绿茶拿铁 Green Tea Latte

【展览】Juan Manuel Echavarria: Death and the River

zhangxiaomin — Fri, 04 April 2008 14:35:57 -0400

In November of 2006, Juan Manuel Echavarria visited a cemetery in Puerto Berrio, on the banks of the Magdalena River in Colombia. Within the cemetery, a particularly colorful mausoleum stands apart from the others. The tombs are marked with the letters NN: Ningun Nombre--No Name. Within each tomb lies a corpse or part of a corpse that the people of Puerto Berrio have rescued from the Magdalena River. Most are victims of massacres from the drug war, many mutilated, many simply discarded for convenience, anonymity, to feed the vultures. But here the people save the nameless and decomposing bodies from the waters and bury them in the cemeter. Then they perform a second ritua. A NN can be "escogido"--chosen--by a person who agrees to take care of its tomb, to pray for its soul, in exchange for favors from the dead. The blessed one adopts the NN, decorates the tomb with flowers and often a marble slate saying, "Thank you NN for the favor received." Some caretakers even name their NN, often granting them their own family name, inscribing the given name on the marble.

On one level, the living makes a business-like proposition with the dead: In return for a favor, I will keep up your tomb, decorate it, paint it, bring a glass of water so your soul will not be thirsty, bring you flowers, humanize you by giving you a name. But collectively they are saying, we won't let the violence erase you, we snatch you away from those who have made you disappear, we take care of you, we give you names. Their pact with the dead resists the perpetrators of violence and reconstructs the social fabric. --Juan Manuel Echavarria, 2007

Born in Medellin, Colombia, Echavarria lives and works in New York and Bogota. Death and the River will run at the Josee Bienvenu Gallery through April 5, 2008. (excerpts from gallery press release)

Review Practice: Whitney Biennial 2008 At Park Avenue Armory

zhangxiaomin — Wed, 02 April 2008 17:39:21 -0400

The 2008 Whitney Biennial expanded to the Park Avenue Armory to host multiple installations, performances and events. The Armory is a huge 19th-century clubhouse originally used by the Seventh Regiment as both a military facility and a social gathering place. A designated historic landmark today, the Armory is full of dim hallways, crumbling period rooms, marvelous antique furniture and portraits, and walls mounted with giant animal heads. For artists, it must be exciting and challenging to produce site-specific installations and performances here. And indeed the selected artists presented the viewer with a wide range of ideas and executions. It includes dance parties (Agathe Snow), burlesque performances, a gypsy banquet, a slumber party with cots, blankets, snacks and ambient music (DJ Olive), and a real working bar serving homemade tequila (Edwardo Sarabia).

The overall impression of the installations mounted at the Armory was Bohemian, DIY (found materials were favored), and a tangible engagement with political and current affairs, which, in a way reflects the mood in the art world today and the American society at large. This should not strike as a surprise, given that the Biennial co-curator Henriette Huldisch also curated the exhibition Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era at Whitney last year. In that matter, the historical references of the Armory building provides a powerful (and curious) contrast, reinforcement and some light-hearted irony to the guilt-free hippy pleasure embraced by the Biennial curators. While it is dramatic or even theatrical to patron a flashy stereotypical tequila bar or to watch a hypnotizing rock music video inside the magnificent yet decaying Armory, only a few works can truly go beyond making superficial connect or suggestion to the Armory's unique spatial qualities and historical references.

Michael Queenland's ping-pang balls chandelier in a period washroom and the adjacent Ellen Harvey's The Inevitable Failure of Restoration (2008) installation were my personal favorites. Queenland's chandelier, despite its humble materials, was exquisite and elegant. Hanging from the high ceiling, it perfectly matches the checkered tiles and an old-fashioned bathtub in the washroom. By crafting a sophisticated and beautiful chandelier out of unadorned materials, Queenland courteously compliments the former grandeur of the Armory while poking a slight mockery on the prevalence of cheap products and the old glamour that will not return, certainly not under the shadow of a recession. Ellen Harvey's video installation re-creates how generations of paint were added to the original patterns in the wall. By revisiting the historical manual labor process and arriving at its present state, Harvey reminds us that what we see today is an accumulative work of art not only created by generations of artists but also by time, and what cannot be restored is the latter. Yet watching the wall and the video side by side, the viewer cannot help wondering whether technology will one day free us from the gravity of time and space, or condemn us into perpetual memory loss and confusion. Both pieces of installation echo with the theme of the 2008 Biennial-the ephemeral nature of art, time and memory. They do not intrude or clash with the Armory's architectural style and spatial conditions. Nor do they employ the space merely as a superficial signifier. The artists respect the beauty and history of the building while bringing in fresh and contemporary ideas and forms, and invoke reflection on the passing of time, the remaining and the lost.

