Liverpool: City of the Arts

‘It’s grim up north’ or so goes the familiar reply whenever a town situated north of London’s M25 is mentioned. ‘Well, have you ever been to Liverpool?’ is the appropriate response. After suffering a chequered history, Liverpool has recently emerged as a lively centre for the arts. Former home to Europe’s largest port, the city enjoyed its heyday during the industrial revolution before it was bombed to smithereens during World War II. Out of the rubble emerged the Beatles, until disaster struck again, in the shape of Margaret Thatcher and hundreds of dock workers were laid off. Liverpudlians soldiered on, however, transforming their disused dock system into a suitable home for Tate Liverpool. Now the city is positively brimming with art and has been voted Europe’s 2008 Capital of Culture.

• Tate Liverpool is hosting this year’s Turner Prize. Mark Wallinger is tipped to win the £25,000 prize with a hilarious film of the artist dressed in a bear suit. http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/turnerprize2007/

• The Liverpool Biennial was founded by Liverpudlian and arts innovator James Moores. Now in its 5th year, the 2008 Biennial is commissioning 36 new works by leading international artists, many of them will be installed in public spaces. Previous projects include Anthony Gormley’s spectacular cast iron figures standing on a Lancashire beach, waves lapping around their heels. http://www.biennial.com/

• ‘A’ Foundation, Moores’ latest Liverpudlian venture has secured vast warehouse spaces for exhibitions. Installations by British artist Brian Griffiths and U.S. based collective SIMPARCH will be on show until April 2008. “James Moores' introduction of the Liverpool Biennial in his own home town has really helped to bring the city to the forefront of the art world’s collective consciousness,” says arty ASW member Rebecca Guinness.
http://www.afoundation.org.uk/

• The Walker Art Gallery will be staging the John Moores Prize for Contemporary Painting, now in its 50th year. The winning painter receives a prize of £25,000. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/

• FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) commissions artists to make works in film, video and new media. On show until Jan 13th 2008 are three new films from Manchester based filmmakers Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson about issues of faith in contemporary society. http://www.fact.co.uk/

• ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2008,’ is the hot ticket next year. This annual exhibition of the best work by recent graduates from art schools attracts eager gallerists in search of new artists.
http://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/

— Constance Wyndham

A Quick Glance at the Frankfurt Book Fair

What was it all about?
With more than 6,000 exhibitions from over 120 countries, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book fair in the world. This year the deal fervor was high, with chatter between agents, publishers, film producers, and distributors.

Why people go?
To buy and sell books - Frankfurt is an in-house affair for people in the book business. Although unpublished writers are not the focus, it was a good place to learn about publishing (the seminars are great) as well as to discover obscure publishers.

Who was there?
Germany’s ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer was interviewed by Der Spiegel to talk about his new book The Red-Green Year. British Novelist Fay Weldon discussed female misery in society, domestic wars, and her new book She May Not Leave. Italian novelist Umberto Eco talked about the History of Ugliness. The fair was, of course, filled with ASW members like Lana Cevro, Leticia Jiménez-Buil, and Marco Caffagni.

Highlights?
ASW Member Hendrik Teneues’ publishing company teNeues held a launch party for Eyes Over Africa, which was amazing. Other fun parties were the Cannon Gate’s party, the Cook Book Awards, Bertelsman’s party and ASW Member Rolfe Swinton’s party for his company CPI Publishing Solutions, which was held at a nearby castle.

— Staff

Frieze Art Fair

Modern art’s most glamorous patrons combed the 150 galleries of London's Frieze Art Fair in search of the next Damien Hirst and Chapman Brothers last weekend. And of course, when they weren’t looking at the art, they were attending the countless events held to coincide with the fair.

From a small affair five years ago, Frieze has turned into ‘the start of the season’ for the art world, according to Amanda Schneider of the Jablonka Galerie, whose highlight was a stunningly erotic David LaChapelle photomural. Set in London’s beautiful Regent’s Park in a custom-built marquee of over 20,000 square meters, the galleries came from nearly 30 countries, representing over a thousand artists.

