The exhibition “WOW! The Heidi Horten Collection” is the first public unveiling of one of Europe’s most sensational private art collections. The exhibition fulfills the collector’s long-cherished wish to make the masterpieces she has carefully assembled since the 1990s, spanning from Gustav Klimt to Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, available to a broad audience.
Keith Haring: The street artist as political activist
Keith Haring’s art gets very often associated with rather amusing or humorous illustrations. But if you dare to take a closer look, you may as well find some rather negative, sometimes even frightening symbols of topics such as violence, hate and power structures. Haring himself conceived his artistic practice as a political statement in the public realm of New York.
Madame Rubinstein: A female mission of beauty, style and art
Madame Rubinstein was known throughout the world as a collector, friend and patroness of the arts. Since her Paris days (1930s), Rubinstein had been collecting contemporary art, as well as African sculptures, which were exhibited in 1935 at MoMA. The salons were embellished with works by Brancusi, de Chirico, Laurencin, Marcoussis, Modigliani and Nadelman, among others.
Carla Sozzani’s revolutionary concept of a living magazine
Former fashion editor and publisher Carla Sozzani, is the creative woman behind the idea of a virtual narrative, using the gallery and bookshop as its core.
The construction of a living magazine is connected to editorial choices in food and fashion, music and art, lifestyle and design which are meant for engagement with the customers / visitors along the different areas of cultural exploration.
Questioning cultural identity at the Weltmuseum Wien
Lisl Ponger has long explored the constructed nature of (cultural) identity, our—often stereotypical— ideas and images of “the other” and the associated questions of visual representation. Her works frequently engage with the academic disciplines of ethnology and anthropology, whose methods and politics become manifest in the collection and exhibition practices of ethnographic museums.
Artist talk with Christopher Mudgett: Black and white as a metaphor for humanity
For me, black and white is a metaphor for the human experience. These two colors are on opposite ends of the spectrum, so for me they represent the duality experienced in life, the struggle within us all. The constant pulling in both directions, the battle between good/evil, night/day, love/hate, sad/happy etc. that we all face indefinitely.
Chicago art project at Fondazione Prada
The project is focused on the employment of a painting style characterised by a political commitment, figurative narratives and radical graphics that have been rejected by New York’s mainstream culture. The exhibition is structured around three thematic sections, all of them devoted to two generations of artists formed in Chicago between the 1950s and 60s.
Contemporary art meets politics
The exhibition “Natural Histories – Traces of the Political” explores representations of nature in reference to social processes and historical events. Looking at various themes, these works show the mutual interrelations between nature and history beyond all idyllic idealisation.
Nature is mainly seen as a scenery of peace and silence. Nevertheless many artists utilise exactly this “perfect image” to point at various issues or conflicts.
Rachel Whiteread at Tate Britain
The London exhibition offers the opportunity to experience three decades of Whiteread’s sculpture, exploring its range over time, working on an intimate, as well as monumental scale. Also included is a range of drawings the artist produces as a way of working through her ideas.
The East London vintage guide
East London is world renowned for vintage shopping and second hand markets. This guide should give you some ideas of shops where you will make great vintage finds. I have personally been to all of these shops and therefore this is my personal recommendation list of the five best spots in East London.
Behind the scenes: Rubens in Vienna
While any usual visitor is mot able to see how much work and preparation lies behind a big exhibition, I have been experiencing the organization very closely. Altogether the exhibition process took around two years, which results an intensive working time. Not only the curator herself was placing high expectations in the show – Indeed the show is being very successful, so far.
Alice Neel: The artist in focus
At a time when it was deeply unfashionable, Neel persisted in being a figure painter and a portraitist. While fully engrossed in the New York art scene and connected with its major innovators, she remained steadfast in her choice of style and subject matter, unswayed by an art world that favored abstraction. She persisting in making work that pleased her, regardless of what anyone thought.
