Critics of an urban improvement effort in the South Korean capital that requires developers to provide public art say the law generated too many works that many find objectionable. Recently the law was changed and under the new guidelines developers have a choice: they can commission a piece of art, or they can donate the money (1% of the cost of the building) to a government-administered public art fund. While this is likely to address many of the issues surrounding the public art scheme and the proliferation of artworks (sometimes less is more) the question remains: what does Seoul do with all the unwanted art that dominates the cityscape. Read more…
Image: Frank Stella's Amabel stands in front of a South Korean steel company in Seoul, caught up in the controversy surrounding public art

Are the collectors who spend thousands on conceptual works crazy – or on the cutting edge? Read more…

The plan to build a Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth received a boost today with the announcement by the The Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Christopher Finlayson, that a $4m grant has been approved from the Government's Regional Museums Policy for Capital Construction Costs. The new centre is to be designed by the New Zealand architectural firm of Patterson Associates.  
Image: Len Lye, Self Portrait (With Night Tree), 1947

Following the public opening of Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animal/Zodiac Heads at the Pulitzer Fountain, New York's Asia Society is set to open a large show of his photographic work, featuring 227 photos he took during his New York days. The exhibition runs from 29 June to 14 August 2011. Read more…

Dedicated to 91 victims of a 17th century witch hunt in Vardo, The Witches of Finnmark Memorial is a collaboration between artist Louise Bourgeois and architect Peter Zumthor. Set to open on the 23rd of June, the monument is located at Steilneset in Vardo, the place where the burning of the vast majority of the witches occurred.

Inside a glass cube designed by Zumthor, Bourgeois' sculpture The Damned, The Possessed and The Beloved (2007 – 2010), is made up of a flaming chair surrounded by a ring of oval mirrors. A second building by Zumthor, made of wood and fabric and 125 meters long, has one illuminated window for each for the victims burnt at the stake.

In an interview on the collaboration, Peter Zumthor said: “The result is really about two things – there is the line, which is mine, and a dot, which is hers… Louise's installation is more about the burning and the aggression, and my installation is more about the life and emotions [of the victims].”
Image: Memorial in memory of the victims of witch trials by Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois, Steilneset

The first painting in Billy Apple's From the Collection series was commissioned by the Bank of New Zealand in 1988. Since then it has attracted a broad range of corporate, public and private clientele such as Fletcher Challenge, Victoria University of Wellington and Jenny Gibbs. Each work in the series is commissioned by the collector and operates both as a text-based portrait and a frontispiece for their collection.

Recently, art collectors Jeffrey Lai and Michelle Soo commissioned the first work to be executed in Chinese. Along with a companion piece in English, From the Lai Soo Collection was exhibited by Starkwhite at ART HK from 26 – 29 May 2011.
Image: Billy Apple, From the Lai Soo Collection (2011), UV impregnated ink on canvas, 430 x 270 mm

The Venice Biennale has announced the awards for its 54th edition. The Golden Lion for the best national pavilion went to Germany, represented this year by Christoph Schlingensief, who died last August. The Golden Lion for the best artist went to Christian Marclay for his piece The Clock, 2010, on display at the Arsenale.

After almost 25 years of critical sniping, Australia's pavilion at the Venice Biennale will finally be replaced. Even the pavilion architect Philip Cox is on record as urging that the original was intended to be a temporary structure only.

Australia Council Chairman James Strong said in Venice that a new pavilion design will be selected by invitation from a small hand-selected group of Australian architects with a brief to produce a functional exhibition space that works for the artist and complies with Venetian authorities' requirements.
Image: The existing Australian pavilion in Venice, designed in 1988 by Philip Cox a temporary structure

In an age of shrinking state support, the Venice Biennale has found new ways to generate revenue. This year the the Biennale will fund 87% of its operations. 

Future Pass – From Asia to the World is part of the Collateral Events programme at this year's Venice Biennale. Curated by Victoria Lu, Renzo di Renzo and Felix Schober, the exhibition features works from more than 100 artists, including Hye Rim Lee. She is also represented in the second edition of Glasstress in the Collateral Events programme.

Magnus Renfrew, director of ART HK 11, talks about the changing nature of the fair and the appetites of Chinese and Asia-Pacific collectors. Play video

ART HK opened last night with a lively vernissage. Predictably, the direction the fair will take under its new owners was the subject of many conversations. The early signs are promising for those hoping the fair will retain its distinctive point of difference. Speaking by telephone from Switzerland, Art Basel co-director Marc Spiegler said: “We are not interested in copying and pasting the same fair on three locations. Along with the greater interest in China, we are looking at many rising markets from Australia and New Zealand, to Singapore and Indonesia. The Asian market is developing so quickly, it's hard to say what it will look like in five years.” Read more…

“Henry with these (and earlier) works is combining a contrived invisibility with cultivated exhibitionism. Intro- and extra- version seamlessly blended.” Read more…

In the May/June 2011 issue of Flash Art, Mercedes Vicente talks to Dane Mitchell about his recent work and how it engages with the notion of the 'vapourous' — teetering on the edge of the invisible, making the intangible tangible.