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Gardiner Museum welcomes first Curator of Indigenous Ceramics, Franchesca Hebert-Spence
TORONTO.- The Gardiner Museum has announced the appointment of Franchesca Hebert-Spence as its inaugural Curator of Indigenous Ceramics. Hebert-Spence will oversee the narrative and content development of the Gardiner Museum’s new Indigenous gallery space, part of a full-scale transformation of the Gardiner’s ground floor guided by the principles of access, connectivity, and Indigeneity. The Indigenous gallery space is being designed by architect Chris Cornelius of studio:indigenous, in consultation with the Gardiner’s Indigenous Advisory Circle: Mary Anne Barkhouse, Kent Monkman, Andre Morrisseau, Duke Redbird, and Tekaronhiáhkhwa / Santee Smith. Construction on the project will begin in July of this year. “As the Gardiner embarks on an exciting period of change and growth, rooted in the ... More

He's got baby fever: A trans choreographer's surrogacy journey
NEW YORK, NY.- In “prettygirl264264” (2018), choreographer Ashley R.T. Yergens threw himself a funeral. It was absurd, and funny, with an “In Loving Memory” card in lieu of a program, and an a cappella rendition of Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” But it was also a dark meditation on how transgender people can be treated, even in death. “It was connected to this question of, How will I be remembered?” said Yergens, 32, who is trans. “Will I get to have a funeral in the way that other people get to be remembered?” Yergens’ latest work, “Surrogate,” premiering this week at New York Live Arts, contains another premature life-cycle event: a birthday party for a frozen embryo. There is darkness under the surface here, too, as there often is in work by the Brooklyn-based Yergens, whose brash, irreverent dances are stuffed ... More

Drawing Room opens Nora Schattauer's first solo exhibition
HAMBURG.- In her first solo exhibition at the Drawing Room, Duisburg-born and Cologne-based artist Nora Schattauer presents two tableaux with works on paper from 2011 to 2024. Schattauer works with chemical solutions, mineral salts and acids, which are applied to the paper in a controlled manner with a pipette, in such a way that an almost regular, constantly varied pattern forms the basic framework. As the substances penetrate the image carrier, they gain visual depth and thus become a kind of physical resonance surface. They react with the unglued paper, form bonds and are subject to subsequent colour changes. This "reaction process" often gives the works a fluid character; the artist herself speaks of "controlled chance". Although Schattauer cannot completely anticipate the result, empirical values allow her to control it in a variety of ways. ... More

Zoumboulakis Contemporary Art opens "Wow Pow! Bam! Comics and Painting, A Meeting at the End of the 20th century"
ATHENS.- Zoumboulakis Gallery is presenting the groundbreaking exhibition "Wow Pow! Bam! Comics and Painting, A Meeting at the End of the 20th Century", which explores the enduring effect of comics on the body of contemporary painting. Based on a concept by visual and comics artist Spyros Verykios and co-curated with art historian Thanasis Moutsopoulos, the exhibition aims to demonstrate the ways in which contemporary artists draw inspiration from the visual and narrative conventions of comic strips, transcending the boundaries between traditional art practices and juxtapositions such as that between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art. The exhibition focuses on two parallel developments in art in the late twentieth ... More

Sworders to offer items from the estate of architect and interior designer Max Clendinning
LONDON.- Sworders brings to market items from the estate of architect and interior designer Max Clendinning (1924-2020) and theatre designer Ralph Adron (1939-2023). The 106 lots, due to be sold on July 9, comprise items from the couple’s extraordinary homes in Islington, London and Umbria, Italy. The pair first met in 1960 when Max was already an established name in British design and Ralph a student at the Slade. Both had a passion for collecting. Ralph had bought Victorian design objects and furniture since the 1950s, his first purchase being William de Morgan tiles from a market stall in Croydon for which he paid sixpence each. He held a particular fondness for the Aesthetic movement, including ebonised mantel clocks designed by Lewis Foreman Day (1845-1910). However, it is the extraordinary mixture of furnishings from different ... More

