Museums and Ethics
The restoration of artworks and the maintenance of museums are expensive and therefore often depend on the collaboration with sponsors. Yet, can art institutions be assimilated with corporations for financial reasons in completely disregard of ethical values? Last month, protesters from the NL Fossil Free Culture group were seen in front of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam dressed in hospital gowns smeared in black. Among them, one man stood attached to an intravenous drip connected to a black colored IV bag on a pole. This demonstration came ahead of the decision of the Van Gogh Museum and the Mauritshuis to end their sponsorship deal with Shell. A spokesperson from the British-Dutch Petrol group announced that the end of the collaboration with the two museums was made on the basis of a mutual decision.
梵高美术馆拒绝石油公司赞助
艺术品修复和美术馆运营是一项经济成本巨大的工作,需要强大的外部赞助支持。但是艺术机构能否向公司经营的模式贴近,把经济因素放在道德因素之前考虑呢?上个月荷兰Fossil Free文化组织成员穿着被“石油”染黑的病号服,在阿姆斯特丹梵·高美术馆前集体抗议,其中一名男子还挂着“点滴”,药包里不是药水,而是像石油一样乌黑粘稠的液体。此次抗议发生不久后,梵·高美术馆宣布和莫瑞泰斯皇家美术馆双双宣布终止与英荷合资石油公司“壳牌”的赞助合同。壳牌的新闻发言人表示“此次合作的终止经过双方一致决议”。
Fossil Free Culture group in front of the Van Gogh Museum. Courtesy of Fossil Free
Fossil Free 文化组织在梵高美术馆前。图品由Fossil Free提供
Opening of Gallery Emmanuel Perrotin in Shanghai
After Hong Kong, Seoul and more recently Tokyo, French art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin is taking hold of the Asian art market with the opening of a second gallery space in China. The 1,200 square meters gallery will open on September 20th, on the top floor of the historic “Amber Building” in Shanghai’s Bund quarter. Perrotin will launch the new outpost with an exhibition by the controversial Belgian artist Wim Delvoye whose work, Art Farm, was censored exactly a decade ago at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair in 2008.
贝浩登画廊登录上海
继香港、首尔、东京开业之后,法国画廊贝浩登又在其开拓亚洲市场的战略版图上插下一枚新的旗帜——贝浩登将开设其在中国的第二个门店。画廊占地1,200平凡米,将坐落在上海外滩虎丘路充满历史风情的“琥珀大楼”顶层,本月20日正式开始营业。新门店计划举办饱受争议的比利时艺术家威姆·德沃伊展览,该艺术家的作品曾因审查不通过,于2008年被上海当代艺术博览会拒之门外。
Perrotin Shanghai. Photo: Ringo Cheung. Courtesy Perrotin
贝浩登(上海)。摄影:Ringo Cheung。图片由贝浩登提供。
Brazil National Museum in Ashes
The Brazil National Museum burned down to ashes on September 3rd 2018. The 13 000 square meters and 200 years old museum was home to more than 20 million items, including Egyptian and Greek-Roman artifacts, as well as the oldest human fossil in the region, Luiza, a 12,000 year-old skeleton. The museum was built in 1818 under the Portuguese rule and was known as the largest natural history museum in Latin America. Civilians and art historians have called out the government’s negligence and lack of funding for restoration over the years.
巴西国家博物馆大火
2018年9月3日,巴西国家博物馆遭遇火灾,这是人类文明的一次重大损失。博物馆占地13,000平方米,具有200多年的悠久历史,藏品超过2,000万件,其中包括埃及、古希腊、古罗马工艺品,还有该地区最古老的人类化石——12,000年前留存下来的女性遗骸“路易莎”。该博物馆建于1818年葡萄牙统治时期,是拉丁美洲规模最大的自然历史博物馆。多年以来公众和历史学家一直在对政府监管疏忽、修复资金短缺问题表示抗议。
Brazil National Museum before the fire
失火前的巴西国家博物馆
Salvatore Mundi No Show
The UAE department of culture and tourism has announced that Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvatore Mundi will not be unveiled as planned at the Louvre Abu Dhabi until further notice. The world’s most expensive painting broke the record at $450.3m at Christie’s last year, and has been hailed as the biggest discovery of the 21st century by art historians. The museum has refused to comment on the reason of the delay. However, one may wonder if the recent speculations over the ownership and authenticity of the masterpiece may have been a factor in the museum’s decision (click here to read more)。
《救世主》展览被喊停
阿联酋文化旅游部宣布暂时取消达·芬奇画作《救世主》在阿布扎比卢浮宫的展出。这幅油画去年以四亿五千零三十万的价格在纽约佳士得成交,成为“世界上最贵的画”,它也被称为“21世纪最艺术史上最重要的发现”。美术馆没有告知此次变故的具体原因,业内人士推测可能是此画的权属和真伪之争所引发的问题(了解更多请点这里)。
Leonardo Da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, Circa 1500
达·芬奇,《救世主》,约1500年
Treasure Box Hidden Behind Forbidden City Roof Ridge for 200 Years
Last week, the Forbidden City in Beijing made a surprising discovery during the restoration project in Yangxin Dian, otherwise known as the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Behind the main roof ridge, researchers found a treasure box from the Qing dynasty with the inscription, In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Jiaqing. According to Shan Qixiang, curator of the Palace Museum, this is the first time a painted wooden treasure box is discovered at the Forbidden City. The Yangxin Dian restoration project is scheduled to finish in June 2020, to mark the Palace’s 600th anniversary.
