Stephan Dillmuth, Nils Norman, "You Have Been Misinformed" at Reena Spaulings, NYC- Considering the events of these past few weeks, the timing of this exhibition is a bit uncanny. Show closes this weekend. "Reinterpreting some of the formal elements of an obsolete modernist plaza in NYC's financial district - 77 Water Street - the artists invoke some of the more glamorous days of Manhattan, when arts and financial markets started with a certain optimism to weave the global fabric. Plopped into the "Plaza" is an installation of video fragments that recreate articles and quotes from the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune as performance pieces reporting on art finance, the credit crunch and the new class of mega-rich art patrons...As public spaces have become privatized, the arts have entered a new phase, becoming merely another alternative asset of dubious financial schemes and speculations. The installation and videos reflect upon these developments and the connections between the declarations of Sotheby's chief executive Bill Ruprecht, the machinations of Ukrainian industrial entrepreneur Victor Pinchuk and the mad apocalyptic ravings of CNBC financial pundit Jim Cramer."
Ryoji Ikeda in Paris, Autumn 2008- "Forma announces a series of new and existing works by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda presented in Paris this Autumn...Commissioned by the City of Paris, Ikeda's major new work spectra [paris] for Nuit Blanche, the City's annual 'white night' all-night contemporary arts festival, sees blinding white light beamed from scores of highly powered architectural lamps on the same plaza as Tour Montparnasse. Visitors' movements create a unique symphony of ultra pure sine soundwaves as they pass through the grid of white light."
apexart FRANCHISE- Apexart takes on the franchise model in this unique open call: "apexart wants to come to you. Any city, any town, anywhere in the world. We are franchising a one-time exhibition opportunity where apexart will come to your city and appoint you the director of your own temporary non-profit exhibition space. For a four-week exhibition in May, 2009, and in the months preceding, you will be the director and/or curator and/or staff of your own institution with a budget, a salary, and complete control."
