German artist Georg Baselitz dies at 88. https://ift.tt/d4jAeDF

Georg Baselitz, a titan of 20th-century art, has died at 88. Thaddaeus Ropac, one of the galleries that represents the artist, announced his death with an obituary from Baselitz’s family.

The poet Robert Isaf writes in the statement that Baselitz—known for his large-scale, expressionistic canvases—“defined German visual art for a generation, profoundly influencing artists around and after him and the international world of art.” Isaf confirmed in the statement that the artist died “peacefully.”

Baselitz was born Hans-Georg Bruno Kern in Deutschbaselitz, Germany, in 1938. His family lived first under the Nazi regime, then under the East German government. Early on, the artist fought for art-world acceptance. The Art Academy of Dresden rejected him, the Weißensee Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in East Berlin suspended him, his peers accused him of “sociopolitical immaturity,” and the press called his style “pornographic” after he debuted his first solo exhibition, in West Berlin, in 1963.

Baselitz experienced a breakthrough with his “Heroes” series (1965–66). The large-scale oil paintings featured thickly rendered male figures. They were often larger than life, appearing in torn uniforms across ruined landscapes. By the end of the decade, Baselitz had inverted his figures. The motif became his calling card and persisted through the decades. Isaf writes, “What elevates Baselitz to the status of era-defining visionary is not his command of contour, for instance, or shadow, but of relationship—that is to say, the relationship between viewer and viewed.”

Art historians often situate Baselitz’s work alongside that of fellow Germans Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer, who similarly wrestled with their country’s legacies of violence and repression. The artist has also been deemed a Neo-Expressionist for mounting what the New York Times called “a frontal attack on Minimalism and Conceptualism, the dominant ‘cool’ styles of the 1970s.” Isaf situates the artist within the world of Pop, “which most fully among contemporary movements could be said to take up manipulating the dimension of viewer relationship as its core concern.”

Baselitz mounted several high-profile exhibitions over his long career. In 1972, he exhibited in Documenta in Kassel, Germany. He represented Germany at the 1980 Venice Biennale. More recently, the Centre Pompidou opened a major retrospective in Paris in 2021, and White Cube and Gagosian, which also represent the artist, have presented solo shows in the past few years.

Baselitz continued working until his death. On May 6, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, in Venice, will open “Eroi d’Oro.” The presentation will coincide with the 61st Venice Biennale and feature the artist’s most recent series of paintings, which depict self-portraits and renderings of Elke, the artist’s wife. She survives him, along with his sons, gallerists Daniel Blau and Anton Kern. In the obituary, Isaf writes, “[Baselitz’s] ultimate subject is and will always have been Elke. His final paintings, his portraits of him and her, honest, unflinching, and profoundly human, come to terms with all of what this means. They float suspended, inverted, among golden eternity and the many gilded worlds and lives they’ve lived together.”

Baselitz continued working until his passing. On May 6, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice will open “Eroi d’Oro.” The presentation will coincide with the 61st Venice Biennale and feature the artist’s most recent series of paintings. They depict self-portraits and renderings of Elke, the artist’s wife. She survives him, along with his sons, gallerists Daniel Blau and Anton Kern. In the obituary, Isaf writes: “[Baselitz’s] ultimate subject is and will always have been Elke. His final paintings, his portraits of him and her, honest, unflinching, and profoundly human, come to terms with all of what this means. They float suspended, inverted, among golden eternity and the many gilded worlds and lives they’ve lived together.”

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Banksy statue appears in Central London. https://ift.tt/H71Gnbd

A large statue that mysteriously appeared in central London earlier this week has been confirmed as the work of the street artist Banksy. The piece, which bears the artist’s signature, depicts a suited man carrying a flag that obstructs his face as he walks off a plinth.

It was installed in Banksy’s signature fly-by-night guerrilla style at Waterloo Place in St. James’s, central London, near other statues of figures from British history. The work is near statues of Edward VII and Florence Nightingale, as well as a memorial dedicated to the Crimean War. Also nearby is a gilded statue of Athena on the facade of the Athenaeum Club.

The work was installed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, while a video shared to Banksy’s social media this afternoon confirmed its authenticity after growing speculation. Crowds have gathered to take photos of the statue, and it is unclear how long it will remain in place.