Work begins to restore roof at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
BRIGHTON AND HOVE.- Vital work started last week to repair the 220-year-old roof of Brighton Art Gallery & Museum to bring the Grade II listed building up to 21st century requirements. This major building project, led by Brighton & Hove Museums, will enhance the care of the collections housed within the space as well as the visitor experience. The work will improve carbon performance and provide better access to the space for both staff and contractors. A structural survey in 2019 found the building, one of the first purpose-built museums in the UK, needs urgent repairs. Funded by a grant of £1,463,769 by Arts Council England and £500k from Brighton & Hove City Council, work begins this week to decant items into storage in key areas. Preparation work will start for the restoration of the two Georgian glass lanterns which span ... More

For women in architecture, it's a time of 'catching up'
NEW YORK, NY.- When it comes to gender equality, the architectural profession is a laggard, to say the least. It wasn’t until the 21st century that the Pritzker Architecture Prize — the profession’s highest accolade — was first awarded to a woman: Zaha Hadid, who won it in 2004. Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, co-founders of the Dublin firm Grafton Architects, are among only five women who have collected the award since. In awarding them the 2020 prize, the Pritzker jury described Farrell and McNamara as “pioneers in a field that has traditionally been and still is a male-dominated profession,” and cited their consistent regard for “the people who would inhabit and use their buildings and spaces.” Community-oriented, sustainable architecture was one of the themes of the Art for Tomorrow conference, an annual event ... More

Can art save the world? Or is that too much to ask?
VENICE.- The United States is experiencing a moment of extreme tension in which fear and anger are high and false narratives pervade the collective consciousness; culture and the arts have an instrumental role in changing those narratives. That was the potent message conveyed by the opening speaker at the Art for Tomorrow conference in Venice last week. American lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson kicked off the annual forum for cultural discussion, held since 2015, which is organized by the Democracy & Culture Foundation and features panels of experts on important disciplines in conversation with journalists from The New York Times. This year’s event opened on June 5 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice and was then held at the 18th-century Palazzo Diedo, the headquarters of Berggruen Arts & Culture, a nonprofit ... More

All in the details: Tony-nominated set designers on getting it right
NEW YORK, NY.- What are all those buttons for? That’s one of the many questions David Zinn is frequently asked about the sound console that spans nearly the length of the set he designed for “Stereophonic,” David Adjmi’s backstage drama about a band’s discordant recording sessions in the 1970s. “I think that,” he said, laughing. “What are all those buttons?” A music studio, a Harlem hair salon, a church sanctuary: These were a few of the worlds that Broadway audiences were whisked away to this season courtesy of the Tony Award nominees for best scenic design of a play. Zinn received two nominations, for “Stereophonic” and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” Derek McLane was nominated for the revival of “Purlie Victorious.” In its second year working on Broadway, the design collective dots (Santiago Orjuela-Laverde, ... More

Françoise Hardy, moody French pop star, dies at 80
NEW YORK, NY.- Françoise Hardy, an introspective pop singer who became a hero to French youth in the 1960s with her moody ballads, died on Tuesday. She was 80. Her death, from cancer, was announced by her son, Thomas Dutronc, in a post on Instagram, saying simply, “Mom is gone.” No other details were provided. With songs like her breakthrough 1962 hit, “Tous les Garçons et les Filles” (“All the Boys and Girls”), and later “Dans le Monde Entier” (“All Over the World”); her lithe look, prized by star fashion designers; and her understated personality, Hardy incarnated a 1960s cool still treasured by the French. “How can we say goodbye to her?” President Emmanuel Macron of France said in a statement on Wednesday, a play on the title of Hardy’s 1968 hit “Comment Te Dire Adieu” (“How Can I Say Goodbye to You?”). ... More

On Broadway, 'Suffs' has a new tune (and 6 Tony nominations)
NEW YORK, NY.- Two ambitious overhauls are on Broadway right now: the Palace Theater and the musical “Suffs.” When “Suffs,” a show about the suffragists’ crusade for the right to vote, staggered to its Public Theater premiere in April 2022, few people would have bet that it had much of a future. Yet here we are with “Suffs” on Broadway, where it received generally positive reviews and six Tony Awards nominations, two for Shaina Taub’s score and book. What happened? Director Leigh Silverman (who also received a Tony nomination) recalls struggling with supply-chain issues and having to cancel 18 performances, including opening night. “No theater maker, no artist of any kind I think anywhere was able to do their best work in any circumstance coming out of COVID,” she said. Silverman and Taub (who also portrays suffragist ... More