LONDON’S NON-FAIR ART FAIR

©.Minor Attractions 2024

The young satellite fair Minor Attractions, running parallel to Frieze London, returns this Autumn together with some of the most exciting contemporary art galleries and non-profit art spaces from North America to Central and Eastern Europe. Following the footsteps of the original Armory Show or Loop Barcelona and non-traditional fairs such as Basel Social Club or Spring/Break, the second edition will take over the rooms and common areas of The Mandrake and offer a robust performance and evening program.

How to Just Do It

Archivalien im Department of Nike Archives (DNA), Beaverton, Oregon, 2024
© Nike, Inc., Foto: Alastair Philip Wiper

The Vitra Design Museum explores the five-decade ascent from a grassroots start-up to a global phenomenon of international sportsbrand Nike. The focus is on the company’s design history: from the beginnings in the 1960s and the design of its famous »swoosh« logo, to iconic products such as Air Max and Flyknit, and current research devoted to future materials and sustainability. »Form follows Motion« will emphasise the importance of sports for design innovation and social change, while also shedding light on the almost mythical devotion to sneakers and sportswear in popular culture and social media. 

HENRI MATISSE EN ROUTE

Henri Matisse, Intérieur à la fougère noire, 1948. Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Sammlung Beyeler © Succession Henri Matisse / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Foto: Robert Bayer

Henri Matisse, Nu bleu I, 1952. Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Sammlung Beyeler © Succession Henri Matisse / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Foto: Robert Bayer

Luxury, peace and pleasure (luxe, calme et volupté) −the poetic leitmotifs of Charles Baudelaire’s poem «Invitation to the Voyage», dating 1857− capture the very essence of Henri Matisse’s artistic output. This Autumn, the Fondation Beyeler departs from these guiding principles to invite visitors on a journey spanning the full range of the modern artist’s career. The much-awaited retrospective features 70 iconic and rarely-seen works including sculptures, paintings, drawings, and cutouts from major museums and private collections. 

A DRAMATIC TRAFFIC ACCIDENT

Photo: Ege Dandin

Göksu Kunak’s new performance / installation at Sophiensæle is based on the Susurluk scandal, a notorious car crash in Turkey in the 1990s that led to the discovery of criminal links between state institutions, the drug mafia and deep state relations. Kunak reflects on the policy of concealing and erasing and uses the accident as a metaphor for a corrupted patriarchal, political system. “Innocence” is an attempt of a genealogy of corruption and the effects of western imperialism on the country and the Middle East. 

WANNA SEE WANNSEE?

© Clemens Poloczek

Much visited, sung about, admired and filmed: The Wannsee lido is a Berlin icon and its architecture is a listed building. What most Berliners don’t realise, however, is that most of the complex is now empty. While up to 12,000 bathers enjoy the sandy beach on summery days, a unique architectural monument — and a large spatial resource with great potential — is falling apart just metres behind it. The exhibition Wanna See Wannsee? will show how architecture and history can be combined with sustainable reuse: to save and restore the monument and, in doing so, carry the torch of the social idea of the lido and its founder Herman Clajus.  

OUT IN THE OPEN

Basel Social Club 2024 © Photo: Clara Tuma for The New York Times

Basel Social Club 2024 © Installation view Julia Scher, Photo: Gina Folly

Following the great success of the Basel Social Club 2023 at a former mayonnaise factory, this upcoming edition will take place outdoors, on 50 hectares of farmland fields. The week-long event, core of which are landscape, agriculture, and farm animals, will offer a rather slow art experience — in seeming stark contrast with Art Basel. Fellas’ venturing out there will be met with an open-air exhibition proposed by galleries, farm-to-table gastronomy, and an impressive performance program. The latter, curated by the Performance Agency, will count with Margaret Raspé, Jean Tinguely, Paulo Nazareth, Juliette Blightman and many more.

What’s your favourite colour?

