Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2013 nominee, Cristina de Middel, Untitled, from the series The Afronauts (2011). Courtesy of the artist.
■Canada’s prestigious Sobey Art Award has now announced its longlist for 2013, selecting five artists from each main region (West coast & Yukon, Prairies & the North, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic) which is to be reduced in the shortlist to one finalist per said region. Nominated in late June, the finalists will be showcased at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery in Halifax, opening on 13 September, to unveil the winner on 9 October with $50,000 cash prize. For now all bets are on for who will rise to top this year.
â– Nominees for this year’s UK based annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize were recently revealed in London: Mishka Henner, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Chris Killip and Cristina De Middel will be featured together at Photographer’s Gallery in a group exhibition open until 30 June 2013, with the laureate finally named on Monday 10 June 2013.
â– After an extended period of precariousness since the sudden resignation of artistic director Nicole Gingras, The Montreal Biennale finally publicized new plans for their 7th edition. The event is postponed until autumn of 2014, to accommodate for a new management team as well as to incorporate a merger with the Quebec Triennale. Now organized in a joint force between CIAC and Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal, the biennale theme “Looking forward / L’avenir” remains on course with MACM curators Lesley Johnstone and Mark Lanctôt working alongside Biennale appointed curators Peggy Gale and Gregory Burke. Coincidentally, three of the MACM’s top positions have announced their resignations, including director Paulette Gagnon, Danielle Legentil, director of communication and chief curator Marie Faser, stating she will go back to her full-time teaching position at UQAM which she refers to as “homeâ€.
■A former curator of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Lynn Orr sued the institution saying she was wrongfully fired. Orr believes her dismissal is related to her appearance at a union protest and objections she made about the allegedly ‘fraudulent’ changing of an appraisal. [New York Times]
■The Online Biennale will be inaugurated to the public on 26 April 2013, followed by a special preview week starting one week before. Does it really work? Can the online entreprise really attract visitors by charging $10.00 (and 80$ for the VIP preview). On this note, 30% of the sales of ticket are said to go to the artists. ArtFCity think it’s not a bad deal. And you?
â– Creative Time will honor artist Julian Schnabel during a special gala at the legendary Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg on 30 April 2013. Video testimonials by Al Pacino and Laurie Anderson endorsing Schnabel are available to view at creativetime.org/events/benefit-2013/videos/.
â– How much time do you normally spend in front of an artwork? Of course it all varies with which work we are looking at and how much we want to dedicate to art in our busy life. For one special day of the year though, Saturday 27th April in 2013 to be precise, people all over the world visiting their local museum or gallery will be asked to look at art slowly. Participants will choose at five works to each look at for 10 minutes, then meet over lunch to talk about and exchange their experience. There is still time to express an interest and participate at this event, click here to find out if your local venues are hosting “Slow Art Dayâ€.
â– “Xul Solar and Jorge Luis Borges: The Art of Friendship“, the exhibition has just opened at the Americas Society in New York. The exhibition focuses on Xul Solar’s watercolors, but also includes manuscripts by both men, documents, photographs and first editions of works they created together. For Borges, Solar was his closest aesthetic ally and considered to be a citizen of the cosmos. [“Borges’s Cosmic Ally” The New York Times]