In a year during which all certainties have been well and truly challenged, attempting to pick the most significant art world events can appear somewhat trite. But just as the political landscape changes so it seems the art world is on the cusp of an extraordinary leap forward, breaking from the past towards something deliciously new. From Anne Imhof’s Angst II performance to the activism of Trevor Paglen, this year we have been given a taste of what a post-digital, even a post-truth future may come to look like.
Earlier in the year the Berlin Biennale 9 came and went bringing—as a contemporary Biennale should—the scent of something new. Teeming with alluring logos and high-pitched questions about the inherent contradictions of modern life, “The Present in Drag” was dislikeable but grimly prescient. Perhaps unsurprisingly in a year of such upheaval the standout works possessed a political edge, Simon Denny’s disturbingly neutral take on Start-Up culture presented Blockchain techonology in a trade fair setting, but Trevor Paglen produced another highlight with Autonomy Cube, offering a global network where visitors could surf anonymously and experience a truly free internet.
This year’s Art Basel Miami had its usual array of celebrities and parties—which always seem like a good idea. No one could have missed Adidas’ Art Basel special edition sneakers, a “must have” apparently, but it brings into question the sponsorship and branding of these fairs which are under more scrutiny than ever. Occupy Museums, the activist group emerging out of the Occupy Wall Street, declared this year’s Miami Art Fairs to be “Trump’s inaugural pre-party”, with those in Miami on “an art-asset shopping spree.” Under a Trump presidency deregulated markets like the global art market are likely to prosper, the high end blue-chip market can expect an increase in tax cuts and we can all look forward to gawping at yet more astronomical auction results!
At times this year it feels that blow followed blow, and adding to the post-Brexit woes has been the death of two of Britain’s brightest stars, David Bowie and Zaha Hadid. At least they left us something to cherish, in Bowie’s case his album Blackstar is a wonderful legacy, and with Hadid there has been a timely exhibition of early paintings and drawings at the Serpentine Gallery in London. Her saying that “there should be no end to experimentation” has become a mantra for the Serpentine Galleries and us here at fineartmultiple.
New Directions—Anne Imhof’s Angst II
Award winning Anne Imhof’s Angst II performance at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin did not disappoint, you feel yourself running to catch up to it. At times bizarre, boring, fascinating, thrilling it is everything we have come to expect from the artist. Her performers are “sensations rather than fully rounded psychic beings”, somewhere, amidst the operatic drama unfolding before you a Gesamtkunstwerk has been created, and an entirely fresh physical language has been unearthed.
Best Discovery—Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint Sebastian
When a retired doctor popped by Tajan auction house in Paris this year with a dusty portfolio of sketches, no one would have imagined that they would uncover a startling Leonardo da Vinci sketch dating from 1482. The study of Saint Sebastian has already been valued at €15 million.
Significant Auction Result—Gerhard Richter
The news of the sale of Gerhard Richter’s A.B., Still, 1986 at Sotheby’s New York this year for $34 million was simply mind-boggling. His ascent has been so speedy, 20 years earlier the same work was bought for just $264,000. At any rate it all seems wholly deserved, and since the death of Lucian Freud he is unarguably the world’s greatest living painter.
Surprising Exhibition—Elton John “The Radical Eye” at Tate Modern
Everyone was surprised by the exquisiteness of Elton John’s photography exhibition at Tate Modern this year. It is to all our benefit that he stopped snorting his money up his nose and instead ploughed it into amassing a photography collection that dwarfs that of the Tate’s. From Man Ray to Dorothea Lange the show is a delight from start to finish.
Top Art Event—Christo’s The Floating Piers
Christo continues to amaze, not just the finished works but the sheer energy of the man. According to him his Floating Piers on Lake Iseo were a “gratuitous, absolutely not necessary, irrational and useless work of art.” Which is probably why we like it so much, its temporal existence is for “people who have never been probably in a museum.” It reminds us all that there is a lot more going on out there than in this art world bubble.
By Nina Koidl — Head of Curation
