Documenta’s curators respond to accusations of financial mismanagement
Adam Szymczyk and 19 fellow curators responsible for this year’s edition of documenta have penned a joint statement responding to allegations of financial mismanagement.
The statement rejected allegations that organizers led the event to the brink of bankruptcy by irresponsibly spending taxpayers’ money, with the curators pointing out that “Unfortunately, politicians have prompted the media upheaval by disseminating an image of imminent bankruptcy of documenta and at the same time presented themselves as the ‘saviors’ of a crisis they themselves allowed to develop” and adding that “The money flowing into the city through the making of documenta greatly exceeds the amount the city and region spend on the exhibition.” More via artnet news.
Berlin: the capital of Street Art
The new Berlin-based Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art will open on September 16 on the city’s Bülowstraße. A team of ten curators, led by Yasha Young, has selected a group of 100 artists — including Shephard Fairey, Olek, Fintan Magee and Lora Zombie — who have created original works for the new institution. The building’s façade will also be decorated with new works as part of the inauguration. More via the museum’s official website.
Sotheby’s sale of Mario Testino's collection proves a success
Tomma Abts, Zaarke (2000). Courtesy of Sotheby’s London.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sotheby’s London held the first installment of its planned sale of some 320 works from the collection of photographer Mario Testino.
The sale, driven by strong American telephone bidding, proved a success: 35 out of the 39 lots sold and the auction came in at £6.3 million, above its high estimation of £5.8 million. The auction included a day sale of lower-priced works and an online sale, which closes today.
The sale was led by Michael Borremans’s painting Two (2004), which fetched £872.750 — three times its high estimate. BLUE SAUNA (2003) by Adriana Varejão sold for £488.750, whilst Tomma Abts’s painting Zaarke (2000), estimated between £25,000 and £35.000 went for a staggering £118.750. Ugo Rondinone’s dreizehnterseptemberzweitausendundnull (2000) fetched £187,500. More on the sale via Sotheby’s.
German painter Axel Kasseböhmer has passed away
Known for his landscapes, Kasseböhmer, born in Herne in 1952, passed away on September 9 following a long-term illness.
Works by the artist, who is represented by Sprüth Magers, are part of the collections of Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt and Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle. Axel Kasseböhmer attended Düsseldorf’s Kunstakademie along fellow students Joseph Beuys and Gerhard Richter. More information on the artist is available via Sprüth Magers.
Axel Kasseböhmer, LANDSCHAFT BRAUN, GELB II, 1993, © Sprüth Magers
