Ocula Report Beatriz González at KW Institute for Contemporary Art: In Focus 14 Dec 2018 : Pia Chakraverti-Wuerthwein for Ocula Retrospective 1965–2017, Beatriz González's exhibition at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin (13 October 2018–6 January 2019), presents a selection of 120 works that bear witness to Colombia's political and social upheavals of the last 50 years. Throughout, the link between González's practice and the sociopolitical context it references...
Ocula Conversation Ingrid Schaffner Curator, 57th Carnegie International Founded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie as part of the Carnegie Institute in 1895, Carnegie Museum sought to 'bring the world' to the city with a grand building housing a natural history museum, a library, and an art museum operating as a fluid space for knowledge exchange. In its 123-year history, the institution has built up a world-class...
Ocula Report Extra States: Nations in Liquidation at Kunsthal Extra City 8 Dec 2018 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula The nation-state—a nation (a people) presided over by a governing body with jurisdiction over a defined territory (the state)—is either going through a renaissance or demise, depending on one's perspective. There has been talk about the nation-state's end for years—from a 2013 United States National Intelligence Council report...
In 2007 the opening of Chambers Fine Art Beijing in a building designed by Ai Weiwei greatly expanded the ability of the gallery to represent the work of influential established artists as well as young emerging talents. The transformation of Caochangdi from a village in the north east of Beijing into a major arts center is inseparable from Ai Weiwei's emergence as a distinctive force in contemporary architecture in projects as varied as the Neolithic Pottery Museum, Jinhua (2004) and the current Ordos 100 Project. Chambers Fine Art is located in the Red Brick Art Galleries and is entered through a courtyard which features works by Qiu Zhijie, Song Dong and Yin Xiuzhen, and Zheng Guogu. The courtyard is enclosed by the symmetrical gallery building which consists of two large galleries to the east and west and a smaller gallery to the rear for video, installations etc. As in New York, the incorporation of open space into the design of the building permits an unusual degree of flexibility in the planning of installations, cultural and social events.
Wu Jian'an500 Brushstrokes #45, 2017 Ink, watercolour, paper cut and collage on Xuan paper
Ocula Insight Moving between her bases in the United States and China, Qinmin Liu questions the structures that define her identity through long-form, playful projects. The farcical nature of the elitist lifestyle synonymous with the global art market is the focus of her ongoing project 'AngelHaha', the first artist-run airline. The 'dream-driven business' was...
Ocula Photolog JINGART 2018 21 May 2018 'Focusing on modern and contemporary art & design, JINGART provides galleries and artists the platform to present art works of different eras and genres, and communicate with international collectors and lovers of art.' –JINGART (17–20 May 2018).
Ocula Report One belt, one road, one biennale: Yinchuan's stand against cultural desertification 1 Nov 2016 : Sam Gaskin for Ocula Over 70 artists from 33 countries are represented in the inaugural Yinchuan Biennale, which opened amidst scandal on 9 September 2016. Not included is a work by Ai Weiwei, who was invited to take part alongside other art stars Yoko Ono and Anish Kapoor before being disinvited just weeks before the opening.In a tweet, Ai connects the...
Ocula Conversation Dr Uli Sigg Collector When Sydney art dealer Ray Hughes visited Swiss collector Uli Sigg at his Mauensee residence near Lucerne some years ago, a mutual friend asked the dealer how the visit went. ‘Did you feel comfortable and find a place to kick your feet up and read?’ ‘No, to both,’ answered Hughes, ‘it seems there was only art...
Related Press Sydney Biennale modestly comes of age with moments of curatorial brilliance The Conversation : 16 March 2018 If a 21st birthday "coming of age" observance can be applied to cultural events, 2018 marks the launch into adulthood of the Biennale of Sydney. In some ways Sydney's biennale was a precocious child, turning its back during infancy on mainstream Eurocentric art in favour of exploring its local geographic region, early on including...
Related Press Picturing Ai Weiwei in Istanbul Hyperallergic : 5 January 2018 In an era where superstar Chinese artist Ai Weiwei feels ubiquitous, this past summer I experienced the full extent of that reality over the course of two months. After attending a New York preview for his new film about migrants, Human Flow (2017), I traveled to Israel to visit a major exhibition of his work at the Israel Museum in West Jerusalem,...
Related Press Journeys without Arrivals: Chinese contemporary artist Qiu Zhijie at Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève Art Radar : 20 December 2017 Running until 18 January 2018, Qiu Zhijie: Journeys Without Arrivals focuses on the work of the artist Qiu Zhijie, who made waves for his satirical, often tongue-in-cheek calligraphic maps of the world. The Beijing-based artist is known for producing enormous, overwhelming ink maps, which often provide an underlying commentary that weave physical...
Related Press Mining Mineral Structures with Watercolor and Sediment Hyperallergic : 6 November 2017 Beijing artist Guo Hongwei is a master of watercolor technique, able to create convincing, almost photographic, results from this most minimal medium. He is also a collector of sorts, using his skill to assemble taxonomies of natural elements: leaves and butterflies, rocks and crystals.