Galleries, which had been at Frieze last year, reported a definite upturn in attendance and business this time around. The Gagosian Gallery, one of modern art’s powerhouses, sold out its edition of Tracey Emin’s neon sculpture 'I could have really loved you' in a few hours. Indeed, everywhere you went, countless tiny orange dots indicated that work had been snapped up.

Photographer and ASW member Hugo Tillman, whose work was shown by Nohra Haime at the Bridge Art Fair, got to the major Frieze event this year – the party that followed Saturday’s Phillips de Pury & Co auction. “It was the place to see and be seen,” said Tillman. “Everybody was there but the mood was very serious due to the lack of alcohol for the first half of the party.” In the art world, this is a serious complaint.

The celeb art fans were certainly out in force for the first two days of the fair. Dennis Hopper was seen pacing the aisles and regular Friezer, Claudia Schiffer, prowled the booths. One of the Olsen twins put in an appearance while Kate Moss and Hugh Grant were also spotted at the fair.

When you were worn out from all the art – and with 150 galleries, it did get exhausting – Frieze laid on the most luxurious facilities for VIPs and patrons. Mark Hix, legendary chef of The Ivy and Le Caprice in London, brought his kitchen to the fair, while the VIP lounge was luxury defined, with its glamorous denizens – ASWers certainly among them – and fabulous furnishings.

Some galleries reported that they did most of their business in the first couple of days of the fair. Others noted that there were far fewer Americans present compared to previous years because of the weak dollar. Still, judging by the number of people present from across the world, Frieze is firmly on the art world’s calendar.

— Josh Spero

The Istanbul Bienniale's 10th Anniversary

Istanbul's location – as the gateway between Europe and Asia – is key to its 10 year old Biennial. Unlike Venice, where the emphasis is on national pavilions, this event is firmly rooted in the city itself and is more concerned with involving the local community than wooing the international art crowd.

This year, San Francisco's star curator Hou Hanru has been invited to curate. His idea to free the event from the constraints of an umbrella theme has become a leitmotif this summer, with Documenta's curator, Roger Buergel, doing the same. Hanru envisages his Biennial as having a focus on architecture and urban issues but largely as a platform for ideas and dialogue. The emphasis is on site specific work and reinterpreting the city. Hanrou was inspired by Istanbul's modern buildings and chose these culturally and politically significant places to house the art. Few of the chosen sites like the Atatürk Cultural Center and the Textile Market appear on tourist maps. They are part of the city that remains overlooked.

Hanru devised 'Nightcomers,' a selection of videos that will be projected around the city at night. Considering Istanbul's wild night life there's no doubt these will be seen by many.

Here are some examples of the pieces to be exhibited during the Biennial.

www.iksv.org

— Constance Wyndham

Pete Townshend Unveils New Music 'Method'

Pete Townshend

Do you want to make beautiful music, just you and your computer? Pete Townshend could make it happen. The Who songwriter and guitarist has unveiled a melody-making computer program, ‘Method,’ which could help all wannabe composers create their very own sound.

Townshend was first introduced to the idea of composing on computers in the early 1960s while he was doing an art school foundation course with the likes of Brian Eno and David Bowie. “The course was led by a guy called Roy Ascot, who had this idea that computers were going to enable artists to do all kinds of interesting things,” said Townshend in an interview with ASW last week.

But it was a decade before Townshend acted on his inclination by penning a futuristic film script entitled Lifehouse, which was to provide the inspiration for ‘Method.’ The movie explored the idea that every one of us has our own unique music and if we got together and played it en masse, it would combine to create a sound similar to the sea. After listening to a few samples of ‘Method’ music, it seemed that the effect might not always be as melodious as the sound of lapping waves. However, let’s give the rock legend the benefit of the doubt since Lifehouse did lead to the release of the iconic Who’s Next album.

So how does it work? The project, a joint brainchild of Townshend, mathematician Lawrence Ball and software engineer David Snowdon, gives subscribers the opportunity to quite literally make their own music. All you have to do is give the online ‘Method’ software composer some personal details, including a photograph, voice sample and a basic rhythm, which you can tap out on your computer keyboard. This information will then be collaborated and turned into a track that represents you and only you. “The Method has evolved out of a shared passion for music,” said Ball. “It represents a whole new level of integration, blending rock and psychedelia with classical and experimental music.” But that’s only the start, according to Ball. “It’s bound to evolve even further through its life on the net since it’s a chance for millions of people to collaborate together online.”

