This video got banned from the Guggenheim Museum
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu – Dogs Which Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003, 8 Bull Terriers, 8 Running Machines Without Drive
The video work titled Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other has only recently been removed from Guggenheim Museum’s exhibition series known as Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World. The video series has been met with disapproval and disparagement not only by some art critics but animal lovers and welfare organizations as well. Critics claim that the exhibition would have featured a series of various distinct video presentations depicting instances of unmistakable and unacceptable animal cruelty in the name of art.
Surprising photos of veiled female police squad in Iran
Abbas Kowsari – Police Women Academy, 2006
In 2003 the first females ever graduated from Iran’s police academy in the capital city Tehran, after undergoing a training of three years. Spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei himself had to give permission to Tehran’s police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to create the first all-female police unit.
Olafur Eliasson’s ambitious ‘Weather Project’ recreated sun in museum
Olafur Eliasson – The Weather Project, 2003, Monofrequency lights, projection foil, haze machines, mirror foil, aluminium, and scaffolding, 26.7×22.3×155.4m, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London
Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Tate, London
Olafur Eliasson has created a gigantic installation which in 2003 took over all space in Tate Modern, London. The artwork, a sun rising out of a mist was bound to keep any visitor in awe. In this project named The Weather Project, the Scandinavian artist recreated the sun and the sky to occupy the Turbine Hall. The whole space was covered with a fine mist that seeps into the whole space like it was coming from the outside space. Looking ahead to see if the mist escapes into the outer space, visitors saw in place of the ceiling, a replica of the space below – like a mirror. There were 200 low-sodium mono-frequency lamps at the extreme end of the hall as well. Mono-frequency lamps are mostly used in street lights and the frequency at which they emit light is so low that any other colour besides black and yellow are invisible. These lamps therefore change the view and landscape of the environment into one with two tones.
Why are hundreds of shirts flying in the air?
Kaarina Kaikkonen – Helsinki, Finland
Kaarina Kaikkonen is an artist best known for creating sculptural works using recycled materials, notably second-hand clothing seen in her memorable jacket installations. The environment is incorporated into these installations in some way, resulting in a beautiful, colorful cloth landscape. Each garment individually tells a story as an extension of its past wearer, and as a group they come together to create a history and visual retelling of their space.
About Kaarina Kaikkonen
Kaarina Kaikkonen (b. 1952) began as a painter, but has become known as a sculptor who shapes the urban landscape and makes installations emphasizing the sense of community. Kaikkonen studied at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts School in 1978-1983. Kaikkonen’s first installation was on display in Helsinki in 1988. In Finland, one of her most famous works is the Way -installation, which she built on the steps of Helsinki Cathedral in 2000.
Kaarina Kaikkonen – Networking, 2009 – Piazza Calderini, Bologna, Italy
Kaarina Kaikkonen – Prato contemporanea – Crossing Borders, 2014, Firenze, Italy
Kaarina Kaikkonen – Prato contemporanea – Crossing Borders, 2014, Firenze, Italy
Profane messages hammered into rocks in stunning scale
Wim Delvoye – Sweetheart, 2003
With the advancement of technology, delivering messages has never been this easy. All we do is create emails, text messages and even twitter posts, and it’s just a click away! Except for the Belgian artist who puts great effort in delivering such message, Wim Delvoye.
This artwork looks like an accident scene
Elmgreen & Dragset – Short Cut, 2003, Mixed-media installation, 250 x 850 x 300 cm
ABOUT SHORT CUT
In Short Cut (2003), Elmgreen and Dragset installed a run-of-the-mill white Fiat Uno in Milan’s quintessential strolling and gathering place for all tourists and residents, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
The work is a metaphor for global tourism, but also a symbol for the precarious nature of today’s world. It also describes a universe in movement that travels along endless, unpredictable paths towards fanciful destinations. The first impression of passers-by is that they have come across an accident scene: the floor is cracked and the wheels of the car are stuck among shards of the mosaic. Short Cut sparks reactions and debate throughout the city; animated clusters of people gather around the installation. On the morning that the exhibition opens, the traffic police leave a ticket on the car for parking in an unauthorized area, and two members of the city council ask for it to be removed; to demonstrate their disapproval, they stage a protest in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, eating a pizza next to the installation.
Chinese girls are observing transformation of their city
Weng Fen – Sitting on the Wall – Guangzhou 3, 2002-2003
The transitional phases and changes in China since its opening up in the 1980’s, both physically and emotionally, have been the source of inspiration for Weng Fen (b. 1961) and his work. In his earlier series Sitting on the Wall and Bird’s Eye View, Weng’s epic images focus on the upraising of urbanism in cities such as Haikou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. His subjects start out as outsiders looking into this overwhelming transformation with anticipation, fear and curiosity to being in the centre of it all. Weng then follows and evolves inwardly, shifting his attention from physical changes to emotional and spiritual transformations, from urban cities to rural countries, exploring the possibility of finding an otherworldly utopia, a place that may have existed all along in our hearts and minds, in our memories and those innocent times, which results in the acclaimed Staring at The Sea series.
