Aug. 18, 2010 

VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2010
The Venice Biennale’s 12th International Architecture Exhibition, Aug. 29-Nov. 21, 2010, kicks off under the direction of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to head the event (and half of SANAA, the firm that designed the New Museum in New York). The theme of Sejima’s show, split between the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in the Giardini (the former Italian pavilion) and the Arsenale, is "People meet in architecture," presenting 48 architects, engineers and artists (for a complete list, click here). Visual artists taking part include Janet Cardiff, Thomas Demand, Do-Ho Suh, Olafur Eliasson, Luisa Lambri, Tom Sachs, Fiona Tan, Wim Wenders and Cerith Wyn Evans.

The shows at the national pavilions -- more than 50 countries are participating -- are even more alluring. Exhibitions in the Giardini include "Metropolis?" at the French pavilion; "Kibbutz: An Architecture without Precedents" at the Israel pavilion; "Sehnsucht" ("Longing") at the German pavilion, a huge group show; "Tokyo Metabolizing" at the Japanese pavilion, "Emergency Exit" at the Polish pavilion; and "Factory Russia," organized by Vasili Tsereteli at the Russian pavilion.

The U.S. entry, organized by Michael Rooks and Jonathan D. Solomon, is "Workshopping, An American Model of Architectural Practice." Iran is participating with "Persian Garden" at the Palazzo Malipiero in San Marco.

Other exhibitions include "Here for a Chinese Appointment," organized by the China Arts & Entertainment Group at the Chinese pavilion (in the Arsenale), and "1000 Singapores -- A Model of the Compact City" at the Singapore pavilion (in Castello).

Among the more exotic exhibitors are the Kingdom of Bahrain, with a show called "Reclaim" in the Artiglierie dell’Arsenale; Malaysia, with a large group show titled "Re / Mixed" at the Arsenale; and the Republic of Rwanda, which is presenting "Tradition and Innovation in Vegetable Fibres’ Design" at a pavilion in the Cannaregio. For the full line-up of national pavilions, click here.  

Among the special attractions is "Architecture Saturdays," a series of discussions helmed by former heads of the architecture biennale, including Hans Hollein (1996), Kurt Forster (2004) and Aaron Betsky (2008).

"THE ARTIST’S MUSEUM" AT L.A.MOCA
This fall, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art reminds its audience -- and perhaps itself -- of its roots (it was founded in 1979 with considerable participation from the city’s artists) with "The Artist’s Museum: Los Angeles Artists 1980-2010" at the Geffen Contemporary, Sept. 19, 2010-Jan. 24, 2011, and at MOCA Grand Avenue, Oct. 31, 2010-Jan. 31, 2011. More than 250 works by 140 artists are included in the show, which draws from local collectors as well as MOCA’s collection, and includes new commissions by artists.

Two galleries are being devoted to artists on MOCA’s original advisory council, who include Lita Albuquerque, Peter Alexander, Karen Carson, Vija Celmins, Guy Dill, Fred Eversley, Sam Francis, Robert Heinecken, Robert Irwin, Gary Lloyd, Peter Lodato, Joe Ray, Roland Reiss, Alexis Smith, DeWain Valentine and Tom Wudl. MOCA is of course one of the rare museums with artists on its board; current artist trustees are John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, Catherine Opie and Ed Ruscha.

Among the highlights of the show are Doug Aitken’s eight-channel vid from 1998, Electric Earth, exhibited at MOCA for the first time, and Thomas Houseago’s Sprawling Octopus Man (2009), a new acquisition. Jim Isermann is designing a special entrance for the show at the Grand Avenue building, and Pae White is doing the exhibition graphics.