Once you've sat for your online ‘Method’ portrait, you can then download it and share it with your friends. You may not love it or even like it but whatever your reaction, you can’t stop a team of composers, which will occasionally include Townshend, from listening to it. The team is there to select a few music portraits to develop further. If one of your portraits is chosen, it may even end up as a song. The single Fragments from The Who’s latest album, Endless Wire was created using ‘Method.’

The technological advancement may be a breakthrough for the current band but back in the day Townshend’s former drummer Keith Moon may have struggled to provide the machine with a steady beat. “His time-keeping wasn’t the most important thing” said Townshend. “It was one of the reasons why I became such a physical performer because he used to watch my body.’ Things have not changed and Townshend operates the same way with The Who’s current drummer, Zack Starkey. “Sometimes I’m playing my guitar and deliberately hiding from him,” said Townshend. “But he seems to watch one of the cheeks of my arse and knows what I’m going to play next.”

Aside from his music ventures, Townshend is also working on an autobiography “I’m less than half way through,’”declared the versatile rocker. “And I’m now putting it on the Internet in a compressed form just ‘cos I want to get it out the way.” It looks like Townshend has well and truly moved with the times. Any talk of his generation now would have to be about the savvy, online MySpace generation.

www.lifehouse-method.com

- Sophia Armitage

To Art or Not to Art: Art Basel 2007

Ray Caesar courtesy of Jonathan Levine Gallery

What do Miami Beach, Florida and the Swiss city of Basel have in common? Don't be fooled, it's not the weather. From December 7th through the 10th, the American beach town known for its bikini clad babes and all night dance parties is playing host to Basel's international art show.

Founded in Switzerland, Art Basel) is an adult playground for contemporary artists, collectors, curators and gallery owners of A-list proportions. In seeking a sister destination in 2002, the show bypassed America's obvious cultural meccas of Los Angeles and New York to touch down in Miami Beach where some thirty thousand art goers including Daniel Loeb, Jeffrey Deitch and Vito Schnabel have now settled in for the week.

Although the showcasing of contemporary art may be the festival's raison d'etre - the Whitney and the Guggenheim both hold court here - there is also much else to see, hear and experience.

After an early art preview, festivities kicked off with a dinner held by Jimmy Choo to benefit the Whitney Contemporaries, which was attended by the likes of Simon de Pury, Larry Gagosian, and Tamara Mellon and a Deitch Projects party, which raged late into the night with a performance by Devendra Banhart at the Raleigh Hotel. Other musicians playing on the Miami Basel scene include the lascivious Peaches and the Scissor Sisters, whose new album, "Tah-Dah," was released late in September.

Wondering where to go after the Yoko-Ono presentation at the Sagamore Hotel, or the screening of Arden Wohl's film "Coven" at the Raleigh Hotel? Events on everyone's list include the Coven party, thrown by Pravda Vodka and hosted by Lele Sobieski, Stella Schnabel, Melissa Bent, Yvonne Force, and Mirabelle Marden (daughter of artist Brice Marden), and the Mac party, hosted by the sumptuous Dita Von Tess and Narscico Rodriques at the Delano. Late night, don't miss the scene at Le Baron.

— Kiley Bates

Art Explosion: China is Hot!

25 years ago, China’s artists were begging for rice. Today they are they are driving luxury cars and partying like rock stars. The boom in the Chinese art market is unprecedented.

Hugo Tillman Zhang Xiaotao, 2006

Hugo Tillman Yu Hong, 2006

ASW chats with Fabien Fryns, owner of F2 Gallery in Beijing and Hugo Tillman an English artist who is collaborating with some of China’s leading artists to create photographs that reflect their psychological landscape.

Interview

Where did you grow up?

Fabien Fryns:I went to Jesuit school in Belgium for 3 years and then to Le Rosey in Switzerland where I completed a French Bac. From there I went on to Christie's London and EBS London.

