Front Page of the Art World: What’s Hot & What’s Not — 4 March 2022
What’s on the front page news of the art world? Read on to discover what’s hot and what’s not this week — from the hyperlocal to the global.
1. Invasion of Ukraine Continues to Send Ripples Across Art World
As the Russian assault on Ukraine continues, with devastating rocket attacks and a forty-mile long Russian military convoy headed toward Kyiv, its effects are being felt everywhere throughout the international art world.
In Ukraine itself, the nation’s culture minister issued a demand for UNESCO to revoke Russia’s membership after invading Russian forces on Sunday burned the Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum, which housed dozens of works by Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko. The destruction was first revealed in the Kyiv Independent.
The Guardian reported widespread fears among arts administrators that the country’s museums are at risk of being looted or destroyed.
Many Ukrainian arts and cultural workers are being forced to flee: a list of emergency temporary relocation services available to those seeking refuge can be found here.
Read the full update from ARTFORUM.
2. ‘What we don’t want is World War III’ — Clark on Ukraine
Russia has invaded Ukraine: for the first time since the end of World War Two, a large-scale war of territorial conquest has been declared in Europe.
As a board member for the Helen Clark Foundation, I have keenly watched Helen Clark’s astute reflections on the geopolitical dynamics at play, her own interactions with Vladimir Putin, how the rest of the world has responded, and how the conflict could be resolved.
The most recent of these reflections are captured by Emile Donovan for RNZ.
3. Global support for Ukraine
Iconic buildings and monuments around the world were lit up in blue and yellow as signs of solidarity with Ukraine after Russia invaded the country last Thursday. No doubt you have all seen these images flood social media. Here are a few shared by friends of mine across Facebook and Twitter — Betsy Kim, Jim Friend and Jerry Saltz.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CagWX92llrF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
4. Kenny Schachter on How the NFT Community Is Organizing to Raise Funds for Ukraine in Record Time
Artnet’s columnist takes to OpenSea to raise money for Ukraine.
“NFTs are a tool, a digital certificate of authenticity, unless makers utilize the smart contract as content, in which case they are art. This crisis has also illustrated another use case for crypto and NFTs: a means to directly and practically funnel resources into a country in dire need of support in what is a brutal, winless bloodletting.”
5. Eight photographers you need to follow in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a sophisticated misinformation campaign alongside his invasion of Ukraine. Here are the best verified photographers on the frontlines of the war — for objective visual reporting.
6. Art Industry News: Pussy Riot’s Founder Just Raised $6 Million for Humanitarian Aid by Selling a Ukrainian Flag NFT + Other Stories
A unique NFT of the Ukrainian flag sold to a pool of donors for 2,100 ETH ($6 million). The sale was organised by UkraineDAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation co-founded by Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Andreyevna Tolokonnikova (nicknamed “Nadya Tolokno”).
Plus - an NFT vending machine has arrived in New York, and 6,000 Russian architects sign a protest letter.
Read these stories from Artnet and The Art Newspaper.
7. Ukraine’s president says Russian missile hit site of Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial
Above: Video exclusive to The Washington Post shows a chaotic scene as firefighters rush to extinguish the flames and civilians try to clear the area. (Yuri Gruzinovand, Sergi Mykhalchuk, Luis Velarde/The Washington Post)
DNIPRO, Ukraine — A Russian missile strike that appeared to target a TV tower in Ukraine’s capital Tuesday struck in the vicinity of the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial, the site of a World War II massacre, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said via Twitter on Tuesday. Five people were killed in the strike, according to Ukrainian officials.
Read the story from the Washington Post.
8. History shows us there will be no winners in Ukraine
My dear friend Professor Robert Greenberg has been a frequent visitor to Russia and Ukraine and is a specialist in Slavic languages and cultures. He has written this week for Newsroom.
The wars in the former Yugoslavia taught us that ethnic nationalism can lead to degrading of civil societies and a long, dark period of economic and social decline.
