BROOKLYN TAKES EUROPE
The exploding art scene in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn -- just across the East River from the East Village -- is spilling out of its New York boundaries. Curator Achille Bonito Oliva has picked four artists from Williamsburg gallery Roebling Hall to be included in next summer's Bienal de Valencia, the new festival covered in Artnet News last week. According to gallerist Christian Viveros-Fauné, the artists include witty conceptual artist Elizabeth Campbell, art-world singing sensation Guy Richards Smit, celebrity prankster David Henry Brown, Jr., who recently made news by masquerading as socialite Alex von Fursterberg, and disaster artist Christoph Draeger.
If that weren't enough, Stockholm Art Fair organizer Bertil Bäckström has invited a group of Williamsburg galleries to join the primarily Swedish and European event, Mar. 8-11, 2001. The Brooklyn section is to be composed of Arena@Feed, Momenta, Pierogi and Roebling Hall. Parker's Box might also join in, space permitting. Arena@Feed director Reneé Riccardo tells Artnet Magazine the youthful fair has even sprung to fly the gallerists over.
CULTURE OF PUNISHMENT IN SANTA MONICA Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica, Cal., is presenting "Capital Art: A Group Show on the Culture of Punishment," featuring work by nearly 40 artists exploring issues of police brutality, the prison system and the death penalty, Feb. 3-Mar. 31, 2001. The exhibition is dedicated to Mumia Abu-Jamal, the radical Philadelphia journalist on death row convicted for allegedly killing a policeman in what many consider a deeply flawed trial. Among the artists featured are Sandow Birk, Chaz Bojorquez, Exene Cervenka, Robbie Conal, Brian Cross, Charles Dickson, Diane Gamboa, Salomon Huerta, Glenn Kaino, Keith Antar Mason, Daniel J. Martinez, Mear, Arnold Mensches, Kori Newkirk, Ruben Ortiz Torres, John Outerbridge, Sheila Pinkel, Dread Scott and John Valadez. The gallery is also hosting "Aesthetics and the Specters of Revolution," a panel discussion moderated by Foundation for Ethics and Meaning founding chair Mark LeVine and featuring Conal, Martinez and Dread Scott, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5; call (310) 264 4678 for more info.
CORCORAN-AOL MERGER?
The Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C., has received a pledge of $30 million -- the largest single donation in the museum's history -- from two America Online executives and their wives. The gift from AOL chief executive officer Barry Schuler, AOL Time Warner co-chief of operations Robert W. Pittman and their wives Tracy Schuler and Veronique Pittman is to go towards a long-planned $120-million addition designed by Frank O. Gehry. The contribution brings the fundraising for the expansion to $60 million. The new space will hold classrooms, new administrative offices, expanded galleries and a new conservation laboratory.
CITIBANK PHOTO PRIZE 2001 Citibank has named the finalists for its fifth annual £15,000 Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize 2001 for the most significant contribution to the medium over the previous year, to be awarded Mar. 1. The international shortlist includes Roni Horn (U.S.), Boris Mikhailov (Ukraine), Hannah Starkey (Ireland), Jem Southam (U.K.) and Hellen van Meene (the Netherlands). This year's jury panel is made up of Photoworks, England director David Chandler, Museum Folkwang in Essen curator Ute Eskildsen, London artist Catherine Yass and fine art consultant Ian Dunlop, non-voting chairman. Works by the candidates are on view at London's Photographer's Gallery, Feb. 2-Mar. 24, 2001. Previous prizewinners include Anna Gaskell (2000), Rineke Dijkstra (1999) and Andreas Gursky (1998).
FLINTRIDGE FOUNDATION DEADLINE
Heads up, West Coast artists! The deadline for the Pasadena-based Flintridge Foundation third biennial awards for visual artists is Apr. 11, 2001. Six emerging artists from California and six from Oregon or Washington are slated to receive $25,000 each on October of this year. To request an application, send your name, address, phone number, email address and how you learned about the awards (Artnet News, natch!) to Flintridge Foundation, Awards for Visual Artists, 1040 Lincoln Ave., Suite 100, Pasadena, Ca. 91103. You can also email the information to FFAVA@jlmoseleyco.com or fax it at (626) 744-9256.
IWONA BLAZWICK TO WHITECHAPEL
The Whitechapel Gallery in London has named Tate Modern head of exhibitions and display Iwona Blazwick as its new director, effective June 1, 2001. Blazwick replaces Catherine Lampert, who is leaving to become an independent curator after holding the position for 13 years.
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