1. In the most recent episode of Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast, Adam Scott revealed the exciting news that a production company is interested in doing a “low budget” version of the Party Down movie. All they’re waiting for now is for Starz to sign off on the project. [via Pop Culture Brain]
2. “New York City is the city where you can come and express yourself. What was happening in Zuccotti Park was not that.” – Mayor Bloombergdefends his decision to clear the park in an early morning raid that led to the arrest of about 150 Occupy Wall Street protestors
3. After making us wait for an entire year, Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp have finally made a new Marcel the Shell With Shoes On video, you guys! Watch it here.
4. In a new interview with Esquire, former Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark director Julie Taymor says that Bono and the Edge — who weren’t around at the time — publicly described her as “exhausted” and “overwrought” to get her fired: “I think that those were important to paint a picture of a director who you needed to release in order to make this big change. I had to be characterized that way in order for something to happen.” [via ArtsBeat]
5. According to a report in British tabloid The Sun, Pete Doherty is convinced that his apartment is haunted by the ghost of his departed friend Amy Winehouse. [via NME]
The 54th Venice Biennale opened to the public this week after its VIP preview, which seamed with press, celebrities, and oligarchs amidst the upper echelons of the art world. Eighty-nine countries are represented in the 2011 Biennale, 12 more than in 2009, including several nations that have never before participated, like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and tiny Andorra. While artwork at the prestigious international art fair is still being digested (the Biennale is on view until November 27), the recent awards (Golden Lions for Christian Marclay and Christoph Schlingensief) coupled with last week’s avalanche of reviews from critics around the world have provided a preliminary glimpse of the mark the 54th Biennale will leave. Read on for eclectic survey of a few interesting artists thus far.
1. AMC is developing a reality series that will focus on the two guys who run Kevin Smith’s New Jersey comic book store, The Secret Stash; Smith will be an executive producer on the show. [via THR]
2. Well that was fast: “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” the latest single from Coldplay, has already been accused of ripping off another song (“Ritmo de la Noche,”), leading the band to release this statement: “[Peter] Allen and [Adrienne] Anderson are credited as writers on ‘Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall.’ Chris was inspired to write the song after watching the film Biutiful by Alejandro González Iñárritu. In the film, there is a nightclub scene in which a track ['Ritmo de la Noche'] is playing in the background, based on ‘I Go to Rio.’” [via Vulture]
3. We were curious how Jon Stewart would react to the news that his pal Anthony Weiner the man behind the now infamous crotch shot. If you missed The Daily Show last night, you can watch the segment on what he calls “weirdest f’ing story I’ve ever seen in my life” here.
4. Definitely worth checking out: The New York Times’ interactive coverage of the 54th Venice Biennale asks for your own six word reviews of the featured works.
5. Because HBO seems intent on teasing us in the days leading up to June 26th, you can now watch three more minutes of the Season 4 premiere of True Bloodhere. So that’s six of the 55 minutes or so already accounted for — what are your thoughts so far?
In the past few years, sensationalist Russian news stories have claimed the discovery of Hyperborea — a land rooted in Greek myth, “a place of pure bliss, perpetual sunlight and eternal springtime,” supposedly located somewhere on the White Sea… right next to the snow-beaten, eerie sites of Soviet Gulag prison camps. Artist Anton Ginzburg has responded to this astonishing fantasy with project At the Back of the North Wind. These photographs document his journey “beyond the Boreas” (the North Wind) to the “primordial, virgin forest” of Portland, Oregon, to the dilapidated palaces and haunted natural history museums of St. Petersburg, Russia and finally, to the stark ruins of the Gulags themselves. Creating a dreamscape on the geographical and metaphorical sites of Hyperborea, the artist released giant clouds of red smoke to represent the collective unconscious.
Exploring “the tension between the actual and the potential,” Anton Ginzburg’s photographs, video installations, and site-specific works will be exhibited as part of the 54th Venice Biennale at the Palazzo Bollani through November 27, 2011. Click through for a preview.
One of the most talked about installations at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice was Cloudscapes. Japanese architect Tetsuo Kondo and a German climate engineering firm Transsolar came together to put a cloud in a large interior space called the Corderie, a 316-meter-long space where ropes for Venetian ships were made. Visitors to the exhibit can walk through the cloud via a circular ramp that ascended 4.3 meters high. This feat of climate engineering is produced by blowing three layers of air into the space at different temperatures. Cool dry air at the bottom layer keeps the cloud up; warm, humid air in the middle creates the dense fog; hot, dry air sits on top. Click through for photos and video from the exhibition which will be on display in Venice through November 21, 2010.
A solo show in the Mexican Pavilion is the unanimous nominee for darkest work included in the vast 2009 Venice Biennale. On view until November 22, Teresa Margolles‘s ¿De qué otra cosa podríamos hablar? (What Else Could We Talk About?) comments on the political division and rampant drug-related violence in Mexico. The artist’s own experience as a founding member of the country’s Forensic Medical Service allowed access to government morgues, giving her space to develop conceptual, socially-based art with bodily substances: cadavers, morgue water, and blood. Disturbing, perhaps, though genuinely thought-provoking. Details on Margolles’s installations at the Mexican Pavilion after the jump, including video.
Notorious for the Virgin Mary painting that riled Giuliani and was attacked by a religious fanatic, Chris Ofili is a maker of marvelous art.
Whether it’s adding clumps of elephant dung to paintings or displaying canvases atop the balls of excrement, Ofili’s engagement with the spiritual through base materials is profound. His dense and decorative works address sex, beauty, and religion from fresh perspectives, and his installations advance the ways we consider art. A new Rizzoli monograph explores the complexity of this Manchester-born, Trinidad-based artist in depth. Read More »
What works did international art dealers, curators and collectors consider the most impressive at the 53rd Venice Biennale? It was surprising how consistently the same names came up. The US Pavilion (images here) ranked high, even before it was voted best pavilion of this year. And Elmgreen & Dragset’s “The Collectors” (images here) was another favorite. And everyone was impressed with Francois Pinault’s Punta della Dogana (images here). Read More »
Neo Rauch, Ettape. David Zwirner, New York and Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin/Leipzig
As Venice settles down to a calmer flow of visitors to the Biennale throughout the summer, the art-world caravan has journeyed to Switzerland for the 40th edition of the world’s most prestigious fair, Art Basel. Collectors stormed the booths of their favorite galleries at the preview, making quick acquisitions of high quality modern and contemporary art.
More than 300 international galleries are showing work in a variety of media by more than 2,500 artists. With the exception of the sections of the fair offering emerging art and experimental projects, most dealers have been cautious to bring the best work by known artists — a strategy that is already paying off. Read More »
