International News Digest
SUSANNE GAENSHEIMER TO CURATE GERMAN PAVILION AT VENICE
Susanne Gaensheimer has been selected as the curator for the German pavilion at the fifty-fourth Venice Biennale in 2011. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the German Department for Foreign Affairs report, Gaensheimer is director of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt—a position she took over in 2009 from Udo Kittelmann. German federal minister Guido Westerwelle also took the opportunity to thank Nicolaus Schafhausen for his work as curator of the German contributions for the fifty-second and fifty-third Biennales.
HERR PROFESSOR GURSKY
The German star photographer Andreas Gursky will soon be enjoying the title of professor at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, the art academy made the announcement about the new addition to its teaching staff last week. The new routine should be familiar to Gursky, who himself studied at the academy under the supervision of Bernd Becher, the founder with Hella Becher of the Becher school.
“ELLES” PROVE POPULAR AT THE POMPIDOU
The all-women artist exhibition “elles@centrepompidou” at the Pompidou Center in Paris is proving to be a success with the public. As Le Monde’s Clarisse Fabre reports, the exhibition—which features two hundred women artists, from pioneers such as Marina Abramovic to newcomers such as Tatiana Trouvé—has led to a 21 percent increase in visitor numbers, currently hitting 870,000, despite the strike that temporarily closed the museum last November and December. The show, which opened last May, was to run for one year only. But in light of its success, its run has been extended until February 2011.
Far from sticking to the same formula, curator Camille Morineau is changing the lineup. Since January, thirty-five works have been replaced with other selections. In the film section, Valérie Mréjen and Marguerite Duras have given way to Chantal Akerman. While some of the additions come out of the Pompidou’s own archives, others are from donations, loans, and even acquisitions. “The initiative ‘elles@centrepompidou’ has sparked off a real dynamic at the heart of the acquisition committees,” Morineau told Le Monde.
History suggests that a shift in acquisition policies in not enough to bring about a more egalitarian representation of men and women artists in exhibitions. In the Pompidou’s permanent collection, 25 percent of the works are by women artists who were born after 1960 and who are thus considered “contemporary.” Yet many remain in storage. “From the 25 percent,” notes Morineau, “only 11 percent had been exhibited before the [current] installation dedicated to women.”
PARIS “ARTS HILL” READY FOR FIAC? EIFFEL TOWER READY FOR ARTISTS?
The “arts hill” in Paris—a project to coordinate municipal and state cultural institutions situated close to the Eiffel Tour—might just be ready for the next FIAC. As Agence France-Presse reports, Frédéric Olivennes, the former director of the French radio station Radio Classique, has been appointed to coordinate the hill project. “The idea is to create a network between about fifteen cultural institutions situated on the Chaillot hill and near the Eiffel Tower,” notes the report.
In terms of contemporary art fare, the cultural institutions include the Palais de Tokyo, the Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Grand Palais. Other institutions includes the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, the Palais de la Découverte, the Galliera and Guimet museums, the Musée de l’Homme, the Musée National de la Marine, the Musée du Quai Branly, the Petit Palais, the Théâtre National de Chaillot, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. While the area is dense with culture, there have been to date few collaborations between the institutions, which belong either to the state or to the city.
The hill project is aiming for a “common offer,” including better transportation between the institutions, a one-ticket system, a pass for different tourist and cultural teams, and the development of digital tools—all designed to reestablish Paris as the “world capital of art.” If all goes well, the kickoff may occur during the next FIAC in October with a special program among the participating institutions. There might be more good news for fairgoers. A one-ticket system may be created so that buying a ticket to FIAC will give access to the other cultural institutions situated on the hill. The Eiffel Tower, which attracts from eight thousand to thirty-two thousand visitors per day, may end up playing the starring role by both attracting visitors and informing them about the new arts hill. Last but not least: “Cultural events with contemporary artists could be organized in this emblematic monument.” After the Château Versailles, the Eiffel Tower might just be the next French monument to be spiced up with contemporary art.