Ocula Conversation Hito Steyerl: How To Build a Sustainable Art World 'A Picture of War is Not War', we read in Hito Steyerl's iconic film November (2004), an essayistic Super 8 film tackling the definition of terrorism constructed around the figure of the artist's best friend Andrea Wolf, who was killed as a terrorist in 1998 in Eastern Anatolia after she joined the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). Mixing documentary...
Ocula Report Aichi to Okayama: Art in Japan Looks to the Future 11 Oct 2019 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula There has been a flurry of triennial and biennial art activity in Japan this year. The Aichi Triennale opened in Nagoya this August, sparking a national debate about the shutting down of a display of formerly censored works—the result of public backlash against a burnt image of Emperor Hirohito and a statue commemorating the women forced into...
Ocula Insight | Video Hans Hartung and Art Informel at Mazzoleni London (1 October 2019-18 January 2020) presents key works by the French-German painter while highlighting his connection with artists active in Paris during the 50s and 60s. In this video, writer and historian Alan Montgomery discusses Hartung's practice and its legacy.Born in Leipzig in 1904, Hans...
Ocula Report Auckland Art Shows to See: The Lowdown 27 Apr 2019 : Sherry Paik for Ocula This year, the month of May kicks off with the annual Auckland Art Fair (2–5 May 2019) at The Cloud on Queens Wharf, where over 40 leading galleries from the Pacific Rim will exhibit. A carefully curated selection of talks and exhibitions will accompany the fair, including the 2019 Projects Programme organised by Francis McWhannell titled...
Ocula Report Auckland Art Exhibitions: The Lowdown 22 May 2018 : Anna Dickie for Ocula The time is ripe to galvanise New Zealand's public to more fully support its visual arts. With New Zealand-born artists like Simon Denny, Michael Stevenson and Francis Upritchard continuing to gain international acclaim, and a Turner Prize nominee in Luke Willis Thompson, the international art world is beginning to take notice of this small...
Ocula Conversation Doryun Chong Deputy director and chief curator at M+, Hong Kong Doryun Chong is deputy director and chief curator at M+, Hong Kong’s new museum for visual culture. While the museum’s ambitious Herzog & de Meuron building is yet to be opened in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Chong’s team is pressing ahead with curatorial activities, acquiring major collections of Chinese art and...
Ocula Report Three exhibitions you must see in Auckland now 24 May 2016 : Kate Brettkelly-Chalmers for Ocula Following a three-year hiatus, the Auckland Art Fair is returning at the end of May with a suite of galleries from New Zealand, Australia, Latin America and the wider Pacific region. With a distinctly global outlook, the art fair is emphasising a fresher, more contemporary aspect in promoting emerging artists and galleries, inviting the...
Ocula Conversation Yang Fudong Artist, China Lyrical, nostalgic and profoundly beautiful, Yang Fudong’s photographs and multi-channel videos have immediately become iconic. Ocula spoke to Yang on the occasion of his new solo shows: Twin Tracks: Yang Fudong Solo Exhibition at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai (until 15 November 2015) and Yang Fudong: Filmscapes at Auckland Art Gallery...
