Today is February 20. On this day in history, the U.S. postal service is created (1792); Austria declares bankruptcy (1811); The Futurist Manifesto is published in the French journal Le Figaro (1909) shortly after its appearance in Gazzetta dell’Emilia in Italy two weeks prior; The American pro-Nazi organization German American Bund holds a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City with a reported attendance of some 20,000 (1939); Ten years ago today, Shimon Peres, then President of Israel, brings back Netanyahu as Prime Minister, the full regret which he would not live long enough to bear, once stating Netanyahu’s peace overtures have never “escaped the domain of talking.”; In a more cosmic realm, Kepler-37b, the smallest known exoplanet, is discovered (2013).
Today is also World Day of Social Justice, declared by the United Nations General Assembly and put into observance starting 10 years ago to recognize and uphold the principals of social justice and human dignity. The United States, of course, is exempt from all of this, having already withdrawn from various international committees involving any responsibility, its position further reaffirmed by the present pseudo State of Emergency declared over national borders.
On this day in the arts, we celebrate the public opening of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1872) and the birth of Ansel Adams (1902).
Welcome to the .085th edition of Prescriptions. Here is our review of the week in the arts.
Tania Franco Klein
Proceed to the Route / Tania Franco Klein
“The color is red and the woman is ready. The color is blue and the phone is ringing. The American Dream is a fiction and so are these photographs.” –Brendan Embser, Aperture. Tania Franco Klein, among our own 30 Under 30 Women Photographers (2018) just closed her exhibition with Almanaque at Material Art Fair 2019.
Timo Nasseri, Florenz- Bagdad, 2016
Concrete Contemporary
How does contemporary art deal with the constructivist, concrete, and conceptual art of the 20th century? 34 artists offer a multifaceted view of today’s constructivist-concrete and conceptual work. Participating artists include the group SUPERFLEX and Alicja Kwade, among others. On view through May 5, 2019 at Haus Konstruktiv.
Hans Lanner
Conceptions / Hans Lanner
If you repeat a word long enough, the meaning will disappear, and left is only a sound. Same thing happens if you look at an object for a long time. Shape and colour remain. –Hans Lannér. At Galleri Magnus Karlsson through March 2, 2019.
Anna-Eva Bergman
From North to South, Rhythms
Anna-Eva Bergman’s painting is inseparable from that experience of the world and from the enigma of its existence, both a wall erected in front of us and a horizon line that flees in the distance. Through May 5, 2019 at Bombas Gens.
in the shelter of the fold / epilogue
Winter/Spring Season 2019: BAM
The infectious Brazilian stylings of Grupo Corpo. The return of William Christie’s ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Superstar director Ivo van Hove reimagines an obscure Czech opera. And so much more. The Winter/Spring program at BAM, through June 2019.
Alan Reynolds
Alan Reynolds / A Small Retrospective
Celebrated from the outset, Alan Reynolds turns his back on popularity, quietly pursuing his inner convictions, spending a lifetime investigating the interplay of horizontal and vertical, shadow and light. On view at Annely Juda Fine Art through April 18, 2019.
Alex Majoli, Scene, 2019, Mack / Le Bal
Alex Majoli / Scene
For eight years, across several countries and continents, Alex Majoli has photographed events and non-events, political demonstrations, humanitarian emergencies and quiet moments of daily life. Book publication, Mack Books, Co-published with Le Bal where the exhibition opens, February 22 – April 28, 2019.
Alex Majoli
RECENT PROFILES
Alan Reynolds’s gathered work in A Small Retrospective at Annely Juda Fine Art; Tania Franco Klein’s series Proceed to the Route recently exhibited with Almanaque at Material Art Fair; Alex Majoli, Magnum photographer whose new photography book Scene is out on Mack Books, co-published with Le Bal; Anna-Eva Bergman’s paintings presented in the exhibition From North to South, Rhythms on view at Bombas Gens; Hans Lannér’s subtle Conceptions at Galleri Magnus Karlsson; Reintroducing Alicja Kwade along with the artist collective SUPERFLEX presenting with Concrete Contemporary at Haus Konstruktiv.
