Art Monthly 410: October 2017

Contents

James Richards and Steve Reinke What weakens the flesh is the flesh itself 2017

Interview

Encounters

James Richards interviewed by Andrew Hunt

The British-born, Berlin-based artist discusses simultaneity, hybridity and dialogue, and the art of constructing a field of experience.

The adolescent pleasure of listening to music and simultaneously watching a mute television to enjoy the way the two streams of information slip in and out of coherence is analogous to my working process, where things lock for a while and then unlock. That triggering in the brain is fascinating to me.

Roman Ondák Good Feelings in Good Times 2003

Feature

The Waiting Game

Marcus Verhagen on the politics and aesthetics of time

In an era when even time can be monetised, artists like Elmgreen & Dragset, Tobias Rehberger and Roman Ondák have explored crossovers between time spent waiting or queueing in life and in art.

In a more and more frenzied and unequal social environment, the monetisation of time has reached a new stage with the development of a market in which intervals spent waiting can be bought and sold.

Romare Bearden Pittsburgh Memory 1964

Feature

Black Art UK/US

Richard Hylton discusses the rise in thematic shows of black artists

Is it time to move beyond survey shows featuring the same artists and nostalgic recreations of the 1960s to engage with contemporary black art in less instrumental ways?

Are the politics behind these shows more significant than the politics within them? Does a fixation on black artists and the past reflect an institutional ruse for not dealing with black artists in the present?

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From the Back Catalogue Brits in the Bronx Has black art from Britain been quarantined in New York asks Eddie Chambers

Comment

Editorial

The Other Half

The growing momentum of the extreme right should be understood as a direct consequence of the financial crash of a decade ago, but as activists in Vienna are demonstrating, it is possible to shape the future without leaving it to either racists or financiers.

It is a curious phenomenon of economic recessions that blame is attached to anyone and everyone – foreigners, racial or religious minorities, the other – rather than to those who are actually responsible.

Letters

What's the alternative?

Paul Carey-Kent is still not satisfied with Peter Suchin's previous replies over the aestheticisation of war in art, and Suchin replies yet again.

Artnotes

Documenta Demands

The curatorial team bemoans the commercial demands placed on major international exhibitions as Documenta finds itself in financial trouble; conservative pressure groups force the early closure of the 'Queermuseum' exhibition in Brazil; the Witte de With in Rotterdam is rethinking its name because of colonial associations; the winner of the BP Young Artist Award gives his prize money to anti-BP campaigns; the Heritage Lottery Fund decreases after National Lottery ticket sales drop; artists support Locus+ in the wake of its loss of ACE funding; plus the latest news on galleries, appointments, prizes and more.

Marianna Simnett Worst Gift 2017
Matt's Gallery, London

Exhibitions

Foreigners

Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre

Bob Dickinson

In Quotes

East Gallery NUA, Norwich

Matthew Bowman

Folkestone Triennial: Double Edge

various venues

Paul Carey-Kent

Gothenburg Biennial: WheredoIendandyoubegin – On Secularity

various venues

Isobel Harbison

Cookie Mueller and Vittorio Scarpati: Putti's Pudding

Studio Voltaire, London

Chris McCormack

Stuart Middleton: Beat

Luiz Roque: Heaven

Tramway, Glasgow

Tom Emery

Terry Smith: Blocking Passing

Folkestone Town Hall

Peter Suchin

London Round-up

Artangel • Cubitt • Matt's Gallery

Joseph Constable

Amsterdam Round-up

Stigter van Doesburg • Stedelijk Museum • Ellen de Bruijne Projects

Julia Mullié

Reviews

Books

Leon Wainwright: Phenomenal Difference – A Philosophy of Black British Art

Maria Walsh

Leon Wainwright applies a philosophical methodology to black British artists' work to break open the separatist straitjacket that has prevented much of this work from circulating in art canons as anything other than representations of a politics of identity.

I Can't Work Like This: A Reader on Recent Boycotts and Contemporary Art

Elinor Morgan

Responding to the increase and intensity of artists and cultural workers boycotting biennales, the essays give a good grounding in the ethics, politics and theory of the boycott and other forms of political action.

Kate Zambreno: Book of Mutter

Alice Butler

Kate Zambreno refuses the bait of nostalgia, and instead captures the emotional complexity of mourning in a way that is personal, but also far-reaching. I love it when writing about love feels this brutal, this brave.

Reports

action by Burschenschaft Hysteria

Fraternising in Austria

Heil Hysteria

Rose-Anne Gush

In austria there are in total 34,000 members of burschenschaften. Of these, 4,000 belong to around 20 German-nationalist groups which yearn for a pan-German nation and a white Europe.

Kevin Jerome Everson Tonsler Park 2017

Letter from New Zealand

Winter in Aotearoa

Erika Balsom

David Walsh has described Mona as an 'adult Disneyland', interested in anything that 'pisses off the academics'. As an adult academic who has never been to Disneyland, I felt that I absolutely had to go while in the region.

Artlaw

Contracts

Terms and Conditions

Henry Lydiate

Few of us consider the nature and extent of our relationship with social-media platforms – until things go wrong. What should artists be aware of when sharing work on social media?

Listings

Events

Calendar

The updated events and exhibitions calendar can be viewed online.

Exhibitions

Exhibition Listings

Art Monthly's exhibition listings can be viewed online.