International News Digest
APRIL 6
The public protests against the gentrification of the Kreuzberg neighborhood in Berlin have become so intense that the collaborative space planned by the Guggenheim and the car company BMW, which was originally slated to open in the district, has been forced to relocate. The BMW Guggenheim Lab addresses themes of urbanism, art, architecture, and urban planning; residents of the neighborhood protested the space and decried what the continued gentrification of the area, reports Der Standard. However, it was not the protests that convinced the Guggenheim to vacate, according to Monopol. A spokesperson for the museum stated, “We are for a lively culture of debate, but we cannot take the risk of violent attacks threatened by a small minority.” Careful not to point to specifics or actual threats, museum spokespeople have cited anticipated damages as enough of a reason to move. The new BMW Guggenheim Lab will now open in the Prenzlauer Berg district on June 15.
Kaspar König, departing director of Cologne’s Museum Ludwig, the Städelsche Kunstschule in Frankfurt, and board of Documenta, sat down with Die Zeit to discuss his retirement plans, his love of Claes Oldenburg, and his aspiration to be “sand in the machinery.” “[The museum] is an ‘added-time machine,’ ” he said. “It explores questions that have preoccupied several generations. [. . .] Surprisingly, there are people who believe that the museum is theirs—mostly people of a generation who showed little commitment to it themselves, but whose parents and grandparents showed a lot of commitment after the war in Germany.” Added König, “Man Ray once said: ‘There is no progress in art any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it.’ It’s about concentration, a point of truth, or the question of it. Music, literature, and the visual arts allow us to handle contradictions: not as distraction, but in essence.” He also offered this advice for young curators, “I’d recommend you look at what’s not being done, and what can be prevented.”
Bruno Giacometti, architect and art patron, has died at the age of 105 in Zollikon, Switzerland, reports Der Standard. Giacometti is the son of the painter Giovanni and his wife Annetta, and is the brother of sculptor Alberto and furniture designer Diego. He was born in 1907 in Stampa, and later attended Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich to study architecture. He was widely recognized for his design of the Swiss pavilion at the Venice Biennale, but was also known as a generous art patron who maintained a close relationship with Kunsthaus Zürich and who was deeply committed to securing the legacy of his family’s productive output in the Alberto-Giacometti-Foundation. A man of many accomplishments, Giacometti was also a modest fellow. Der Standard notes that he designed buildings according to the axiom, “One builds for human beings; architects must submit to the needs of the buildings’ users.”
In a battle over editorial control, Monopol has decided that it will go ahead and publish the latest issue of the magazine with blank spaces where illustrations of Damien Hirst works were supposed to go. The paper had decided to offer several different takes on the large retrospective at the Tate Modern in London and asked the artist to provide illustrations. Yet Hirst’s studio, which owns exclusive rights to the images of his work, would reportedly provide files only on the condition that Monopol submit the complete articles in advance of publication. The magazine refused, and so the studio refrained from sharing images. Holger Liebs, editor-in-chief at Monopol, stated: “We decided to keep the design of the pages as is—including the unchanged texts by our authors. We did not hide the gaps, but left them visible. That the firm of an artist wants to control our editorial process before giving permission to reproduce images: That crosses a line.”