故宫养心殿屋顶正脊发现罕见彩绘宝匣
养心殿修复项目日前正在故宫如火如荼的进行,上周工作人员修复时从屋顶正脊取出一件刻有“嘉庆六年”字样的清代彩绘宝盒。据故宫博物院院长单齐翔称,这是故宫发现的首个木制彩绘宝匣。养心殿修复项目计划于2020年,“紫禁城600岁生日”时完工。
Treasure Box Found at Yangxin Dian. Courtesy of the Palace Museum.
养心殿宝匣。图片由故宫博物院提供。
Xu Zhen supermarket
A few years ago, the world’s supermodels walked down the aisles of a CHANEL supermarket in the Grand Palais of Paris. Consumerism in the age of capitalism is a widely discussed subject from fashion to more intellectual debates. Conceptual artists have also taken on this issue from Andy Warhol to Duane Hanson, but the auctioning of such art pieces is still relatively rare according to Yuki Terase, Hong Kong Sotheby’s new Head of Contemporary Art in Asia. This fall, “Xu Zhen Supermarket” is the hot topic of the season at Sotheby’s. First shown in 2016 on Shanghai’s Yuyuan road, the real life supermarket contains all the goods one finds in a convenient store, except for the most essential feature, to be full of its promise. Instead, everything is empty. It’s a cola bottle but not really. This fall and for the first time, Sotheby’s will be auctioning an art piece as a concept on the Asian market. The highest bidder will obtain the rights to replicate Xu Zhen’s supermarket in any size and at any place.
If you want to know more, please click here, for a more in-depth article (in Chinese) and an audio interview of Yuki Terase by Art Market Journal (in English)。
徐震超市
从安迪·沃霍尔、杜安·汉森等观念艺术家的作品到香奈儿在法国巴黎大皇宫设置的“超市秀场”,从学术研究到时尚品牌……消费主义是资本时代长期以来热议的话题。然而苏富比亚洲当代部门将消费主义艺术概念作为拍品上拍,却是一次具有突破性的新玩法。《徐震超市》是此次香港苏富比秋拍的议论焦点,作品2016年首次在上海愚园路首次展出,艺术家复刻了一间真实的便利店,与众不同之处在于所有商品都是空的——他们只卖可乐瓶不卖可乐。这是纯艺术概念首次进入亚洲拍卖市场,买家将取得徐震授权在任何地方、以任何规模重建徐震超市。点击查看相关文章(中文)收听寺濑由纪访谈(英文)
Xu Zhen Supermarket, exhibited in Shanghai
《徐震超市》在上海展出
The Price of Everything
The art market is a bubble in which very few can enter. Glamour, beauty and exclusiveness come to mind when we think of auctions. However, there is also another side of the mirror which reflects obscene prices and decadent displays of wealth. This November, HBO will release in theaters, The Price of Everything, an insight on the money driven art world and hardships of struggling artists. The documentary features collectors, dealers, auctioneers and artists, such as George Condo, Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter and Njideka Akunyili Crosby.
《万物之价》
艺术市场以其私密性和膨胀性著称。提到拍卖你或许首先会联想到到光彩四射的拍品和高端大气的场面,然而财富的背后固然也不乏价格虚高、腐败黑暗的一面。美国HBO电视台拍摄的纪录片《万物之价》将于今年11月上映,揭开这个金钱驱动的艺术圈的真实面目,展示非知名艺术家挣扎的事业道路和艰辛的生活状况。包括乔治·康多、杰夫·昆斯、格哈德·里希特和尼日利亚裔艺术家克罗斯比在内的众多知名藏家、经销商、拍卖师、艺术家都出演了这部片子。
The poster for The Price of Everything (2018).Courtesy of HBO Documentary Films.
《万物之价》(2018)海报,图片由HBO纪录片公司提供。
Panda Pollock
Yang Yang, a female panda from China, has been making “Jackson Pollock” style paintings at the Vienna Schönbrunn Zoo in Austria. The cuddly artist has already produced more than 100 canvases, which will be sold for $560 each to fund a catalogue about her peers and family in the zoo. Yang Yang and another male panda, Long Hui, were transported from China to Austria in 2003. Together, they gave birth to 5 other giant pandas.
熊猫“波洛克”
来自中国的熊猫姑娘阳阳在奥地利维也纳美泉宫动物园大展画技,观众们说她的作品颇有“杰克森·波洛克”的味道。到目前为止她已经完成了100幅以上的画作,这些作品将以每件560美金的价格卖出,动物园将用这笔资金为阳阳和她的“家人”制作一簿图册。2003年,阳阳和龙徽这对大熊猫从中国来到奥地利,至今他们已经成功生育了5只可爱的熊猫宝宝。
Yang Yang’s painting. Courtesy of Schönbrunn Zoo. Photo: Daniel Zupanc
阳阳的作品。图片由美宫泉动物园提供。拍摄:丹尼尔·苏派克