“[Banksy has] pulled off another fantastic coup . . . the positioning is absolutely knockout,” said James Peak, the creator of the BBC podcast series The Banksy Story, in an interview with the BBC. “Here, you’ve got a brilliant comment on a bumptious, chest-puffed-out man in power with the flag completely obscuring his vision, which is why he is about to fall off the plinth. . . . I don’t know how he’s managed to do it.”

Banksy is best known for his graffiti, though he has installed statues elsewhere before, including one titled The Drinker (2004), which he placed in London’s West End in 2004. The piece was a play on The Thinker (1904), by Auguste Rodin, and was removed shortly thereafter.

Other recent public artworks by Banksy in London have included a mural at the Royal Courts of Justice last year and a series of animal artworks around the city in 2024.

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Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker and Kim Sion to curate 2027 Hepworth Wakefield show. https://ift.tt/FjzQHdY

Musician Jarvis Cocker and his wife, the creative consultant Kim Sion, will organize a sprawling group show at The Hepworth Wakefield in the United Kingdom next year. The exhibition, titled “The Hodge Podge,” will bring together a wide range of artworks across era and media, centered on artists who challenges conceptions of what is considered art. This is the Pulp frontman’s first curatorial effort at a major institution.

“The Hodge Podge” will create unlikely dialogues between artists such as Peter Doig, Barbara Hepworth, and Jeremy Deller, in addition to outsider artists and those who have never before shown in the U.K. The curatorial duo will explore a diverse array of themes including alternative spiritualities, psychedelia, fandom, dreams, poetry, and music as they interrogate self-expression as it exists beyond the traditional art world or religious contexts.

The couple have written a manifesto to introduce the show. They write, “The dictionary says: ‘a hodgepodge is a chaotic, disorderly mixture or a random assortment of diverse, unrelated things. It represents a jumble that lacks coherence or order.’ Yeah? Couldn’t that also be the dictionary definition of the word ‘world?’”

Cocker himself was the subject of a 2022 show at London’s The Gallery of Everything titled “Good Pop, Bad Pop - The Exhibition.” It coincided with the release of his eponymous book, a memoir through objects. “Jarvis Cocker has a long-held interest in art, attending St Martin’s College of Art & Design in the early 1990s, and as a Yorkshireman, felt like the ideal person to work with to consider a fresh way of thinking about and experiencing art,” The Hepworth Wakefield’s artistic director, Laura Smith, said in a press statement. “The art that he and Kim have gathered together in ‘The Hodge Podge’ will encourage the feelings of joy, marvel and curiosity that great works of art can inspire and offer our audiences an expanded idea of creativity and community. We are thrilled to be working with Jarvis and Kim on this incredibly exciting exhibition.”

The show will take place as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International 2027, which partners with The Hepworth Wakefield as well as Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Previous collaborations at The Hepworth Wakefield include shows with fashion designer Jonathan Anderson and ceramicist Magdalene Odundo.

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5 Venice Locals Share Their Best Places to Eat, Drink, and Shop https://ift.tt/RT802jh

Every two years, the Venice Biennale engulfs the floating city, rushing over every winding calle and flagstoned piazza like a forceful high tide. Originating in the historical Giardini gardens and grandeur of the Arsenale, the international art fair now radiates throughout the city, with pavilions popping up all over town, together with collateral events, and independent projects: Spring is when Venice truly comes alive. For 2026, the event kicks off on May 9 and will run through November 22.

For a city of famously labyrinthine alleyways, getting a table, a good drink, and a locally sourced souvenir might feel like going against the current at the best of times. To help you navigate the rising tourist tides of the city, Artsy spoke to some of the city’s local art world figures. They’re all in deep preparations for the 2026 Venice Biennale, but nonetheless offered some welcome tips on exploring the city (answers have been edited for length and clarity).

Gražina Subelytė

Curator, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Subelytė first came to live in Venice as an intern back in September 2007. Over the last decade she’s made the city her home, climbing the ranks at the storied Peggy Guggenheim Collection, where she now makes her mark as a curator. Her latest exhibition, “Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector,” co-curated with Simon Grant, opened on April 25th.

What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?

Pace yourself and accept that you won’t see everything. Start with the Giardini and Arsenale, then branch out to smaller collateral shows that offer a different rhythm. Leave time to just walk and enjoy the city.

Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?

Cantine del Vino già Schiavi is perfect for a quick stop. A drink, a few cicchetti, and you’re set. Palazzo Experimental for something a bit more refined, but still relaxed.

Where are we going for dinner?

