Ai Weiwei retrospective comes to Toronto

Ai Weiwei retrospective comes to Toronto

TORONTO – He’s been named the most powerful artist in the world by ArtReview magazine — but when a retrospective of his work opens at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday, Ai Weiwei will not be allowed to attend. Ai, the multimedia artist who has become a cause celebre for his dissidence against the Chinese government through both his art and social media, is a political prisoner, stripped of his passport after being jailed in 2011 for tax evasion, despite his supporters’ claims that it was punishment for his activism. But for the 55-year-old pariah, the government’s restrictions do little to limit what he sees as his true power. “Power to an artist is an encouragement and an acceptance for art to address areas and concerns that are usually considered different according to mainstream aesthetics or social norms. It gives people or a collective consciousness the strength to respond to calls for concerns that relate to our social-political conditions,” wrote Ai in an e-mail exchange with The Canadian Press. “Rather than thinking of my political situation as a drag, I see it as an opportunity for me to think about these constraints, to act in response, and relate these actions to profound meanings. The most important of which is the message of freedom, and I hope it benefits everyone.” Still, Ai’s work has always been about collaboration — he plays the role of the brains, of the project overseer, rather than the hands — and the touring exhibit, named “According to What?”, has forged on without him. It owes its name to a painting by Jasper Johns, which was itself inspired by Marcel Duchamp, both of whom Ai says had “quite an influence” on him, living in New York City in his early 20s. The exhibit is a showcase of Ai’s sheer range and demonstrates the complex dichotomy of his wry sensibilities and activist passions. In one room, a massive spare white wall is lined with the names and birth dates of the 5,212 children killed in the 2008 earthquake that struck Sichuan province; it looms solemnly next to a ruptured sculpture wrought from steel gathered from the disaster zone. Just steps from that sit pop-inflected remixes of Han-dynasty urns. “(A modern-day Andy Warhol), that’s one way to think of him — or you might think he’s a modern-day Picasso,” says Kitty Scott, AGO curator of modern and contemporary art. “It depends how you think.” His country’s role in the Sichuan earthquake (many have lambasted the Chinese government for the shoddily built schools that collapsed to kill so many children) is just one of the issues he has highlighted. In 2008, he designed the Beijing Olympics’ iconic “Bird’s Nest stadium, only to disavow it, saying it had become a symbol of autocracy. In 2009, he underwent surgery to relieve bleeding in the brain, which allegedly occurred at the hands of police. “I live in one of the most extreme political societies of the world, and it sees the freedom of expression as an enemy of state, threatening the society’s stability. Proposing unfamiliar ideas or expressing a different stance can be seen as subversion of state power,” says Ai. “Using art, or any other means, to create a possibility means to provide a new space and new voice for those who are exploited or oppressed by the authoritarian state. The act re-establishes the existence of human dignity in such conditions, reminds us not to give up hope for the young generation, and encourages people to seek solutions for society with curiosity, passion and courage.” The AGO is the first Canadian gallery to host the survey of Ai’s work, which has so far appeared in Tokyo, Washington, D.C. and Indianapolis. “I think Ai Weiwei is very well-known, but he’s always been making things, and now those things now have the opportunity to travel through the wider world,” says Scott. “But I think it’s also very compelling to think about this: his work can move throughout the world, but the artist himself cannot.” Ai’s detention has created some unique difficulties for Scott and the other curators of the installation, which will review more than 20 years of Ai’s photography and sculpture. “If I were working with a contemporary artist today, most artists would be here in the space with me as I install the work,” she said. “I’m installing the show with a curator from Japan, but there’s no artist here. So that’s a very unusual thing, and that shows right away that he is facing a limitation on his practice. “It’s challenging, because you rely very much on the artist’s eye, the artist’s way of seeing to place every object … and if you can’t physically experience the space, I think there’s a huge loss.” But for the AGO, “According to What?” represents a major coup, and is one of the most significant exhibitions it has devoted to a contemporary artist in years. “It’s a magnificent thing, it’s an incredible thing,” says Scott. “These artists live in our time, they experience the world we all experience, they’re the artists that in a sense we know the most about,” said Scott. “More than anything, I wish that Ai Weiwei could see this exhibition, I wish that he could be here in Toronto, I wish he could experience this with us, because every time we make an exhibit with a contemporary artist, it’s a time to celebrate that artist.” But despite the acclaim and the ardour from his artistic and political supporters, the fame that has followed him continues to puzzle Ai. “I’m surprised that the world is still operating in an archaic structure, in which ordinary people like me would rarely ask essential questions about creativity and human rights,” says Ai. “I’m surprised that somebody like me would even become famous, just for demanding very basic truths and seeking ways to survive with some dignity.” The exhibit runs from Saturday until Oct. 27.



