September’s Picks
Ici
Jean-Pierre Raynaud
MAMO Centre d’art de la Cité Radieuse, Marseille, France
Until October 1st, 2017
A 50-feet-high monumental arrow is installed horizontally on the terrace of the Cité Radieuse. It points in the direction of the famous gymnasium by le Corbusier where is being displayed a series of significant historical pieces by Jean-Pierre Raynaud. After Xavier Veilhan, Daniel Buren, Dan Graham and Felice Varini, he is the fifth artist to be invited at the MAMO, the Marseille Modulor, an art center created in 2013 thanks to designer Ora Ito. The encounter between Jean-Pierre Raynaud and architect le Corbusier was striking: “I have to respond with something as free as he was. I am not interested in showing my work, but rather in coming together with his architecture. And particularly with this terrace, which is protected and subject to restrictions in terms what one can do.” – Jean-Pierre Raynaud. *
*source
Kickstarter campaign
Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Announced a few days ago by the Trump administration, the end of DACA seems to resonate more than ever with Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, Ai Weiwei’s new artistic project, which was commissioned by the Public Art Fund (New York, United States). The artist imagined a work located on different sites throughout the city (Essex Street Market, Lower East Side; Cooper Union, Astor Place; JCDecaux bus shelters in Brooklyn; Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens and many others) around the notion of physical and mental “barriers”, which are synonymous with division and conflict. A Kickstarter campaign was launched a few weeks ago to fund the entire project.
Folkestone Triennial : Double Edge
Kent, United Kingdom
From September 2nd to November 5th.
According to Lewis Biggs, curator of the Folkestone Triennial since 2012, visiting it would take approximately two days. And indeed, it is composed of 20 new site-specific commissions as well as twenty-seven works inherited from the three previous editions (to view the map, click here). This new edition is titled Double Edge, echoing the city’s urban development – around two main lines, the coastline and the Pent River – and more current issues such as migrant flows and climate change.
The New York Earth Room
Walter De Maria
141 Wooster Street, New York City, United States
Dia Center for the Arts
Reopening after summer closing on September 6th
Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room is an interior earth installation. Since its creation in 1977, it is located on the third floor of an industrial building at 141 Wooster Street in New York. The artist created two other Earth Rooms – one in Munich in 1968 and the other in Darmstadt in 1974 – but they don’t exist anymore. The sculpture weighs 127 tons and spans over 3600 square feet. Surrounded by a Plexiglas fence to protect it from visitors, the work is watered and raked once a week.
Blickachsen 11
Contemporary Sculpture in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt RheinMain
Frankfurt, Germany
Until October 1st
An open sky trail dedicated to contemporary sculpture. Located in the historic park of Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe (Germany) and in different places throughout Frankfurt am Main, the eleventh edition of the Blickachsen (literally « visual axis ») presents 37 artists through a total of 80 works of art. Although emerging artists mingle with more renowned ones, this edition is primarily focused on Austrian artists thanks to a partnership with the Neuhaus Austrian Museum Liaunig.
Bex & Arts 2017
Triennale de sculpture contemporaine en plein air
Szilassy Park, Switzerland
Until October 15th
Discover the Bex & Arts contemporary sculpture triennial, located on the heights of Bex, in the magnificent Szilassy park, in Switzerland. This recurring event, which started in 1987, primarily presents Swiss artists. Under the artistic direction of Catherine Bolle, the 20th edition theme is energy.
Fujiko Nakaya
Ekeberg Park, Oslo, Norway
September 10th, 2017
The Japanese artist, who is famous for her fog sculptures, is invited at the Ekeberg Park (Oslo, Norway) on September 10th to create an ephemeral sculpture. Some of her installations are already displayed in iconic places such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Philip Johnson’s Glass House in the United States or the Tate Modern in London. About her work, she says “Nature controls herself. I try and let nature speak.”
