February Issue
Ulay There is a Criminal Touch to Art 1976
Interview
Not Reckless but Reckful
Ulay Interviewed by Dominic Johnson
The Slovenia-based performance artist, one of the most influential in the field – best known in the UK for his collaborative work with Marina Abramović – discusses car crashes, cancer and criminal pursuits, plus how to endure while continually flipping personas.
No, I’m not an escape artist. I’m not escapist. True, in the Berlin Action, I had to escape, sometimes you have to run to make it. The Berlin Action wasn’t escapist, but I had to try to escape – and with good reason. Otherwise, no, I don’t escape because I don’t have fear.
AA Bronson + General Idea installation view at Maureen Paley 2018
Feature
Love AIDS Riots
Chris McCormack on Art, Activism and AIDS
The recent surge of interest in 1980s AIDS activists, such as ACT UP, General Idea and Gran Fury, shows how art can effect real change. Looking back also reveals how narrow current definitions of healthcare are and encourages us to agitate for a more diverse future.
It is the political and ideological dimensions of the AIDS epidemic that separates it from other health crises and concerns. As Simon Watney noted in his 1987 book Policing Desire, ‘the British government’s ban on gay materials coming from the US until late 1986 meant, in effect, that people in the UK were legally prohibited from learning about AIDS during a crucial period’.
Gucci shop window, Japan, 2016
Feature
Roll Over SI
Situationism is Done, Argues Paul Walsh
Recuperated, incorporated and mummified, the Situationist International has been done to death. Instead of continually revisiting Guy Debord’s ephemera, couldn’t we focus on SI-influenced artists and collectives, such as Vincent Meessen and The Institute for Infinitely Small Things, to be inspired by SI’s ambition rather than its archive?
Looking back, we might trace the dawning outline of recuperation to the 1962 split between the so-called artistic and political factions of the SI, heralded by Raoul Vaneigem’s gnostic assertion that ‘the Situationist project could not be the creation of a spectacle of refusal but must entail refusing the spectacle’, a verdict that proves the situationists were more at war with themselves than ‘with the existing culture’ at large.
Comment
Editorial
Another Fine Mess
It was fitting that Parliament debated Theresa May’s doomed Brexit bill the same week that the new Oliver & Hardy biopic Stan & Ollie was released – there are tragicomic parallels between the two. More usefully, however, as artists such as Steve McQueen know, there are still lessons to be learned from century-old cinema.
85% of YouTube viewers ‘liked’ the silent-era classic. Perhaps the silence, the brilliance of the stunt’s execution, and the clarity of black and white, are appealing to a generation that has been subjected to so much party political rhetoric, media speculation and obfuscation.
Artnotes
McMolotov
The Haifa Museum of Art in Israel has caused a riot for showing Jani Leinonen’s 2015 artwork McJesus, and received only disdain from the artist over the issue of Palestinian rights; New York’s Whitney Museum is under pressure after it was revealed that a board member is also an arm’s dealer; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is keeping tight-lipped about why it has sacked its director, Ralf Beil, but his proposed exhibition about art in the petrol age may have spooked the museum’s sole sponsor, Volkswagen; the #MeToo movement in India is continuing to trigger art-world resignations, most recently Sotheby’s Gaurav Bhatia and artist Subodh Gupta; new UK research shows just how damaging unpaid work can be to arts interns, even after they have gained paid employment elsewhere; plus the latest news on galleries, appointments, prizes and more.
sponsored
Obituaries
Robert Morris 1931-2018
Mark Prince
Carol Rhodes 1959-2018
Martin Holman
belit sag Sep-Oct, 2015, Cizre 2015
Profile
belit sag
George Vasey considers how violence operates in the moving-image work of the Turkey-born and Amsterdam-based artist.
The film Cannibals lays bare how feminist demands for equality and autonomy in economic and social life are currently marketed as personal lifestyle choices that enmesh individual dis-ease in a cycle of reward and punishment.