news sours   globalnews.ca

Amanda Bynes psych hold extended for two weeks as star is pictured for first time

Amanda Bynes psych hold extended for two weeks as star is pictured for first time

Splash Troubled Amanda Bynes will stay in psychiatric care for at least two weeks after a judge extended her involuntary care order. Amanda’s parents Rick and Lynn backed the judges decision to keep their daughter under a 5150 hold for her own protection – after she allegedly set fire to a strangers driveway and accidentally doused her dog in gasoline. Sources told TMZ Amanda, 27, had her own lawyer who argued the extension should be denied but doctors argued they needed at least two weeks to diagnose the former Disney star’s illness. A picture emerged of what is thought to be Amanda arriving at a hospital in Los Angeles after being put under psych hold by police officers. The frail figure was covered in a sheet with her feet clad in hospital slippers. Amanda's parents pictured leaving the Los Angeles hospital where she is believed to be under 5150 hold Splash Meanwhile Amanda Bynes’ parents will head to court later today to seek control over their daughters financial and personal affairs. According to Radar worried parents Lynn and Rick will have a hearing at Ventura County courthouse on Friday to ask for temporary conservatorship of their daughter. A source said: “Rick and Lynn will appear before the judge on Friday to ask for a temporary conservatorship of their daughter, Amanda. “Her parents will both be petitioning to be the temporary proposed conservators, and want control of her personal and financial affairs.” Amanda Bynes with her parents Rick and Lynn Amanda Bynes with her parents Rick and Lynn Alpha To grant conservatorship the proposed conservator must show that the conservatee is is unable to care for themselves, and is a danger to others,” a source told Radar about what Bynes’ parents will face in their legal quest. Rick and Lynn were pictured leaving a Los Angeles hospital on Tuesday afternoon, looking strained - it is believed they have taken custody of Amanda's dog. Amanda, 27, who has repeatedly called her parents ugly on Twitter, is currently under an involuntary psychiatric hold in Los Angeles after allegedly sparking a small fire in a stranger’s driveway. Her parents are absolutely sick with worry about their daughter,” a source told Radar. “They are now considering going to a judge and attempting to get a conservatorship of Amanda. They have previously met with lawyers to discuss the possibility of taking legal control of Amanda’s life. It’s a truly devastating situation for Amanda’s parents and their biggest concern is the health and safety of her.” It is a mystery how troubled star Amanda made it from New York to southern California where she allegedly sparked a small fire in a stranger’s driveway before being taken away by cops and put under psychiatric hold. According to sources wig-loving Amanda was forced to flee the big apple as she couldn’t find anywhere to live and had run out of cash. Amanda’s journey to Los Angeles has worried pals who told Radar Online the star can’t drive and had no available funds for a taxi. Amanda Bynes steps out in New York City Amanda Bynes steps out in New York City Splash As Amanda remains under 5150 psych hold after allegedly setting fire to a driveway with a rag and a gas canister more details of her increasingly bizarre behaviour emerge. It is thought Amanda returned to the Thousand Oaks area as her parents live nearby and some of her cash earned as a child star is protected by them. Meanwhile eyewitness to the bizarre blaze allegedly caused by Amanda, Andrew Liverpool, told E! Online how he was first on the scene and immediately recognised the star – by her wig. "I see this girl with her pant leg on fire and a gas can trailing fire through the driveway It looked like her. It sounded like her. She had a wig on," he said. "I kicked the gas can over and moved it to the middle of the driveway so nothing else would catch on fire. Amanda Bynes was spotted for the first time in a few weeks out in NYC Amanda Bynes was spotted for the first time in a few weeks out in NYC Splash “She was kind of frantic and discombobulated, and many people rushed over to try to assess the situation and when I looked back up, she was gone." Liverpool claimed Amanda tried to climb into a cab in her charred jogging bottoms before she was taken away and placed under an involuntary psych hold by police. It is not thought that Amanda was arrested. In a recording obtained by TMZ, the caller can be heard saying: "It's a very small fire, it's on a driveway... It's like a small piece of cloth and a gasoline tank which is why I'm calling 911." Continuing to talk about the petrol tank, the caller added: "I don't know if there's a lot of gasoline in it... No one's injured... It's decently close [to the house], I would say about five feet, and there is a tiny little fire in a crack which is right next to the grass." Amanda Bynes uses her dog to hide her face Amanda Bynes uses her dog to hide her face Rex Features Amanda, who was pictured looking disheveled while wearing her infamous blonde wig while shopping in Malibu this week, is reportedly under a 5150 hold - the law used to keep Britney Spears and Mischa Barton on a mental health ward involuntarily for 72 hours in the past. On Tuesday, Captain Don Aguilar of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office told US website Hollyscoop: "Deputies investigated the incident and determined that she met the criteria of 5150 W&I (California Welfare & Institutions Code). She was detained and taken for a mental health evaluation." This latest news follows a number of worrying incidents involving the actress - on Sunday the star was reportedly accused of appearing drunk and acting erratically at a retirement community near Thousand Oaks. Amanda was apparently there to visit a relative but was asked to leave after staff apparently thought she was trespassing, according to TMZ. She has also been pictured and filmed acting strangely while out and about in New York and recently attended a court hearing after she allegedly tossed a marijuana bong from the window of her 36th floor apartment. Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk



