Volume 29, No. 2, Jun 2006
Art Reader
New Yorker for 29 May includes a critique of Renzo Piano by Paul Goldberger, including 3 different projects.
New Yorker for 8 May featured an article about Trimpin (Gerhard for those who need a full name), a sound sculptor and installation artist of great note. He had just installed “The Ring”, a large-scale perpetual-motion instrument at a new science center in Wolfsburg, Germany, designed by Zaha Hadid. The article is written by Jean Strouse.
Smithsonian for June 2006 discusses the new Berlin. The May 2006 issue featured Dada, the irreverent, rowdy revolution of the 20th century by Paul Trachtman.
Art Journal for Spring 2006 emphasizes ecologically informed art. Ann Rosenthal writes about performance artist, Billy X. Curmano, who has swum the Mississippi; Ruth Wallen & Beverly Naidus’ workshop about how to create momentum in communities through art is discussed by Deborah J. Haynes; Hannah Higgins writes about Kinji Akagawa, who has made an artistic journey from egotistical self to eco-tistical self.
Art News for June 2006 includes a special section on Inside the New York Art World.
Art on Paper for May/June 2006 is “The Drawing Issue”. Included is more data on The Drawing Center and the controversy and eventual resignation of director, Catherine de Zegher. There is an article about Jack Macrae and Paula Cooper’s bookstore, 192 Books, at 192 Tenth Avenue in Chelsea. A whole section is called “Slight of Hand: Understated drawings in an overstated age” and speaks for the fertile period of drawing in which we live. A wonderful dialogue between John Berger and his son, Yves, allows for one to see drawing in a new light. See www.artonpaper.com
Harper’s Magazine for June 2006 features an illustrated article by Art Spiegelman called “Drawing Blood: Outrageous Cartoons and the Art of Outrage” which references the Danish “cartoon war” in February, but shows Spiegelman’s historical take on cartoons and their importance. He analyzes the Danish cartoons and shows other cartoons that were full of prejudice. And he has a solution for the Cartoon Wars of 2006.
The same issue has a wonderful excerpt of Eunoia by Christian Bök, which will be published next month for the first time in the United States by Soft Skull Press. This excerpt is dedicated to Dick Higgins.
Art Papers for May/June 2006 is juicy. Letters to the Editor are substantial and welcomed, as well as a pithy article by George Gessert on biotech art’s treatment in recent literature, pointing to the conceptual fault lines and ideological blind spots that have framed the discussion so far. Amazing photography by Jean-Luc Moulène: Documents’Produits de Palestine, 2002-2005. Also, a review on Justine Cooper and Barton Lidice Benes at the National Academy of Sciences confirms obsessiveness of collecting, but also reflects on the fate of museum holdings.
Harper’s for May has an amazing essay on Bolivia by photographer, Peter Turnley: Between Two Worlds
b[]The New York Times for 29 June 2006 features an article about artists caring about the conservation of their contemporary work, as conservator Carol Mancusi-Ungaro promotes over the past decades. She runs the Whitney Museum of American Art’s conservation and research department.
The New York Times for 14 May 2006 features a cover story: “Scan This Book” by Kevin Kelly which is must reading for readers, publishers, and internet searchers! This is a manifesto about books which are being digitized–and it will change our concept of what a book is–maybe!
