Author: Ann Williams

Art MarketArun KakarArt Basel Basel, 2023. Courtesy of Art Basel. Art Basel and UBS’s annual “Art Market” report was released today, revealing an art market currently navigating an “uncertain economic and political future.” The eighth edition of the report, released by Art Basel and UBS, is authored by cultural economist Dr. Clare McAndrew and includes data from a variety of sources including Artsy, art dealers, auction houses, collectors, art fairs and databases. Here, we share five key ones.1. Until 2023, the value of sales decreased, but the volume increasedThe headline figure in this year’s report confirms what many in the…

In 2022, the arts and cultural industries continued to have a significant impact on the United States economy, generating a record $1.1 trillion in economic activity, or 4.3% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to a new study. From the US Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA).The ACPSA report, released March 25, is the result of a collaborative research effort between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). By tracking the economic value of arts and cultural production across 35 industries, including commercial enterprises and non-profit organizations, the report seeks…

The galleries and auction houses participating in this year’s Asia Week New York achieved $100.8 million in the 15th edition of the annual event. The nine-figure tally includes sales reported by 21 of the 28 participating galleries (two of which did not sell) and five of the six auction houses, as iGavelAuctions still conducts sales online.Brendan Lynch, president of Asia Week New York, said in a statement that sales were “strong at auction houses and galleries.” The $100 million figure is nearly a quarter (24.1%) lower than last year’s sales, when Asia Week sold $131.2 million from 22 of the…

Baseera Khan experimented with “acoustic sound blankets” during a summer 2015 residency at the Arts Center on Governors Island, New York, inspired by the ferry there. “I found that the sound of the large groups queuing to get on a ferry and then being on the water was really loud… And so I decided it would be a good time to create a kennel system for myself,” Khan said. Hyperallergic. The residency, called “Process Space,” was sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). Khan, a performance, sculpture and installation artist, conceived the idea of ​​connecting sound and objects to…

California lawmakers have introduced a bill to give Holocaust survivors and their heirs a better chance to recover artwork stolen or forcibly sold during periods of political oppression. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), chairman of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, which chaired the legislative session, said. Los Angeles Times Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum was inspired by a ruling this January that decided it could keep a Camille Pissarro painting taken from its Jewish owner by the Nazi party. Related Articles “I immediately felt that this was a great opportunity for me to correct a historical injustice and prevent something like this from…

ArtReena DeviA view of Samia Zaru’s installation, left to right and front to back, Life is a woven carpet1995, and Life is a woven carpet, 2001; and works by Abdulrahman Al-Soliman and Hind Nasser at the Diriyah Biennale of Contemporary Art, 2024. Photo by Marco Cappelletti. Courtesy of the Diriyah Biennial Foundation.Art events in Saudi Arabia often show a penchant for the bright and shiny. The second edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, the nation’s premier biennale, however, was no such spectacle. Launched with broad international ambitions, the exhibition showcased a diverse geographical range of artists from the Middle…

A man is suing the Tasmanian Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) alleging gender discrimination after being denied entry to a women-only art installation. New South Wales resident Jason Lau lodged a complaint with the Australian State Anti-Discrimination Commissioner after visiting the contemporary art museum last April, claiming that MONA’s “Ladies Lounge” facility contravenes Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1998. Created “for any woman”, the participatory experience “Ladies Lounge” by artist and curator Kirsha Kaechele It deliberately excludes male visitors as a commentary on the country’s exclusion of women from specific spaces. Before 1965, Australian women were banned from drinking in…

Earlier this week, Bravo announced that all six actors had signed up for the reboot The Real Housewives of New York City he would return for the second season (the 15th of the franchise), as reported by him The varietyleading to rumors that the network would add two new members, including one with ties to the art world. Now the rumor is that that cast member could be Racquel Chevremont, the collector and curator who is the ex-partner of artist Mickalene Thomas. Chevremont is also friends with current cast member Jenna Lyons, the former creative director of J. Crew. (Bravo…

Art MarketMaxwell RabbPortrait of Baylon Sandri. Courtesy of SMAC Gallery.When South Africa’s SMAC gallery welcomed sculptor Barend De Wet to its roster, his career changed. It happened in 2009, two years after Baylon Sandrik founded the gallery in the picturesque wine country of Stellenbosch. Initially, the Cape Town-born gallerist envisioned SMAC—originally known as Stellenbosch Modern and Contemporary—as a space for historically underserved South African artists. That changed when Sandri met De Wet. “De Wet was definitely one of South Africa’s most avant-garde artists, and this led to a change in the gallery’s approach,” Sandri told Artsy. Since then, SMAC has…

Naomi Klein’s 2007 book Shock Doctrine It opens with an evocative quote from César Aira’s novel birthday: “Any change is a change of theme.” Klein perfectly understood both the cyclical nature of the forced crises of the Global South and the tactical theater used to hide them. Aira also knew all about it: this sharp and analytical statement is under the patina of “absurdism” that he associates with his literary production. What they both expressed was that the lives of Argentines are governed by a certain kind of realism, which has to do with the unmanageable and the uncertain; The…