Sammy Yip, Neon cow sign, Sammy’s Kitchen, circa 1978, neon light, zinc, steel, and paint. M+, Hong Kong. Gift of Sammy’s Kitchen, 2013. © Sammy’s Kitchen Ltd
M+ offers diverse digital experiences as its physical museum nears completion
M+ invites viewers to travel virtually through the ever-evolving contemporary art scene of Hong Kong and beyond. Its bilingual digital storytelling platform, ‘M+ Stories’, features a range of blog posts, videos and digital commissions related to the museum, which is scheduled to open in early 2021. This includes an online presentation of the Sigg Collection, featuring 271 contemporary artworks created between 1972 and 2012. A separate digital exhibition, ‘Neonsigns.hk’, is devoted to a disappearing element of the urban landscape: since 2013, M+ has been salvaging neon signs removed by the government over safety concerns. Presented anew, the signs are now accompanied by essays, films and artist commissions. Elsewhere, data-driven creative Shirley Wu fuses her love of art, maths and code to develop a mesmerising interactive web visualisation that celebrates Hong Kong’s female artists, while demonstrating their underrepresentation online.
mplus.org; instagram/mplusmuseum
Writer: Diane Theunissen
Phillip K Smith III, Portal 8, included in ‘SITE: State Savings Bank’. Image courtesy of the artist and Library Street Collective. Image and rendering by James Haefner
Detroit’s historic State Savings Bank sets the scene for innovative virtual exhibition
In Detroit, a platform is taking online exhibiting to a new dimension. Led by Library Street Collective in collaboration with architectural photographer James Haefner, the inaugural iteration for SITE has filled downtown Detroit’s State Savings Bank with intricately rendered, site-specific work by the likes of Daniel Arsham, Phillip K Smith III and Kennedy Yanko. The building, a sprawling 72,000 sq ft Classical Revival structure designed in 1900 by New York architects McKim, Mead & White, was left deserted for more than 20 years until its restoration and reopening in 2018 with a presentation of Doug Aitken’s Mirage Detroit. Further SITE exhibitions will be staged in the city’s architecturally significant buildings including those designed by architects Minoru Yamasaki and Albert Kahn and locations that once housed the automotive industrialists of Detroit’s past. Ten per cent of sales will be donated to Ruth Ellis Center, Detroit, a non-profit organisation building positive futures for LGBTQ+ youth. lscgallery.com; instagram/librarystreetcollective
Writer: Harriet Lloyd-Smith
Joanna Rajkowska, The Hatchling. Photography: Vassilis Skopelitis
A new interactive map allows viewers to walk The Line, online
We’re all becoming accustomed to spending less time outdoors, but one initiative is bringing the experience of a sculpture trail onto our screens. To celebrate its fifth anniversary, The Line – London’s first dedicated public art walk – has launched an intuitive, interactive map by design practice, Burgess and Beech. Along the way, virtual ramblers can make pit stops for insight on the rich heritage and abundant flora and fauna to be found along waterways, home to more than 50 species of bird. Running from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to the O2, The Line currently has ten sculptures in situ, including Gary Hume’s Liberty Grip, Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit (the UK’s tallest sculpture) and Joanna Rajkowska’s The Hatchling. The initiative hosts new interviews (filmed from home) with artists who have worked with The Line over the past five years including Antony Gormley, Joanna Rajkowska and Alex Chinneck. Offering some light at the end of the tunnel, The Line will also announce new collaborations for later this year, with artists including Eva Rothschild and Anne Hardy.
the-line.org; instagram/thelinelondon
Writer: Harriet Lloyd-Smith
‘Stacked’ table, Sabine Marcelis’ virtual background for Got Your Back
Got Your Back livens up the working from home environment
With online business meetings surging in popularity, Dutch creative agency Staat has gathered a group of established and emerging creatives to create virtual backdrops, available to use for free in a wide range of video conference applications such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. We’re particularly fond of the backdrops by 2020 Wallpaper* Designer of the Year Sabine Marcelis, which feature her ’Stacked’ table and Candy Cubes. Other headline contributors include landscape designer Piet Oudolf, who selected a picture of his garden in Hummelo, and photographers Iwan Baan and Romain Laprade, who respectively submitted images of the interior Le Corbusier’s Convent Sainte-Marie de la Tourette and a seashell-shaped synagogue in Tel Aviv. Titled ‘Got Your Back’, the project provides design enthusiasts with a new opportunity to share great art and architecture while sprucing up their work routines. Voluntary donations raised through ‘Got Your Back’ go towards the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. gotyourback.space
Writer: Diane Theunissen
Not Vital’s Artist’s Palate recipe, ’plain in pigna’, originally featured in the November 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*224). Photography: Felicity McCabe. Interiors: Matthew Morris. Food: Iain Graham. Artwork: Not Vital, Pelvis, 2008. Stainless steel. 386 x 341 x 146 cm. Edition of 3 plus 2 AP (#2/3). Photography: Filippo Simonetti. Courtesy the artist. Portrait of Not Vital by Beny Steiner.
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s cross-platform initiative feeds the mind
Since social distancing began, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac has done anything but sit still. With its cross-platform digital initiative, the gallery sheds new light on its roster of artists, revives archival material and recreates physical exhibitions online. Its weekly newsletter, ‘From The Studio’ features virtual studio visits and ‘culinary art’, sourced in part from Wallpaper’s Artist’s Palate series, with featured recipes from the likes of Robert Longo, Tom Sachs and Not Vital. The ‘Artist Eye’ video series – including Antony Gormley and Liza Lou – sees an artist select and discuss an object of inspiration. Over on Instagram live, the gallery’s senior global director, Julia Peyton-Jones hosts ‘Tea with Julia’ each Saturday, a succession of in-depth conversations with prominent art figures. An extension of Harun Farocki and Hito Steyerl’s exhibition ‘Life Captured Still’ will be staged online, highlighting seminal works from their recent London show. As curators, Antje Ehmann and Carles Guerra say, ‘Harun and Hito devised in advance a kind of work with images in which the human presence was already vanishing, and yet the discursive impact would be progressively assumed as part of the work.’ Julia Peyton-Jones will be in conversation with design critic and author Alice Rawsthorn on Instagram live at 11am (BST) on Saturday 2 May.
ropac.net; instagram/thaddaeusropac
Writer: Diane Theunissen
Artist Rashid Johnson’s #ColoringFromHome takeover on the RxART Instagram
RxArt’s #ColoringFromHome Instagram initiative harnesses the restorative qualities of art
Art has the power to heal, as American nonprofit organisation RxArt has demonstrated over the years. In addition to commissioning contemporary artists to bring beauty and joy to paediatric hospitals, they also publish an artist-designed colouring book every two years, both as a gift to young patients and a fundraising initiative. The colouring project has now gained a live dimension, called #ColoringFromHome, which sees artists from their roster host colouring sessions on Instagram Live, every weekday at 4PM EST. The colouring templates are free to download on RxArt’s website – among them are Alex Israel’s self portrait maze, the Haas Brothers’ playful creatures and Claudia Comte’s bunny ears. Some participating artists have even invited their young children to join in on the action; a recent takeover by Rashid Johnson and his son, Julius was a particularly heartwarming moment. Colouring has often been touted for its therapeutic properties; with #ColoringFromHome, this rings particularly true.
rxart.net; instagram/rxart
Writer: TF Chan
