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S U B S C R I B E
WRS stories about “culture”
Swiss Arts Council accused of funding porn in Vienna
Thursday, 25 February, 2010
Taxpayer money and sex usually make for explosive bedfellows, and a Swiss-funded art exhibition in Vienna is proving no exception. The exhibition by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel certainly blurs the line between art and obscenity. In part sponsored by the Swiss Arts Council, Element 6 is named after a local sex club, which has been invited into the museum as part of the art work. To some, this is art confronting society with tough questions. To others, it’s an unacceptable use of taxpayer’s money. Lucas Chambers has the story:
Thursday, 25 February, 2010
Taxpayer money and sex usually make for explosive bedfellows, and a Swiss-funded art exhibition in Vienna is proving no exception. The exhibition by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel certainly blurs the line between art and obscenity. In part sponsored by the Swiss Arts Council, Element 6 is named after a local sex club, which has been invited into the museum as part of the art work. To some, this is art confronting society with tough questions. To others, it’s an unacceptable use of taxpayer’s money. Lucas Chambers has the story:
Thursday, 4 February, 2010
In just eight minutes, a rare life-size bronze by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti was sold to an anonymous phone bidder for 65 million pounds (109.5 million Swiss francs) at Sotheby’s in London last night. The auction house, which had predicted it would sell for 20 to 30 million francs, said it was the most expensive art piece ever sold at auction. L’Homme Qui Marche I, cast in 1961, was put up for sale by Germany’s Commerzbank which intends to donate the proceeds to charity. Our London correspondent Olly Barratt caught up with Helena Newman of Sotheby’s alongside the Giacometti sculpture the morning of the auction and began by asking her to describe it:
State of the arts market depends which side you're on
Wednesday, 3 February, 2010
Chef d’oeuvres such as Giacometti’s life-size Walking Man sculpture called are jewels in the crown of large auction houses. But despite this prestigious sale, Sotheby’s is feeling the pinch on top ticket items like all big art vendors. Currencies are up and down, markets are unstable. At times like these classic art, like gold, is a safe haven for investors. There are plenty of buyers, but too few selling in the well-established, so-called secondary market. The opposite is true in the primary arts market, where new, up-and-coming artists’ works are on sale for the first time. There, times are tough, but this sale in London could help turn things around for everyone…eventually. Lucas Chambers has the story:
Wednesday, 3 February, 2010
Chef d’oeuvres such as Giacometti’s life-size Walking Man sculpture called are jewels in the crown of large auction houses. But despite this prestigious sale, Sotheby’s is feeling the pinch on top ticket items like all big art vendors. Currencies are up and down, markets are unstable. At times like these classic art, like gold, is a safe haven for investors. There are plenty of buyers, but too few selling in the well-established, so-called secondary market. The opposite is true in the primary arts market, where new, up-and-coming artists’ works are on sale for the first time. There, times are tough, but this sale in London could help turn things around for everyone…eventually. Lucas Chambers has the story:
Swiss artist sticks tongue out at New York
Tuesday, 26 January, 2010
Swiss sculptor Urs Fischer is popular in Europe but not well known in the United States, but that’s about to change. The Zurich-born artist has taken over three full floors of the New Museum in New York for his first major solo exhibit in the United States: Marguerite de Ponty. About a thousand people per day are streaming in to see what Fischer is all about. Karin Kamp has this report from New York:
Tuesday, 26 January, 2010
Swiss sculptor Urs Fischer is popular in Europe but not well known in the United States, but that’s about to change. The Zurich-born artist has taken over three full floors of the New Museum in New York for his first major solo exhibit in the United States: Marguerite de Ponty. About a thousand people per day are streaming in to see what Fischer is all about. Karin Kamp has this report from New York:
Passions shared, privacy guarded
Monday, 13 July, 2009
The Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a special exhbition of 20th century masterpieces from private Swiss collections, ’Passions Partagées’. The show pays homage to the museum’s inaugural exhibition of impressionist paintings in the collections of French-speaking Switzerland. Many years after that event, it emerged that some of the works on display were in the possession of notorious Nazi art dealer Bruno Lohse. One of them, a Pissarro, was looted art and only recovered by the original owner’s family last year, after its rediscovery in a Zurich bank vault. So has the museum done its homework this time—and is it sure about the provenance of the works on its walls? Vincent Landon reports.
Monday, 13 July, 2009
The Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a special exhbition of 20th century masterpieces from private Swiss collections, ’Passions Partagées’. The show pays homage to the museum’s inaugural exhibition of impressionist paintings in the collections of French-speaking Switzerland. Many years after that event, it emerged that some of the works on display were in the possession of notorious Nazi art dealer Bruno Lohse. One of them, a Pissarro, was looted art and only recovered by the original owner’s family last year, after its rediscovery in a Zurich bank vault. So has the museum done its homework this time—and is it sure about the provenance of the works on its walls? Vincent Landon reports.
Tuesday, 2 June, 2009
’Some expose teeth like melon seeds, and have fingers large as thighs’ - 18th century Chinese artist Luo Ping’s description of ghosts he painted and claimed to have seen. Zürich’s Rietberg museum is the only one in Switzerland dedicated to non-European art. It currently has an exhibition of Ping’s works called ’Eccentric Visions’ in its Werner Abegg wing. Pascale Hartmann has been there for WRS’s Arts CH.