news sours   www.mirror.co.uk

Paul Klee re-examined in Tate Modern's major autumn exhibition

Paul Klee re-examined in Tate Modern's major autumn exhibition

The man who liked to "take a line for a walk" is the subject of Tate Modern's autumn blockbuster exhibition, which will gather more than 100 works for the biggest British reassessment of Paul Klee in a decade. The exhibition, according to the Tate curator Matthew Gale, will seek to "redress the idea that he was a quirky artist, allowing his cat to paint, but rather show that he was extremely rigorous, with a clear sense of how his work was progressing ... and it will give a sense of the extraordinary variety of his production." The reference to his cat relates to a story about the artist told by one of his collectors. On a studio visit, according to Gale's retelling of the anecdote, the collector saw that Klee's cat was walking over a picture, leaving coloured pawmarks on the work (photographs show a large and contented tabby). The collector, horrified, pointed this out to the artist, who told his patron not to worry: in years to come, he said, people would wonder how he had achieved such a wonderful effect. Described as "the father of modern art" by the Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota, Klee was a pioneer of abstraction, a key figure in the development of modernism and an important influence on other artists – not only the great American abstract expressionist painter Rothko but also British artists such as Victor Pasmore. Most exhibitions have tackled Klee thematically, said Gale: this one takes a chronological overview, showing how the different strands of the work of this "multi-layered, mysterious, productive artist" unfurled alongside each other as he worked "in different modes simultaneously". Klee catalogued each of his works as he went (in a manner not unlike musical opus numbers) and the Tate exhibition will also use his numbering system, allowing visitors to chart the precise order in which the works were made. The exhibition, which runs from 16 October until 9 March, will be fairly small by Klee's own standards: he regularly staged vast exhibitions of his own work containing 200 and more pieces. It will be supported by EY, the company formerly known as Ernst & Young, which announced a seven-figure, three-year sponsorship deal with Tate across all its sites in London, St Ives and Liverpool – a significant financial injection for the institution in the wake of 5% government funding cuts announced in last month's comprehensive spending review. Born in 1879 in Switzerland, the son of a singer and a music teacher, Klee was himself an accomplished musician, playing the violin to professional level. He emerged as a significant artist in Munich in the years flanking the first world war – the city then being a centre of contemporary art, with artists such as Kandinsky, Jawlensky and the female painter Gabriele Münter working alongside each other. Gaze of Silence, a 1932 work by Klee that took abstraction further. Within months, he had been forced out of the Bauhaus. Photograph: Menil Collection, Houston/PA He continued to paint while serving behind the lines in the war, developing what Gale called "a kind of theatrical feeling in his work – pushing away from the real world into one of make-believe". In 1920 he burst on to the wider scene with a huge show of 250 of his own works in Munich – and was invited to join the faculty of the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius where he taught on the bookbinding, tapestry and stained-glass courses. He was later joined at the school by Kandinsky and together, said Gale, they "provided a grain of unpredictable creativity" at the applied-arts school. By 1929 he was producing some of his greatest works, including Fire in the Evening – patchworks of apparently simple but masterfully balanced off-squares, which will be "some of the most jewel-like works in the exhibition", according to Gale. A year later, he moved to teach at the Düsseldorf Academy but survived only two terms of teaching before the catastrophe of Hitler's election and the unravelling of the artistic scene in Germany. Two days after Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the man who had appointed Klee was sacked; by April, when contemporary artists' works were being removed from public collections, Klee was banned from teaching or exhibiting his work. Fortunately for Klee and his family, they were able to move to Berne (his mother was Swiss) but his health became increasingly fragile: he fell sick with the wasting disease scleroderma. A striking work of 1939 entitled Outbreak of Fear III shows a fragmented figure, a body in the process of falling apart – perhaps a dual reference to his own failing body and the outbreak of the second world war. He kept working productively until he died in 1940, "making even bigger works and becoming even more productive in the face of his constricting world," according to Gale.


