International News Digest
PRIZES FOR CALLE AND HATOUM
Sophie Calle and Mona Hatoum have been recognized for their work with awards. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, Calle has won the Swedish Hasselblad Prize for Photography for 2010 from the Hasselblad Foundation in Gothenburg, while Hatoum was awarded the German Käthe-Kollwitz-Preis for 2010 from Berlin’s Akademie der Künste.
In Calle’s case, the jurors praised the “groundbreaking” and “original” work of the fifty-six-year-old French artist, who has explored the relation between text and photography for three decades. The Hasselblad prize, which comes with a $140,000 check, will be presented to Calle on October 30.
In Hatoum’s case, the jurors lauded the centrality of the “human body caught between violence, power, and fragility” in her work. Hatoum, who was born in Lebanon in 1952, moved to London in 1975 and now divides her time between London and Berlin. The Käthe-Kollwitz-Preis is endowed with $16,800.
TÀPIES FOUNDATION REOPENS
The Fundaciã Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona has finally reopened its doors after two years of renovations. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Javier Caceres reports, the eighty-six-year-old artist was on hand for the occasion and was described as “spry,” despite his use of a walking aid. The renovation began with updates to the building’s security system and ended up as a bigger project designed by the architect Inaki Ábalos, who added sixty-five hundred square feet to the building. The foundation will now be able to show more works by the multitalented artist that have not been seen by the public.
STALIN PORTRAIT CAUSES UPROAR
For the May ceremonies in Moscow marking the sixty-fifth anniversary of the end of World War II, there’s one face that is not entirely welcome: Stalin’s. As Agence France-Presse reports, troubles began when Moscow mayor Iouri Loujkov agreed to a proposal to include Stalin’s portrait in the public event. The Russian NGO Memorial, which specializes in Soviet historical research, has promised to counter by installing panels detailing the crimes of Stalin. “If Stalin’s portraits appear in the streets of Moscow,” said Memorial in a statement published in the newspaper Novaïa Gazeta, “we will do everything possible so that at the same time other posters appear describing the crimes of the tyrant and his true role in the history of the country.” The plan to include Stalin’s face is reported to have caused malaise through the ranks of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. It’s not the first time that Loujkov finds himself at the center of controversy. The mayor gained notoriety by qualifying gay-pride parades as the “work of Satan” and “weapons of mass destruction” from the West against Russia.