The Show Must Go On for Pinchuk and Manifesta; Not So Much, Voina

Countdown to the Future Generation Art Prize

Only five days remain until the close of the Pinchuk Art Centre‘s biennial Future Generation Art Prize. While escalating tensions around Ukraine had us wondering if the show would indeed go on – after all, the Kyiv biennale, to be curated by springerin‘s Georg Schöllhammer and Hedwig Saxenhuber, has been bumped to 2015 – today the FGAP affirmed its intent to press on, by announcing the members of its Selection Committee, who will be tasked with narrowing down the applications before they reach the final jury. As part of the fun, each of the jury members proposed one person for the selection committee:

• Raphael Chikukwa – Chief curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) Proposed by Bisi Silva;
• Sun Dongdong – independent curator (China) Proposed by Philip Tinari;
• Björn Geldhof – Deputy Artistic Director of the PinchukArtCentre (Ukraine) Proposed by Eckhard Schneider;
• Simon Castets – Director of Swiss Institute (USA) Proposed by Fransesco Bonami;
• Giacinto di Pietrantonio – Director of the GAMeC (Italy) Proposed by Jan Fabre;
• Taiyana Pimentel Paradoa – Director of Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros-La Tallera (Mexico) Proposed by Doris Salcedo;  
• David Riff – independent artist, writer and curator (Germany) Proposed by Adam Szymczyk.

 Remember, applications are due April 30. To apply, click here.

 

Manifesta 10 Unveils its Public Program

In the meantime, Manifesta 10 has decided to press on as well, announcing the details for the Public Program, curated by Joanna Warsza. According to the release, the program will range from time-based works by Ragnar Kjartansson, Deimantas Narkevičius and Slavs and Tatars, to events with thinkers, writers and curators like  Kathrin Becker, Katya Degot, Aaron Schuster and Mierle Laderman Ukeles. [Find the full list here.]

 

Last week, Petersburgers got their first taste of what’s to come, when artist Elena Kovylina (known for her willingness to take things to the very extreme, with performances that include testing her own endurance for vodka, pain and ballroom dancing, convincing everyone she had drowned, and kidnapping her assistant) reenacted a (slightly) gentler action, having volunteers stand on boxes outside the courtyard of the Winter Palace. The action is called Egalite.

A view of Elena Kovylina’s Egalite, performed April 19, 2014, outside the Hermitage

And Now a Word from our Sponsors: Voina defends the Crimean  Occupation

As real war (“voina,” in Russia), seems more and more present, we realized it’s been a while since we’ve heard from Voina. Once commanding international attention after their drawbridge highjinks, now the group is better known as Pussy Riot‘s male consorts. Today, we were reminded of their existence, when Artguide reported that the self-proclaimed leader (Voina, like real war, has many factions) Oleg Vorotnikov had penned a letter withdrawing from the Amsterdam-based festival OPENBORDER, claiming to take issue with the anti-Russian attitude of the organizers. While the festival’s rhetoric takes a stand against the occupation of Crimea, Vorotnikov writes that Voina feels differently: “We are delighted that Crimea has joined Russia, and we are happy for the Crimeans. I haven’t been this proud of my country in a long time.” [The full letter can be read here, in Russian.]

Voina pro Putin. We didn’t see that one coming.