International News Digest
BEUYS TREES CUT
Two trees planted as part of an art project by Joseph Beuys in Kassel have been cut down. As Der Standard reports, the trees were planted as part of his 1982 Documenta contribution 7,000 Eichen—Stadtverwaldung statt Stadtverwaltung (7,000 Oaks—City Forestation Instead of City Administration). The perpetrators have not been identified in the report, although the city calculated the damage at nearly fourteen thousand dollars. According to Der Standard, the felled trees were in fact lindens, which had grown, respectively, to almost 500 and 160 inches in a schoolyard in northern Kassel; both were cut down with an ax. 7,000 Oaks was one of the largest and most costly projects to be shown at a Documenta. Planting the seven thousand trees––oaks, lindens, and maples––cost a whopping 4.5 million DM. To finance the project, Beuys sold off many of his artworks and did an advertisement for a Japanese whiskey company. While the project doubled the number of trees in Kassel, there were many protests, since the trees took over several parking spaces in the city. Beuys, who died in January 1986, did not live to see the completion of the planting project at the 1987 Documenta.
SOFIA RECEIVES MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
It looks like Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, will indeed be getting its own museum for contemporary art––with more than a little help from foreign friends. As Der Standard reports, 85 percent of the $1.6 million budget for the new project is coming from the European market and a Norwegian program for cooperation. The museum will be located in an existing building near the city’s cultural palace. The building––which was completed at the turn of the century in a classical style––will feature nearly eleven thousand square feet for exhibition space after the reconstruction. The project is slated to finish in April 2011.
ARCHITECTS FOR ÎLE SEGUIN
Six architects have been preselected to coordinate the transformation of Île Seguin, the former site of the Renault car factory where French billionaire collector François Pinault had once hoped to erect a museum for his private collection. According to a report from Agence France-Presse, the architects are Nicolas Michelin, Jean Nouvel, Djamel Klouche, Jacques Ferrier, Winy Maas, and Rem Koolhaas. But only one will be given the massive task of coordinating all of the projects on the island. The latest plan calls for a more modest approach in the site’s transformation from industrial factory to cultural oasis. Instead of nearly 2 million feet, only 1.3 million feet will built on a 28.4 acre plot dedicated to “the fine arts.” No details are given on the final plan, but an earlier proposal to include organizations dedicated to scientific research has been abandoned.
RIETVELD ACADEMY VS. RIETVELD MANAGEMENT
There’s a conflict growing at Amsterdam’s Gerrit Rietveld Academy. According to reports in de Volkskrant and the NRC Handelsblad, the academy’s coordinators, teachers, and students are opposing plans by management to move the institution from its current location in the historic Rietveld building. According to an early report in the Volkskrant, the original management plan called to relocate the academy to the former GAK building in the problematic Bos en Lommer area of Amsterdam. Although this plan was due to be finalized by mid-May, protests from academy coordinators, teachers, and students have postponed the final agreement for another two weeks. The protest website includes a petition, which has been signed by over one thousand people opposed to the move. Constructed between 1956 and 1967, the Rietveld building was completed only after the death of its architect. After moving into the new building in 1967, the academy changed its name from IVKNO (Institute for Applied Art at the Gabriël Metsustraat) to Gerrit Rietveld Academy to honor the architect.
WITTE DE WITH, DE APPEL, AND CHRISTIE’S JOIN FORCES
It’s not a new crisis merger but rather a cooperative approach to fund-raising. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, Rotterdam’s Witte de With and Amsterdam’s De Appel have joined forces with Christie’s Amsterdam branch to organize the benefit auction “Two in One.” While the two art centers often collaborate on various projects––such as the Prix de Rome––this event is the first collaboration on fund-raising. One hundred artworks donated by just as many international artists will go on the block this week. The artist list runs from Marina Abramovic to Isa Genzken, from Zofia Kulik to Tobias Zielony.
ESTONIAN ARTIST CREATES GHOST STATUE
The violent conflicts in Tallinn over the removal of a Soviet war monument may have quieted down, but the statue itself came back to haunt the city’s Tonismagi square. Eurotopics cites a report by Eesti Päevaleht’s Sten Luiga, who explains how artist Kristina Norman created a copy statue and placed it on the site of the original, only to have her copy quickly removed by police. In April 2007, the original Soviet monument––a bronze soldier––was moved from the Tonismagi square to a military cemetery since officials claimed that the statue had become a source of tensions between ethnic Russians and other Estonians who consider Estonia’s incorporation in the former USSR as a form of occupation. In the ensuing riots, one person was killed and forty were injured. Norman, who is representing Estonia at the upcoming Venice Biennale, installed her copy on May 9, the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. But Luiga sees the police’s intervention as an overreaction. “Kristina Norman had no intention of setting up the statue there permanently,” writes Luiga. “She just wanted to carry out a one-off action and attract the public’s attention to her work.” Norman insisted that she broke no laws, and the Estonian police seem to agree with her—at least in part. According to another BBC report, the police have no plans to press charges and would like the owner to collect the property.