© Vitra

© Vitra

‘The colours used in the VitraHaus Loft are personal favourites, I like these colours and never tire of them, which makes them timeless for me. I think this attitude is important for anyone creating their own home.’ Working closely with the team at Vitra, the top floor of the VitraHaus has been transformed by Sabine Marcelis into an intelligently organised yet highly imaginative showcase of how colour and design can be combined with compelling results.

From South Asia to South Baden

In Bangladesh, floods are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, forcing countless numbers of people to look for a new home. Against this backdrop, architect Marina Tabassum and her team have developed the Khudi Bari, or small house: a low-cost structure that can be erected, dismantled, transported and reassembled elsewhere by the residents themselves. A Khudi Bari was constructed on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein as an example of a certain architectural mindset and a concrete response to problems exacerbated by the climate crisis.

FONDATION BEYELER TURNS INTO A LIVING ORGANISM

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Philippe Parreno, Membrane (Membran), 2023, Kybernetische Struktur mit sensomotorischen Fähigkeiten und generativer Sprachverarbeitung, Courtesy der Künstler, © Philippe Parreno; Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system, Courtesy die Künstlerin, Foto: Mark Niedermann

Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, 2024. Thomas Schütte, Hase, 2013, Bronze, patiniert; Fujiko Nakaya, Untitled, 2024, Potable water, 600 Meefog nozzles, High pressure pump motor system, Courtesy die Künstlerin © 2024, ProLitteris, Zürich. Foto: Mark Niedermann

A ghostly creature roams the fields around the Fondation Beyeler. Outlined against the horizon, a cybernetic tower rises from a dense, hovering fog. They announce the first exhibition to ever transform the museum into an experimental site for contemporary art. Unfolding inside: a sound installation by Cildo Meireles, Adrian Villar Rojas’ fridges and washing machines inhabited by parasites, Rirkrit Tiravanija’s slow-cooking kitchen, Carsten Höller’s Dream Bed. Throughout the summer, the show will evolve into a multifaceted organism nurtured by almost thirty artists, poets, architects, designers, musicians, composers, philosophers and scientists. 

FROM STAR TREK TO BLADE RUNNER

Still image from the film set of Star Trek, 1968
© CBS Photo Archive

Verner Panton, Fantasy Landscape at the exhibition Visiona 2, Cologne, Germany, 1970 © Verner Panton Design AG, Basel

Georges Méliès, still image from the film Le Voyage dans la Lune, 1902
© Public Domain

Joe Colombo, Living Center, 1970/71 © Ignazia Favata/Studio Joe Colombo Photo: Rosenthal Einrichtung

Numerous science fiction films – from Star Trek to 2001: A Space Odyssey to Blade Runner – are populated by classic designs that have shaped our image of the future. In reverse, many designers of objects destined for some type of imagined future seek inspiration in the genre of science fiction. The fascinating dialogue between science fiction and design is the subject of the new exhibition “Science Fiction Design: From Space Age to Metaverse“ at the Vitra Schaudepot. Staged in a futuristic design by artist Andrés Reisinger, over 100 objects from the museum’s collection ranging from examples of early twentieth century design, literature and film to the so-called Space Age of the 1960s and ’70s, as well as contemporary design and digital objects will be on display. 

Kader Attia – J’Accuse

Installation view “Kader Attia. J’Accuse”, Berlinische Galerie, © Photo: Harry Schnitger

Installation view “Kader Attia. J’Accuse”, Berlinische Galerie, © Photo: Harry Schnitger

Installation view “Kader Attia. J’Accuse”, Berlinische Galerie, © Photo: Harry Schnitger

Kader Attia has spent several years exploring the concept of ‘repair’, which he believes is a constant in nature and the history of humanity. At the Berlinische Galerie, he presents a conversation between two large installations called “J’Accuse” (2016) and “The Object‘s Interlacing” (2020). “J’Accuse” includes seventeen wooden busts, eight sculptures, and an eleven-minute excerpt from a French film of the same name by Abel Gance. The wooden busts depict soldiers who suffered severe facial disfigurement during World War I. In the video “The Object’s Interlacing,” Kader Attia discusses the topic of restitution of cultural assets that were violently looted during the era of colonialism.

