Soul for Sale', in New York [Note Michael Jackson's 'breaking news' on screen!].
The Bruce High Quality Foundation in full (we are indebted to them for their fantastic 1983 Burger King set up)
(3 above) Installing Graham Gussin work during 'Sequelism Part 3. Possible, Probable or Preferable futures' in Arnolfini, Bristol (July 2009); hanging around with participating artists Francesc Ruiz and Haegue Yang as well as Nav Haq (Arnolfini curator) before dinner; and knitting lessons from Haegue at Arnolfini's bar.
[All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org]
Fundació Suñol, hans schabus, Ignasi Aballí, Jan Dibbets, Lawrence Weiner, Maisterravalbuena, out of office, Portscapes, Sequelism, Simon Fujiwara, SKOR, Tue Greenfort, Umberto di Marino, X initiative
A big thank you to everyone involved in our 2008-9 projects y felices vacaciones!
– Latitudes
(Three images above): Mariana with Lawrence Weiner during the installation of Lawrence Weiner's exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at the Fundació Suñol, Barcelona, in October–November 2008; during the press conference; Lawrence, Latitudes and Fundació Suñol team (Sergi Aguilar, Maga Ruiz, Xavier De Luca, Mireia Arnau and Jaume Brunet) photographed by Pierre-Jean Moulis after tossing a horseshoe upon the crest of a wave.
16–19 October 2008: presentation of the Danish artist Tue Greenfort 'transparent' bins outside Frieze Art Fair, London, commissioned by the Royal Society of Arts' 'Arts & Ecology' programme.5–9 November 2008: Leaving the 'X, Y, etc!' Videolounge in Artissima Art Fair, Torino, Italy; admiring the phenomenal long table arrangement Artissima dinner hosted at the equally phenomenal Venaria Reale.
November 2008: fourth visit to Rotterdam – evening boat trip with some of 'Portscapes' artists, site visit to the port with the Port of Rotterdam's Sjaak Poppe (Hans Schabus and Roman Keller alongside) and discussions in Marjolijn Dijkman's studio (Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer – with Ilana Halperin on Skype)
November 2008: ‘La, la, la, la: on winning and losing’ co-curator Aimar Arriola arranging a work with artist Verónica Aguilera and (below) selecting images with Fermín Jimenez Landa and Oriol Vilanova.
8 February 2009: SKOR curator Theo Tegelaers and Jan Dibbets during the filming of Jan Dibbets' '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective'; some of 'Portscapes' artists including Bik Van der Pol and Marjolijn Dijkman visit the beach while waiting for the tide to go up; Christiane Bosman (SKOR press coordinator) and curator Theo Tegelaers from SKOR at 'Portscapes' during Art Rotterdam opening evening.
18 February 2009: Vena (por la) talk with (the then) Walker Art Center associate curator Doryun Chong (now Associate Curator at MoMA in New York).
April 2009: The Associació d'Art Crítics de Catalunya awards Fundació Suñol for their exhibition programme (Latitudes-curated projects Lawrence Weiner's 'THE CREST OF THE WAVE' and the Land Art film programme 'A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art's Expanded Field, 1968–2008' were part of this season).
(7 images above): First Neapolitan lunch with Simon Fujiwara and Jordi Mitjà on May 8, 2009: deep-fried maccheroni; Erick Beltrán installing during 'Provenances', Umberto di Marino, Naples; preparing Simon's 'Museum of incest'; subtitling session with Nicoletta Daldanise; delightful Sicilian cuisine at Umberto's house, documenting Erick's work during the opening night and audience during Simon's performance 'The Museum of Incest: A Guided Tour' (publication here).
(5 above): Arrival day in Beijing on May 18, 2009, with Ignasi Aballí; laying out the Barcelona posters for 'Scenic viewpoints'; (around 3.30am...) installation of 'Nothing, or Something' at Yintai Centre with Suitcase Art Projects artistic director Carol Yinghua Lu and Ignasi; checking the vinyl is straight with Ignasi ('El País' always at hand) and a quiet conversation with Carol on the escalators.
15 June 2009: Hans Schabus, Port of Rotterdam team and curators mulling over the location options for Hans's photo shoot of his 'Portscapes' project 'Europahaven, Port of Rotterdam, 17 Juni 2009'.
24–28 June 2009 (2 above): At our temporary office during the non-profit festival 'No Soul for Sale', in New York [Note Michael Jackson's 'breaking news' on screen!].
