Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun and the Little Sun Films

Last week, Gerhard Richter's abstract painting at the Sotheby's sold for £21.3 million - the highest ever for any living artist.  (I reckon that I'd be more successful free-falling from outer space a la Felix Baumgarter than buy a Gerhard Richter painting in this lifetime.) While this sale clearly shows how much money floats around in recession England, I'd like to see some of this extra moolah channelled into other works of art.

I'd like to see some of this private money used for more art funding for smaller and community-based art institutions. How about supporting art that has a social purpose?  There had been attempts in the past albeit small-scale to bring art and social change together but I haven't seen anything as significant as Olafur Eliasson's Little Sun project. Little Sun is a solar-powered lamp he conceived with engineer Frederik Ottesen. Read More »

Guest Blogger: A Lengthy Offering from Moving Image by Rebecca Carr

Video art has never held much of an appeal to me. In part, this is because it seems to take so much time, and inevitably when you come across it in a gallery it’s always half way through, meaning you either miss some of it, watch the end before the start, or wait for the loop to complete before watching from the beginning. Frankly, I rarely have time for this. However, the problem of time was something I was determined to avoid at the  Moving Image Contemporary Video Art Fair in London and I fully intended to watch all of the video art on offer.

The Inaugural exhibition of the Moving Image Contemporary Video Art Fair last October 13 to 16 featured a selection of single-channel videos, video sculptures and other larger video installations by 28 artists, represented by 28 galleries and non-profit institutions from across the globe. Read More »

Ayrton Senna: In His Last Race to Spirituality and Immortality

I never understood people´s fascination with car racing. My primal girl-self cannot grasp what type of adrenaline one gets from hearing the sound of screeching tires and the humming of machines for what I would plainly categorise as a man sport. Since being involved in a minor accident years ago, I had sworn never to drive again. But lo and behold! Seeing the documentary on Ayrton Senna had made me change my mind. Aside from becoming a fan of the legendary driver and having a newfound respect for Formula One, I´m no longer afraid to take up driving once again.

Who would have thought that a film about racing would touch my soul to the core? But that´s what exactly this film did.  Directed by Asif Kapadia, the film is in itself a breakthrough in documentary filmmaking as it tells the story of Senna through archival footage Read More »

Momardi says Oui: Special Screening on David Lamelas at the Ciné Lumiere

I was getting a little bit grumpy from not receiving replies from the Gagosian gallery for my request on publicity images for the John Chamberlain show. Ignored by an elite gallery for the nth time,  I had been wondering if I was mistaken about Momardi as an effective platform for me. I have a feeling that in London, traditional critics-journalists are still hailed as the bearer of tidings and bloggers are still nothing but amateur cheapskates. Unless of course you are Jonathan Jones, blogger slash critic of the Guardian.

I did change my mood when Institut Français London contacted me to let me know about this special screening on David Lamelas´movies. Two good points to be noted. Institut Français is the cultural arm of the French embassy and second, I am passionate about everything French. Read More »

The Earth Moves: Momardi´s Baby Steps

Osama Bin Laden is dead. The Americans can now, atleast temporarily, heave a sigh of relief and I am doing some form of cheering myself. The  holidays had been good, a moto trip around Bournemouth, Poole and Swanage and while I´ve been battered by the wind during the trip, I am feeling sunny about starting an internship this week at Phaidon Press with the digital marketing team. Yeah, baby! I know its unpaid but this is such an important opportunity for me to meet some interesting people and get to read more visual art books. Pray hard that they ask me to stay.

Also before the holidays, I was asked to work as a runner for a film shoot for the Royal Opera House and met world-renowned opera singer Angela Gheorghiu and she was more than spectacular.  Read More »

Douglas Gordon: The Exhibit I Didn´t See plus The Art Newspaper

Forgive my ignorance, but I´ve heard little of the artist Douglas Gordon until I saw an ad on the Art Newspaper website:

Wanted: Editorial Intern based in Vauxhall, London Office Salary: Paid internship Three month-fixed internship

Woah! A paid internship for a monthly London newspaper on visual arts! First, paid internships are really hard to come by  so whoever gets this would already be like winning the lottery.  I can picture a sort of bloody  gladiator scene among  art graduates and art enthusiasts killing their way for the prize.  Read More »