One obvious disappointment is Olaf Breuning's installation of twenty or so teapot soldiers representing a dysfunctional army. At the first glance, the installation and the site do not respond to each other. The artist's effort to adapt the work to the site of the Armory is almost invisible. Frankly, it could have been mounted in any other museum or gallery without changing its presentation or context. In fact, that could arguably have been better. Furthermore, the implication of the war is more than clear, yet the political message remains ambiguous or shallow. What is dysfunctional is not the army but at the decision-making level. And politics is not as cute as Chinese teapots.

一些照片和可爱的黑人大叔

zhangxiaomin — Fri, 28 March 2008 14:34:25 -0400

Whitney Biennial

Tabaimo 1

那天在一画廊听一中国艺术家介绍作品，作品涉及从中国领养的孤儿。一人问，“Why are they all girls?"

一中年白人女恶狠狠的说，“Because they kill them!" 我听到，立刻眼前幻想着揪住她搧上几耳光的情景。这时旁边的一个黑人大叔慢悠悠的说，"I wouldn't generalize like that." 白人恶女不服，她的另外一个恶女朋友也添油加醋说，"It is true!"我心中说，“true你妈！” 黑人大叔笑着摇摇头，慢悠悠的说，“You know, they kill them here too?" 第一个白人恶女立刻厌恶的说，"That is stupid!" 黑人大叔不去理会她的挑衅，过了一会儿才接着说，“It is called abortion." 白人恶女暴跳如雷，嚷嚷不休，黑人大叔就在那里坐着悠闲自得。那一刻他在我的心中越来越高大。。。中国乡村重男轻女的陋习千年未改，确实可恨。但这些恶心的人想象的是所有女孩出生后都一律被溺死、遗弃，或是系统地被政府强制流产（曾有一美国白人当面问我中国是不是还淹死新生儿）。这种无知只有中国义和团期间民众的无知可以媲美--洋人教会的孤儿院都是虐杀中国儿童的地方，二十一世纪的美国某些貌似受过教育的人饭真不知吃到谁肚子里去了。

Tabaimo 2

Michael Schmit 1

Michael Schmit 2

Honey Space

这个画廊居然布置的很有意思，令我惊喜。

Whitney Biennial 2008 at Park Avenue Armory

zhangxiaomin — Thu, 13 March 2008 13:15:50 -0400

惠特尼双年展的装置和表演部分今年设置在了公园大道上的Seventh Regiment Armory，是由Art Production Fund承办的（这个非营利的艺术“承包公司”很有些讲头，待我研究研究再表）。本来昨晚有burlesque表演，怎奈我们老师认为不是艺术，不让我们看，只有我一个贼忒兮兮地一个劲儿的用眼角溜儿，可惜了她雪白的胸脯和大腿。结果老师让我们写展览评论，这下我傻眼了，我好像是唯一一个没基础的学生吧。。。评论这玩意儿现在我也不敢乱发，一来水平太凹，二来号称现在媒体中已经没有负面评论了。我还没出道就大嘴巴把人都得罪了，将来还怎么混呐？闷～

蔡国强 Cai Guo-Qiang：我想相信(I Want to Believe)个人回顾展在纽约古根海姆博物馆开展

zhangxiaomin — Fri, 22 February 2008 15:27:04 -0400

早就听说该展览，热闹着热闹着也就忘了这个碴儿，上周末在Oslo和咖啡时（绝对纽约最好的几家品咖啡的地方，在Williamsburg），不经意翻到纽约时报杂志对他进行的专访，一口气把长达数页的文章读完了（一般没耐心看多于一页的杂志文章），觉得很有意思，特别是讲他既批评中国的文化管制和自由限制，又非常的爱国和推崇中华文化（因而他成为奥运艺术顾问）的那一段。觉得他的这种看似矛盾的双重感受实际广泛存在于大多数中国海外艺术家及旅居者。只是把这又联系到道教的凡事必有其双面性（duality,专业词儿是啥？）实在有点儿牵强。想到小那这些日子读老庄入了魔障，开始宣扬科学是另一模式的宗教，被我讥讽他从“民族虚无主义”激进到“国粹主义”。。。扯远了。我就不喜欢有人试图用一个道理解释所有事，这一点倒是很富有宗教精神。

