Picks
Magasin 3 shares inspirational notes on great art
Favorite ‘11
The most beautiful art work I saw 2011 was a live ecosystem. A narrative was enacted by particular seawater creatures selected as the players in an aquatic performance. In the work a giant hermit crab carries its home, a replica of Brancusi’s “Sleeping Muse”, in Pierre Huyghe’s “Recollection” which was commissioned for the Frieze Art Fair.
R.J. 23-Dec-2011
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Great bookshop in Amsterdam
I had a nice Sunday strolling around the Dutch capital. Many art institutions and galleries were closed but I found JOOT BOOKS with a good selection of mainly vintage art books and very helpful enthusiastic staff. Two and a half hours later I tumbled back out on the street with a stack of great finds and ready to head back home.
T.P. 02-Nov-2011
Close by in the distance
Three film works by Marijke van Warmerdam can be seen at Magasin 3 this fall. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam just opened a restrospective exhibition of hers with another 15 stunning projections and other works. A truly great artistry not to be missed.
T.P. 01-Nov-2011
A piece of heaven in Järna
Take a day before the 2nd of October and make a trip to the exhibition SEE! COLOUR! in Järna. It presents four parallel exhibitions including five magnificent works by James Turrell. And at Magasin 3 Turrell’s work “Dawning” is permanently installed since 1994.
S.K. 26-Aug-2011
Late night stroll in the Louvre
The Louvre is open late on Wednesdays and Fridays, until 9:45 p.m.. Last week I strolled around the museum and was reminded that you can go wherever you like: you always end up seeing something completely stunning. I stumbled upon several vitrines with mindblowing 4000 year old Cycladic sculptures.
R.J. 10-Aug-2011
KIT – Kunst im Tunnel
Beneath the promenade of the river Rhine a left over space between the road tunnels is used for exhibitions. This stunning space is part of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and currently shows Human Frames – video works by 77 European and Asian artists, all works around the theme of the human state of mind. KIT is worth a visit!
T.P. 06-Jul-2011
BLACK MIRROR by Doug Aitken
Last week Doug Aitken’s Black Mirror (2011) was premiered at the Deste Foundation’s Project Space in an old slaughterhouse on the island Hydra. Starring actress Chloë Sevigny this work is about the fragmentation of communication in today’s world where people travel more extensively, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
T.P. 28-Jun-2011
If in Greece this summer
As the last venue DESTE Foundation in Athens is now hosting our joint exhibition Investigations of a Dog – Works from the FACE Collections. Since 2004 the foundation is located in an old socks factory building in Nea Ionia, an area in the northern part of the city. Until October 30. For opening hours and directions, visit www.deste.gr.
T.P. 28-Jun-2011
La Biennale di Venezia – 2
At the Venice biennial, the best exhibition making in my view is the Austrian pavilion. Curator Eva Schlegel and the artist Markus Schinwald present an exhibition in a great, vertical manner, incorporating architecture, altered paintings, sculptures and films of excellent choreography.
R.J. 15-Jun-2011
La Biennale di Venezia
Christian Marclay’s “The Clock” (2010) is an absolute highlight. The film is constructed out of moments in cinema when time is expressed or clocks are depicted. Marclay has edited thousands of film clips into this 24 h long exposé of time, always corresponding to the viewer’s own time zone while watching it. Fantastic!
T.P. 09-Jun-2011
Piccadilly Community Centre
With his new large scale project Christoph Büchel has transformed Hauser & Wirth’s Piccadilly gallery into a fully functioning community centre hosting various courses and events. In addition, Büchel has meticulously constructed spaces for fictional characters inhabiting the hidden parts of the building. Go and see next time you are in London!
T.P. 27-May-2011
Observatory by Lundahl & Seitl
T.P. 27-Apr-2011
ARS 11 at Kiasma in Helsinki
This year Finland’s major international art event ARS celebrates 50 years. With 300 works by 30 artists living both in and outside Africa the exhibition investigates Africa in contemporary art. I was especially glad to see two video works by Alfredo Jaar and Baudouin Mouanda’s series S.A.P.E., Congo Brazzaville (image).