Siobhán Hapaska Snake and Apple 2018
on show at John Hansard Gallery
Exhibitions
Siobhán Hapaska
John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
David Barrett
Meiro Koizumi: Battlelands
White Rainbow, London
Amy Luo
Cady Noland
MMK, Frankfurt
Tim Steer
Haroon Mirza: reality is somehow what we expect it to be
Ikon, Birmingham
David Trigg
David Raymond Conroy: Retail Space
Seventeen, London
Andrew Hibbard
Amie Siegel: Backstory
Thomas Dane Gallery, London
Paul Carey-Kent
Ceal Floyer
Lisson Gallery, London
Duncan Wooldridge
Forms of Address
Laure Genillard, London
Tom Emery
Journeys with the Initiated
Participant Inc and e-flux, New York
Catherine Spencer
The Ground Beneath Your Feet
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Bob Dickinson
Penny Woolcock: Fantastic Cities
Modern Art Oxford
Ellen Mara De Wachter
Josephine Pryde: In Case My Mind is Changing
Simon Lee, London
Isobel Harbison
Reviews
Sound
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival: Christian Marclay
David Briers
This was the first time in 40 years that someone so predominantly active within the visual arts sector had been accorded this leading role.
Reviews
Books
Ghost-haunted land: Contemporary art and post-Troubles Northern Ireland
Chris Clarke
A useful primer on the Good Friday Agreement and, particularly, the intentional vagueness of its language as a way of appeasing two oppositional camps, sets the tone for a text that proposes Northern Ireland as distinctly unsettled, disjointed and in flux.
Books
Gary Indiana: Vile Days 1985-1988
Dan Ward
As a document reflecting on both the aforementioned period and current art criticism, however, this collection could not be more timely: funny, caustic, irreverent, sentimental, welcoming to the uninitiated yet rigorous all the same.
Reports
Saul Villaas Original and Copy 2018
Letter from Zacatecas
Mixed Blessings
Agnieszka Gratza
‘After the Biennale’, as the symposium was titled, dealt with the aftermath of a biennale – what stays behind once the event is officially over and the infrastructure gone.
Artlaw
Ways of Working
Authentication
Henry Lydiate
Establishing authenticity of works by deceased artists is an understandable risk. But in recent times fake works purported to be by Kazimir Malevich, Salvador Dali, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol – even Damien Hirst and Banksy – have been fraudulently traded as authentic.
Listings
Events
Calendar
This month's highlights include:
- LUX Critical Forum CCA Glasgow 6.30pm Mon 4 Feb
- What it Means to Write About Art roundtable discussion Whitechapel Gallery 7.00pm Thu 7 Feb
- Ravioli Me Away opera Wysing Arts Centre 5.30pm Sat 9 Feb
The updated events and exhibitions calendar can be viewed online.
Exhibitions
Exhibition Listings
Art Monthly's exhibition listings can be viewed online.
Prize
Michael O’Pray Prize 2018
Read the winning entry online now
Bank – Basement – Becker
Adam Hines-Green on the expression of horror through both fiction and reality in the LA video art of Julie Becker
The Michael O’Pray Prize is a Film and Video Umbrella initiative, in partnership with Art Monthly. Supported by University of East London and Arts Council England.
Audio
Art Monthly Audio
On the Radio
Art Monthly hosts a talk show to discuss the current issue at 8pm on the second Monday of each month on Resonance 104.4 FM.
Next broadcast: 8pm Monday 11 February
On iTunes
The Art Monthly Talk Show is available as a podcast on iTunes – subscribe for free automatic downloads.
