Ocula Conversation Sandrine Colard on the 6th Lubumbashi Biennale The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the largest Francophone nation in Africa with vast resources and nearly 80 million inhabitants, is a place where commodities play a vital role in the national economy and the country's significance on the world stage. This is the context from which the 6th Lubumbashi Biennale (24 October–24 November...
Ocula Report From 20 to 21 July 2019, Artspace Sydney held a two-day symposium that brought artists in conversation with leading curators, writers, activists, academics, diplomats, and journalists from across Asia. The symposium was the final chapter of the 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS exhibition, publication, website, and Instagram project. Instigated and...
Ocula News We Are Our Infrastructure, Argues Newly Announced Shanghai Biennale Chief Curator 13 December 2019 The Power Station of Art will make a fitting location for Andrés Jaque, whose past projects expose the politics concealed by buried pipes and managed cables. Spanish architect, writer, and curator Andrés Jaque has been named the chief curator of the 13th Shanghai Biennale, which will take place at the Power Station of Art (PSA) from 13 November...
Ocula Insight 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...
The Schinkel Pavillon is an art institution with a rather exceptional history in the center of Berlin. Run by Nina Pohl, the Schinkel provides a platform for contemporary sculpture, installation, and media art. The varying exhibitions often take up a position towards the peculiarity of the pavilion’s distinctive architecture.
Read MoreBuilt in 1969 by Richard Paulick (perhaps best known as chief architect of Karl Marx Allee), the pavilion is located in the garden of the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince’s Palace) off of Unter den Linden. The floor-to-ceiling windows of the octagon-shaped hall offer up a panoramic view of Berlin’s historic center: the Museum Island, Friedrichswerder Church, as well as the remains of the Bauakademie (Building Academy) by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Today, the Schinkel takes up on the institutional tradition of Kronprinzenpalais, in fact, the world’s first contemporary art institution. It was there, in 1918, that Ludwig Justi founded a new section of the Berlin National Gallery to display what he had culled from Berlin’s ateliers. In selecting the best pieces – mainly expressionist paintings – Justi had gathered together much of the most significant art of that era. When the National Socialists came to power, the contemporary art section was shut down: the art was relegated as ‘degenerate’. After the Second World War and reconstruction of the building, it became a favorite spot for Erich Honecker and his cocktail parties.
Today the Schinkel Pavillon offers up a lively program of contemporary art to a broader public and, at the same time, serves as an eccentric monument of DDR architecture.
Ocula Report City Report: Berlin 7 November 2017 Berlin-based Ocula contributor Rachael Vance selects her top five institutional shows currently on display in Germany's capital. KW Institute for Contemporary Art Willem de Rooij, Whiteout 14 September–17 December 2017 Eric Bell & Kristoffer Frick, Compound 13 September–17 December 2017 Known for his films, photography,...
Ocula Report Berlin's Top Five Institutional Summer Exhibitions 15 Jul 2015 : Rachael Vance for Ocula Martin-Gropius-Bau Solo Exhibition: Tino Sehgal Until the 8th of August British-German artist Tino Sehgal’s first major solo exhibition in Berlin at the Martin-Gropius-Bau is a drawcard for the art critic and tourist alike. Recipient of the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and with previous...
