Speaking of Americans (see below), we just came across this very cool project in Detroit.

The Ice House Detroit. Image: Greg Holm/dwell.com

A collaboration between photographer Greg Holm and architect Matthew Radune, the Ice House Detroit is just what it seems to be. A completely frozen house.

Read more about the project on their blog, HERE

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Nuit Blanche 2009, which will take place on the night of October 3 from sunset onwards, looks to be excellent again this year. Perhaps more serious than past years, many of the pieces are designed to make you consider the meaning of your surroundings. With more performance-based work than previous years, there are lots of ways for you to get involved with art.

For the Nuit Blanche 2009 website, please click HERE.

Jeff Koons’ Rabbit in New York. Image: rawartint.com

Here are VoCA’s picks:

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…So what are we going to do about it?

Image: afonline.artistsspace.org

The Art Newspaper has some excellent thoughts on the subject.

Check out this highly recommended article, right HERE

Moscow-born, California-raised Daria Zhukova, 27-year-old daughter of an oil magnate and girlfriend of billionaire Roman Abramovich is the director of Russia’s newest contemporary art space, the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture. In this article, she speaks with the FT’s Peter Aspden:

“I liked (art), I liked going to Tate Modern in London and then other galleries but I was never directly involved and I didn’t take any art classes.” (Her degree, from the University of California Santa Barbara, is in Slavic studies and literature). She has assembled a formidable team of advisers for the Garage, including Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota and Serpentine Gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones….

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…And reports back, next week.

From the streets of New York City. Image: firstrung.co.uk

Stay tuned for reports on the Calder exhibit at the Whitney, Chagall and Russian Jewish Theatre at the Jewish Museum, VoCA favorite Pipilotti Rist at the MoMA and maybe a couple other things…

New York art dealer Marian Goodman - one of VoCA’s art heroes and rep of Thomas Schutte, our favorite artist - speaks to Art + Auction:

Art dealer extraordinare Marian Goodman. Image: artinfo.com

Read the article HERE

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Fuse magazine editor Izida Zorde and publisher Heather Haynes (of Toronto Free Gallery) are organizing a Town Hall meeting in Toronto to address the recent and upcoming budget cuts to the arts.

Valuing Culture: TOWN HALL REGARDING CUTS TO CULTURAL AND HERITAGE GRANTING PROGRAMS

Who should come? Everyone concerned about the Federal Government’s blatant contempt for arts and culture.

Who will be speaking? Representatives from Government, visual arts, film, video, performing arts

What will we be doing? Strategizing on how to get our voices heard in the next election

Why is this important? Because the wave of cuts and policy changes are radically changing Canadian society.

Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 at 7pm.

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West, (South East Corner of Queen and Dovercourt)

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Coming up on VoCA:

Paul Thek, Uncle Tom´s Cabine with Tower of Babel, 1976. The Personal Effects of the Pied Piper.
Image: zkm.de

-The Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
-Paul Thek at the Facklenberg collection, Hamburg
-Art criticism debate in London

…and more!

We will be posting intermittently until June 2, from London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Hamburg….

Stay tuned…

The show confirms impressions of a new, gray mood among younger artists, one at odds with the recent prevalence in international art of both commercial glitz and festivalist brass. Call it a decline in producer confidence…

Read the article by the New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl HERE