October 2013
FEATURE
Post-racialism: Morgan Quaintance looks beyond identity constructs
The fight for identity and equal representation that so occupied the second post-colonial generation in the UK has been co-opted by the very forces that it was meant to combat. Isn’t it time this new black identity that the dominant ideology has constructed—depoliticised and consumerist—be shaken by those it claims to represent?
FEATURE
Exclusion Zone: Richard Hylton revisits diversity
Does the spate of recent high-profile UK exhibitions by African-American artists such as Ellen Gallgher, Theaster Gates, and Rashid Johnson signal the rise of a new political awareness—or simply the triumph of the market? And whither the British artists?
FEATURE
The Art Anomaly: Dave Beech on art’s economic exceptionalism
Since art operates at the limits of economic understanding, economists have been reduced to declaiming its seemingly ‘perverse’ irrationaility. Instead of such name calling, isn’t the art anomaly better understood as revealing a flaw in neoliberal economic ideologies?
EDITORIAL
The Generation Game
The chancellor’s continuing austerity measures are causing increasing conflict between baby boomers and the so-called Generation Y, but perhaps, as youth unemployment jumps a further 15,000, we should look not at generations but social heirarchies to find the roots of the tension.
Amity Calamity
The forced friendliness between France and Germany to mark the 50th anniversary of the Franco-German Treaty of Reconciliation, with joint exhibitions and Venice Biennale pavilion swapping, has revealed an ill-concealed hostility. Perhaps a little cordial understanding is in order.
ARTNOTES
Russia’s continued intolerance over gay rights poses a problem for next year’s Manifesta; Northern Ireland sets social benefit as the top priority for its arts organisations; UK museums visitor numbers recover after the Olympic blip; Mayfair property developers fire up the bulldozers and head for Cork Street; the Frieze Art Fair gallery boom begins as dealers open their new West End spaces; the latest news on events, appointments, prizes and more.
PROFILE
HeHe: Bob Dickinson on the art duo Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen
HeHe draws on its founders’ backgrounds in engineering to construct prop-like versions of major industrial equipment. These performative sculptures give viewers a visceral understanding of controversial practices more often encountered amid media hysterics and PR fog.
EXHIBITIONS
Momentous Times CCA Derry – Joanne Laws
Continental Drift – Conceptual Art in Canada: The 1960s and 70s Part II Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe – Saim Demircan
The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things Nottingham Contemporary – Mark Harris
Dear Portrait, Annette Kelm, Franco Vaccari Mostyn, Llandudno – Martin Holman
Mustafa Hulusi: Cypriot Olive Tree Hoxton Square, London – Stephanie Schwartz
Franz West: Where is my Eight? MMK, Frankfurt – Mark Prince
Andy Harper: Archeology in Reverse Newlyn Art Gallery – Stephen Lee
Clunie Reid: In Pursuit of the Liquid MOT International, London • Rachel Reupke: Wine and Spirits Cell Project Space, London – Anna Gritz
BOOKS
Art and Queer Culture
Morgan Quaintance on a publication reaching for landmark status
SOUND
Sounding the Body Electric
John Douglas Millar experiences Soviet sounds
EST. 1690
Read All About It
Michael Hampton peruses some artist-produced newspapers
FRANCE ON GERMANY
De L’Allemagne
David Lillington on the row over a French show of German art
ARTLAW
Fair Use?
Henry Lydiate on recent court rulings over fair use in copyright law
EVENTS
London Art Calendar
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EXHIBITION
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Art Monthly’s exhibition listings can also be viewed online.
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