闲话少说，纽约时报杂志的文章在此。

古根海姆博物馆的介绍和相关节目表（想不到一个展览可以spin出这么多花样来，看来博物馆们也是挖空了心思博观众啊。不过那个和策展人的对话倒还貌似有意思）

有想去同看的同学们赶快报名啊！

展览：Katy Grannan, "The Westerns"

zhangxiaomin — Fri, 15 February 2008 14:57:38 -0400

2008.1.3-2.9 @ Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

仅仅从网上看到几张远远的照片，但直觉地觉得这个摄影师的作品有意思，最打动我的既不是选材也不是技巧，而是她的“观念”，虽然这个词现在听来已经成了“俗套”。把被摄影者自己希望被视定的身份角色体现到镜头中，但这又不是流于表面的角色扮演或幻想(fantasy), 而是富于隐喻和潜意识的自我认同。Identity, identity, identity! 我以为在现今西方的艺术、政治圈里，身份认同是最时尚、最敏感的主题了。中国艺术里的相似题材就少很多，也不够有力，归根到底是社会结构不同，价值观不同。

觉得它的press release写的挺不错，在这儿转载一下。

[Press Release] Katy Grannan: The Westerns

3 January through 9 February 2008, Fraenkel Gallery

Grannan’s large format color portraits depict subjects the artist describes as “new pioneers, northern Californians who struggle to define themselves under the scrutiny of relentless sunlight. California serves as both a literal and metaphorical backdrop for Grannan’s new photographs. It is a mythical destination and a real end-point where sunshine illuminates both the abject and the joyful.

In The Westerns, Grannan explores the uneasy relationship between fixed photographic portraiture and her subjects’ mercurial identities. The photographs are replete with ambiguity and contradiction: they are evidence of an invented, unknowable self, confronting inescapable photographic description.

Included in The Westerns are several individuals with whom Grannan has worked for over three years.

Gail and Dale are two middle-aged transsexuals and best friends whose experience in the world is mediated by romantic escapism and willful delusion. Grannan thoroughly embraces her subjects’ vision of themselves, their interpretation of femininity, and the pleasure they derive from gender mimicry and performance. The photographs, however, also address the pair’s solitary interior lives and their deeper need to be visible.

Nicole, an elusive and complicated woman, simultaneously reinvents and destroys herself. Grannan’s shifting photographic approach mirrors Nicole’s ever-changing persona, her defiance, and her near self-annihilation. Here, Grannan questions photography’s ability to describe a complex individual with a single photographic “truth.”

All of Grannan’s subjects are like treasures, or hallucinations. They are preserved and re-presented and, in these photographs, become something other than what they were. Oscar Wilde famously stated, “Anyone who disappears can be seen in San Francisco.” In these photographs, they appear over and over again.

Katy Grannan lives and works near San Francisco. Her photographs have been exhibited in the 2004 Whitney Biennial and the 2004 Arles Photo Festival. She is a recipient of the 2004 Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers and her work is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as others.

书非借不能读也

zhangxiaomin — Tue, 12 February 2008 14:02:38 -0400

老八塞给我了本木心的“哥伦比亚的倒影”，我很虔诚的读了，发现就只有“上海赋”可看，其它的都像一个老头嘟嘟囔囔，成天念叨：“还是旧时光好啊！粪土当年万户侯，那时候有哲学家、大学者纵横古今、指点天下。那时候连小姑娘都更娇媚，抱着她娘的腿说，‘妈妈，饶恕我吧！’。。。现如今人心不古啊”。看得我老没意思。只有上海赋有趣，是因为讲的是故事，听得到对话，看得到场景，没有那么多抱怨。

然而三十年代的海派西式食品中，夺魁者何？当推“起司炸蟹盖”，“晋隆饭店”出品，每当秋季阳澄湖清水大闸蟹上市，蒸后剔出膏肉，填入蟹的背壳中，洒一层起司粉，放进烤箱熟了上桌，以姜汁镇江香醋为沙司，美味直甲天下。（木心，“上海赋”）（哈喇子滴成了一条线）

另外估计是我没文化，他老人家用的词我都认不全，像宝盖头加个“屯”念什么？加个“夕”呢？不会念又没字典，查都没法查，我只好自认文盲了。

*** *** ***

展览/绘画：Yan Lei: Sparkling

Yan Lei was born in 1965 in Hebei, China and currently lives and works in Beijing and Hong Kong. He has exhibited at museums including The Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai; HK Art Center, Hong Kong, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai; De Appel Art Center, Amsterdam, and Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland. His work has been included in the 50th Venice Biennale, Documenta 12 and the 25th Sao Paulo Biennale.