Hugo Tillman: I was raised in England, Los Angeles and New York.

Hugo Tillman Jiang-Jie, 2006

Artists who have made history

Wang Guangyi

What led you to China?

FF: I was invited by a Chinese art dealer named Chris Mao, from Chambers Fine Art, to share a booth with him at the first art fair in Beijing in 2004.

HT: I went to Beijing for a trip in 2005 and was blown away by the dynamic art world.

What do you find sexy about China and Beijing in particular?

FF: I find my girlfriend Lucy Lu very sexy. Furthermore, what seduced me about this city is its tremendous energy in general and the very exciting art scene.

HT: There is something about being in a place that does not exist in the present, and that is being propelled from the past into the future. Also, although Beijing has the most vibrant art scene on the planet, there are no velvet ropes per se. There is a desire for a serious dialogue on both sides.

Zhang Xiaogang Bloodline The Big Family No. 2

Newly Established Artists

Ai WeiWei Fragments, 2005

What sparked your interest in Chinese contemporary art, and why did you decide to open a gallery in Beijing rather than Shanghai?

FF: I bought my first work by a Chinese artist, Zhang Huan, in 2000, but unfortunately this did not lead to a trip to China to discover what was going on there at the time. Like most Westerners, I initially liked the idea of Shanghai more, but once I visited both cities it became clear that the art capital of China is Beijing. Furthermore, I like to live in China among Chinese people and not among expats, and I think that Beijing in general is a more genuine and exciting city.

What is the significance of the new Pomipidou Center being built in Shanghai?

FF: I think it is very important that a major international museum is getting a foothold in China. I am sorry to hear that they opted for Shanghai instead of Beijing. I hope that other major international institutions will opt for Beijing.

HT: Shanghai is trying to position itself as a cultural center in order to combat its present image as superficial. It even is suggested that the Municipal Government of Shanghai approached the Pompidou with an offer to give them the land and pay for the museum. That aside, having the Pompidou in China at all suggests that the country is opening itself up for significant cultural integration into the international scene.

Shi Xinning The Ball, 2006

Up and coming artists to watch

Cui Xiuwen Angel No. 4

It is said that the Chinese contemporary art market is one of the hottest in the world. In your opinion, is this true?

FF: Yes, I think so. Although the word HOT doesn’t necessarily have positive connotations. I think that the art scene in China is very interesting. A society that is undergoing so many fundamental changes is a great breeding ground for art.

HT: Absolutely.

The contemporary art scene in China has been compared to Paris in the 1920's. In your opinion, what makes what is going on so interesting?

FF: The fact that China is still a mystery to a lot of people. Throughout history, the West has been seduced by China over and over again. Also, some of the art being produced by Chinese artists is very important to Chinese history, but also translates very well on a global level. I think that it is wrong to buy Chinese art because of its "Chinese-ness". This is what seems to be fashionable today, but I do not think that in the long run the best Chinese art is that which looks most Chinese.

HT: There are two main groups of artists who are interesting for different reasons. The first are the fathers of Chinese contemporary art, the older generation made up of the STAR group of the late 70's who have made and are making art that mirrors and sometimes acts as a catalyst for the incredible change that has happened in China over the past 25 years. These artists have survived the Cultural Revolution as well as live today, a time that is described as the most capitalistic period any culture has seen in the modern era. Their work is a window into this incredible history. There are also the younger artists, born in the mid to late 70's and early 80's who now signify what is truly considered contemporary art. Beyond representing the cultural change in China, these artists are integrating themselves into the international art world by pushing new forms and media well beyond the familiar.

Sun Xun The Lies (Video)

Artist that F2 represents

Xu Wentao Body Image No. 21, 2004 (Available at F2 gallery)

Who are the main players in the market? Which artists did the MOMA, TATE and Guggenheim buy on their recent trips?