Monday, 11 May, 2009
They’re not as recognized as their sound counterparts, DJs, but VJs, as in video jockeys, are growing in number. Now no longer are they confined to techno-clubs or stuffy galleries, VJs and visual artists alike are building mobile video devices and taking to the street. WRS video journalist met with French mappers, VJ Lupin and VJ Oblivion, and Mexican visual artist, Fernando Llanos, and his video-dog Chamaco. The 5th Annual Mapping Festival takes place in Geneva until Sunday, May 17.
Tuesday, 5 May, 2009
Not many editorial cartoonists are given three page spreads at the front of the news section, nor do they go out into the field. However, in today’s edition of Le Temps, you may notice a rather eye-catching report on South Lebanon. Pages two through four are dedicated to editorial cartoonist Patrick Chappatte’s illustrated report on cluster bombs dropped during the 2006 conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, and the effect it has had on lives of the people who live there three years later. WRS’s Video Journalist, Amy Wong, paid a visit to his studio just before the paper went to print.
Thursday, 9 April, 2009
Gangs, violence and suicide are not the kind of themes that one might expect to see in a musical, and they are certainly not the kind of things that many people believe exists in Switzerland. However “Underground, the Musical” has all of that. This hip-hop musical/social project has given many teenagers across Switzerland a forum to express themselves and make the public aware of problems that an increasing number of youths face everyday. WRS video journalist Amy Wong spent the afternoon handing out flyers and “KRUMP-ing” with the cast of “Underground, the Musical.”
Tuesday, 31 March, 2009
The Swiss music scene is like no other. Distinct cultural divisions and language differences make it difficult for any group to be ‘big in Switzerland’. Nevertheless once a year, for three days at the M4 Music Festival, music industry professionals from all over the country come to mingle, check out new acts, and give constructive criticism to artists dreaming of the ‘big time’. WRS video journalist Amy Wong followed singer-songwriter and new expat, Drew Stiles, through the M4 Music Demotape Clinic.
Tuesday, 17 February, 2009
If you hear the names Christo and Jeanne-Claude, you might think of iconic buildings such as the Reichstag or the Paris Pont Neuf being wrapped in fabric. But don’t call them the “wrapped buildings” people. And be careful if you call them “environmental artists”. Conor Lennon made both mistakes when he spoke to them about their latest exhibition at the Hermitage Foundation in Lausanne. It contains preparatory drawings and sketches for their current work in progress, Over The River, a plan to suspend fabric panels over the Arkansas river in Colorado. The projects are all huge in scale and planning and timescales.
Classical Masterclass: What does the opera director do?
Thursday, 12 February, 2009
If you’ve always thought of Strauss and Oscar Wilde as belonging to the light, flighty worlds of music and writing respectively, you clearly don’t know Salomé. Strauss’s opera is taken from Wilde’s play, which tells the biblical story of King Herod and his lust for his stepdaughter, Salomé. The opera is the latest production at Geneva’s Grand Théâtre. Conor Lennon invited the director, Nicolas Bregier, to the WRS studios and started by asking him to explain what, exactly, an opera director does.
Thursday, 12 February, 2009
If you’ve always thought of Strauss and Oscar Wilde as belonging to the light, flighty worlds of music and writing respectively, you clearly don’t know Salomé. Strauss’s opera is taken from Wilde’s play, which tells the biblical story of King Herod and his lust for his stepdaughter, Salomé. The opera is the latest production at Geneva’s Grand Théâtre. Conor Lennon invited the director, Nicolas Bregier, to the WRS studios and started by asking him to explain what, exactly, an opera director does.
Thursday, 5 February, 2009
Luciano Pavarotti is no longer with us but his influence is still considerable in the classical music world. Tomorrow evening internationally renowned singer Michele Tiziano presents the festival of tenors. He’ll be leading the tribute to Pavarotti, interpreting some of his most favourite arias tomorrow night at Geneva’s Victoria Hall. Michele Tiziano came into the WRS studio and told Conor Lennon about his fascinating professional career. Conor started by asking him to tell us how well he’d known Pavarotti.
Thursday, 5 February, 2009
Free-jazz drummer Michael Wertmueller, also known as the “wild man” of drumming, is in Geneva playing at the 2nd annual percussion festival, Batteries! II. Wertmueller’s trio includes legendary saxiphonist, Peter Brötzmann and bassist, Marino Pliakas. They played at Le Kab de l’Usine yesterday evening. Wertmueller and Philipe Nielsen from Séquence came into the studio to speak with Conor Lennon. Batteries! II continues until Saturday, February 7.
Wednesday, 4 February, 2009
She’s best known for Barcelona, her cross-over hit with Freddie Mercury. But in her day, Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé was considered a successor to Maria Callas. This Sunday Ms Caballé will come to Switzerland to sing some of the great operatic arias. WRS’s Adam Beaumont spoke to Ms Caballé ahead of her concert. He started by reminding Ms Caballé that her career actually began in Switzerland, working with the Basel Opera.
