Last week, Season 8 artist Theaster Gates took an ax to one of his paintings at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. The sliced black canvas is entitled Flat Bush, and explores the artist’s interest in laborers’ skills, like for example, swinging an ax. The piece is one of ten in a new solo exhibition entitled The Minor Arts, on view through September 4, 2017.
In other news this week:
- Laurie Anderson donated her late husband Lou Reed’s archive to the New York Public Library.
- Carrie Mae Weems was announced as the Carolina Performing Arts’ next artist-in-residence.
- And William Kentridge and Julie Mehretu were among the artists commissioned for Performa 17, investigating Dada’s history of performance.
Events & exhibitions
New York City
- Hauser and Wirth’s new exhibition Nothing and Everything: Seven Artists, 1947–1962 features Louise Bourgeois and continues through April 1. [Read a review in Hyperallergic.]
- Wednesday, March 15, 7pm—The Swiss Institute is hosting a conversation between artist Frank Heath and New York Close Up artist Erin Shirreff.
- This is the last week to see Yinka Shonibare MBE (RA)’s exhibition at James Cohan. Prejudice at Home: A Parlour, a Library, and a Room closes this Saturday, March 18. [Read a review in Artnet.]
Philadelphia
- A new exhibition at the Barnes Foundation features work by Tania Bruguera, Marina Abramović, Kimsooja, and Jenny Holzer among others. Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie is on view through May 22.
Washington D.C.
- March 16 & 17, 10am-5pm—Martin Puryear is among the artists participating in a panel at the Wyeth Foundation for American Art Symposium on the African American art world of the twentieth century.
Minneapolis, MN
- March 16-18, 8pm—Charles Atlas will be performing alongside fellow artists Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener in Tesseract, a dance/technology hybrid performance commissioned by the Walker Art Center. [Read an interview with the artist about the project in The Art Newspaper.]
Palm Springs, CA
- A new exhibition by Andrea Zittel entitled On the Grid: a look at settlement patterns in the high desert is open through May 22 at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center.
Los Angeles
- Kerry James Marshall’s retrospective Mastry opened yesterday at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where it will remain on view through July 3.
Wiesbaden, Germany
- Richard Serra: Props, Films, Early Works opens on Friday at Museum Wiesbaden (on view through June 18, 2017).
Prague
- On Thursday, March 16, the National Gallery in Prague opens Ai Weiwei’s Law of the Journey—the artist’s first exhibition in the Czech Republic. Featuring a 230-foot-long inflatable boat with 258 oversized refugee figures, the exhibition is described as the the artist’s “multi-layered, epic statement on the human condition,” and is on view through January 1, 2018. [Learn more on Artnet.]
Copenhagen
- Last Friday, Sarah Sze’s exhibition Timekeeper opened at Copenhagen Contemporary (on view through September 3).
It’s impossible to include all the incredible exhibitions and art events happening this week in a single post. If there’s something you feel should have been included in today’s roundup, leave a comment below!