STOCKHOLM Marabouparken It may seem unorthodox and even premature to stage a retrospective of a career that has only lasted for 13 years, but then Uglycute, the Swedish art and design collective, is neither conventional nor concerned with timeliness. Furthermore, the four members of Uglycute—Markus Degerman, Andreas Nobel, Jonas Nobel, and Fredrik Stenberg—have created such a vast number of furniture pieces, exhibition designs, and environments that their retrospective was both rich and rewarding.
Akio Takamori and Tip Toland
NEW YORK Barry Friedman Ltd. Akio Takamori and Tip Toland are both figurative clay artists, but any similarity between them ends there. Takamori is a lyrically inclined, Japanese-born sculptor who now teaches at the University of Washington, while Toland is a hyperrealist from Seattle who specializes in portraying the elderly.
Elias Crespin
NEW YORK Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. Elias Crespin is a 21st-century wizard in a virtual Oz. In “Parallels,” the New York debut of his kinetic sculpture, he dazzled viewers with works consisting of simple lines and shapes. At first glance, they appeared to be suspended in space, their movements the whim of a capricious breeze. But nature was nowhere present.
“Art Unlimited”
BASEL Art Basel Franz West’s attention-grabbing Gekröse introduced the “Art Unlimited” section of Art Basel with a colorful flourish. The monumental, anthropomorphic form in eye-popping, pink-lacquered aluminum resembled a Jurassic cephalopod, or an oversize human intestine.
11th Havana Biennial
HAVANA, CUBA 11th Havana Biennial The Havana Biennial originated in 1984 as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. Though it initially showcased only artists from the Caribbean, today it includes works by artists from the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Africa. The 11th installment, which spread across the greater metropolitan Havana area, was a daunting enterprise for a first-time visitor.
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon
SAN FRANCISCO Eli Ridgway Gallery ugh Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon’s exhibition “No Touch” explored the interrelationship of space and sound, it was the translation of sound into visually beautiful, “fine art” objects that acted as the siren’s call, luring us in for a closer look and listen.
Manifesta 9
GENK, BELGIUM Waterschei The Waterschei, a former mining complex building in Genk, Belgium, is a wonderful relic and an impressive piece of Art Nouveau architecture that feels more like a sculpture than a building. The space is pregnant with the history of Limburg—a region that, between 1901 when Andre Dumont discovered coal and 1986 when the last mine closed, was synonymous with the coal industry in Belgium.
Brian Duggan
DUBLIN RUA RED, South Dublin Arts Center A simplified, skinless, and scaled-down model of a zeppelin hovered in the upper register of RUA RED’S voluminous exhibition space. Confronted by enshrouding darkness and strains of sinister music, most viewers failed to notice its presence.
Arianna Carossa
NEW YORK NURTUREart Emerging Italian sculptor Arianna Carossa recently presented a body of work based on the Greek myth of the Argo, the ship that carried Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece. Capable of prophecy, the Argo played a genuine role in the legend, which has been carried across time (it is mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy).
Tomás Saraceno
HELSINKI Taidehalli (Kunsthalle) A walk through Tomás Saraceno’s recent large-scale museum exhibitions conveys the impression that we are witnessing the work of a man obsessed. Much like a researcher or inventor engaged in the development of some all-important proof or machine, Saraceno focuses on the claim that we can comprehend the structure of the universe through the spider’s web.
