Another week down and I am finally starting to get into the swing of 2016 (at the end of January no less)-- how about you? It seems however that the tumultuousness of the economic markets and global tensions of the past month are now being directly reflected in this week's art news. My media feed lit up after Ai Weiwei announced via Instagram of his withdrawal from Danish exhibitions in protest of new and controversial immigration laws passed in that country. At the same time, new street art from Banksy has appeared opposite the French consulate in London that brings awareness about police violence against refugees in camps around Calais. In Russia, performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky has been detained by police and placed in a psychiatric hospital after his many protest pieces criticizing the Putin regime. I have linked to these stories and a few more related to stress in the creative economy around labour rights and artistic production. All pretty disheartening, but awareness and knowledge about these developing issues is powerful.
On a much brighter note, I am very excited about the preparations underway for the Canadian Culinary Imaginations Symposium that I am co-organizing with Shelley Boyd for later this month, and about which I blogged earlier this week. I have included two food related media items in honour of the themes and ideas covered at this event. And finally, I am off to the UK in the coming days to present a paper at a conference in London at the IESA (Institut d’ Études Supérieures des Arts), a French HE Institute specialising in Collecting and Art Market studies in partnership with the Royal Holloway College and University of London. The conference focuses on the Venice Biennale and the art market, and I look forward to blogging more about my research, reflections, and visits to museums and other sites while there. Cheerio and stay tuned!
List of links (for quicker linking):
- The MoMA Cookbook: Vintage Recipes and Reflections on Food by Salvador Dalí, Louise Bourgeois, Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, and Other Great Artists
- Dissident Russian Performance Artist Sent to Psychiatric Hospital
- Banksy's First Interactive Work Criticizes Police Violence Against Refugees
- The Collapse of Postmedia PODCAST
- What an Editor Learned from Cooking 90 Meals in 30 Days PODCAST
- New Artist-Led Project Surveys Plight of Canadian Arts Interns
- Celebrate Yourself and Your Cool Pants With Our Kanye Motivational Posters
- Ai Weiwei Withdraws Art from Two Danish Museums in Protest of Controversial Immigration Law
- Marina Abramović on Cindy Sherman's Untitled #90 (1981) VIDEO
- Steam’s Atari Vault Package Brings Back 100 Classic Games