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The Persistence of the Architectural Ideas of Louis I. Kahn

Victoria Z. Alexander

Louis I. Kahn was one of the most important brakes on the International Style of modernism in the middle years of the twentieth century. Against this architecture of speed Kahn addressed the slower side of modernity and without him we might well have missed something vital. The intelligence of Kahn’s architecture, itself a treasure trove of historical forms, has survived into our posthistorical age of speed – which is now the age of the screen (Virilio). While architecture has pressed on into an era of new materials, forms, and seemingly unprecedented possibility, many architects have not forgotten the more significant architectural lessons of Kahn. more...

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Light Art or Art-Lite?

Dr. Gerry Coulter

The “real” world hides behind appearances which conspire to combat and root out meaning. Appearances so often play on light and the fact that the human eye is only partially equipped for the universe in which we live – a universe in which about ninety-six percent of matter and energy remain invisible to us. We are reminded of these fundamental aspects of existence at many junctures. As Baudrillard noted in The Vital Illusion, because of our distance from it (light years), we see the light of a star for many centuries after the star itself is dead (2000:71). Indeed, the four percent of the universe we know as “reality” is the result of the amputation of all the anti-matter and energy which we can only speculate about in astrophysics. more...

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Annals of the Sword Taia

Takuan Soho

Originally this character was read with the meaning "lid". For example, when a lid is put on a tier of boxes, although we do not know for sure what has been put inside, if we use our imaginations we will hit the mark six or seven times out of ten. Here also I do not know for sure, but figure tentatively that it must be so. Actually, this is a written for we use even about things we do know for sure. We do this to humble ourselves and so as not to seem to be speaking in a knowing manner. Martial artist is as the character indicates. Not to fight for gain or loss, not to be concerned with strength or weakness means not vying for victory or worrying about defeat, and not being concerned with the functions of strength or weakness. more...

art agenda

Exhibition Preview – Van Dongen in Barcelona

Dr. Gerry Coulter

The Musée Picasso in Barcelona is hosting a major exhibition of the works of the painter Kees Van Dongen from June 10-September 28, 2009. This traveling show has already appeared in Monaco in 2008 and Montreal in the Winter of 2009. The catalogue (edited by Nathalie Bondil and Jena-Michel Bouhours) is of exceptional quality and is the best recent publication on Van Dongen and his work. The show (as it has appeared in Monaco and Montreal) presents Van Dongen as a master of line and colour while stressing the results of the importance the artist gave to his own instincts over established theory (“I am like a cow” said Van Dongen: “I look. I paint the way I see” (Bondil et. al., 2008:1). more...

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Yan Pei-Ming at the Louvre

Paris, France 12th February-18th May 2009

Following upon the exhibition Picasso/Delacroix, and with a view to delving once again into the rich mine of confrontations between contemporary artists and earlier masters, the Louvre extends an invitation to the Franco-Chinese painter Yan Pei-Ming. The artist will present several monumental paintings at the very heart of the museum: in the galleries devoted to the largest French nineteenth-century canvases and opposite the Salle des Etats, home to a number of masterpieces of Italian Renaissance painting. In so doing Yan Pei-Ming will seek to convey his singular perspective on the most famous work of art in the Louvre’s collections: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. more...

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Uncharted: User Frames in Media

santralistanbul Main Gallery , İstanbul, 21 March-16 August 2009

Combining education, research, production and exhibition facilities in the field of art and cultural studies, santralistanbul now presents the “Uncharted: User Frames in Media Arts” exhibition realised with the contribution of ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, a pioneering cultural institution for the last 20 years in Europe, ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, also a distinguished design institute in Europe, and independent curators. The “Uncharted” exhibition includes a selection of contemporary artworks involving the large-scale use of digital and interactive media. The exhibition features works both by renowned and as yet unknown avant-garde artists and groups of artists from all over the world. more...

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MARBLE

New York, USA 12th February-16th May 2009

Gagosian Gallery presents an exhibition that explores the enduring fascination of marble, beginning with ancient idols, through classical and Renaissance statuary to twentieth century and contemporary sculpture. A sensual yet resilient natural material, over time marble has developed a rich visual vocabulary together with a constantly mutating symbolism. Our Neolithic ancestors carved it into primal representations of the human form. These ritual figures and vessels -- strong, simple, abstract shapes -- were dictated in part by the innate form of the excavated stone and the rudimentary tools available to work it. more...

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Francis Bacon

Madrid, Spain 3rd February-19th April 2009

The Prado Museum presents a selection of 78 paintings by Francis Bacon and archival objets, is presented in a partly chronological order and in various thematic sections corresponding to concepts of his work at different periods of his career, namely Animal, Zone, Apprehension, Crucifixion, Crisis, Archive, Portrait, Memorial, Epic and Late. Following each of these principal sections, the visitor will be able to enter into the unique world of Bacon’s artistic obsessions. Contemplation of his works requires the highest level of concentration, an unprejudiced viewpoint more...

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Meissen Porcelain of the 1900s - 1930s from the Collection of the House of Art (Haus der Kunst), Remshalden-Grunbach

St Petersburg, Russia 13th February 2009 – 24th May 2009

The exhibition in the Blue Bedroom of the Winter Palace demonstrates 115 art pieces of the Meissen porcelain factory. These art pieces were created by the masters who lived between the two world wars in the period of transition from Art Nouveau to Art Deco. Until the late 1890s Meissen porcelain used to be strictly traditional. Born in the 18th century, it served as a mirror for its epoch. Even though in the 20th century porcelain ceased to be an attribute of the aristocratic culture (as it was in the beginning of its history) it remained as its symbol which was demanded by the middle-class culture. A new style provided Europe with new aesthetic guidelines. more...

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Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran

At the British Museum in association with The Iran Heritage Foundation; London, UK 19th February – 14th June 2009

In February 2009, the British Museum will open the first major exhibition to explore the rule and legacy of Shah 'Abbas, one of the formative figures in the creation of modern Iran. Shah of Iran from 1587 – 1629 AD, he is remembered as one of the country’s most influential kings and a great military leader, ruling Iran at a time of political renewal, when it succeeded in positioning itself as a world power with a sharply defined national identity. Shah 'Abbas came to the throne in 1587, the fifth ruler of the Safavid Dynasty. Through trade, patronage and diplomacy Shah 'Abbas fostered good relations with Europe and ushered in a golden period in the arts, commissioning beautiful works of art and grand architecture. more...

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Vermeer Masterpiece back in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands 11th March-1st June 2009

A major work by Johannes Vermeer is temporarily back in Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum proudly presents his 'Woman Holding a Balance' (c.1664) from the United States alongside four other masterpieces by Vermeer from the museum's own collection. Vermeer did not produce many paintings, so this is a unique moment for the Rijksmuseum as the only museum in Europe to be able to show five works by the renowned artist together. Among the items sold in 1696 in the sale of the estate of Jacob Dissius, a bookseller in Delft, were 21 paintings by Johannes Vermeer, a fellow townsman and already in his day a much admired artist. Isaac Rooleeuw, an Amsterdam merchant, managed to snap up two of the artist’s most important and expensive works in the space of five minutes: more...