Art Monthly 370: October 2013

Contents

Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico Olympics 1968
Jay Z recording Picasso Baby at Pace gallery New York 2013

Feature

Post-racialism

Morgan Quaintance looks beyond identity constructs

The fight for identity and equal representation that so occupied the second post-colonial generation in the UK has been co-opted by the very forces that it was meant to combat. Isn't it time this new black identity that the dominant ideology has constructed – depoliticised and consumerist – be shaken by those it claims to represent?

'If identity is constructed, by whom is it constructed? Whom does it serve, and according to what ideological commitments? Seeking answers to these questions would at least open the way for analyses of black identity.'

Rashid Johnson Shelter 2012 at South London Gallery

Feature

Exclusion Zone

Richard Hylton revisits diversity

Does the spate of recent high-profile UK exhibitions by African-American artists such as Ellen Gallgher, Theaster Gates and Rashid Johnson signal the rise of a new political awareness – or simply the triumph of the market? And whither the British artists?

'Such favourable readings of particular strands of African-American artistic practice contrast noticeably with the ways the UK art establishment has traditionally considered race politics a stumbling block.'

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Feature

The Art Anomaly

Dave Beech on art's economic exceptionalism

Since art operates at the limits of economic understanding, economists have been reduced to declaiming its seemingly 'perverse' irrationaility. Instead of such name calling, isn't the art anomaly better understood as revealing a flaw in neoliberal economic ideologies?

'It makes sense to see the apparently irrational choices of artists as exerting a counter-force on economic rationality which sets limits on its efficacy. Economic exceptionalism results from a range of limits placed on market forces by non-economic forces.'

Comment

Editorial

The Generation Game

The chancellor's continuing austerity measures are causing increasing conflict between baby boomers and the so-called Generation Y, but perhaps, as youth unemployment jumps a further 15,000, we should look not at generations but social heirarchies to find the roots of the tension.

'It is important to remember, for instance, that Macmillan was addressing a rally of fellow Tories who had indeed "never had it so good", but they were and are the minority, albeit a powerful and vocal one. The majority of workers in postwar Britain worked long hours for poor pay and lived in bad accommodation, and now they eke out their lives on meagre state pensions.'

Amity Calamity

The forced friendliness between France and Germany to mark the 50th anniversary of the Franco-German Treaty of Reconciliation, with joint exhibitions and Venice Biennale pavilion swapping, has revealed an ill-concealed hostility. Perhaps a little cordial understanding is in order.

'No wonder Giulia de Manincor, a French pavilion staff member, was quoted as saying that she was looking forward to the next Biennale when: "Hopefully France will be France again and Germany Germany."'

Artnotes

Russia's continued intolerance over gay rights poses a problem for next year's Manifesta; Northern Ireland sets social benefit as the top priority for its arts organisations; UK museums visitor numbers recover after the Olympic blip; Mayfair property developers fire up the bulldozers and head for Cork Street; the Frieze Art Fair gallery boom begins as dealers open their new West End spaces; the latest news on events, appointments, prizes and more.

Submissions: Send news items to artnotes@artmonthly.co.uk

HeHe Fracking Futures 2013

Profile

HeHe

Bob Dickinson on the art duo Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen

HeHe draws on its founders' backgrounds in engineering to construct prop-like versions of major industrial equipment. These performative sculptures give viewers a visceral understanding of controversial practices more often encountered amid media hysterics and PR fog.

'Combining conjecture with satire and radicalism with absurdity, HeHe's mechanised performances deliberately create mixed messages, avoiding overt activist intent in what they do.'

Reviews

Exhibitions

Momentous Times

CCA Derry

Joanne Laws

Continental Drift – Conceptual Art in Canada:
The 1960s and 70s Part II

Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe

Saim Demircan

The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things

Nottingham Contemporary

Mark Harris

Dear Portrait, Annette Kelm, Franco Vaccari

Mostyn, Llandudno

Martin Holman

Mustafa Hulusi: Cypriot Olive Tree

Hoxton Square, London

Stephanie Schwartz

Franz West: Where is my Eight?

MMK, Frankfurt

Mark Prince

Andy Harper: Archeology in Reverse

Newlyn Art Gallery

Stephen Lee

Clunie Reid: In Pursuit of the Liquid

MOT International, London

Rachel Reupke: Wine and Spirits

Cell Project Space, London

Anna Gritz

Reviews

Books

Art and Queer Culture

Morgan Quaintance on a publication reaching for landmark status

'Art and Queer Culture's real draw is as an exhibition in book form: a potentially groundbreaking, long overdue exhibition that it is impossible to imagine a large-scale international institution having the courage or, perhaps more accurately, the corporate support to stage.'

Sound

Sounding the Body Electric

John Douglas Millar experiences Soviet sounds

'The show charts the growth of experimental, state-funded sound studios across the Eastern Bloc in the quarter century after Krushchev's famous speech to the 20th Party Congress in Moscow On the Personality Cult and its Consequences.'

Reports

Est. 1690

Read All About It

Michael Hampton peruses some artist-produced newspapers

'Destabilisation of truth, or rather a deliberate clouding of the official version of events, is the main aim of virtually all newsprint modification strategies.'

France on Germany

De L'Allemagne

David Lillington on the row over a French show of German art

'The French, they point out, had Realism – with syphilis and poverty. The Germans sowed dreams – and would reap a nightmare.'

Artlaw

Fair Use?

Henry Lydiate on recent court rulings over fair use in copyright law

'Some are concerned that Prince's appeal result decidedly outlaws the practice of Appropriation Art.'

Listings

Events

London Art Calendar

Art Monthly's London event calendar can also be viewed online.

Submissions: Send event info to calendar@artmonthly.co.uk

Exhibitions

Exhibition Listings

Art Monthly's exhibition listings can also be viewed online.

Submissions: Send listings to listings@artmonthly.co.uk