Weekly Roundup

Doris Salcedo. Plegaria Muda, 2008-2010.

Doris Salcedo, "Plegaria Muda," 2008-2010. Photo: Oscar Monsalve © Doris Salcedo.

In this week’s roundup, Doris Salcedo evokes memorials, Cao Fei explores play time, several artists are celebrated and more.

  • Doris Salcedo: Plegaria Muda unveils the newest sculptural work by Doris Salcedo in the turbine hall of Moderna Museet Malmö (Sweden).  The show contains multiple references and as an installation, Plegaria Muda can evoke associations of a memorial or a collective burial site. It springs out of a three-year-long research of the ghettoes of South East Los Angeles, but is also a direct answer to repeated atrocities committed by groupings within the Colombian army between 2003 and 2009.  This exhibition closes September 4.
  • Cao Fei‘s Play Time is the artist’s fourth solo exhibition at Lombard Freid Projects (New York City).  Play Time returns to Cao Fei’s previous interest in the convergence of fantasy and reality and premieres her latest works. She continues to utilize different types of media including video, photography and sculptural installations that evoke childhood games, story telling and TV programs that have a profound influence on children.  This show closes June 25.
  • John Baldessari will be presented with the 2011 Alumni Achievement Award at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, May 31.  The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards provides early recognition and support for teenagers, many who go on to become some of the country’s most important artists.

  • John Feodorov contributed two new paintings, each addressing the theme Emergence, to be featured in Social Security, an exhibition of current artwork by a loosely affiliated group of prominent, mid-career and emerging Northwest artists who share visual theorist Nicholas Mirzoeff’s position that politics are embedded in every aspect of contemporary culture.  The exhibition at the Kirkland Arts Center (Kirkland, WA) runs June 4 – July 2.
  • Paul Pfeiffer‘s work is currently being featured by the Goetz Collection in Munich.  The 30 exhibited video and sound installations, sculptures and photographs are on view until October 1.
  • Maya Lin will soon submit plans to redesign Queen Anne’s Square in Newport (Rhode Island).  Once Lin’s plans are approved by the Newport City Council, work could begin this summer and be completed by the end of 2012.
  • Juxtapoz magazine is featuring art by Laylah Ali, especially her Greenhead series that delves into questions about race, politics, and class.