Uta Meta Bauer has been appointed the founding director of Singapore's Centre for Contemporary Art. She comes to the CCA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was an associate professor of visual art, and has served previously as artistic director of the third edition of the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2004 and was a member of the curatorial team for Documenta 11, which was overseen by Okwui Enwezor in 2002.

Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line – Entrance continues at Starkwhite to 31 October. You can read a review of the show here.

This link takes you to ARTINFO's Frieze week in pictures.

Following his exit as director of Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art, Jeffrey Deitch is planning his next move – a bid to create a hybrid between a museum mounting exhibitions geared to a general audience , and a galley that doesn't have to deal with the complex institutional issues that come with running a non-profit museum. The idea going forward he said is to continue doing big, museum-scale shows but without the institutional constraints.

Deitch is talking to potential collaborators who would help fund his venture, among them AEG, the LA-based entertainment company that has an arts and exhibitions division. He is also looking for a venue in New York for his new venture.
Image: Jeffrey Deitch

This link takes you to a review of our current exhibition Assembly Line – Entrance by Li Xiaofei

At the 11th hour, Senate leaders have reached a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling, setting in train a race against the clock to pass the deal through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-controlled Senate in time for Barrack Obama to sign it before midnight on Thursday.

But it's a short-term fix that reopens government and raises the debt ceiling until early next year when the next round of political brinksmanship is likely to begin all over again, which would further undermine confidence in the US economic recovery and long-term viability of the dollar as the world's reserve currency – a prospect that has prompted business magnate Warren Buffett to call on both sides not to use the debt limit as a “political weapon of mass destruction.”

You can follow the passage of the deal (and commentary) live here.
Image: The US Capitol

Two New Zealand curators are heading to Asia with the support of Creative New Zealand and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Vera Mey, the assistant director of AUT University's ST PAUL St Gallery, will spend a month in Japan, Korea and Singapore and Emma Bugden, senior curator of Lower Hutt's Dowse Art Museum, will travel to Japan, Korea and China for a three week tour. Both curators aim to further develop their networks in the region and pursue projects initiated from earlier tours.
Images: Vera May (top) and Emma Bugden (bottom)

The IMA has appointed co-directors to replace Robert Leonard who returns to New Zealand in the New Year to take up the chief curator's position at the City Gallery, Wellington. Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh join the IMA from their previous post as co-directors of the Centre for Contemporary Art Derry-Londonderry where they are part of the curatorial team for the 2013 Turner Prize.
Image: Johan Lundh and Aileen Burns 

New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has become the youngest winner of the prestigious Man Brooker Prize. Her novel The Luminaries won the fiction writing award which comes with a cheque for 50,000 pounds.
Image: Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize

In an article posted on the New York Times blog, Bruce Bartlett says the Obama administration and those on Wall Street have long thought the prospect of a default was so horrifying that it would necessarily lead to resolution of the current impasse. “What I don't think they understand is that there has been a movement underway for some years among right-wing economists and activists not merely to default on the debt, but even to repudiate it,” he says. Read more…
Image: US National Debt Clock (detail)

The Arts Foundation of New Zealand held its annual awards in Auckland last night. The Todd Family received the Patronage Award for their extraordinary support of the arts in New Zealand (the Todd Foundation's $3m contribution to the Len Lye Centre is the largest private donation ever made to the arts in New Zealand), Laurence Aberhart received a $50,000 Laureate Award and Kushana Bush picked up a $25,000 New Generation Award.
Image: Laurence Aberhart's Mt Taranaki

Simon Rees returns to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 2014 – this time as director (he was a curator at the gallery during Greg Burke's directorship). Currently Head of Curatorial Development at MAK, the Austrian Museum of Applied Art, Rees brings a wealth of international experience to the position. In 2007 he curated the award winning Lithuanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale with artists Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas and in 2011 he was the lead curator for the 15th Tallinn Triennial: FOR LOVE NOT MONEY. He is also a regular contributor to frieze and frieze d/e.

Frieze is cutting back this year. The number of galleries has been reduced from 175 last year to 152, tickets have been cut by 20%, including VIPS, and organisers are downplaying the fair's party scene rated as second only to Art Basel Miami Beach. The cutbacks are meant to “make the fair more luxurious,” says Frieze co-founder and co-director Amanda Sharp responding to concerns that crowds of window shoppers and parties get in the way of sales.

Earlier this year, Billy Apple was in Hong Kong for The Immortalisation of Billy Apple®, an art/science project by Apple and artist/scientist Craig Hilton presented by Starkwhite at the first edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, where he caught up with Hans Ulrich Obrist. Last week they met again in London where Obrist is conducting an interview with Apple for his epic anthology The Interview Project.
Image: Billy Apple at Serpentine Gallery's new restaurant designed by Zaha Hadid.

