Art Monthly 409: September 2017

Contents

Krzysztof Wodiczko Homeless Vehicle: Variant 3 1988
Trump Tower, New York

Interview

Projecting the Future

Krzysztof Wodiczko interviewed by Dave Beech

The New York-based Polish artist discusses projection and his use of monuments of the past to see into the future.

From silence to animation, the participant must become a speaking monument testifying in public and demanding larger change. This makes such a person psychologically healthier and socially useful for others while making the monument feel better and more useful as well.

Helen Chadwick Viral Landscape No2 1988/89

Feature

Viral Landscapes

Francis Frascina on the political significance of Helen Chadwick's landscapes

In her lifetime, Helen Chadwick's seminal series of photographs of the Pembrokeshire coast were understood in the context of 1980s fears over Aids, but doesn't this interpretation overlook the political and historical significance of the specific sites that she chose to depict?

These fortified refuges or defended settlements are metaphorically consistent with her viral theme: both in relation to cells as defences from attack and the invasive military function of ancient earthworks and 20th-century firing ranges on the landscape.

Claes Oldenburg Giant Pool Balls 1977

Feature

Public? Sculpture?

Public sculpture is everywhere yet it is in crisis argues Lisa Le Feuvre

If this year's edition of Münster Sculpture Projects questioned the very concept of sculpture as object, as well as what is meant by 'public', does public sculpture have a future and, if so, is it a permanent one?

Suzanne Lacy pointed out that one should never assume that public space is democratic or, for that matter, public. The 'public' of public art involves many private interests – all art in public space is institutional in some way and all public space is controlled.

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From the Back Catalogue Public Art Attack Andrew Hunt on the importance of antagonism in public art

Comment

Editorial

Rich Man, Poor Man ...

Inequality between the super rich 1% and the rest of the population continues to grow, bringing social division in its wake. As artists' studios are cleared for gentrification projects and former workhouses redeveloped into luxury flats, the government has abandoned any efforts to restrain the corrosive effects of unchecked capital.

To isolate the super rich from possible contamination from the residents of the cheaper flats, a separate entrance is planned for them down a side alley – already dubbed the 'poor door'.

Letters

Valley of its Making

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

This Exhibition is Cancelled

Kati Kärki questions the narrow focus of Lauren Velvick's review of Marlie Mul's show, 'This Exhibition is Cancelled' at GoMA, and Velvick replies.

Artnotes

Club 18-22

ACE announces its National Portfolio Organisations for 2018-22, expanding the portfolio but dropping funding for some established galleries (full list on p45); the DCMS rebrands but stays the same; violence flairs at neo-Nazi rallies triggered by the removal of monuments celebrating Confederate soldiers in the US, with President Trump's weak response leading to condemnation from artists; UK public sculpture is to be documented by Art UK; MoMA is selling off 400 photographs by established greats of the discipline; plus the latest news on galleries, appointments, prizes and more.

Emanuel Almborg Talking Hands 2016

Profile

Emanuel Almborg

Alex Fletcher on a Swedish artist who explores the nature of our interaction with objects through the lens of alternative educational spaces and their histories.

Almborg conducted a series of workshops at the Mayflower Primary School in east London in which children aged eight to ten years old interrogated their relations with everyday technologies such as smartphones and tablets, considering the processes of production behind these glassy screens and how they might be said to inform and delimit our imaginative faculties and modes of attention.

Luke Willis Thompson autoportrait 2017 Chisenhale Gallery, London

Exhibitions

Jiro Takamatsu: The Temperature of Sculpture

Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

Duncan Wooldridge

Synthetic Landscapes

Weston Park • Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery

Stephen Lee

Rose Finn-Kelcey: Life, Belief and Beyond

Modern Art Oxford

Isabella Maidment

In Case There's a Reason: The Theatre of Mistakes

Raven Row, London

Neil Zakiewicz

The House that Heals the Soul

CCA, Glasgow

Catherine Spencer

Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff: Machine 2

Cabinet, London

Joseph Constable

Kate Davis: Nudes Never Wear Glasses

Stills, Edinburgh

Kathryn Lloyd

London Round-up

Lisson Gallery • Chisenhale Gallery • Barbican

Peter Suchin

East England Round-up

Sainsbury Centre • Firstsite • The Minories Galleries

Matthew Bowman

Edinburgh Round-up

The Fruitmarket Gallery • Talbot Rice Gallery • Collective

Tom Emery

Frankfurt Round-up

Schirn Kunsthalle • Portikus • Städel Museum

Paul Carey-Kent

Reviews

Artists' Books

Helen Dawn Henderson: Being, In a State of Erasure

Helen Cammock: Moveable Bridge

Elinor Morgan

This dispersal into some of the UK City of Culture's threatened cultural and educational spaces serves as a gentle reminder of the importance of inserting works into existing structures, of supporting learning and of bringing new perspectives to local contexts.

Crash!: Britlins

Barry Lewis: Butlins

Michael Hampton

Written by Matthew Worley and with artwork by Scott King, the publication rests on the speculative, indeed absurdist proposition that Brexit is a golden opportunity to launch a new version of Britain, ie Britain 2.0; to remake the geopolitical entity overridden by 40 years' membership of the EU.

Reports

Floating Cinema

Harry Meadley: On the Bench

Jamie Sutcliffe

Taking the form of brief, candid and warmly humoured interviews with cultural practitioners located at each of the eight stops the touring boat was due to visit, this sequence of conversations reanimated something of JB Priestley's sociological ambition.

32nd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts

Birth as Criterion

Lynton Talbot

The title 'Birth as Criterion' is taken from Slovenian poet Jure Detela's work of the same title. The insertion of the poem – an existential showdown with life, death and God, but also with meaning and perception – opens up questions of authorship, narrative, structure and translation.

Reports

Hercule Florence Cutting the Sugar Cane, 17 October 1848
Villa Sauber, Monaco

Letter from Monaco

Marina City

David Barrett

One commercial gallery, Sem-Art, seemed to have got the hang of the local scene a few years back when it featured a bar where the reception desk would more usually be found and piped europop through its Wim Delvoye show, but even that gallery has now closed.

Geheimagentur Ports 2017
Hamburg

Letter from Hamburg

Harbour City

Grace Harrison

Below deck in the Cruiseology section, we sat surrounded by video documentation of civil resistance to the cruise ship industry which threatens and demeans venetian life.

Artlaw

Money

Art? Pension? Trust?

Henry Lydiate

Some artists are considering pulling out of the original consignment agreement; others anticipate destroying works they cannot afford to store; and many have used social media to encourage a united collective response to oppose the contractual change.

ACE

National Portfolio 2018-22

Visual Arts Organisations

A table of all visual arts organisations selected for National Portfolio funding 2018-22, showing the amount each organisation will receive in 2018/19 and the percentage change compared with their NPO funding for 2017/18.

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.