Piotr Uklanski, Jeppe Hein and Jim Lambie are among the artists who will create art works for the public to interact with, at a new IKEA store in Moscow.

Jim Lambie’s floor at MoMA. Image: apartmenttherapy.com

The art is part of a mixed-use plan for IKEA, where new developments will “fuse culture, commerce and leisure.” Plans for the site includes shops, restaurants, an ice-rink, as well as an Ikea flat-pack furniture store.

Could this idea be the start of something big for the Swedish retailer?  And if so, what impact, if any will it have on the art market?

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About 4 years ago, we predicted the importance of mirrors in art.

Michelangelo Pistoletto breaks mirrors during a performance for the creation of his “Twentytwo less two” installation at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Image: inapache.boston.com

And then we started to see it, slowly seeping in: David Altmejd’s mirror-covered pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Michelangelo Pistoletto, resurrected in Venice in 2009, Gwenaël Bélanger’s excellent shattering mirror video work at the Quebec Triennale, Michel de Broin’s stunning mirror-covered rock set deep in the forest…and this year, finally, we hear that the Armory featured many works with mirror.

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In Vancouver, the VAG is negotiating with the city to obtain an entire block for their new, larger downtown building. The province has already contributed $50 million.

The VAG. Image: discovervancouver.com

The VAG board has voted unanimously to move the gallery to a prominent downtown location near the current one, rather than the one near the Plaza of Nations that the provincial government had offered them. They want to build “something magnificent for the community which will do the job for the next 50 years”, says Michael Audain, the chairman of the relocation committee of the VAG’s board of trustees.

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In Edmonton, a writer’s despair over provincial arts cuts is both convincing and less so on Government arts support.

“Alberta artists have taken the latest news of a 15-per-cent cut (to the arts) in their stride”, says Marliss Weber in SEE magazine.

Andrew Rucklidge, Sleeper, 2009. Image: courtesy the artist.

She continues, “Art allows us to express ourselves, which is an innate human desire. Without access to art, without the ability to write and draw and act and make music, or consume all of the above, we seriously limit the effectiveness of our communication abilities. We also limit our ability to persuade, to entertain, to connect with each other.”

Can’t argue with that.  She makes some good points in her article, and yet, while cities need the arts in order to thrive, her insinuation that the arts will cease without government support is troubling.

Read the full article HERE.

There will always be art, with or without government support and there should be absolutely no doubt about that.

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For a while now, VoCA hasn’t been trotting off to art fairs the way we used to. This year, the New York Amory almost went unnoticed to us. But then we noticed that some people, curators, dealers…are choosing to remain home this year, too.

New York’s Armory Show. Image: thearmoryshow.com

Is it the end of the art fair?

A new non-fair, called the Independent, is on from March 4 – 7 at the Dia building in New York, and is billed as a “hybrid model and temporary exhibition forum.” It is the subject of THIS fascinating article in the Observer.

The article states that “New York is going through a moment right now—that the glitzy, frivolous culture of the boom years is giving way to a new era of intellectual engagement and open-minded community among art lovers.”

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VoCA loves our GG.  She understands the value of arts and culture.  Last week in Montreal, Governor General Michaëlle Jean gave this statement: “Culture must be able to express itself everywhere and always, and be accessible to as many people as possible, for it bears within it our choices, our hopes, our memory and our imagination.”

I See What You Mean, the Big Blue Bear at the Colorado Convention Center. Image: denvergov.org

On the evening of March 1, culture-minded Torontonians gathered at a Town Hall meeting to protest the City Council’s rejection of BeautifulCity.com’s initiative to have taxes from advertising billboards going toward arts and culture.

Check out past blog posts on that topic HERE and HERE.

It might not seem like a big deal, but it points to the fact that the arts community must keep fighting for recognition of the importance of art in Toronto. It’s the most obvious difference between Toronto and cities like Chicago and Montreal.

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