The Bienal de Arte Paiz, now in twenty-second edition, will be titled lost. in between. together, a reference to the work of German historian Reinhart Koselleck, who is perhaps best know for his conceptual work on presentism (the view that neither the future nor the past exist). It is curated by Chilean independent curator Alexia Tala, taking place 29 May – 29 June across various venues in Guatemala City, and the forward literature says the exhibition will tackle ‘themes such as ancestrality, human rights and the power of geographies, as well as other narratives and forms of knowledge… from a non-colonial perspective; particularly relevant as Guatemala is a country with one of the largest indigenous populations on the continent.’
The Noguchi Museum, New York revealed British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye and Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang as the winners of this year’s Isamu Noguchi Award. The prize, which will be presented at the Museum’s annual benefit this May, honours ‘ individuals who share Noguchi’s spirit of innovation, global consciousness, and commitment to Eastern and Western cultural exchange’. Previous winners have included Rei Kawakubo in 2019, Tadao Ando and Elyn Zimmerman in 2016 and Lord Norman Foster and Hiroshi Sugimoto in 2014, the year the award was inaugurated.
Perrotin will open a ninth space, in the Marais, in Paris. The gallery’s new venue is not, initially at least, intended to host exhibitions instead, Emmanuel Perrotin says, the ‘general atmosphere of this venue will be that of a salon, where I hope you will want to spend time.’ It will include a ‘custom device’ in which visitors can view models of artworks, and the address, on Avenue Matignon, boasts a courtyard for outdoor sculpture.
Hauser & Wirth have beat viral restauranteur Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, to a prime location in Mayfair, London, delaying his plans to sprinkle some of his magic over the capital. According to Eater, Salt Bae had been eyeing up a location on Mount Street for a new restaurant since November 2019. The site, formerly home to the Audley pub, will be continue to be a pub under the gallery’s management but there are plans to add rooms and to use the spaces to showcase some art.
American artist Betye Saar, best known for her assemblages incorporating found objects into drawings, prints, paintings and photography, was awarded this year’s Wolfgang Hahn Prize. The prize, which aims to raise the profile of established international artists in Germany, is now in its twenty-sixth year and previous winners include Haegue Yang, Kerry James Marshall and Huang Yong Ping. The prize money (a maximum of €100,000) is used to acquire a work or series of works by the winning artist for the collection of the Museum Ludwig. The institution has now confirmed the acquisition of Saar’s The Divine Face (1971), which will be presented separately from the collection between 21 April – 26 July. The presentation will be accompanied by the first German-language publication on Saar.
Avelina Lésper, the Mexican art critic who was held responsible for destructing an artwork at Zona Maco, Mexico City, has published a blog article explaining how she was not at fault. Gabriel Rico’s 2018 sculpture, Nimble and Sinister Tricks (to be preserved without scandal and corruption), which consists of objects suspended in a large sheet of glass, was a part of Galería OMR’s stand at the fair, when it shattered as Lésper was doing a presentation by the work for a guided tour. For Lésper’s article, she consulted a sculptor, an industrial designer, and glassmaker to corroborate her innocence, asserting that the work was already compromised due to its poor construction. Though the gallery has stated Rico will not remake the work as it cannot be accurately reconstructed, Lésper insists it is reproducible and has offered to help.
