Recently, the art scene all over the world is quite active. There are new art museums around the world, and art museum or art centers have also launched expansion plans. Among them, "The Shed" in New York, which is a vision for gathering and presenting artists from different fields, is the most anticipated.
A new landmark, The Shed, has recently appeared in the Hudson area of New York. It was designed by DS+R Architects (Diller Scofido + Renfro) and collaborated with the Rockwell Group. Built at a cost of $550 million, The Shed, covering 200,000 gsf (approx.18,580 gsm), is a multi-disciplinary art center that combines performance, visual arts concerts, and exhibitions. The intelligent design of its novel and movable building steel shells structure has attracted the attention of the architectural and design circles since its establishment. The multi-show space design that can be adjusted to provide various art types and functions allows artists and artists to look forward to their future performance projects. The appearance of The Shed undoubtedly injects a new dimension into the artistic atmosphere of New York. The Shed will open on April 5 this year.
In the past few years, the Centre Pompidou has been carrying out the expansion plan of the Art Center overseas. After 10 years of negotiations, the French Centre Pompidou and the government-authorized Shanghai West Bund Group reached an agreement to establish the Centre Pompidou Shanghai (West Bund). This is the largest cooperative project between China and France in the cultural field. The project is expected to be officially launched in the middle of this year in West Bund Art Museum. It plans to host more than 20 modern and contemporary exhibitions and art programs in the West Bund Art Museum which designed by British architect David Chipperfield within five years. The West Bund Art Museum is located along the Huangpu River in the eastern part of Xuhui District. With the goal of creating Asia's largest art district, the region will continue to implement the vision of a “cultural corridor” with eight art museums, four public art centers and eight theaters of different scales. The current show plan for the region continues to advance to 2020.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which is an indicator of contemporary art in Taiwan, has entered its 36th year. In response to the demand for exhibitions and collections, and the need for expansion and repair of hardware and software facilities, after 20 years of discussion and research, the "Taipei Fine Arts Museum Expansion Project" briefing was held in September last year, and the vision blueprint for the expansion was released. The expansion plan will be carried out in nine phases, including the addition of the collection warehouses, new exhibition venue, underground art museum and administrative space, etc. It is expected to be implemented in six years and completed by the end of 2023. The total budget of the expansion project is about 5.23 billion (TWD). The existing space of the museum is 23,621 square meters, the total area of the new collection warehouse will be 6,488 square meters and the new exhibition venue will be 30,426 square meters. The total area of this three places will be 60,535 square meters. At that time, the new exhibition venue "Taipei Art Park", will be focusing on its role as the platform of contemporary art on presenting exhibition, performance and screenings, and the existing exhibition venue will have more permanent exhibitions of modern art to show its important position as a collection and research center of modern art in Taiwan. Before the expansion plan was announced, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has been closed for nine months last year for renovation of hardware facilities as well as opened the south entrance that has been closed for years.
In addition to the exciting news, there have been some regrets in the art world. Mary Boone, the owner of Mary Boone Gallery, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for filing a false tax return. This makes this senior gallery facing a downturn. Since its inception in the 1970s, Mary Boone Gallery has not only led the way of contemporary art in New York, but also cultivated numerous famous artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Salle, Julian Schnabel and Barbara Kruger. Mary Boone Gallery also witnessed the development and progress of contemporary art in New York. With the imprisonment of this veteran art dealer, the operation of Mary Boone Gallery will also go into history, which is really regrettable.
Another art incident related to tax evasion occurred at Swiss bank UBS. UBS was sentenced by the French courts to a high penalty of 3.7 billion euros for aiding the tax evasion of its wealthy clients. UBS is the main sponsor of the Art Basel and the two sides have established long-term relationships. In addition, UBS is also a major sponsor of a number of art institutions. Whether such penalties affect UBS's sponsorship of art institutions and events is still waiting to be seen. This penalty is the most severe punishment for tax fraud in the French legal system. UBS expressed strong dissatisfaction with the penalty and said it would appeal.
Banksy spoofed at the auction venue last October, destroying the work that had been sold at the auction, staged a lively art incident to scare all the guests on the scene. The original work "Girl with Balloon", which was sold for $1.4 million, was later renamed "Love Is in the Bin" and officially sold to an anonymous buyer. This spoof incident was named one of the losers of the year by the New York Times. However, the art world had good and bad comments on this spoofing incident. Sotheby's head of contemporary art, Europe, Alex Branczik, believes that Banksy is creating a new work at the auction instead of destroying the work. Steve Lazarides, an art dealer who worked with Banksy for 12 years, also thinks this is the best thing of Banksy ever did, and the best thing ever happened at the auction. On the other hand, art critic Andrea K. Scott believes that this self-destructive work is a trick of “Empty Gesture”, which achieves the reputation of the artist and increases the value of the work.
Figure 1: Portrait of Mary Boone at Mary Boone Gallery, 1981 © Mary Boone Gallery
Figure 2 left top：The Shed’s Bloomberg as seen from the High Line © The Shed. Photo: Brett Beyer.
Figure 2 right top：Banksy, Love Is in the Bin, 2018 © Sotheby
Figure 2 bottom：Façade view of Centre Pompidou (night view) © Centre Pompidou