FF: I am not sure which artists they bought. I hope that they have been a little more adventurous than most collectors whose Chinese "wanted" list contains always the same names (Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng Fanzhi, YueMin JUn, Wang Guangyi, Liu Wei, Yan Shaobin, Yan Pei Ming, Ai Weiwei, Wang Qingsong, Li Songsong, Feng Zhengjie, Shi Xinning, Qi ZHilong, Tang Zhigang, and Zeng Hao).

HT: There many players in the Chinese Art Market, and a lot of great collectors like Uli Sigg as well as galleries like Goedhuis, Chambers and Max Protech in New York, the Red Mansion Foundation in London, the DF2 gallery in LA, Lorenz Heibling's Shangart in Shanghai. In reference to artists, I would say there are about 75 very significant artists living in China and perhaps 5 living in New York and France. I am lucky enough to have collaborated with the most of these artists.

Li Qing Imperial Concubine, 2005 (Available at F2 gallery)

Do you think the market is inflated? Is there more hype than lasting talent? What's the best example of this?

FF: I cannot give you any examples, but there are plenty around. Some of the art is hyped, some is still undervalued.

HT: I don’t think the market it overly inflated. When one compares the price of Chinese art to similar Western art, the Chinese prices are still considerably lower on average. There also remains a very small local Chinese market. The collectors are mostly foreign. This leaves plenty of potential for growth. Yes, there is a lot of hype. That hype is created by the media and is often fueled by ignorance. Of course, like in any period or any hot market, there will be those artists that stand the test of time and those that fall by the wayside. One can only let history decide who those artists will be. Already Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi, and Wang Jianwei have become part of art history.

Do you think the Chinese Contemporary Art World is a sustainable system?

FF: The Chinese contemporary art world and market has changed profoundly and very rapidly. I am very happy to see that Chinese art is blending in more and more with western art. I am not sure how much sense it makes to have Chinese auctions or galleries that only show Chinese art. There is a lot of good Chinese art around, but not that much either. There are relatively few artists coming out of the academies. I hope this will change. For the moment, many artists have it a little too easy and this is dangerous. Some of them have had a very tough time for years, and I am very happy for them that they are doing so well now. There is too much pressure on the artists to produce to meet demand. Some artists compromise by turning out work of a lesser quality, others by being too repetitive.

HT: Of course it is. It is just beginning. Art is just beginning to become institutionalized in China. The resources are constantly being renewed and nurtured.

Can you suggest some up and coming artists to watch?

FF: We have a lot of demand for some of our young artists, especially Li Qing and Feng Shu, who are 28 and 25 respectively and are being bought by museums already. Furthermore, I think Zeng Fanzhi is still quite undervalued. He is just such an exciting artist, one of the few who is continuously searching to break new ground and reinventing himself. Other artists to watch are Liu Ye, Li Songsong, Zeng Guogu, Ling Jian, Cui Xiuwen, Zhang Huan, and Yin Zhaoyang.

HT: I do not want to say too much on that topic, as students are being picked up from the art academies and given exhibitions while still in school. This leaves no time for development or incubation. That said, I think Li Qing and Sun Xun are pretty interesting.

Tell me about an upcoming show you are having?

FF: Since its inception, F2 Gallery is committed to show western and Chinese artists. Some of the western art is produced in China by artists who like to take up the challenge of spending some time in Beijing. We have just inaugurated a new show of a 25 year old sculptor, Feng Shu. Later this year we will have a show of portraits of Chinese artists by Hugo, Keith Haring, Xu Wentao and Xu Hualing.

HT: I am having a show at F2 in May of my series titled “Chinese Contemporary.” For this project, I will have collaborated with about 80 contemporary artists on a photography project where I create a scene for them to act out in a set I create and document the scene with a camera.

Other than F2 of course, what are some other great galleries in Beijing?

FF: Aye Gallery, Longrun, CAAW, Pekin Fine Arts, Universal Studios, Marella, Continua, Urs Meile are the ones that spring to mind ... but there are galleries popping up on a daily basis in Beijing.

HT: There the really important galleries are Urs Miele, of course F2, Universal Studios, Arrario, Meg Maggio's Pekin Fine Arts opening in May, Continua, Courtyard, BTAP, Beijing Commune etc.

What's your favorite place to hang out in Beijing?