T.P. 21-Apr-2011
Dream House by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela
The other day I visited 275 Church Street in Manhattan. The artists La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela present the space as “a time installation measured by a setting of continuous frequencies in sound and light.” It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced, it’s intense and relaxing at the same time.
R.J. 15-Mar-2011
Absalon at KW
Beautiful, comprehensive exhibition that confidently fills all of Kunstwerke’s spaces in Berlin. Cellule 6 from our collection opens the show with the other Cellule’s in a great installation. Don’t miss if you’re in Berlin – show on until 20/2
R.J. 14-Jan-2011
The Case Study houses in L.A.
After weeks in Los Angeles it’s hard to decide which Case study house to pick. Having now seen a number of them I’d say that the most obvious one, #22, the Stahl House is really worth visiting and if you do the evening is a good choice as the city view is spectacular. My favorite though is #8, Ray and Charles Eames house in Pacific Palisades.
R.J. 09-Nov-2010
Mark Manders at Hammer Museum Los Angeles
The first North American museum exhibition by Belgian artist Mark Manders, who is also one of the artists in our exhibition “Thrice upon a time”, is a true delight. The artist and the curator Douglas Fogle have created a precise and engaging exhibition that is beyond words. “Parallel Occurrences/Documented Assignments”
R.J. 21-Oct-2010
Grand Tour at Grazer Kunstverein
Matts Leiderstam started working on the piece Grand Tour in 1996 and has since then developed it into an extensive archive. It was presented at Magasin 3 in 2005 with a following exhibition tour in Europe. Currently Grand Tour is shown at Grazer Kunstverein in Austria as part of the cultural festival Steirischer Herbst.
T.P. 13-Oct-2010
Work from the collection on loan
On September 11 the Quadriennale 2010 in Düsseldorf opens. Our chief technician has just returned from the Foundation Palace and Park Benrath, one of the venues of the exhibition, where he installed the wonderful piece ”The Path of Luck”, 1989, by James Lee Byars – part of the Magasin 3 collection since 1992.
T.P. 09-Sep-2010
Heart archive on Japanese island
Christian Boltanski’s project Les Archives du Cœur had its start at Magasin 3 in 2008. Since then, thousands of people around the world have recorded and donated their heartbeats. This archive can now be visited on the island Teshima, part of Benesse Art Site Naoshima in Japan.
T.P. 05-Aug-2010
iloveyouihateyou topping Cooper’s list
The exhibition I curated with Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer is on influental novelist, poet, critic and performance artist Dennis Cooper’s blog. My favorite of Cooper’s is his collaboration on Gisèle Vienne’s amazing dance work Kindertotenlieder
R.J. 22-Jun-2010
Evert Lundquists Ateljémuseum
While preparing our upcoming exhibition the spaces artists work in are a lot on my mind. Yesterday I visited Evert Lundquist’s studio (now a museum) in the park of Drottningholm. Objects, drawings, tools, photos and personal notes everywhere – I just adore to peek into these peculiar worlds.
T.P. 05-May-2010
The Artist is Present
There is currently an extraordinary exhibition of the work by Marina Abramovic at the MoMA in NYC. Check out the web. Do not miss a side project created under the auspices of the artist. I can watch it for hours!
D.N. 04-May-2010
Olafur Eliasson at Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin
The opening of Olafur Eliasson’s grand exhibition – curated by Daniel Birnbaum – at Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin took place on April the 27th. On the opening day admission was free and more than 10 000 visitors came. What do you see? Well, when working with simple expressions, Eliasson is a true master. A world of reflections.
D.N. 30-Apr-2010
Laurie Anderson – Delusion
Debated it with my colleagues. To put it briefly our opinions differ. My view: 2 voices and a violin – nothing is new, but the queen of storytelling reigns. In Europe Laurie Anderson will make three stops with “Delusion” in Uppsala, London and Paris. Thanks a million.
E.M. 12-Apr-2010
Fredrik Söderberg at Milliken
The artist Fredrik Söderberg who had an exhibition with us in 2008 has made his strongest statement yet in an amazing show at the Milliken Gallery in Stockholm (18/3 – 30/4) called We Pray to the Sun and Hail the Moon
R.J. 29-Mar-2010
Tino Sehgal at the Guggenheim New York
For those who visited Magasin 3 Spring 2008, you’ll know Tino Sehgal makes art that does not require the transformation of any materials. A few days ago I saw his astonishing exhibition in New York, which blew me away. Without comparison the best and most enriching art I’ve seen so far this year!