The Bruce High Quality Foundation in full (we are indebted to them for their fantastic 1983 Burger King set up)
(3 above) Installing Graham Gussin work during 'Sequelism Part 3. Possible, Probable or Preferable futures' in Arnolfini, Bristol (July 2009); hanging around with participating artists Francesc Ruiz and Haegue Yang as well as Nav Haq (Arnolfini curator) before dinner; and knitting lessons from Haegue at Arnolfini's bar.
[All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org]
Materials presented at 'NO SOUL FOR SALE'
Thu, Jun 25 2009
During 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' we are presenting several publications and paraphernalia related to our projects, including:
– Compendium of essays, artists' projects, etc. 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (Royal Society of Arts/Arts Council England, 2006)
– Magazine UOVO #14 'Ecology, Luxury and Degradation' (The Bookmakers Ed., Summer 2007)
– Exhibition catalogue 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' (The Bookmakers Ed., February 2008)
– Artist book by Simon Fujiwara 'The Museum of Incest: A Guide' (Archive Books, May 2009)
We also have DVDs of Jan Dibbets' recent film '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (as part of Portscapes) and a public sculpture produced in October 2008 by Lawrence Weiner on occasion of his exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at Fundació Suñol, Barcelona (we also have the exhibition booklet available).
The Bruce High Quality Foundation also have a computer available from where visitors can burn DVDs for $5 as well as some of their publications.
Overview of the 53rd International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennial: 'Making Worlds // Fare Mondi'
Sun, Jun 14 2009
Daniel Birnbaum's 'Making Worlds' felt less melancholic though still very much in keeping with his recently-curated '50 Moons of Saturn', the 2nd Turin Triennial (see post 10 November 2008). Both exhibitions shared several artists (Ulla von Brandenburg, Koo Jeong-A, Pietro Roccasalva, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Lara Favaretto, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Haegue Yang, Paul Chan, Tomás Saraceno, Wade Guyton, Keren Cytter and Rosa Barba), while Venice included several students (including Att Poomtangon) or professors (Simon Starling, Wolfgang Tillmans) from the Birnbaum-directed Staedelschule in Frankfurt, and the support of curator Jochen Volz in the artistic organisation (additional advice was provided by a team of 'correspondents': Savita Apte, Tom Eccles, Hu Fang and Maria Finders). In contrast with the 2007 biennial by Robert Storr it felt less painterly and more sculptural and with a notable lack of 'black boxes' with film and video work.
There seemed to be however, a certain self-reflexivity with regard to the biennale context: several works referred to the winter life of the Giardini venues (Steve McQueen's film in the British Pavilion; Haegue Yang's video in the Korean Pavilion) and the challenge artists face when asked to present work for this type of event. This was most evident in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's video in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly named 'Padiglione Italia'), a touching exorcism of artistic exhaustion. During the last twenty years she has been asked to participate in the Biennale not less than five times, and she speaks about the pressure of expectation in creating something new every time.
Elsewhere in Venice the Biennial threatened to be overshadowed by the opening of François Pinault’s über-collection hosted in the recently renovated Punta della Dogana (the former customs house). The spectacular triangular building has undergone a speedy renovation by Japanese architect Tadao Ando (see video here) and the inaugural exhibition's sombre atmosphere is much in contrast to the über-kitch displays at Palazzo Grassi.
Without trying to be at all comprehensive (with almost one million square feet of exhibition space, more than ninety artists, seventy-seven national contributions, forty-four collateral events that seem increasingly impossible) here are some highlights in no particular order of the Giardini (see first slideshow with 107 images) and Arsenale (slideshow above with 52 images):
Roman Ondák’s 'Loop' contribution in the Czech/Slovak pavilion: a walk-through pavilion with a path running from the entrance to the back door that has been landscaped with exactly the same greenery that exists in the Giardini – it was executed with such precision that some visitors asked the artist if his work was the pavilion building itself as they could not find the 'art' anywhere.
Haegue Yang's 'Condensation' (Korea Pavilion) atmospheric assemblage of Venetian blinds, lamps or bulbs, scent atomizers, infrared motion detectors and crochet.
'The Collectors' in the Nordic and Danish pavilions, taken over by artists invited by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset which included exquisit works by Pepe Espaliú's ('Carrying Project') and Simon Fujiwara.
Lara Favaretto's 'Momentary Monument (Swamp)' at the Giardini delle Vergini as well as the three minute man-horse-motorbike film by David Bestué & Marc Vives, which together with their 'Acciones en casa' presented in the Arsenale, gave one of the only humorous notes in the exhibition.
Finally the biennial at last has a decent cafeteria! Tobias Rehberger was given the Golden Lion for the Best Artist for his neo-pop environment. It could well have been recognised along with another new facility previously in dire need of a revamp: the bookstore, which was designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija and hosted a comprehensive collection of monographs and catalogues.