Online
Audio recordings are available in the Events section of the Art Monthly website: www.artmonthly.co.uk/events
Recent additions:
Opportunities
sponsored
Opportunities
Jobs
Curatorial Assistant, Collections
The Royal Academy of Arts, London | 4 Feb
recruitment@royalacademy.org.uk
Assistant Curator
Tate Modern, London | 5 Feb
www.tate.org.uk
Programme Assistant
The Mosaic Rooms, London | 8 Feb
www.mosaicrooms.org
Relationship Manager, Visual Arts
Arts Council England | 10 Feb
www.artsjobs.org.uk
Collection & Exhibitions Manager
The Hepworth Wakefield | 15 Feb
www.hepworthwakefield.org
Gallery Assistant
Frith Street Gallery, London | 15 Feb
recruitment@frithstreetgallery.com
Three Professorships
Documenta Institute, Kassel, Germany | 20 Feb
www.uni-kassel.de
Curator, International Art
Tate Modern | 24 Feb
www.tate.org.uk
Director of Learning and Collections
The Royal Academy of Arts, London | 24 Feb
recruitment@royalacademy.org.uk
Archivist
The Photographers’ Gallery | 25 Feb
www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk
Education Project Manager
Bow Arts, London | 27 Feb
www.bowarts.org
Competitions/Commissions
Elysian Residences: Public Art Competition
Elysian is seeking to commission a sculpture to be installed in the grounds of the Landsby, a luxury later living development in Stanmore.
Elysian Residences | 15 Mar
www.elysianresidences.com
promoted
Jerwood/FVU Awards 2020: Hindsight
Two awards of £25,000 and production support from FVU over a 10-month period to make new works for exhibition at Jerwood Arts, London. Open to artists working with moving-image within the first five years of graduating or establishing a practice.
Jerwood Arts and FVU Film and Video Umbrella | 8 Apr 2pm
www.jerwoodfvuawards.com
promoted
Woon Foundation Prize
Baltic, Gateshead | 1 Apr
www.woonprize.co.uk
Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize
London | 10 Feb
www.artprize.co.uk
STARTS Prize 2019
Ars Electronica | 1 Mar
www.starts-prize.aec.at
Mark Tanner Sculpture Award
Standpoint, London | 31 Mar
www.standpointlondon.co.uk
Write for Art Worlds
Art Quest | Rolling
www.artquest.org.uk
Residencies/Fellowships
Gildengate House Residencies 2019 - Call for applications
OUTPOST invites applications from members for a residency at Gildengate House. Residency dates: 3 March - 30 March 2019, 12 May - 8 June 2019, 1 - 28 September 2019. Application form is available on website.
OUTPOST, Norwich | 10 Feb
www.norwichoutpost.org
promoted
Undisciplinary
New residency for emerging artists, cultural practitioners, curators and writers whose work addresses the politics of ecology, gender and race.
Arts Catalyst & Otolith Collective, London | 3 Feb
www.artscatalyst.org
promoted
Summer and Autumn residencies
Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland | 4 Feb
www.hospitalfield.org.uk
Lucy Art Residency
Kavala, Greece | 13 Feb
www.lucyartresidency.com
Open Call: Solo Residencies 2019/20
The Art House Wakefield | 15 Feb
www.the-arthouse.org.uk
Project Space Residency
Lewisham Art House, London | 17 Feb
www.lewishamarthouse.org.uk
ARC Getaways
Stockton Arts Centre | Rolling
www.arconline.co.uk
Black Artists Development Programme
Slate & HOME, Manchester | Rolling
www.homemcr.org
Scholarships/Grants
The Rome Scholarship 2019
The Royal Society of British Artists, London | 31 Jan 2019
www.royalsocietyofbritishartists.org.uk
London Borough of Culture Fellowship Funding
Waltham Forest, London | 4 Mar
www.wfculture19.co.uk
Step Beyond Travel Grants
European Cultural Foundation | Rolling
www.culturalfoundation.eu
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants
Pollock-Krasner Foundation | Rolling
www.pkf.org
Exhibiting
Open Film Selected by Stuart Whipps
OUTPOST invites submissions from members to OUTPOST Open Film selected by Stuart Whipps. For submission details please visit our website.
OUTPOST, Norwich 24 Feb
www.norwichoutpost.org
promoted
Call for Entries
Entries are invited for the 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 September 2019
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival | 5 Apr
www.bfmaf.org
promoted
Open Call for Artist Performance
HOME, Manchester | 2 Dec
www.homemcr.org
Open Call for Artist Film Submissions
HOME, Manchester | 14 Dec
www.homemcr.org
Call for Submissions 2019/20
Intermedia Gallery, CCA, Glasgow | 28 Jan
www.cca-glasgow.com
Submissions: Send opportunities to opportunities@artmonthly.co.uk
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