Saturday, February 28, 2009

Biennale Fun Facts








  • The year the biennial was born: The Venice Biennale in 1895

  • Biennials/Triennials currently active: over 60

  • Year of the first biennial in Asia: 1952 with the Tokyo Biennale

  • Percentage of biennials initiated by the government vs independent: 65%: 35%

  • Biggest budget for a biennial since 1990: Gwangju Biennale with an average budget of over$US12 million

  • Lowest budget for a biennial since 1990: The 1st Tirana Biennale with a budget of $US 30,000

  • For a hundred years from 1890s to 1980s, only 17 biennials were in existence. Today, there are over 60.



These facts about art biennales come from Art Asia Archive: http://www.aaa.org.hk/onlineprojects/bitri/en/didyouknow.aspx

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Eugenio Merino at ARCO 2009




Madrid-based artist Eugenio Merino recently made headlines for his new sculpture titled "4 the Love of Gold" which depicts Damian Hirst putting a bullet through his head, which will be exhibited at ARCO 2009.
The photo is his "Still Staying Alive" courtesy of:
http://www.colectiva.tv/wordpress/lang/en-us/tag/eugenio-merino/

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Oops!










everything is dangerous.

Read the story here about the fire that destroyed Beijing's Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The hotel and CCTV are designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA and were just nearing completion.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1140024/Chinese-TV-station-sorry-accidentally-burning-brand-new-luxury-hotel.html

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Shoe Art





First, my apologies for not blogging since December as I just made a major house move.

So to ease back into art-related themes, let's look at this public commemorative sculpture of a shoe in Iraq courtesy the Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog.

http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2009/01/middle-eastern-shoe-art-renaissance_30.html