R.J. 09-Mar-2010
Whitney Biennial 2010
The 2010 Whitney Biennial has been open for two weeks. It is curated under the leadership of F. Bonami. Is the biennial a success… Immediate thoughts that bounces around in my head –”WHY”… but there are exceptions, R. Grosvenor, R.H. Quatyman. Visit if you are in NYC and build your own opinion!
D.N. 09-Mar-2010
Apartamento
I seem to be drawn to inspirational everyday life things at the moment. It could be the never ending winter or a nesting instinct… Anyway, Apartamento is a great everyday life interiors magazine with a refreshing attitude the way it puts texture, patina and personality above glossy hotel like spreads.
S.K. 05-Mar-2010
Some hours at the Boros Collection
I spent some hours at the Boros Collection in Berlin last weekend. Far from “uncomplicated” presentation… but this recently opened show case of primarily Berlin based artists is a must!
D.N. 25-Feb-2010
Nothing Negative
Fur hats and cranky bus drivers – very long winter indeed. Time to think about something else. Undertake Yoko Ono’s simple and mind blowing CLEANING PIECE from 1996: Try to say nothing negative about anybody. a, for three days b, for forty-five days c, for three months. See what happens to your life.
E.M. 23-Feb-2010
Singing Conceptual Art
In 1972 John Baldessari sang what Sol LeWitt had written on conceptual art to ”perhaps reach a wider audience”. Looking most solemn, he pays his tribute, humming wonderful phrases such as “Ideas can be works of art”. See it in the exhibition ”Intensities” at Instituto Cervantes, Stockholm.
E.M. 04-Feb-2010
Inspirational everyday pictures
On her blog Swedish illustrator Liselotte Watkins shares photos from her life and work. I appreciate the (almost) picture only blog format with atmospheric still lifes, illustrations and poetic environments – like daily gifts that remind me of the things I like!
S.K. 02-Feb-2010
Nature’s cabinet of curiosities
Visit Deyrolle on Rue du Bac and you enter into a world of wonders that tickles your imagination. Mounted birds and mammals, amazing collections of shells, minerals, bugs, and butterflies – since 1831 this shop offers materials for nature lovers. A must see in Paris!
T.P. 02-Feb-2010
Sculpture collection comes to life in natural light
Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, built in 1866, was created from the idea that experiences of art interacts with the surrounding environment. ”Work in Progress – Museum in a New Light” shows the sculpture collection in natural light, and the changing daylight makes the sculptures come alive…
S.K. 18-Jan-2010
Shivers in Grand Palais – Christian Boltanski in Paris
My heart almost stopped as clothes fell through the ice cold air. A crane, a mountain of clothes, rusty tin boxes and a graveyard of clothes neatly spread out on the floor – all to the pulsating sound of hundreds of heartbeats. MONUMENTA 2010 – Personnes: until February 21
T.P. 15-Jan-2010
Specific Objects without Specific Form
Magasin 3 has lent the work “Untitled (For Stockholm)” from our collection to the solo exhibition of Felix Gonzalez-Torres that just opened at WIELS in Brussels. The show will travel and will be curated by Tino Sehgal when it is shown at MMK in Frankfurt. Tino had a solo show at Magasin 3 in 2008.
R.J. 15-Jan-2010
EVERT LUNDQUIST at Moderna Museet
Looking forward to the exhibition with Evert Lundqvist put together by MM:s young star curator Fredrik Liew. Lundquist is Sweden’s own Luc Tuymans, but of course 50 years ago and maybe even better…
D.N. 13-Jan-2010
Moderna Museet Malmö opens to the sound of music
The Swedish Modern Museum in Stockholm now has a sibling down south. To make sure the preview the 22nd of Dec would swing the music collective “Instead of Gospel” were invited to play. They made the event reach new heights, truly original almost divine.
E.M. 13-Jan-2010