The very name of the Autostrada Biennale holds the promise of a journey, such as a road trip along the awe-inspiring highways linking far-flung corners of the tiny landlocked state at the heart of the Balkans. Continue reading Letter from Kosovo
In the normal run of things, this would have been the art biennale preview and art tourists would be descending on the city in droves. I missed the last one, but didn’t Ralph Rugoff’s curatorial conceit hinge on a Chinese proverb, or curse, ‘May You Live In Interesting Times’? The words (and their source) now feel bitterly ironic. Continue reading Letter from Venice
Spread over three gallery spaces, each painted a different primary color in keeping with Kent’s own bold chromatic range, “Joyful Revolutionary” focuses on her silkscreen production during the 1960s, charting the increasingly political turn of the artist’s work. Continue reading Corita Kent
Dubbed the ‘living room of the city’, the former Central Public Library in Randolph Square housed a sizable portion of the Biennial’s offerings, dealing with gun violence, the need for affordable public housing, social equity, land and property ownership, environmental concerns and other issues Continue reading Letter from Chicago
As the plane neared its destination — the Maltese islands, just south of Sicily — I noticed tankers dotted around what looked like an unusually shallow stretch of seawater. Later I found out we were cruising above a vast offshore anchoring area known as Hurd’s Bank, apparently the largest in Europe, which lends its name to a captivating film by Tobias Zielony. Continue reading Malta round-up
On more than one occasion, the Cuban art historian and curator Gerardo Mosquera has criticised the kind of temporary art exhibition that descends on unsuspecting locals like a flying saucer, meets with bafflement and incomprehension, does its own thing among fellow Martians and then takes off and vanishes without a trace. Continue reading Letter from Okayama and Kobe
Many of the problems that the city and its sizeable artist community face today, which boil down to a shortage of affordable housing and studio spaces, have their root in neoliberal policies that made the sale of city-owned real estate possible from the 1990s onward. Continue reading Berlin Art Week
As we approached the centre of Monaco, the driver who picked me up at the airport pointed out one of the largest yachts in the world, dwarfing all its companions lining the main harbour. We had plenty of time to admire it since the yearly roadworks ahead of the Grand Prix de Monaco – the legendary Formula One motor race that takes over the city-state each May – meant that it took us a good 40 minutes to drive across what is apparently the second smallest country in the world after the Vatican. Continue reading Artmonte Carlo
Conversation Pieces 