Author: conte

HELSINKI.- The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture has given the AVEK award to artist-curator Juha Huuskonen. The award for media art and currently worth EUR 15,000, was given at the season opening of AVEK in Media Centre Lume. The AVEK award was presented for the sixth time. Helsinki-based Juha Huuskonen (1974) is not only a media artist, but also a producer and curator of media art events. He is a founding member and the first chair of the katastro.fi organzation founded in 1998. In 2000, Huuskonen was one of the founders of Avanto, a festival for experimental music and film, and between 2002 and 2003 he developed Nordic media art residence opportunities together with NIFCA. In 2002, he and Petri Lievonen founded the Pixelache electronic art festival, which Huuskonen has also curated. In addition, Huuskonen curated the Master of Arts Festival (MoA) for the University of Art and Design Helsinki in 2009. The most recent examples of Huuskonen’s own media artworks are “Mouse

AMSTERDAM.- The internationally oriented visuals arts exhibition “Niet Normaal * Difference on Display” will kick off in December 2009 at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam. “Niet Normaal �� Difference on Display” is aimed at the general public. The central question posed by this original and ambitious campaign is: what is normal and who decides? The urgency of this social theme, as well as confidence in the renewed vision of the project, is reflected in the fact that the financing of the project is nearly complete. “Niet Normaal” has a broad base of support, including from the major culture subsidies, charity funds, the business sector, opinion leaders, social institutions and, of course, the internationally renowned artists who have unconditionally agreed to participate, often with their latest work. Such support says something about contemporary society��s need for vision and engagement. What is normal and who decides? “Niet Normaal” questions norm

LONDON.- East Central will present an exhibition curated by Nour Wali of collaborative works by Iranian artists Shoja Azari and Shahram Karimi, showcasing for the first time in a London gallery their revolutionary artistic approach, which intertwines the media of painting and video. Five artworks from the so-called “Oil Series” will surround viewers, re-creating a cinematic experience through the canvases’ glow of mesmerising colours. Referring to the first Gulf War, and presented in the darkened subterranean floor of East Central, the “Oil Series” depicts scenes of deserts aflame, with fires scorching the skies, smoke bellowing in the wind, a soldier disappearing into misty horizons and tanks reining over ashen land. The works sample images from Werner Herzog’s film “Lessons of Darkness”, with scenes slowed, edited and reframed by Azari, projected as brief looping videos onto

LOS ANGELES, CA.- United States Artists (USA), the national grant-making and advocacy organization, announced the recipients of 50 USA Fellowships for 2009, totaling $2.5 million, at a celebration at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. This event marks the fourth consecutive year of the USA Fellows program, which annually awards fifty unrestricted grants of $50,000 to artists of all disciplines from across the country. The USA Fellows for 2009 hail from 18 states and range in age from 28 to 82. Chosen for the caliber and impact of their work, they include contemporary experimenters and traditional practitioners—Pueblo potters, feminist performance pioneers, cutting-edge fashion designers, independent radio artists, and folk musicians, among others. The evening also paid tribute to Eli and Edythe Broad for their leadership in and generosity to the arts in Los Angeles and nationwide. When USA launched in 2006, the Br

LONDON.- A clock dating to around 1670 has sold for £400,000 at Bonhams New Bond Street sale of Fine Clocks and Barometers on 15th December. The final total for the sale reached almost £2,000,000. James Stratton, Head of Bonhams Clock Department says: “This is a fantastic result. This clock was made while the ashes from the great fire of London were still cooling. Impeccable provenance, rarity and immaculate construction all make this a collector’s piece and a fantastic investment. The best of the best will continue to demand a premium price – which has proven to be the story of this recession. “The estimate of £100,000 – £150,000 paid tribute to the lot’s historical value but even we were surprised by the level of interest. Without doubt, had this clock been known to the great horological historians of the past, it would have featured in many of the standard reference works and exhibitions as a wonderful, la

ROME (AP).- Authorities say a magnitude 4.2 earthquake has shaken the Italian region of Umbria but caused no injuries. Towns in the province of Perugia reported buildings lightly damaged by the temblor, monitored by Italy’s national institute of geophysics. Italy’s agriculture minister said Tuesday 600 people were evacuated until their homes can be inspected. Mayors of several hamlets ordered schools closed Wednesday for inspections. Video of the city of Perugia showed bricks in the street and some damage to walls. The American student Amanda Knox, convicted this month of murdering her British roommate, is in Capanne prison outside Perugia. In April, a quake hit the Abruzzo region in central Italy, killing about 300 and leaving tens of thousands of homeless.

PARIS (AP).- A section of the Eiffel Tower’s original staircase has sold for euro105,400 ($154,380) in an auction of Paris memorabilia. The 40 painted iron steps had been estimated at a much lower price, euro50,000-euro60,000. Organizers of the Paris auction say Gustave Eiffel himself climbed the stairs during the 1889 inauguration of the monument to plant the French flag atop the tower. The famed French auction house Drouot says a pair of benches from the Paris Metro dating to the late 19th or early 20th century fetched euro22,320. A hexagonal wooden newspaper kiosk sold for euro14,260. Monday’s auction, dubbed “Paris Mon Amour,” brought in a total of

SAINT LOUIS, MO.- The Saint Louis Art Museum today announced that it is proceeding with its ambitious $130.5 million expansion project, following a one-year delay. Once begun, construction is anticipated to take approximately two years. The Museum will remain open to the public during construction of the new David Chipperfield-designed addition. “The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of our region’s most valuable cultural assets,” said John D. Weil, president of the Museum’s Board of Commissioners. “This expansion is our generation’s contribution to the future of this great St. Louis institution.” The more

MIAMI BEACH, FL.- The Wolfsonian–Florida International University presents “Women’s Work / Men’s Work: Labor and Gender in America”, an exhibition that explores how the sexual division of labor in America has been represented in art, propaganda, and advertising. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, is on view in The Wolfsonian Teaching Gallery at The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University from January 20 through April 25, 2010. Until relatively recently, notions of the

BOGOTA (EFE).- The Fernando Botero Prize will no longer be given out due to the artist’s recent comments about juries and the quality of the works that won the award, Fundacion Jovenes Artistas Colombianos director Maria Elvira Pardo told the press. The decision to stop handing out the prize, which carried a $50,000 cash award, was made by the foundation’s management council several days ago, the El Tiempo newspaper reported on its Web site. The foundation cited Botero’s statements to Arcadia magazine that he was unhappy because the winning works “seemed very bad” as the reason for its decision. Colombia’s most famous painter, known worldwide for his depiction of