FF: My social life here is quite limited compared to what it used to be like in Europe. I enjoy going to dinner quite a lot, and my favorite places are Lan Club, China Club, Hatsune, Le Quai, and anywhere where I can enjoy a nice cigar in comfortable surroundings with good friends, really. What else can one ask for?

HT: I like places like At Cafe in 798, No Name in Houhai or Bed. I am a big fan of low-key places with great ambience that are more alternative and less commercial. There are so many little hidden places all over Beijing that are amazing. That is what is so wonderful about the city. It is not obvious

— Sabine Heller.

Witney Museum, An American Index of The Hidden and Unfamiliar

In this snap happy age when any old fool can click away with a digital camera, a photographer has to be jolly good in order to stand out. Taryn Simon is one such dazzling talent. The gallerist Larry Gagosian was seduced into representing Simon by her carefully composed photographs and their daring subject matter and now, at the tender age of 31, a new body of her work entitled An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar is currently on show at New York’s Whitney Museum.

Avian Quarantine Facility, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007

Chromogenic color print
37 X 44 in. (94.6 X 113 cm)
Collection of the artist; courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York

Simon presents a series of photographs of the peripheries of American culture, turning her large format 4 x 5 camera upon a wide range of subjects from the interior of the C.I.A headquarters to hibernating brown bears. Each image is helpfully accompanied by an adjacent wall text explaining its context. These days America is under strict scrutiny, and although parts of the world are busy flag burning, these images remind us that American culture remains full of mysterious eccentricities.

One wonders how on earth she gained access to these hidden places. Simon is clearly an intrepid photographer, she has documented disasters in Israel and for a series The Innocents, she turned her camera on the nation’s unjustly accused, often cajoling them into returning to the place of their wrongful, violent arrest. She clearly has the power of persuasion. For this current series, she convinced the C.I.A headquarters to let her photograph their collection of Abstract Expressionist art. An informative text explains that the C.I.A championed these post war American artists to challenge the social realist style prevalent in communist nations. They wanted to portray the Abstract Expressionists freedom of expression as an example of something truly American.

Cryopreservation Unit, from the series
An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007

Chromogenic color print
37 ¼ x 44 ½ in. (94.6 x 113 cm)
Collection of the artist; courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York

In Simon’s particular brand of realism there are no vast, sublime landscapes and no victims of the fast food industry. The photographs provide a welcome refuge from the surplus of recognisably American imagery. Diane Arbus revealed America’s oddities in her pictures of its citizens, but few people feature in Simon’s images. She makes an exception for Don James, an advocate of the ‘Death with Dignity’ campaign for physician assisted suicide although one imagines he may not be around for much longer.

Science is a recurring theme throughout the series and perhaps as a result Simon’s images of unusual Americana seem infused with a laboratorial cleanliness. A Palestinian girl lays legs akimbo, like a scientific specimen, a hospital robe obscuring her face. She has recently undergone hymenoplasty in anticipation of her wedding night. The Cryonics Institute is where patients are frozen soon after death in liquid nitrogen. Simon depicts a white shell like container surrounded by billowing clouds of nitrogen. When medicine has sufficiently progressed they will be thawed out to enjoy eternal life. There are currently forty eight pets in cryostasis.

Simon isn’t over zealous with her lighting and several images emanate a particular gloominess, perhaps signifying impending doom for these scientific advancements. Her lighting has a surreal, dramatic quality which is reminiscent of Gregory Crewdson’s elaborately staged photographs. Kenny, a genetically engineered white tiger with a limp and malformed features which impair his breathing, was photographed on a dank, grey day in Arkansas. His cross-eyes stare back idiotically at the camera. The last image in the show is one of nuclear waster capsules at a storage facility at the Hanford Site in the state of Washington. The capsules glow an eerie, deathly blue.

In a back room at JFK airport sit a variety of agricultural products confiscated from passengers on their way into America. A table buckles under the weight of African yams, Andean potatoes, strange plants and a whole pigs head. With this image, Simon offers some explanation for her subject matter, the sagging table serves as a metaphor for the diversity of America culture.

— Constance Wyndham