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.
Pier Paolo Calzolari
NEW YORK Marianne Boesky Gallery and The Pace Gallery Pier Paolo Calzolari, like Arte Povera (the movement with which he is associated), is insufficiently valued in the U.S. Some critics deem the Italian movement—with its emphasis on base materials and their interactions—hokey and pompous, a preferably forgotten chapter in the history of postwar art. But at its best, Arte Povera has produced some of the most gripping art of the past half-century, and Calzolari’s strongest works would stand their ground in the finest collections of contemporary art.
“Made in L.A.”
Los Angeles Hammer Museum “Made in L.A.,” the first biennial survey of Los Angeles-based artists, featured three artists making interesting sculpture—Liz Glynn, Caroline Thomas, and David Snyder. A sufficient amount of their work was on view to reveal their conceptual trajectories.
Francis Upritchard
NOTTINGHAM, U.K. Nottingham Contemporary When I entered Francis Upritchard’s recent exhibition, I was puzzled at first. Two spacious galleries were filled with eccentric, fantastical figures placed on plinths designed by Martino Gamper. In the first room, white, terra-cotta, brown, and gray creatures wearing medieval clothes looked as though they had been unearthed from the past.
David Middlebrook
SAN FRANCISCO The McLoughlin Gallery Wood, stone, and metal may have been supplanted by newer materials (e.g., chocolate, tofu, and frozen blood), but some artists enjoy both the technical and aesthetic challenges of traditional, “noble” materials. David Middlebrook, who emerged on the Bay Area gallery scene only relatively recently—with a 2010 retrospective at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara and now this solo show—has had a long career making public sculpture and teaching (at San Jose State University), so he’s well versed in both technique and theory.
