October 6 | Some artists fare better than others

Article
As time goes by, artists begin to think about their posterity; for some, plans go smoothly ahead, whereas other have to abandon ambitious projects. In other news, Sotheby’s contemporary art sale realized £50 million, whereas Nissan has awarded its biennial art award.

The Marina Abramović Institute is no longer happening...

In 2013, the artist had launched a Kickstarter campaign and managed to raise $660,000 to fund the creation of the Marina Abramović institute in a former 33,000 square foot theatre in New York.

The grandmother of performance art had hired architect Rem Koolhaas to redesign the building, but during a talk held at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Abramović has announced that the foundation will not see the light of day; construction works have been in fact estimated at a staggering $31 million by Koolhaas. More via The Art Newspaper.

 

(Still from rice counting exercise animation created by Arianna Vairo)

 

 

 

London will have a Gilbert & George Foundation

The British duo have announced plans to convert a former brewery in Brick Lane — which they acquired for £5 million — into a foundation dedicated to their work. The 6,000 square foot space will open in 2009. Gilbert & George’s archive will remain in the East End at 12 Fournier Street, where the artists have lived since the 1960s. Read more on The Art Newspaper.

 

Gilbert (right) and George plan to host large-scale shows in the building David Owens

 

 

 

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale delivers, despite Basquiat flop

Although Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Bronze (1982) — estimated at between £5 and £7 million — failed to sell, Sotheby’s sale of contemporary art sale in London on October 5 realized £50.3 million, well above the low pre-sale estimate of £43.6 million. 88% of lots sold for an auction led by Cy Twombly’s Untitled, (1962) which fetched £6.4 million. A 1988 painting by David Hockney went for £6 million, whereas Greifbar 26 by Wolfgang Tillmans realized £548,750. A new record was set for artist Josef Albers, whose Homage to the Square: Temperate (1957) sold for £2.29, twice its pre-sale estimate. More via Artnews.

 

Cy Twombly’s Untitled (1962) sold for £6.4 million ($8.40 million). COURTESY SOTHEBY’S

 

 


The Nissan Art Award goes to Hikaru Fujii

Awarded every two years to an emerging Japanese artist, the 2017 Nissan Art Award went to artist Hikaru Fujii. (Born 1976) Fujii was chosen among fellow finalists Fujii, Ryuichi Ishikawa, Yuichiro Tamura and Nami Yokoyama, chosen by a New York jury last May.

The laureate, whose work “broaches an extremely complex period of Japanese history from around when the nation started to interact with other cultures”, will benefit from a three-month residency at New York’s International Studio & Curatorial Program. Each of the four finalists will receive a prize money towards the production of a new work. Works by the finalists will also be on show at Yokohama’s BankART Studio NYK until November 5. E-flux has more information.