Off-Giardini (Eventi Collaterali) highlights
(slideshow above with 33 images):
Joao Maria Gusmao & Pedro Paiva's 'Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air' (Portugal) which included five 16mm films, a mixture of humour and magical realism (a sunset with three suns, a man lifting a bucket filled with water by grasping the water...). Truly great.
Teresa Margolles (Mexico) showing 'What else can we talk about?'. An traumatised and almost empty Palazzo Rota Ivancich highlighted the many Mexicans who have recently died in a violent manner. Margolles and her collaborators gathered blankets with blood and mud where victims fell. That mud and that same blood is slowly moistened in the ground floor and later used to mop the main floor. A decadent palazzo in almost complete silence combines personal dramas and national sorrow. As the artist put it 'we live in a country that cries' (La Jornada, 10 June). This, perhaps alongside Taiwan ('Foreign Affairs'), was by far the most self-critical national representation.
At Isola di Certosa: 'Animated Scene' by Irish artist John Gerrard: an amazing three-screen real time computer-generated projection of the American West: a reconstruction of a 1935 Texas dust storm, a year in the life of an automated pig production facility in the Great Sothern Plains and a man blacking out the facade of a white silo in Kansas – see images here.
Disappointments:
The Golden Lion for Best National Participation going to Bruce Nauman's 'Topological Gardens'. Yes, indeed a great artist but partly agreeing with Harry Bellet and Philippe Dagen from Le Monde: 'a retrospective without any new work is far away from the very principle of the Biennale: to reveal the present'. It also presented very familiar work from the 1960s until today from museums and private collections. His presentation did however come more to life in IUAV Tolentini and Ca'Foscari yet the need to cram three venues seems questionable.
Steve McQueen's ticketed entry to the British pavilion, showing a double-screen film portraying the off-season of the Giardini during the winter months: insects silently making their way through the vegetation, rain drops, Venetian bells ringing in the mist, greyhounds scavenging a trash-scattered Giardini, gay cruising in the small hours of the night. One cannot argue against the evident beauty of the piece, yet its impact quickly wore off.
Miquel Barceló representing Spain: not only because the choice of the project didn't follow any semblance of a democratic or juried selection (as did the Catalan Pavilion) but also the frankly flatfooted delivery: a hagiographic mini-retrospective complete with reading area.
Italian Pavilion in the Arsenale curated by Luca Beatrice and Beatrice Buscaroli: an embarrassingly poor exhibition, doing no justice to the tremendous artistic talent in the host country.
The sudden cancellation of Emily Jacir's project 'Stazione' for the Palestinian Pavilion (to display the names of each vaporetto station along the Grand Canal in Arabic alongside the Italian). It would have been a telling reference to the cross-cultural exchange between Venice and the Arab world and a great addition to the very little public-space work produced for this Biennale.
'In-Finitum' at the Palazzo Fortuny included some great works (include those by Anselmo, and a room with Lucio Fontana) although the exhibition felt much less compelling than 2007's 'Artempo: Where time becomes art'. This year it seems to include more 1950s-1970s work, more monochromes (Gutai group, Antoni Tàpies, Robert Ryman, James Turrell, Mark Rothko, Hiroshi Sugimoto...) and did not exactly run with the concept of 'the infinite'. The strength of this curatorial exercise lies in widening the timeframe while building a link between Fortuny's legacy and 'anonymous' work (e.g. Egyptian ancient sculpture) with contemporary works (on this occasion John Gerrard, Michael Borremans, Berlinde Bruyckere et. al.), which failed to spark this time.
–
53rd International Art Exhibition: Making Worlds // Fare Mondi // Bantin Duniyan // Weltenmachen // Construire des Mondes // Fazer Mundos…
Artistic director: Daniel Birnbaum
Giardini della Biennale / Arsenale
Without trying to be at all comprehensive (with almost one million square feet of exhibition space, more than ninety artists, seventy-seven national contributions, forty-four collateral events that seem increasingly impossible) here are some highlights in no particular order of the Giardini (see first slideshow with 107 images) and Arsenale (slideshow above with 52 images):
Roman Ondák’s 'Loop' contribution in the Czech/Slovak pavilion: a walk-through pavilion with a path running from the entrance to the back door that has been landscaped with exactly the same greenery that exists in the Giardini – it was executed with such precision that some visitors asked the artist if his work was the pavilion building itself as they could not find the 'art' anywhere.
Haegue Yang's 'Condensation' (Korea Pavilion) atmospheric assemblage of Venetian blinds, lamps or bulbs, scent atomizers, infrared motion detectors and crochet.