EVA HESSE ON STAGE
Highways, Santa Monica’s pioneering performance space founded 21 years ago by Linda Burnham and Tim Miller, is launching its fall season with a play devoted to the late Minimalist sculptor Eva Hesse (who died of a brain tumor at age 34 in 1970). "Meditations: Eva Hesse," written by Marcie Begleiter and directed by David Watkins, has a brief run, with performances on Sept. 24 & 25, 2010. The play is set on the final day of Hesse’s life, with telling episodes from her life presented as flashbacks. "Meditations: Eva Hesse, Permissions," featuring artworks inspired by Hesse, opens at Highways Gallery on Sept. 25, 2010; "Eva Hesse Spectres 1960" opens at the Hammer Museum on Sept. 24, 2010.

BOB FLANAGAN RETURNS
Invisible-Exports on Orchard Street in Manhattan is bringing back the legendary pain-inspired performance artist Bob Flanagan, who died of cystic fibrosis at age 43 in 1996. "Mine," Sept. 10-Oct. 17, 2010, presents works by Flanagan, Jana Leo and Hannah Wilke that were all "produced under a storm of duress." Wilke died of lymphoma in 1993, after documenting her disease in Intra-Venus, while Leo, a performance artist, has made works organized around a rape she suffered while being held captive in her own apartment in 2001. "Rather than staging transgression as a form of extravagant melodrama," the gallery says, "these works reveal real unwilled experience -- intimate and personal, unscripted and undesired."

"HOT ART" FAIR BRANCHES OUT TO MEXICO CITY
After five years in Basel, the Hot Art Fair is going to Mexico City, Apr. 5-10, 2011, where it sets up at Campo Marte on Paseo de la Reforma, near the Museo Tamayo, the Museo de Arte Moderno and other institutions. The fair returns to Basel for the sixth year, June 15-19, 2010. For more info, contact office@hot-art-fair.com

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE DOC ON PBS
William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible, a new documentary by Art21, premieres on PBS on Oct. 21, 2010. The doc features Kentridge in his studio, discussing his working methods and his ideas, and follows his work on his several operas, including The Nose (2011). The film has an extensive website, including videos and slideshows.

VLA SHOW AT MACCARONE
Some months ago, the New York Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts launched a series of meetings with artists, attorneys and curators to discuss legal issues in the art world. Now, the fruits of those labors are on view in "The Art and Law Residency Exhibition," Aug. 14-27, 2010, at Maccarone on the way West Village. Participating artists are Eric Doeringer, Alicia Grullón, Charles Gute, Nate Harrison, Bettina Johae, Miguel Luciano, Benjamin Tiven and Angie Waller.

Gute, for instance, has done an “art tax” piece and worked with the form of the “contract” in the classic conceptual vein (his work in the Maccarone show is a wall text in the form of a contractual rider that specifies requirements for the opening reception). Doeringer’s works are well-known for engaging issues of copyright, as do Waller’s, while Johae’s postcard project investigates eminent domain practices in New York.

A symposium is planned for next week, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010, 6-9 pm, at Shearman & Sterling LLP (599 Lexington Avenue) -- but it’s already sold out. For details, click here.

AIA TOUR TO SÃO PAULO BIENAL
Ready to head down south to the 29th São Paulo Bienal, Sept. 25-Dec. 12, 2010? Make it easy on yourself, and sign up for Art in America magazine’s exclusive, luxury guided tour. Dubbed "Brazil 2010," Sept. 19-26, 2010, the program features a preview of the bienal, plus visits to the city’s local museums, architectural landmarks and select artists’ studios.

The tour continues in Rio de Janeiro, with visits to Oscar Niemeyer’s curving MAC-Niteroi museum, as well as Sugarloaf Mountain, Ipanema and the Santa Teresa neighborhood, and also includes a one-day visit to the Instituto Cultural Inhotim in Belo Horizonte. The group can include as many as 40 people, though it will be breaking into smaller parties for many of the visits. Meals, surface transportation, flights within Brazil and more are included. The price is $5,500. The tour is being managed by Pinacoteca; for more info, contact Anna Di Stasi at anna@pinacotecanyc.com.

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