9. Max Gimblett’s Archive of Artist’s Books Joins Getty Research Institute Collection
Los Angeles — The Getty Research Institute has acquired an archive of more than 250 books of my dear friend Max Gimblett. The Max Gimblett Artist’s Book Collection, created by painter, calligrapher, and Zen monk Max Gimblett, are a gift by the artist and his wife, scholar and curator Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. These volumes join the GRI’s internationally known Artist’s Books Collection.
Read the story from Fine Books Magazine.
10. Sculpture on the Gulf 2022— OPENS TODAY
Waiheke’s much-loved biennial exhibition is back! Matiatia Coastal Walkway has once again been transformed into an artscape like no other for Sculpture on the Gulf 2022. Sculpture on the Gulf might only be 35 minutes by ferry from Auckland, but it aims to take us much further — into the hearts and minds of our most outstanding artists.
This 2022 event has an expanded event footprint, which will include artworks in the Oneroa Artworks precinct, a small works sculpture exhibition and more…
Gather your people and get ready to walk, play, connect, reflect. ‘Savour the zest of the moment when sculpture jumps into nature’s lap.’ (The New Yorker)
Our Matiatia headland is tūrangawaewae — a place for all artists to stand tall.
Open 4- 27 March 2022.
11. Creative Time Organized a Forum for 8 Illustrious Thinkers to Imagine How Institutions Can Do Better. Here’s What They Said
The first lesson of the Creative Time Think Tank? Listening is not enough.
12. Sundance Doc ‘The Territory’ Shines Light On Alarming Deforestation Of “Protected” Land In Brazil’s Rainforest: “It’s A Nightmare”
In the battle to protect their territory in the Amazon rainforest, the indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people really only have one significant weapon in their arsenal: media attention. Without it, landgrabbers will keep penetrating further into their land in the Brazilian state of Rondônia.
The Territory, which just made its world premiere at Sundance, ups the media attention on the Uru-eu-wau-wau and their struggle to a dramatically new level. Shot over a period of several years in collaboration with the Uru-eu-wau-wau, it explores not only what is at stake for the indigenous group but for humanity in general.
13. ‘Comically bad’ NZ-made NFT scheme ‘Pixelmon’ sparks outrage
A Hamilton man’s 3D art scheme which raked in more than $100 million but delivered “comically bad” results has caused an online storm.
14. The Deadly Truth behind Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Idyllic Winter Landscapes
To many, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s winter landscapes — the first significant scenes of their kind in European art — impart an atmosphere of festivity. Indeed, the Flemish artist’s quaint snow scenes can often be seen on the front of Christmas cards.
But for the artist and the ordinary folk populating his winter works, these images would have been bittersweet, if not foreboding.
15. Indie sleaze dispatches: nostalgic photos of mid-00s London
As the chaotic fashions of the early 2000s are poised for revival, New Zealand-born photographer Rebecca Zephyr Thomas shares her images from the first time around.
Read the story from Dazed magazine.
16. Director Peter Jackson Leads Forbes Rich List
At the end of 2021 he was still making headlines with his Beatles documentary Get Back. Now Forbes magazine has named New Zealand director Sir Peter Jackson, 60, the world’s wealthiest entertainer, Germany’s Der Spiegel reports.
According to Forbes, however, Wellington-born Jackson didn’t receive the highest income US$580 million (NZ$865.9m) in 2021 as a director of blockbusters such as the Lord of the Rings series — but with the part sale of his visual effects company, Weta Digital to Unity Software.
Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Kanye West also made it into the all-male top ten.
Original article by Der Spiegel, February 11, 2022.
17. Peter Jackson’s epic ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ — a towering time capsule
Nonplussed coppers, 60s London panoramas and the fab four very much alive… Peter Jackson’s film is moving and unmissable.
Peter Jackson recently reignited passionate awe with The Beatles: Get Back: his epic, intimate eight-hour TV re-edit of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s documentary footage for Let It Be, about the recording of the Beatles’ 1970 album.
The centrepiece has been released as a standalone event in cinemas — initially in large-format Imax, but now also in conventional theatres. This is the legendary and mysteriously intended rooftop concert, in which the band (with guest keyboardist Billy Preston) played atop the Apple offices in Savile Row, London, in the freezing cold, for stunned or curious observers who had clambered on to the neighbouring roofs, and for the cheerful crowds below.
