Galleries
Berlin’s Esther Schipper gallery is moving into a new, larger space in the heart of the city’s growing gallery district at Potsdamer Strasse.
Designed by Selldorf Architects in collaboration with s1 architektur. The space will open during Berlin’s Gallery Weekend on April 28, with two solo exhibitions. One, entitled “Take Over,” will feature sound and video installations and a large-scale drawing project by Albanian artist Anri Sala, and the second, titled “Heavy Metal Body,” features the work of Canadian YBA-generation artist Angela Bulloch. Further details via artnet News.
Art world powerhouse PACE Gallery, which has spaces in New York, London, Hong Kong, and California, is opening an outpost in Seoul next week.
With the addition of the Korean gallery, PACE will now have ten exhibition spaces around the world, setting it apart from other gallery empires such as Gagosian and David Zwirner which are yet to plant a space on Korean soil. Located in Seoul’s Yongsan district, Pace’s new gallery will open with an exhibition of ten international artists set to run from March 4 through April 29. More information via ARTnews.
London’s Tyburn Gallery now represents Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor.
Ehikhamenor’s wide ranging practice encompasses painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation. His work draws upon the two cultural and spiritual traditions which informed his upbringing: the traditional religion from the Edo region of Nigeria, and Catholicism. He will be one of the four artists exhibited in the first ever Nigerian pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale. Read the announcement here.
Victor Ehikhamenor — courtesy Tyburn Gallery
Magazzino announces first exhibition
Magazzino, a new center for Italian postwar and contemporary art located just north of New York, has announced its inaugural show.
The institution will open on June 28 with an exhibition exploring the legacy of Margherita Stein, a late Italian dealer primarily connected with artists from the Arte Povera movement. The show will look at Italian artists who were associated with Stein and her influential Turin gallery, including Alighiero Boetti, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Jannis Kounellis. Located in the town of Cold Spring on the Hudson River, Magazzino will consist of a two-building, 18,000-square-foot campus. Read more on ARTnews.
NGV Triennial line-up
The NGV Triennial has announced details of its inaugural edition, which will open in Melbourne in December 2017.
Featuring the work of 60 artists and designers from across 30 countries, the triennial “explores cutting edge technologies, architecture, animation, performance, film, painting, drawing, fashion design, tapestry and sculpture.” Featured on the list are two artists that H A P P E N I N G interviewed: the Australian painter Ben Quilty and Mexican installation artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. See the full list of artists via the triennial’s website.
Ben Quilty — photo via NGV Triennial
China reigns supreme
According to Artprice’s annual report, global art sales plummeted in 2016 as the number of high-value works sold dropped by 50%, while China regained its status as the world's top market.
Art auctions worldwide totalled $12.5 billion (11.8 billion euros) last year, down 22 percent from $16.1 billion in 2015. China totaled the highest sales and "established itself clearly as the superpower" in the words of the report. After five years of dominance, the country was overtaken as the top art market by the United States in 2015, but a year returned to the top spot with $4.8 billion in auction sales, accounting for 38% of total world sales. More information on artdaily.
Success for Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s has reported a fourth-quarter profit, with New York shares rising by as much as 15%.
According to the auction house, net income was $65.5 million, compared with a loss of $11.2 million a year earlier. “Our fourth quarter 2016 results came in better than expected largely due to a number of strong fourth-quarter sales,” Chief Executive Officer Tad Smith said in a statement. “These results reflect growing confidence in the market as collectors responded enthusiastically to the great collections and works we secured for sale.” Revenue was boosted by sales such the London auction of David Bowie’s collection last November, in which all 356 works of art and design were sold, realizing $41.1 million. Bloomberg has all the details.
