What We Learned This Week
London, currently enjoying a solid bout of summer weather, has upped the art ante this week. First of all, Frieze Sculpture Park opened on Tuesday night, following a new schedule which began last year, whereby the sculpture park sits in Regent’s Park for the duration of the summer, right up until Frieze London. Previously it had opened in line with the fair, when visitors mostly stay cooped up inside the enormous tent, perhaps having a quick wander through the sculptures on the way between Frieze London and Masters. Some expected names have sprung up in the park—Barry Flannigan, check! Tracey Emin, check!—along with some rising stars who we are very excited to see, including the excellent Larry Achiampong. A special shout-out to John Baldessari’s terrific Penguin sculpture.
The fun doesn’t stop there for Londoners; tomorrow night is Art Night. The capital’s biggest art festival winds its way down the Thames, with numerous events along the South Bank and in the currently transitioning Battersea Power Station. If you fancy getting in on the action, why not follow our handy guide to take in the events by bike? It also happens to be Pride London tomorrow, with some of Art Night’s events —including Prem Sahib‘s Anal House Meltdown—tying in with it. One of the city’s largest galleries, White Cube is also gearing up for some big events, as it celebrates twenty-five years since opening. Memory Palace opens next week in both of the gallery’s spaces, drawing together the work of over forty artists around the theme of, you guessed it, memory.
It’s all change in France this week, after Fiac announced a new venue from 2021, when the iconic Grand Palais will be renovated, and Emmanuel Macron took on artists’ residencies. He’s ordered a comprehensive review of residencies currently funded by the state, which could lead to a radical change in what’s offered. Macron is quoted in Le Monde as wanting to ensure that France is attractive to skilled artists from around the world, which could involve, “if necessary, the reorientation, the creation or the withdrawal of residency programmes according to the strategic objectives of the support of the state”.
In the US, visitors to the ICA Boston can now arrive by boat, as a new space has opened up in a working shipyard. The ICA’s director, Jill Medvedow, says this is a response to visitors wanting “more encounters with art”—and so The Watershed, which opened this week on Independence Day, will offer immersive performances and highly enjoyable transportation. “People will be able to see both [venues] in one visit, as well as experience the boat ride,” Medvedow says.
Exhibition of the Week
Putting Out at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise
The recently opened Putting Out at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in New York looks at the relationship between sex and labour. This goes beyond the transactional nature of paid-for sex, to look at the fatigue caused by the hard work that the modern world requires to keep us surviving. This, it is suggested, “leaves us too exhausted to understand what pleasure is or how it can be readily experienced.” The show is curated by Taylor Trabulus and Reba Maybury and the line-up of artists is impressive—including Juliana Huxtable, Darja Bajagić, Leigh Ledare and Amalia Ulman.
Quote of the Week
“I knew from a very early age I was attracted to men and that this was really bad, even criminal and possibly made me like those men you occasionally heard adults talk about in disgusted terms, but somehow I knew I wasn’t bad.”
Instagram Account of the Week
Shelia Hicks’s fuzzy woven landscapes, Lila Jang’s curvaceous loveseats and James Turrell‘s psychedelic light temples are just three of the inexplicably satisfying and soothing images compiled by Beninmadrid. An ever-tempting depository for sumptuous images, the anonymous Instagram is our go-to resource for zen-inducing brain orgasms that break the glaring monotony of the infinite scroll.