'The Collectors' in the Nordic and Danish pavilions, taken over by artists invited by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset which included exquisit works by Pepe Espaliú's ('Carrying Project') and Simon Fujiwara.
Lara Favaretto's 'Momentary Monument (Swamp)' at the Giardini delle Vergini as well as the three minute man-horse-motorbike film by David Bestué & Marc Vives, which together with their 'Acciones en casa' presented in the Arsenale, gave one of the only humorous notes in the exhibition.
Finally the biennial at last has a decent cafeteria! Tobias Rehberger was given the Golden Lion for the Best Artist for his neo-pop environment. It could well have been recognised along with another new facility previously in dire need of a revamp: the bookstore, which was designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija and hosted a comprehensive collection of monographs and catalogues.
Off-Giardini (Eventi Collaterali) highlights
(slideshow above with 33 images):
Joao Maria Gusmao & Pedro Paiva's 'Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air' (Portugal) which included five 16mm films, a mixture of humour and magical realism (a sunset with three suns, a man lifting a bucket filled with water by grasping the water...). Truly great.
Teresa Margolles (Mexico) showing 'What else can we talk about?'. An traumatised and almost empty Palazzo Rota Ivancich highlighted the many Mexicans who have recently died in a violent manner. Margolles and her collaborators gathered blankets with blood and mud where victims fell. That mud and that same blood is slowly moistened in the ground floor and later used to mop the main floor. A decadent palazzo in almost complete silence combines personal dramas and national sorrow. As the artist put it 'we live in a country that cries' (La Jornada, 10 June). This, perhaps alongside Taiwan ('Foreign Affairs'), was by far the most self-critical national representation.
At Isola di Certosa: 'Animated Scene' by Irish artist John Gerrard: an amazing three-screen real time computer-generated projection of the American West: a reconstruction of a 1935 Texas dust storm, a year in the life of an automated pig production facility in the Great Sothern Plains and a man blacking out the facade of a white silo in Kansas – see images here.
Disappointments:
The Golden Lion for Best National Participation going to Bruce Nauman's 'Topological Gardens'. Yes, indeed a great artist but partly agreeing with Harry Bellet and Philippe Dagen from Le Monde: 'a retrospective without any new work is far away from the very principle of the Biennale: to reveal the present'. It also presented very familiar work from the 1960s until today from museums and private collections. His presentation did however come more to life in IUAV Tolentini and Ca'Foscari yet the need to cram three venues seems questionable.
Steve McQueen's ticketed entry to the British pavilion, showing a double-screen film portraying the off-season of the Giardini during the winter months: insects silently making their way through the vegetation, rain drops, Venetian bells ringing in the mist, greyhounds scavenging a trash-scattered Giardini, gay cruising in the small hours of the night. One cannot argue against the evident beauty of the piece, yet its impact quickly wore off.
Miquel Barceló representing Spain: not only because the choice of the project didn't follow any semblance of a democratic or juried selection (as did the Catalan Pavilion) but also the frankly flatfooted delivery: a hagiographic mini-retrospective complete with reading area.
Italian Pavilion in the Arsenale curated by Luca Beatrice and Beatrice Buscaroli: an embarrassingly poor exhibition, doing no justice to the tremendous artistic talent in the host country.
The sudden cancellation of Emily Jacir's project 'Stazione' for the Palestinian Pavilion (to display the names of each vaporetto station along the Grand Canal in Arabic alongside the Italian). It would have been a telling reference to the cross-cultural exchange between Venice and the Arab world and a great addition to the very little public-space work produced for this Biennale.
'In-Finitum' at the Palazzo Fortuny included some great works (include those by Anselmo, and a room with Lucio Fontana) although the exhibition felt much less compelling than 2007's 'Artempo: Where time becomes art'. This year it seems to include more 1950s-1970s work, more monochromes (Gutai group, Antoni Tàpies, Robert Ryman, James Turrell, Mark Rothko, Hiroshi Sugimoto...) and did not exactly run with the concept of 'the infinite'. The strength of this curatorial exercise lies in widening the timeframe while building a link between Fortuny's legacy and 'anonymous' work (e.g. Egyptian ancient sculpture) with contemporary works (on this occasion John Gerrard, Michael Borremans, Berlinde Bruyckere et. al.), which failed to spark this time.
–
53rd International Art Exhibition: Making Worlds // Fare Mondi // Bantin Duniyan // Weltenmachen // Construire des Mondes // Fazer Mundos…
Artistic director: Daniel Birnbaum
Giardini della Biennale / Arsenale
Open 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Giardini closed on Mondays / Arsenale closed on Tuesdays
http://www.labiennale.org