news sours   www.guardian.co.uk

The Replacements to reunite for first shows in 22 years

The Replacements to reunite for first shows in 22 years

Post-punk band the Replacements will reunite for the first time in 22 years to play at least three festival dates this summer, the band announced on Wednesday night. At their peak in the 1980s, the group was considered one of the great hopes for American rock, and though they never made a serious dent in the charts, their classic records, including "Hootenanny," “Let It Be,” and "Don't Tell a Soul," remain some of the great guitar albums of the era. Formed in Minneapolis in 1979 by singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg, brothers Tommy and Bobby Stinson and drummer Tommy Mars, the band was one of the tightest and most accomplished of a movement that spawned, among others, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Soul Asylum, Husker Du and Sonic Youth, but the members split in 1991 just as their peers and inheritors were ascending to commercial and critical peaks. Alas, the Replacements are these days best known for producing a Guns 'n Roses bassist in Tommy Stinson, who’s traveled with Axl and company for 15 years now. His brother Bobby, a dynamic guitarist whose leads helped define the band’s sound, died in 1995 after struggling with addiction; replacement guitarist Slim Dunlop joined them during their years with Sire Records, although a stroke last year will prevent him from participating in the reunion. The band has yet to announce a lead guitarist, and whether drummer Mars, who has become an accomplished visual artist, will return for the gigs is yet unknown. Last year the Replacements recorded four songs to benefit Dunlop after his stroke, but according to Westerberg, the drummer "didn't want any part of [it]." Too young or old to know the Replacements? Start with the 1984 album “Let It Be,” featuring one of the great rock songs of the era in “I Will Dare” and Westerberg’s prescient, lovely ode to the mysteries of sexuality, “Androgynous.” Later albums "Pleased to Meet Me" and “Tim” yielded bigger numbers such as “Kiss Me on the Bus” and “Bastards of Young,” but none was large enough to dent rock radio, a medium then run by baby boomers more inclined to add into regular rotation a new Guns ‘n Roses song than a Replacements one. Is the moment ripe for a Dinosaur Jr.-style return to form? Certainly. Westerberg, whose solo albums were promising but failed commercially, remains a songwriting master, as many will learn this summer. His songs are as enduring as any from the period, and here's hoping artistic justice will prompt renewed interest. Thus far, three gigs are on the schedule, all part of the Riot Festival: Toronto on Aug. 24-25; Chicago on Sept. 13-15; and Denver on Sept. 21-22. Check out "I Will Dare," from 1984, below.



news sours    www.latimes.com

Box office: Low-budget 'The Purge' expected to beat 'The Internship'

Box office: Low-budget 'The Purge' expected to beat 'The Internship'

This weekend, "The Internship" may become the latest star-driven movie to get beaten by a lower-wattage production. The comedy, which stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, appears set to follow in the footsteps of Will Smith's "After Earth," which last weekend failed to attract more moviegoers than its far less high-profile competition "Now You See Me." According to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys, "The Internship" will probably fall behind the low-budget thriller "The Purge." The $3-million flick — which does feature some name-brand cachet in star Ethan Hawke — is expected to take in a robust $25 million during its opening weekend. (The film's distributor, Universal Pictures, is predicting a softer start of around $18 million.) PHOTOS: Billion-dollar movie club Meanwhile, "The Internship" is set to launch with $15 million — meaning it will fare worse than not only "The Purge," but also "Fast & Furious 6," which is entering its third weekend in theaters. (Fox doesn’t think the movie will debut with more than $12 million.) Either opening would be embarrassing for a movie starring Vaughn and Wilson, who were no doubt expected to re-create the success of their 2005 hit "Wedding Crashers." But both Wilson and Vaughn have slowly been losing their box office clout since "Wedding Crashers," which took in over $200 million domestically. Immediately following the 2005 release, Vaughn appeared in a string of decent performers, including "The Break-Up," "Four Christmases" and "Couples Retreat." But his last two films — "The Dilemma" and "The Watch" — tanked. Wilson's luck has been equally as bad recently, appearing in flops such as "Hall Pass" and "The Big Year." "The Internship," co-financed by 20th Century Fox and New Regency Pictures for $58 million, follows the comedians as they intern with people half their age at Google. The picture has not received positive reviews: On Thursday morning, it had notched a 32% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. PHOTOS: Summer Sneaks 2013 "The Purge" hasn't fared much better with critics — it has a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — but has nonetheless generated strong interest from moviegoers. According to Fandango, the movie is the most highly anticipated of the weekend, ahead of "Now You See Me," the sixth "Fast" film and "The Internship." The movie, set in the near future, takes place in a world where crime is forbidden 364 days of the year; Hawke stars as a family man trying to protect his kin on the one day of lawless mayhem. Heading into the weekend, the picture is appealing most to young females. Universal spent only $3 million to make the film, which was produced by Jason Blum, who has made a name for himself by making micro-budget movies that have big payoffs at the box office, including "Paranormal Activity" and "Insidious." To keep the cost of the film so low, actors "basically work for free," Blum told The Times. If the movie is a hit, both the actors and filmmakers may see a bigger payoff.