Supporters of the Len Lye Centre, which was given the green light by the New Plymouth District Council during Harry Duynhoven's time as Mayor, will be wondering what to make of the election results. Dynhoven was trounced by incoming Mayor Andrew Judd, a vocal opponent of the Centre, and councillors John McLeod and Shaun Biesiek, who teamed up with Judd to oppose the project, were re-elected. The Len Lye Centre team took a hit with the loss of Lance Girling-Butcher (chair of the Council's Len Lye Committee) and Maurice Betts and Phil Quinney (both advocates for the Centre) who were not re-elected.
Image: Len Lye, Rainbow Dance (1936) film still

Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line – Entrance continues at Starkwhite to 29 October.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line – Entrance, installation view, Starkwhite

In a piece in the eMagazine World Architects, this drawing of the McCahon House, designed by Bossley Architects for use as an artists residency programme, was part of a compilation of material to illustrate the value of hand-drawn sketches in the age of computers. A hardline elevation and a looser depiction of landscape over a photograph of trees and the sloping site, accentuate the design for a low-impact residence set among the trees and alongside the historic cottage that Colin McCahon lived and worked in from 1953 – 1960.

Sadly the Kauri trees that were a source of inspiration for the artist have been hit by Kauri Dieback disease. Many are in a state of decline and two have been removed, highlighting the need for continuing research and action to strop the spread of the disease.
Images: architectural drawing of the McCahon House and studio by Bossley Architectects and photograph by Patrick Reynolds

Growing investor fears that Washington could miss a payment on its debt has led to a surge in the market for derivatives that insure against a US default. The Financial Times says the average daily trading of credit default swaps (CDS) which give investors protection on US government debt, has jumped to €150m in the past week from about €1.5m in recent months.

The spike in trading activity is unusual for US sovereign CDS, which is traditionally a very thinly traded market, as traders often say buying protection on the possibility of the US government restructuring or defaulting on its debt, is akin to buying insurance for the end of the world.

Tacita Dean's FILM, shot in 35mm film for the Tate Modern's vast Engine Hall, is showing at ACCA as part of the Melbourne Festival (10 October – 24 November).

In a recent article in the The Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Stephens updates readers on the artist's mission to resist “technological determinism' and save film from obsolescence in the digital age.

In 2006 Dean made a film about the Kodak factory in France, using soon-to-be-obselete film stock – and the place closed down shortly after. Since then, she's found it increasingly difficult to source film stock and get it processed and to get people in authority to understand why it is so glorious.

News that Venice has been added to the World Monument Fund's Watch List of heritage sites at risk has been welcomed by parties set of preserving the city for future generations. Cruise ship tourism has been identified as one of the most significant threats as visitors flock to the city. Visitor numbers have increased by 400% within the past five years and during the peak season an average of 20,000 tourists pour into the city's streets and squares each day.

Jae Hoon Lee will travel to Indonesia in the New Year to take up a two-month residency at the Cemeti Art House before moving to New York for a six-month residency under the International Studio and Curatorial Programme.

Kaleidoscope has announced the release of a special edition dedicated to contemporary art from the Asia Pacific region. The issue includes a piece on Seung Yul Oh whose practice is seen by Emma Bugden as blurring the lines of art and play.

Curated by Celine Poulin for the Ville de Clermont Ferrand, Brigadoon includes Alicia Frankovich's Man Walked on the Moon, on loan from the Chartwell Collection, which is housed at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. [You can see images of works in the show here.]

2013 is proving to be a big year for Frankovich who has featured in: Unknown Forces curated by Sunjung Kim for Tophane-i Amire Culture and Arts Centre (Istanbul); The Real Thing, curated by Antonia Glampi and Jason Waite for Palais de Tokyo (Paris); The Anne Landa Award: The Space Between Us curated by Charloette Day for the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney) and Direct Democracy curated by Geraldine Barlow for Monash Museum of Art (Melbourne).

She is also in the lineup of speakers for the fifth edition of the annual seminar series Three Uses of the Knife, which will explore the way new economies, formats and strategies shape contemporary performance-related art.

The Serpentine will stage the 89plus Marathon, the 8th Festival of Ideas on 18/19 October. Conceived of by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Marathon brings together a diverse array of world-leading figures to investigate a topic from a variety of angles and over a two-day period. Past Marathons have covered subjects ranging from Manifestos (2008) and Maps (2010) to Memory (2012).

This year's Marathon takes its name from the multi-platform research project 89plus, co-founded by Obrist and Simon Castets, which investigates innovative work by the generation born in or after 1989. The event will look to the future considering how the internet and new social and economic networks are changing the world as we know it. Some of the brightest lights of this generation will consider what he future will look like and, more crucially, who will determine that future.

For the first time, an online 89plus Clubhouse, hosted by HP Cloud, will enable remote participation from around the world.

