Moscow seems to have been in the news for all of the wrong reasons recently. The trial of opposition activist, Alexey Navalny, accused of embezzling state funds but guilty of speaking out against President Putin began in Kirov last week; there continues to be intrigue in the case of Alexander Perepilichnyy, the businessman who sought refuge in the UK after denouncing corrupt state officials to Swiss prosecutors and dropped dead whilst jogging near his Surrey home late last year; and, last month, another self-exiled anti-Putin billionaire, Boris Berezovsky, committed suicide in London after having lost to Roman Abramovich in what was supposedly the most expensive legal case involving individuals in history.
Europe’s fastest-growing city is home to a supportive community of artists, curators and writers. From independent spaces in the Grønland neighbourhood and the influential Academy of Fine Art to OCA’s uncertain future and Renzo Piano’s divisive Astrup Fearnley Museet, Jason Farago and Milena Hoegsberg report from the Norwegian capital
The glamour days of the 1970s and ’80s Dusseldorf art scene are long since over. More than a generation on, the city seems ready for a little renaissance
A sprawling city of more than 15 million inhabitants split between two continents, Istanbul is home to a relatively compact constellation of privately funded foundations, artist-run spaces and commercial galleries. H.G. Masters and Nazli Gurlek survey this art scene’s recent past, and consider what the future might hold in the wake of the Gezi Park protests, a contentious edition of the biennial and little state support
Late-capitalist technologies propelling culture toward terminal inanity and political economy toward plutocratic rapacity is the rightful province of three new novels
… a pretty large postcard, tightly written on, about some winter highlights of art from the banks of the Danube, on occasion of Vienna Art Week a month ago.
This autumn was definitely high season in South Korea, as everything seemed to be happening at the same time. As incredible as it might seem, the country hosted four biennials concurrently: the 9th edition of the renowned Gwangju Biennale; the Busan Biennale, curated this year by Roger M. Buergel; the 3rd Daegu Photo Biennale; and the 7th Mediacity Seoul. This frenetic synergy was further intensified by two exhibitions of artist prizes: the prestigious Hermès Foundation Missulsang Prize, and the brand new Korea Artist Prize, co-organized by the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the SBS Foundation.