很诚实的说，大气是有了，新意就寥寥，那些各大博物馆的门槛看来也没那么高。另外，把展厅内作品上的灯光打匀很重要。展厅不要用昏黄的光，否则容易使人昏昏入睡。

两耳不闻窗外事

zhangxiaomin — Wed, 30 January 2008 17:26:11 -0400

今早上班晚了看到港星陈冠希和诸多女星“很黄很暴力”的照片在网上流传的八卦，我纯真的小心灵又被惊吓和创伤了一下。后来又有些幸灾乐祸，“教你们装清纯？总有一天都被网络捅出来！这下追星族们全都幻灭了，多好！”

前些日子稀里哗啦的看了一堆展，都没及时整理，现在已经忘了大半，只好贴贴照片充数了。

Red Sky, @ Luhring Augustine Gallery, Jan 12-Feb 16, 2008 Artists: Alighiero e Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gilberto Zorio.

Trine Sondergaard/Nicolai Howalt, HOW TO HUNT @ Siverstein Photography gallery, Nov 29-Jan 12, 2008

"Shot from the vantage point of the lush Danish countryside, many of these large format photographs--comprised of digitally, interwoven multiple exposures--illustrate an entire hunt in one single image. Interactions between the armed, exclusively male hunters, picturesque landscapes, and various animals of prey are explored through this layering process. The resulting images are a set of scenic, meditative photographs that question the passing of time and human existence.

HOW TO HUNT weaves the blatant hunting culture with beautiful landscapes echoing back to Romanticism. Once a basic act of survival, Sondergaard and Howalt show how in this modern era hunting is a staged activity micking the original conditions of man. It is now practiced as a hobby within a civilized framework.

注：Sondergaard的o应该是有个小斜杠在里边的。

日本会馆及其它

zhangxiaomin — Fri, 18 January 2008 16:58:39 -0400

趁着新年新气象，我拉着小那赶在日本会馆(Japan Society)的旅美日裔当代艺术展闭幕前去看了一遭。别说，好作品还真层出不穷，好些个令我印象深刻，可惜没带相机（估计带了也不让拍），没能留下照片共享或存档。有一个摇椅的装置很有意思，随着身体的摇动，椅子会发出或急或缓的流水拍岸的声音。还有一个用建筑的照片重新塑造建筑模型的作品，也很有意思，仿佛恢复了设计创意图的抽象概念。有好几件装置的作品都不错。另外，Go Sugimoto的一组在夜间完全在月光或自然光下拍的街景照片，用投影仪打在暗室里，并配有录自街上的自然杂音，非常动人，毫不令人觉得无聊。这个摄影师值得关注。虽然没有照片，还有该展览的新闻发布信在此。

上周末在Chelsea也看了几个展，过两天一并整理出来。这是个在芝加哥的Walsh Gallery的中国录像艺术展，可以在网上看。我还没看完，但何云昌那个摔跤的行为艺术还有点意思，不能完全小看了行为和录像。。。

萨奇虚拟画廊（Saatchi Online）在纽约切尔西办实地展览

zhangxiaomin — Wed, 09 January 2008 18:07:51 -0400

查尔斯。萨奇（Charles Saatchi)，英国鼎鼎大名的当代艺术商、抽藏家（一手捧红过德敏。赫斯特/Damien Hirst，等超级明星艺术家），在实地展馆之余响应网络2.0的热潮创办了网上画廊。时隔仅仅一年半，萨奇在线（Saatchi Online）不仅在全世界最热门网站排行榜上排行616名（作为对比，纽约的现代艺术馆MoMA排名34，613名，泰特博物馆（the Tate Museums排名31，436名），而且在纽约的切尔西画廊区举行了由网上作品选拔的实地展览。东村之声（Village Voice)就本次展览采访了丽贝卡。威尔森(Rebecca Wilson)，网站的总编辑，和安娜。费奈尔。鸿尼格曼（Ana Finel Honigman）,萨奇在线的驻伦敦资深记者。