Billy Apple®: NewYork 1970-75 is showing at The Mayor Gallery, London to 28 October. It is Apple's second show at the gallery and follows Billy Apple®: British and American Works 1960-1969.
Image: invitation image for Billy Apple®: New York 1970-75

The US budget standoff continues this week with both sides trading blame for the shutdown that has brought much of the government to a standstill, raising fears about the possibility of a US default. Republican House Speaker John Boehner vowed on Sunday not to raise the debt ceiling without addressing what is driving the debt, while Democrats said it was irresponsible and reckless to raise the possibility of a US default. Asked if his comments meant the United States was headed towards a default if President Obama did not negotiate ahead of a October 17 deadline to raise the debt ceiling, Boehner said: “That's the path we are on.” Read more…

Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, the driving force behind the plan to turn her country into a cultural destination, has launched a new website covering arts, style, living and sport in Qatar. You can visit the site here.
Image: Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar

Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line – Entrance continues at Starkwhite to 29 October.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line – Entrance, video still, Starkwhite

A Chinese billionaire plans to build a replica of Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace on the site it occupied in South London in 1854. The Palace was relocated from Hyde Park to Sydenham in 1854, but burned down in 1936. With the backing of Mayor Boris Johnson, Ni Zhaoxing, chairman of property development firm ZhongRong Group, is investing £500m in the project, which is described as a “culture-led exhibition space” that will include a hotel and conference facilities, studios, galleries and other commercial units.
Image: Crystal Palace after it was built in 1851

The troubled art fund industry is still in the doldrums says The Art Newspaper. Further closures, a slow fundraising environment and lower-than-expected returns are compounding the effects of the credit crunch, which had already claimed several victims.

Of the 36 funds that Noah Horowitz, now director of The Armory Show, lists in the apendix to his 2011 book Art of the Deal, ten had closed by the time his book was published and a fruther seven have since been abandoned.

Managers of funds that have survided say they have learned from their mistakes. Philip Hoffman who runs Fine Art Fund Group, ostensibly the most successful art investment group, says that he has to realisitic about the net returns of his first fund (launched in 2004), which is expected to be around 6%, despite gross returns of nearly 19%. He says that administrative costs and currency fluctuations had a bigger impact than expected and that “my mistake was investing long term in old masters, which have done nothing.” Read more…

Washington and international officials have raised the alarm on a potentially disastrous clash over the US debt limit as Democrats and Republicans remain no closer to reolving the budget feud that has shut down much of government. If Congress fails to raise the borrowing cap by mid October, the US could default on its obligations for the first time and send shock waves across the world.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says: “The government shutdown is bad enough, but failure to raise the debt ceiling would be far worse, and could very seriously damage not only the US economy, but the entire global economy.” And the US Treasury has also warned that failure to raise the debt ceiling could spark a new recession even worse than the one Americans are still recovering from.

So why are Republicans set on taking the US to the brink of financial catastrophe again? Paul Krugman says the party's delusional wing either don't understand what is at stake, or don't care. Read more…

Li Xiaofei's exhibition Assembly Line – Entrance opens at Starkwhite today with a reception at 6pm.
Image: Li Xaiofei, Assembly Line – Entrance, installation view, Starkwhite

The world's first inflatable concert hall was launched in Japan this week. Designed by Anish Kapoor and architect Arata Isozaki, Ark Nova seats 500 and includes a multistage format which can accommodate various events from orchestra to chamber music, jazz , performing arts or art exhibitions. The membrane can be folded up and loaded onto a lorry, allowing it to be used as a pop up venue in Northern Japan, the area devastated by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami in March 2011.
Image: Art Nova designed by Anish Kapoor and Arata Isozaki

Our next exhibition, Assembly Line – Entrance by Shanghai-based artist Li Xiaofei, opens on Thursday 3 October at 6pm.
Image: Projection still from Li Xiaofei's Assembly Line – Entrance

The next Kaldor Public Art Project is Measuring the Universe by Slovakian artist Roman Ondak. The artwork begins as a plain white space and every visitor has their height measured and marked directly onto the wall in black marker, alongside their name, eventually creating a dense black band of names around the space.

“I think the beauty is in the simplicity and how he takes an idea that's been around for centuries and turns it into an artwork,” says Kaldor, who admits to measuring the heights of his own children growing up.

The work, which has previously been staged at MOMA, will be staged in Parramatta Town Hall during next year's Sydney Festival.
Image: installation view of Roman Ondak's Measuring the Universe

You get one chance to make a good first impression and Sydney Contemporary nailed it with the first edition of Australia's newest art fair. Staged at Sydney's historic Carriageworks, it was launched last week with a vernissage attracting over 12,000 guests and a final attendance figure of just under 30,000. Galleries reported better-than-expected sales over the three-day event and gallerists were saying they would be back for the second edition in 2015.

Sydney Contemporary will be staged every two years, alternating with the Melbourne Art Fair, but Melbourne will now be under pressure to lift its game as many of the gallerists at Sydney Contemporary said the fair at Carriageworks should be an annual event.
Image: Seung Yul Oh's Huggong (Variation 1), Installation Contemporary, curated by Aaron Seeto for Sydney Contemporary

Our next exhibition, Assembly Line – Entrance by Shanghai-based artist Li Xiaofei, runs from 2 – 28 October.
Image: Projection still from Li Xiaofei's Assembly Line – Entrance

Our current show,Vagabond by John Reynolds, closes tomorrow at 3pm.
Image: Installation view of John Reynolds' Vagabond exhibition at Starkwhite