Rosalind Krauss is an American art critic and a professor at Columbia University in New York City.Ā In 1976 her bedroom looked like this. Mean. It was designed by the late Alan Buchsbaum (who died in 1987), and you can view some more of his excellent interiors here.
“Today, curating as a profession means at least four things. It means to preserve, in the sense of safeguarding the heritage of art. It means to be the selector of new work. It means to connect to art history. And it means displaying or arranging the work. But it’s more than that. Before 1800, few people went to exhibitions. Now hundreds of millions of people visit them every year. It’s a mass medium and a ritual. The curator sets it up so that it becomes an extraordinary experience and not just illustrations or spatialised books.”
Hans Ulrich Obrist discusses the art of curation in The Guardian.
Early in his career, Longo had his own band too. Ā The artist was the lead singer of Menthol Wars, who performed in New York in the late 1970s.Ā Below is their very excellent single Even Lower Manhattan, released in 1982 on a Terminal Records compilation called Cleveland Confidential.
(Also worth noting is Tramwayās commitment to video documentation of its exhibitions ā an excellent resource for those unable to attend a show in the flesh).
Here is the full statement from the Biennale:
Today the Board of the Biennale of Sydney received the resignation of its Chairman, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis.
With deep regret, the Board reluctantly accepted the decision of the Chair to resign. We gratefully acknowledge the personal contribution of Luca as Chair over the past 14 years. We also acknowledge the enormous contribution of the Belgiorno-Nettis family over 41 years.
The Board also discussed its relationship with its founding partner Transfield. We have listened to the artists who are the heart of the Biennale and have decided to end our partnership with Transfield effective immediately.
The Board and the extended Biennale community owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Luca and his family.
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis said: āI wear two hats: one as Chair of the Biennale of Sydney and the other as a Director of Transfield Holdings; both organisations conceived by my father and nurtured by my family over many decades. I am deeply thankful to the many friends of the Biennale, and my personal friends who have supported me and the teams throughout my tenure, especially in recent weeks. I also express my gratitude to my Directors and Marah Braye and her beautiful team, and Juliana Engberg for their unequivocal allegiance to the Biennale.
āI hope that blue sky may now open up over this 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire and its future incarnations.ā
Deputy Chair Andrew Cameron will be interim Chair until the Biennale appoints a new Chair following the close of the 19th Biennale of Sydney.
The Board look forward to working with Juliana Engberg and the Biennale team to realise an enormously successful 19th Biennale of Sydney.
More here.
After much consideration we: Agnieszka Polska, Sara van der Heide, Nicoline van Harskamp and Nathan Gray, have decided to withdraw our works from the 19th Biennale of Sydney, because of its relation to Transfield, a company involved in the Australian government policy of mandatory detention.
Our motivations reflect those outlined in the statement issued by artists ĆgĆ¼t, Castro, Ćlafsson, Sofo and de Vietri on February 26th, added as a reference with this letter. They close their statement by expressing their hope that others will join them in āsolidarity with all those who are working towards a better future for asylum seekers.ā Our withdrawal is such an act of solidarity.
We have requested the Biennale that our withdrawal be registered on their website and signposted at the physical site of exhibition, so that this action will not be unnoticed.
With Regards,
Agnieszka Polska, Sara van der Heide,Ā Nicoline van Harskamp and Nathan Gray
Posted here.
