Art Monthly 339: September 2010

Contents

Jorge Pardo The Reyes House 2004-08

Interview

The Parallax View

Jorge Pardo interviewed by Alex Coles

Jorge Pardo is part of a generation of artists whose interest in design and architecture shaped new ways of working, in terms of both exhibition making and studio practice. Here Pardo talks about his work in relation to other artists who operate in the field, the influence of Donald Judd's Marfa project and the operation of his new 'micro-studio' in the Yucatan.

'So much has been said about my work's relationship to architecture and design but most of it is bullshit. It's not so much that my work contains references to architecture and design but how those references are made to work within an art context that is important.'

 

Sitting room with artists chosen by collectors Cindy and Howard Rachofsky
as part of Stephen Friedman Gallery's 'Tasters' Choice' exhibition 2010

Feature

Extreme Gallery Makeover

Jennifer Thatcher looks beyond the white cube

A recent clutch of exhibitions has brought the gallery and the home closer together, questioning the authority of exhibition architecture. In the face of recent modes of art making, does the inadequacy of new mega museums and the traditional white-cube gallery mean that it is time to rethink the exhibition space?

'It is time to admit that the white cube no longer possesses the authority it once did, when you can buy that once-mysterious aura for a few quid down at B&Q.'

 

Paul Sietsema Empire 2002

Feature

Art and Illusionism

Mark Prince on the production of illusion

Modernism often relied upon the honesty of the artist's labour to lend its objects critical weight, but recent trends towards illusionism have ensured that this labour is subject to the magician's 'reveal'. So what is it that happens when an artwork is not what it seems?

'Illusionism might be an embodiment of the process Pierre Bourdieu describes by which art "disavows the economy" while remaining "haunted" by "economic interest".'

Comment

Editorial

Indian Giving

Collectors in the US have recently been preying upon museum's financial problems, utilising budget shortfalls as leverage to get more bang for their donation buck. So what is the motivation behind Charles Saatchi's decision to gift his gallery to the nation as London's Museum of Contemporary Art?

'Saatchi intends to continue to sell off works that don't make it into the core collection. In other words, it will be business as usual, only now it will be called "de-accessioning" rather than dealing.'

Artnotes

The crashing of Tate Britain's summer party added fuel to the debate around Tate's acceptance of BP sponsorship; the first quangos are cut ahead of the autumn spending review; Pump House Gallery's arts programme is praised for its excellence by the local council, which then promptly closes it; more galleries open, expand and move; and all the latest news on art world appointments, events, commissions and more.

Submissions: Send Artnotes info to artnotes@artmonthly.co.uk

Obituary

Sigmar Polke 1941-2010

Reviews

Exhibitions

Keeping it Real: the D. Daskalopoulos Collection

Whitechapel Gallery, London

Skin Fruit: the Dakis Joannou Collection

New Museum, New York

Anna Dezeuze

The New Décor

Hayward Gallery, London

Alex Coles

Room Divider

Wilkinson Gallery, London

Mark Prince

Lily van der Stokker

Tate St Ives

Rosie Lesso

John Bock

Barbican Curve, London

Eliza Williams

Andrew Cross

Ikon Eastside, Birmingham

Stephen Lee

Kerry Tribe: Dead Star Light

Arnolfini, Bristol

Laura Allsop

A Missing History: 'The Other Story' re-visited

Aicon Gallery, London

Coline Milliard

Arabicity: Such a Near East

The Bluecoat, Liverpool

Omar Kholeif

Haunted

Guggenheim, New York

Martin Patrick

Hannah Wilke: Elective Affinities

Alison Jacques Gallery, London

Griselda Pollock

Richard Deacon: The Missing Part

Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg

Teresa Gleadowe

Reviews

Books

Curating and the Educational Turn

Andrew Hunt on Paul O'Neill and Mick Wilson's investigation of curatorial trends

'While the book attempts a "dispersion of positions" to diffuse curatorial authority, this sometimes conceals the fact that many traditional forms of authority pervade its content.'

Iftikhar Dadi, Imran Qureshi, Aisha Khalid

Virginia Whiles on an 'alter' look at Modernism and two artists' books

'This study by Iftikhar Dadi, Modernism and the Art of Muslim South Asia, is long overdue. There exists no historical analysis of modernist art production in the Pakistan of pre and post partition. Dadi's intention is to "fashion a new narrative of a transnational South Asian Modernism". '

Report

BAC/BEC

Letter from Beirut

Anthony Downey on Beirut's art scene and its two major new galleries

'It is possible that the conflict in Lebanon over the past few decades has produced cultural forms and gestures that we will only become aware of in the decades to come, if indeed at all.'

Salerooms

London

The Window Closes

Colin Gleadell on how quickly optimism fades

'The London salerooms have posted a big improvement this year compared with last, but will still be approaching the sales that coincide with Frieze Art Fair next month with some trepidation.'

Listings

Exhibitions

Exhibition listings

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