20th edition of Gallery Weekend Berlin

ALEX CARVER, exhibition view, Expanded Skin, Kraupa—Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin, 2024 Photo: Marjorie Brunet Plaza, Courtesy the artist; Kraupa—Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin

Jonas Roßmeißl Faust, 2024, AlMg3, deep sea fiber optic cable, [NSW MINISUB DA 288], Courtesy of the artist and Klemm’s, Berlin

Santiago de Paoli, Lieber Nebelkopf, die Blaue Brücke is open, 2024, Installation views, Meyer Riegger, Berlin. Photos: Oliver Roura

territory, Installation view, Tan Jing, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, April 27–June 29, 2024, Photo: Ingo Kniest

Installation view, Renata Lucas, Berlin © Renata Lucas. Courtesy the artist and neugerriemschneider, Berlin. Photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin

Julius von Bismarck, Organic Story Board, 2024, Compressed wood strands, taxidermied animals, plants, textiles, plastic bottle and brass frame, Photo: Marcus Schneider, Courtesy of the artist and alexander levy, Berlin

Cosima von Bonin, The Faker, Courtesy the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin, Photo: Stefan Korte

In April 2024, Gallery Weekend Berlin will celebrate its 20th edition. Every year, an estimate of 50 participating galleries showcase an extensive programme of international artists. The wide array and high concentration of openings and events taking place during Gallery Weekend mark it out as one of the art calendar’s yearly highlights. For the first time, this upcoming anniversary edition will run under the direction of Antonia Ruder. Alongside high-calibre exhibitions, the public can once again look forward to exciting discoveries by young, emerging and established artists.

DESIGN AS A COLLECTIVE TOOL

WDC2026 Signing Ceremony © Photo Ben Kuhlmann

Frankfurt Rhine-Main will take the stage as the World Design Capital 2026. Under the theme “Design for Democracy. Atmospheres for a better life.,” the initiative is an invitation to actively shape the spaces and places we inhabit. The programme will bring together various projects that employ design to boost economic, social, cultural, and environmental progress. Aimed at empowering diverse communities, it will seek to forge sustainable and inclusive urban futures. This regional movement will span multiple cities and districts in the Rhine-Main area, with an anticipated audience of up to 4.5 million visitors in 2026.

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin © Doruntina Kastrati, Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin © Doruntina Kastrati, Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin © Doruntina Kastrati, Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

The Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the 60th Venice Biennale presents a sculptural installation by Doruntina Kastrati titled The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin, which addresses feminized labor and workplace inequality. Investigating the joint deindustrialization of the economy and deregulation of the market, Kastrati encounters the (im)material forms of precarious employment in light industries in the aftermath of the 1999 Kosovo War. The installation draws on the oral histories conducted with female employees of a Turkish delight factory in Prizren (Kosovo) and consists of four freestanding metal sculptures alluding to the surgical implants, many need to undergo as a result of working in a standing position. Charged with symbolic meaning, the pavilion honor first-person narratives and create incisive associations between exploitative labor practices and the embodiment of foreign metal on the worker’s knees.

AN ARCHIVE FOR MODERN GLASS

© Laurian Ghinițoiu

© Laurian Ghinițoiu

Introducing An Archive for Modern Glass, a softly illuminated 5-meter-tall glass column – a collaboration between Bricklab’s ongoing research of Jeddah’s modern development and 6:AM Glasswork’s artistic examination of the Venetian glass realm. Recreating the patterns, textures, and colors of Jeddah’s 1960s-1990s modernist architecture, Italian master artisans in Venice breathe new life into these familiar motifs, transforming them into contemporary designs. From photographic surveys to digital reimagining, each pattern is meticulously cast onto the glass.