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Could 'Behind the Candelabra' have been successful as a movie?

Could 'Behind the Candelabra' have been successful as a movie?

"Behind the Candelabra," the Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, garnered 2.4 million viewers in its premiere Sunday on HBO. The Steven Soderbergh-directed television movie was a huge hit for the cable network -- giving it its best audience since the 2004 movie "Something the Lord Made." Soderbergh has been quite candid about the film's long road to the small screen; it originally was intended as a feature film, but those plans fell apart when Warner Bros. lost interest. According to a recent interview Soderbergh did with The Times, Warner Bros. concluded it would have had to spend $25 million to make and market the film, a number that would have required the studio to earn at least $60 million in its theatrical release. PHOTOS: Billion-dollar movie club But would that be so hard? We're not claiming to be studio marketing executives using finely calibrated statistics. But with some very simplistic arithmetic, we could extrapolate that those 2.4 million viewers could translate into $19.2 million, if we used the average theatrical ticket price of $8. (Since the film would surely be rated R, the ticket price should be higher since children wouldn't be attending.) And that number is just for one showing. Should you add the second screening of the two-hour movie, the number grows to 3.5 million, or $28 million. Surely television viewers and moviegoers aren't equitable, in that you must figure in the extra want-to-see factor for movies watched outside of the home. (It's far easier to flip on the television than secure a baby-sitter.) Plus, you have to figure in the splits with movie theaters that see only half the profits filtering into the studios' coffers. PHOTOS: 'Behind the Candelabra' But if that many viewers were interested in watching Jason Bourne and Gordon Gekko don copious amounts of sequins as they fall in love, wouldn't they be equally compelled to do so for a big-screen debut? Factor in the extra push the film received from its Cannes premiere -- which treated the movie like a feature -- and the risks seem even more negligible. In an era when studios will either spend hundreds of millions, or pocket change, to make a movie -- but nothing in between -- it's understandable why they wouldn't take a chance on "Candelabra." It's just a shame that they wouldn't. There's clearly an audience out there for sophisticated filmmaking, particularly among older viewers (like the ones who would remember Liberace). A screen test between Douglas and Damon should have been enough to prove to the suits at the studio that this was a risk worth taking.



news sours  www.latimes.com

Tilda Swinton's Museum Nap: Artistic Or Stupid?

Tilda Swinton's Museum Nap: Artistic Or Stupid?

Tilda Swinton is a strange woman. Between strange films and strange reveals, people have come to expect her to constantly surprise, but even given that history, many observers did quite a few double takes this week when she showed up at the Museum of Modern Art and took a nap as part of an exhibit called “The Maybe”. Back in 1995, Swinton did something similar in London and again the next year in Rome, but this time around, she’s both more famous and more committed. According to The New York Post, Swinton napped during the entire time the museum was open. Encased in a glass box with only a pillow, a mattress, her glasses and a jug of water, she completely zoned out while an uncounted number of people filed past and marveled at her stoic commitment to the project. If all goes according to plan, Swinton will appear at least two more times at the museum, both on random dates to surprise regular visitors with an unusual show. From her perspective, the exhibit is performance art at its best, an artist laying herself completely bare for the general public to puzzle over. If others are to be believed, however, there’s nothing artistic about this at all. The exhibit is nothing more than a strange famous woman taking a nap and taking herself way too seriously. What do you think? Is this artistic or stupid? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…

news sours  www.cinemablend.com