Gay Exhibition Canceled in Milan; Marx Collection to Neue Nationalgalerie; Renovations for Pompidou Fountain; New Direction at Nitsch Museum; Vo Wins blauOrange; Sassen Wins Prix de Rome; Hockney Defends Smoking
GAY EXHIBITION CANCELED IN MILAN
"Vado Retro"—an exhibition with 150 works about art and homosexuality, from Da Goeden to Pierre et Gilles—has been cancelled at Milan's Palazzo della Ragione. As both the Süddeutsche Zeitung and Der Standard report, the exhibition was already installed when protests were voiced about a "blasphemous" sculpture of the pope made by the Milan artist Paolo Schmidlin. The sculpture, Miss Kitty, features a likeness of the pope dressed in pantyhose.
To calm critics, Vittorio Sgarbi, the city's councilperson for culture and responsible for the exhibition, had already announced that visitors under the age of eighteen would not be allowed to visit. But the measure was not enough. The opening was delayed after Miss Kitty and two other works were taken out of the exhibition. That measure was also insufficient, at least for Milan mayor Letizia Moratti, who requested that another twelve works be removed, due to their pornographic and pedophiliac nature. Sgarbi refused—a refusal that led to the cancelation.
Sgarbi, while denouncing the city's censorship, seems to have profited from the scandal. The councillor, who is also an art historian and collector, purchased Miss Kitty for €20,000 ($27,500). The sculpture is now estimated at €100,000 ($137,700). Censored in Milan, "Vado Retro" will be shown in its entirety in Naples.
MARX COLLECTION GOES TO NEUE NATIONALGALERIE
What's happening with Erich Marx's collection at Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof? Last April, Marx threatened to remove his collection from the museum when Heiner Bastian, his former dealer, as well as the curator appointed to look after his treasures, abruptly left the institution.
Die Welt's Gabriela Walde reports on some new developments. The Prussian Culture Foundation—the organization that oversees Berlin public museums, including Hamburger Bahnhof, the Pergamon, and Neue Nationalgalerie—has announced that Marx has agreed to "an intensification of the long-term collaboration." That means that state museum curators will take over from Bastian. Moreover, the collection will now be integrated into the Neue Nationalgalerie—a shift in responsibility that is designed to free the Hamburger Bahnhof from the collector's interests.
Walde adds that, according to the terms of the revised contract, the most important forty-one works in the collection—from Beuys, Kiefer, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg—will not be sold. In the past, Marx has been wont to sell off artworks after they have accumulated value by hanging on the walls of the prestigious public museum. Finally, Marx no longer has a claim to a permanent exhibition of his collection. This clause may liberate some space in the Hamburger Bahnhof for more contemporary works, but Walde notes that Marx's treasures are to be exhibited in "interaction" with contemporary works.
CENTRE POMPIDOU FOUNTAIN TO BE RENOVATED?
Visitors to the Centre Pompidou may have noticed the deteriorated state of the once-lively fountain created in 1983 by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely in homage to composer Igor Stravinsky. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Johannes Willms reports, the fountain—one of the few public artworks in Paris—has devolved into a swamp.
But now there's new hope for the fountain, which stands adjacent to the Centre Pompidou. Nadine de Saint Phalle, the granddaughter of the artist, has long been complaining about the fountain's deterioration—and has at last met with some sympathetic ears. Finally, the municipality of Paris has agreed to renovate the fountain. "We'll see," writes Willms, doubting the city's ability to make good on its promise.
CHANGE OF DIRECTION AT NITSCH MUSEUM
The Austrian museum center Museumszentrum Mistelbach (MZM)—which includes the new Hermann Nitsch Museum, which opened in May—is undergoing some changes in staff. As Der Standard reports, MZM manager Romana Schuler has been relieved of her duties by Dagmar Kunert, although her contract has not been terminated. According to local papers, MZM is aiming for a "dynamic" start, which demands more "commercial, management, and communicative" skills than the researcher Schuler offers. Mistelbach mayor Christian Resch said that the MZM needs "a penny counter, who brings busloads of visitors to Mistelbach and has contact with the region." The Nitsch Museum—which occupies six thousand square meters (sixty-five hundred square feet) of the MZM—may soon be looking forward to a new visiting public.
DANH VO WINS BLAUORANGE PRIZE
The Berlin-based Danish artist Danh Vo has been awarded the blauOrange Prize for 2007. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, the jury—comprising Anja Casser (Badischer Kunstverein), Yilmaz Dziewior (Kunstverein Hamburg), Gerrit Gohlke (Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam), Stefan Kalmar (Kunstverein München), Chus Martinez (Kunstverein Frankfurt), and Susanne Pfeffer (Kunst-Werke Berlin)—praised Vo's work on identity and belonging. The prize, which is organized by the banks Deutsche Volksbank und Raiffeisenbank, includes €20,000 ($27,500).
VIVIANE SASSEN WINS DUTCH PRIX DE ROME
The Amsterdam photographer Viviane Sassen has been awarded the 2007 Prix de Rome, the oldest art prize in the Netherlands. As reported by Kees Keijer for Het Parool, the €45,000 ($62,000) prize, was given to Sassen for her series of photographs taken in Ghana. The jury praised Sassen for "working with the people whom she portrays" while maintaining both a proximity and a distance in her work. The second prize went to the Korean video artist Sung Hwan Kim, while third prizes went to the English artist Claire Harvey for her drawings and to sculptor Maartje Korstanje.
HOCKNEY DEFENDS SMOKING
The English artist David Hockney, who recently celebrated his seventieth birthday, is scandalized by the public smoking ban that recently took effect across England on July 1. Taking his cause to Germany, the artist has penned a lively editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. While bemoaning the public's compliance (and lack of pleasure in disobeying the ban), the artist predicts a future increase in the consumption of prescribed drugs, from painkillers to Prozac, to offset the nicotine.
Taking himself as an example, Hockney insists that smoking may be helpful—not hazardous—to one's health. "Two months ago, I began working on the largest painting that I had ever created—4.5 by 12 meters [14.8 x 39.4 feet]," writes the artist. "At the same moment, I realized that I was hurrying up the stairs (smoking). And it became clear to me that some people are more in tune with life energies than others."