VV(东村之声）：首先，萨奇在线是什么，它是怎样建立的？

W(威尔森）：我们是在18个月之前成立这个网站的。而它产生的真实原因其实是因为萨奇画廊还没有开门。我们在那之前已经购买了一所建筑，但画廊要到今年五月才会开幕。在此过渡期间，查尔斯。萨奇想建立一个有着每日杂志的互动网站，而且也要像是个艺术界的“我的空间”(MySpace)，在那里艺术家们可以登载他们的作品、个人简介及关于他们的信息。我们现在有约七万名艺术家网站用户--一个完整的社区已经由遍布在全世界的艺术家建立起来了。而且，这也是他们展示自己作品的一种方式--很多网站上的艺术家没有画廊（代理）。我们最近进行了一个调查，在去年一年期间里，我们已经通过网站售出了超过价值1亿3千万美元的艺术品--而且我们不收任何提成。这是一个完全免费的网站。对于任何一个使用者都没有任何收费，不论是艺术家还是艺术商还是任何人。

VV:这个项目的最初概念是什么？

W:我们设想把它办成一个全世界艺术家展示作品的替代平台。所以，如果你还没有签约画廊，你没过上热门的艺术学校，并且你没有适当的关系，这是一个别样的方式来展示你的作品。艺术世界其实很小，位于顶尖得到所有关注、美术馆展览、画廊展览的的艺术家都是些同样的面孔。但是，还有几十万的这之外的艺术家在那里得不到相同的关注。我们最近加入了一个新的板块叫做“学生艺术”("Stuart"--Student Art)，是面向全世界的艺术学生的。我们有大约1万名学生在网上注册。我们为影像艺术和摄影家提供了其它的板块，而且我们还为艺术交易会、商业画廊和艺术馆提供了不同的板块。

VV:画廊们也使用你的网站吗？

W:对，绝对是。这是一种可以使他们到未必亲自访问的地方去发现艺术家的方法。另外一件我们开始做的事是，我们开始举办艺术交易会。虽然现在已经对网上购物更加习惯，我想实地实物的展览还是会有帮助。举例来说，我们在十月份举办了第一个艺术交易会，即在伦敦的动物园艺术交易会。我选了20位艺术家，而我们大概售出了其中12位的作品，而且在此之后其中的几位由此得到了个人展览的机会。我们已经售出了价值3万（不知是英镑还是美元）的艺术品。这些都还是初出茅庐的艺术家们，所以他们的作品售价500-3000左右，而且所有的收入全部直接发给艺术家手中。目前，网站的约30%访问者来自美国，这一比率也适用于使用网站的艺术家。这是为什么我如此热心的想要在纽约举办一个展览的原因，于是人们可以看到，即使这是一个建立于英国的网站，它是完全国际性的网站。

VV:这将我们引到了安娜。你是怎样选拔参展艺术家的？

AFH (Ana Finel Honigman):我不过是找到网站上看起来有意思的作品的作者的所在。之后我进行了大量的工作室访问。我想确保作品实物看起来没问题。这里面有这个网上相亲的意思，（本人）比起网页介绍看来有点儿矮或有点儿老或有点儿神经质或有点儿闷。但大量的非常出色。

VV:这个展览有主题吗？

AFH:“艺术明星届”（Art Stardom）。我想要的不是萨奇在线的艺术家们唱着展览的调子。我想它应该是表现为什么人们在网站上登载他们的作品，以及他们的启发是什么。

VV:有多少人参与此展？

AFH:十二位。关于艺术明星届有很多讽刺。比如说，埃里克。多灵尔（Eric Doeringer)在街上卖他制作的重要当代艺术品的仿制品--诸如艺术品交易会之外的的场所。他也做过一组假的迈阿密-贝左贵宾卡（Miami Basel Art Fair)。我最为止兴奋的两个人是名声理论(Fame Theory)。为了本次展览，他们做了一个用于比较艺术家的派对出席率及其作品市场价格的LED显示器。

“那么你是谁？”(And Who Are you?)展览至1月26日，Sara Tecchia Roma Gallery，529 West 20th Street, 212-741-2900, New York, NY.

补充：去看过了这个展，那个用艺术家参加艺术派对频率估测其市场价格的“股市”波动显示屏还挺有意思的，其它的水平比较参差不齐，有有些意思的也有比较差的。