– Nick Cave Reveals He Is Also Nick Cave: As part of yesterday's closing ceremony for "HEARD•NY," Nick Cave's Creative Time- and MTA Arts for Transit-commissioned Soundsuit performance in Grand Central Terminal, the Chicago-based visual artist announced that he is also Nick Cave, the Australian musician best known for his work with his band the Bad Seeds, ending years of confusion. The revelation was particularly shocking following the circulation of a photo last week in which the two supposedly different people were seen alongside one another. "It was a fun joke while it lasted," Cave said in his Midwest-by-way-of-Warracknabeal, Australia accent. "But crikey, it was becoming exhausting, especially with 'Right Said Ned' — my punk rock opera about Aussie outlaw Ned Kelly in which all the bandits ride Soundsuit horses — premiering at the Art Institute of Chicago in the fall." [The Australian]
– Art Basel Announces New Fair Section Dedicated to Art Fairs: Making a virtue of the increasingly competitive art fair landscape, this June’s Art Basel fair in Switzerland is launching a bold new initiative: It will host versions of the world’s best other art fairs in one place. "Art Basel: Really, Really Unlimited," as the new special section is called, promises to draw an eclectic mix of close to 100 global art fairs to Basel, including TEFAF (Maastricht), the Armory Show (New York), the Joburg Art Fair (Johannesburg), Swab (Barcelona), and even Art Basel Miami Beach, which, to avoid confusion, will be renamed Art Basel Miami Beach Basel for the occasion. [TAN]
– DS+R Unveils Plans Radical New Non-Linear Park: Today, High Line co-designers Diller, Scofidio + Renfro unveiled plans for a new park in Mamaroneck, New York. "We wanted to do something different to put Mamaroneck on the map," firm principal Charles Renfro told the blog ArchitectureGeek. Renfro explained how the firm came up with the radical idea to make the park non-linear and strip it of any urban elements. "What if parks weren't linear?" he asked. "What if they just had trees, grass, winding pathways, maybe a few benches — and they didn't remind us of the city at all? We asked ourselves these questions and just ran with it." The park is slated for completion in 2016. [ArchitectureGeek]
– Brooklyn Museum Turns to Google for New Show: Following the successes of its previous forays into crowd-sourced, web-based curation with exhibitions like "Click!" and "Go," the Brooklyn Museum has announced that in September it will open "Google!," an exhibition curated by typing the word "art" into Google Image Search. "We are delighted to be working with such a capable curator on this show," Brooklyn Museum director Arnold Lehman said. "In recent years Google Image Search has proven to be an invaluable resource for artists the world over, especially here in Brooklyn, and we're looking forward to seeing what exciting work it picks for the exhibition." Slated to open on September 20, "Google!" will feature reproductions of the first 400 search results. [Press Release]
– "Unreasonable Eli" Changes Everyone Else's Name: In a move that has implications for museums across the country, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad officially changed his name yesterday to Eli Brode. The switch is an effort to ensure his name’s correct pronunciation: "I've spent too many years reminding people 'it rhymes with road,'" the collector said in a statement. Museums that bear Broad’s name, including the institution formerly known as the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State, will be asked to overhaul their literature and signage within the week. [Bloomberg]
– Creative Time Initiates New "Creative Time Heals" Program: On the heels of its successful "Creative Time Reports" project, which dispatches artists around the globe to report the news, the New York-based public art nonprofit launched another program to promote social good. "Creative Time Heals" sends artists to far-flung communities to offer its citizens deep-tissue Swedish massages. "Artists really know how to connect with people, and they aren’t afraid to dig into knotty problems," explained curator Nato Thompson. "Swedish massage seemed like a logical extension of what so many artists are already doing." [NYT]
– UES Woman Dubbed "William Wegman of Cats": Curator Massimiliano Gioni has added a last-minute name to his list of participating artists at the 2013 Venice Biennale: 78-year-old Ethel Gamerman, an amateur photographer who has been taking photographs of her cats dressed in various costumes since 1972 from a makeshift studio in her Upper East Side apartment. Her longest-running series, "Tabbies in Raincoats," will be featured prominently at the international art event. "She’s part William Wegman, part Francesca Woodman— it’s a real feminist reclaiming of Wegman’s practice," explained Gioni. [TIME]
– Sotheby's Announces Full-Service Art Custodianship: The auction house has launched a new full-service art custodianship program that will "free collectors from the burdens associated with owning blue-chip works of art," according to a statement from the company. For a fee of $10,000 per year, specialists will take possession of new acquisitions upon a collector's successful bid, store them safely at one of Sotheby's own freeports, and alert owners when it might be a good time to sell. "With the help of our expert custodians, collectors will never actually have to look at their art again," explained Sotheby's Tobias Meyer. [WSJ]
– Guggenheim to Host "The Arts of Scientology": The New York museum announced yesterday that it is teaming with the Church of Scientology to develop an ambitious three-part series of exhibitions about the art, music, and "auditing technology" of the famed self-help religion. Funded by a landmark $40-million donation from the Church, the so-called Church of Scientology Guggenheim CLEAR Initiative will kick off in fall with a show focusing on the watercolors of Church founder L. Ron Hubbard, featuring more than 100 works. "Like the Guggenheim, the Church of Scientology has a truly global ambition, and has attempted to expand its influence to countries around the world," museum head Richard Armstrong said at a press conference. "Though also like the Guggenheim, Scientology has been ejected from several of those countries." Asked whether the partnership might be seen to endorse the Church’s controversial practices, Armstrong replied, "We believe that cultural engagement is a force for understanding… The very fact that they are willing to give us so much money indicates that there is more to this Church than many critics think." [NYT]
– MoMath and MoSex's Performance Art Collaboration Sparks Protests: The Museum of Sex and the Museum of Math, two veryspecialized New York institutions located within a few blocks of one another, have added their two areas of specialty together and created a performance art project that has proved exponentially controversial. Titled "Sexy Math Tutors," the initiative features a lineup of artists curated by MoSex director of exhibitions Mark Snyder who perform provocative, show-and-tell math tutorials at MoMath that have divided the institutions' patrons. "I'm glad the museums are promoting more open discussions of sex and math," said Constance Welling, whose eight-year-old son had attended a performance titled "Ecstatic Algebra." "But I'm not sure a demonstration of 'doggie style' is the most effective way to illustrate what a 90 degree angle looks like — what about ‘the wheelbarrow’?" [NYPost]
VIDEO OF THE DAY
The radical art of Ethel Gamerman
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