We have been warned. As I write, another report heralds catastrophe: this time, a UN global assessment reveals the threat to humanity, as one million species are now at risk of extinction. And yet the experience of climate change stretches so far across time and space; the eco-philosopher Timothy Morton describes it as a ‘hyper-object’, … The 58th Venice Biennale’s beach opera
One afternoon in April, I visited the apartment of György Lukács in Budapest, where the Hungarian-Jewish philosopher lived from 1945 until his death in 1971. The Marxist theorist’s rooms, which look over the Danube and the city’s Liberty Bridge, now serve as the Lukács Archívum, preserving his books, manuscripts and correspondence for posterity. Or at … What is the Art World’s Responsibility in Europe’s Culture Wars?
Long before its inaugural biennial opened last October, the Sichuanese town of Anren – on the outskirts of Chengdu, China – was the site of a very different kind of theatre. The town had been home to one of China’s early 20th-century landlords, Liu Wencai, who then became a pantomime villain in Mao-era historiography (validating … Fake It Till You Make It: the 1st Anren Biennale
In Middlesbrough, to the north-east of England, people are quick to remind me that it’s always been a town of migrants. ‘Everyone here came from somewhere else’, local artist Annie O’Donnell says. At the turn of the 19th century, Middlesbrough was still a farming community of 25 inhabitants. From the 1830s, coal and iron ore … In ‘Late Great Britain’, what use is art?
A phantom mountainscape floats into view, flanked by monochrome peaks, grey skies and a strangely quiet waterfall. There is no one else, only sweeping black and white vistas and my own disembodied presence. But, when I lift off the virtual-reality headset, I am back in the studio of artist Yang Yongliang, nestled in the packed … The art of mountains and water
In May this year, the amazing lightscape of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour – emanating from its endless traffic, luxury shopping malls and skyscrapers – received a strange addition. A series of projected numeric sequences and Chinese and English phrases began to run on a nine-minute loop across the facade of the city-state’s tallest building, the … The art of Hong Kong’s future
In London recently, I sat through a public panel discussion between a mainland-born Chinese artist and a British curator, held for the benefit of those interested in investing in the Chinese art market. The curator repeatedly urged the artist to recount his childhood growing up during the Cultural Revolution, ignoring his increasingly apparent reluctance to … What does ‘Chinese’ mean in Britain today?
Beijing’s identity is always a mirage, its landscape perpetually enveloped by the vapour of its smog-filled air. In this city – the very existence of the smog a symbol of China’s dynamism and its determination to be modern – dangerous reminders of the past are reduced to ghosts and ruins, haunting the city but powerless … Heritage Inc.