When Zarathustra was thirty years old he left his home and the lake of his home and went into the mountains. There he enjoyed his spirit and his solitude, and for ten years did not tire of it. But at last a change came over his heart, and one morning he rose with the dawn, stepped before the sun, and spoke to it thus:
You great star, what would your happiness be had you not those for whom you shine? For ten years you have climbed to my cave: you would have tired of your light and of the journey had it not been for me and my eagle and my serpent.
But we waited for you every morning, took your overflow from you, and blessed you for it. Behold, I am weary of my wisdom, like a bee that has gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to receive it.
I would give away and distribute, until the wise among men find joy once again in their folly, and the poor in their riches. Therefore I must descend into the depths, as you do in the evening when you go behind the sea and still bring light to the underworld, you exuberant star.
Like you, I must go under, go down, as men say, to whom I shall descend.
–Friedrich Nietzsche / Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Welcome to the 118th edition of Prescriptions. Here is our review of the week in the arts.
Vivian Maier
Vivian Maier: Works in Color
Deepening the understanding of Vivian Maier’s oeuvre and her keenness to record, these works capture the street life of Chicago and New York, and include a number of her enigmatic self-portraits. On view through September 13, 2020 at Foam Amsterdam.
Rodrigo Matheus, Colapso, 2018
Cities in Dust
Our era is typified by human presence as the main enabler of disasters. This collective exhibition presents 15 artists, including Cerith Wyn Evans and Rodrigo Matheus, who share a focus on urban morphology and its contemporary phenomena. Through July 31, 2020 at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel.
Günther Förg, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 2002
Rhythms and Vibrations
From the start of abstract art there was a split between two lines: one structured and economical, often proscribing curves, and a warmer, more informal one in which spontaneity imposed its rhythm. Featuring artists Etel Adnan, Sean Scully, Juan Uslé, and others. Through July 24, 2020 at Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris.
Stephane Lagoutte
Demonstrations in Paris / Spirit Of Bastille
In celebration of Bastille Day, images of recent demonstrations reflect on what it means to be French today, well over a century since the storming of the Bastille. Photography by Stephane Lagoutte.
Candida Höfer, The Standard Los Angeles I, 2000
Subject and Object / Photo Rhine Ruhr
This exhibition examines the relationships between the different photographic positions that have developed in the cities of the Rhineland and the Ruhr and the regions’ academies since the 1960s. Featuring Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth, among some hundred others. On view at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf through August 16, 2020.
Robin Hammond / W. Eugene Smith Grant 2013
A Matter of Black Lives / Prescription 117
Following the murder of George Floyd by police officers in the U.S., demonstrations across America and beyond are ignited against racism and police brutality, at times met with less than magnanimous authority.
RaMell Ross / Hale County This Morning, This Evening (still)
PROFILES
Vivian Maier whose pioneering Works in Color is presented at Foam Amsterdam; Artists Cerith Wyn Evans and Rodrigo Matheus featured in Cities in Dust at Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel; Etel Adnan, Sean Scully, Juan Uslé, and others at Galerie Lelong & Co. in Paris with Rhythms and Vibrations; Stephane Lagoutte whose document of Demonstrations in Paris was featured for Bastille Day; Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth among some hundred others participating in Subject and Object / Photo Rhine Ruhr at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; And the featured artists, photographers, and writers surveyed in A Matter of Black Lives, Bruce Davidson, Newsha Tavakolian, Henry Taylor, Richard Avedon, James Baldwin, Gillian Laub, RaMell Ross, Raymond Depardon, David Goldblatt, and Gordon Parks.
