Our most-talked-about stories in Art, Design & Fashion, and Performing Arts, May 7-11, 2012:
ART
— Artists in a new exhibition at Eyebeam in Chelsea pushed the boundaries of photography using hacked Microsoft X-Box 360 Kinect infra-red cameras.
— After New York's second art fair week of the year — with the inaugural Frieze New York sandwiched between fairs in Hong Kong and Cologne — Julia Halperin asked gallerists how they deal with "fairtigue."
— In the wake of Frieze — and its many satellite fairs, events, and parties — Ben Davis speculated that art objects are increasingly mere pretexts for the social gatherings that have become our era's real art.
— The spring auction season continued to break records — though not the one established by "The Scream" the week before — and Judd Tully reported from a Sotheby's sale where works by Bacon and Lichtenstein both fetched $44 million, the Christie's sale where a Rothko painting set a new record for a post-war artwork, and a Phillips de Pury & Company sale that established new record prices for a handful of contemporary artists including a $16.3 million Basquiat.
— Following his election last Sunday, Kate Deimling speculated what the policies of incoming French president François Hollande might mean for France's art and culture sectors.
DESIGN & FASHION
— Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei revealed their plans for this year's Serpentine Gallery pavilion in London, which was intended to incorporate the foundations of pavilions from previous years — but a few days later, they found only dirt beneath the plot of land where their design was under construction.
— Ann Binlot was on hand as decked-out celebrities made their way along the Metropolitan Museum's red carpet to attend the annual Costume Institute Gala.
— Kelly Chan looked at the craze for temporary architecture and urbanism — including parking space-sized parks, shipping container architecture, and an entire pop-up neighborhood — that is sweeping American cities.
— A lucky Frank Lloyd Wright fan purchased a home designed by the esteemed architect's studio for $1 dollar — but has only two weeks to figure out a way to move it from its current location or it will be demolished.
— While Frieze's giant tent welcomed the weekend's crowds, the art world's most powerful and stylish headed to a gala opening at collector Peter Brant's Connecticut foundation.
PERFORMING ARTS
— J. Hoberman dismissed the new Johnny Depp-Tim Burton blockbuster "Dark Shadows" as "the Addams Family plus the Munsters."
— Graham Fuller parsed the steamy synopsis for Brian de Palma's upcoming film, "Passion," which stars Rachel McAdams and Naomi Rapace.
— Nick Catucci commented that the first trailer for Ben Affleck's based-on-a-true-story "Argo" looks to be "a roundabout interrogation of the intersecting notions of patriotism, heroism, and entertainment."
— Charlyne Yi and Fred Armisen's new web series "Bandmates" wasn't really all that funny, but was weirdly similar to "Inception."
— A new trailer for Sacha Baron-Cohen's "The Dictator" did not augur well for his upcoming humanitarian monster-in-the-city comedy.