La Zucca, Antica Locanda Montin, Antiche Carampane, or Anice Stellato.

Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?

I like to go to Peter’s Tea House in the San Marco area to stock up on Genmaicha tea (never quite enough!), and then usually end up at the Rialto Market. I also enjoy passing through galleries along the way and in nearby areas, such as Victoria Miro, Giorgio Mastinu, or A plus A. Also, I’ll pop into Chiarastella Cattana’s atelier for beautifully crafted textiles. Then, in San Polo, I enjoy browsing small independent makers and artisan shops, like Kooch.

Give us your Venetian classic, underrated gem, and new kid on the block.

Classic: Scuola Grande di San Rocco. And I wouldn’t say it is underrated, but certainly a true gem: Fondazione Querini Stampalia, with the ground floor redesign by Carlo Scarpa, a masterpiece in its own right. New kid on the block: Fondazione Dries Van Noten. Another one to watch is Isola di Sant’Andrea, a former military island in the lagoon that’s quietly becoming a new cultural venture, now shaped by Microclima into a future site for experimental and artist-led programming.

Marta Barina

Founder and director of Mare Karina

After leaving Italy at 19 and working in London for galleries (like David Zwirner) and artists (Oscar Murillo), Barina founded Mare Karina in 2020 as a hybrid artist studio, gallery, and agency. When she decided to return to Italy with her partner after the pandemic, the two put down roots in Venice, where her gallery in Castello has already established itself as a thriving contemporary hub.

What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?

Soak up the energy of the city, don’t just follow the official program. Visit local artists’ studios.

Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?

All’Arco near Rialto, Ozio in Santa Maria Formosa, La Sete in Cannaregio, Ai Do Leoni in Piazza San Marco.

If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?

A vintage piece from Sangueblu, or a book from Bruno.

Give us your Venetian classic, and new kid on the block.

Venetian classic: ice cream from Gelateria Nico. New kid on the block: the new center of artist studios STUDIO VENEZIA.

Camilla Glorioso

Photographer and co-founder of Versatile, a Venetian work club

Born and raised in neighboring Padua, Italy, Glorioso originally hopped over to study Visual Arts and Theater at IUAV University in Venice. After graduating, she moved to London for a master’s degree in photography. Drawn back to the lagoon, she now lives and works full-time in Venice as a photographer, and in 2024 she set up the first co-working space for creatives in the floating city.

What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?

Try to carve out some time to be in a very quiet place in front of the water at night. Counterintuitive, I know.

Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?

Ozio or Estro Pane e Vino in summer, Bea Vita in winter. I also recently shot at Anice Stellato and discovered they have a merenda or light afternoon snack, and I can’t wait to go and try a mid-afternoon toast with a glass of wine in the sun. Is there anything more dreamy?

Where are we going for dinner?

I live in Santi Apostoli, so you’ll usually see me ping-pong between [Osteria Giorgione da] Masa, Bepi [Antico 54 da Loris], and [Osteria ai] Promessi Sposi for a speedy polpetta as a staple comfort food.

Any other top food or drink recommendations? Where’s somewhere you’d never miss?

Not somewhere but someone! I tend to look out for Prometheus_Open Food’s guest shifts and events [run by my partner Lorenzo Barbasetti di Prun]. At home he never makes me the same fun dishes, and I finally get to eat all the crazy things he ferments and concocts in various jars.

If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?

I would get them two rings: one, a silver talisman by Suri Studio, and the other a glass, colorful one by Huang Xiaozhe Studio. For me they both capture different shades of the spirit of the lagoon.

Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?

Salice near San Salvador for womenswear, Venice MART for menswear, Maranteghe near home for vintage pearls, Marco Polo and Bruno for books.

What’s Venice’s new kid on the block?

Well, my own kid, Versatile! We are opening our second location, Versatile Carminati, steps away from the first one, and this time we’ll have a big terrazzo on the canal, a lounge, and even more room for flexible work and to host fun things for all the creatives in town.

Giacomo Gandola

Photographer and art consultant

“A little bohémien, a little James Dean,” Gandola is a true creative multihyphenate. A talented photographer who broadcasts his life in Venice to almost 50,000 followers on Instagram, capturing the city’s day-to-day, he also works as an art consultant and gallery assistant at the Venice gallery space of Lorcan O’Neill.

What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?

Slow down, even when everything around you is accelerating. Choose a direction, not a checklist. And most importantly: allow the city to interrupt your plans. The best moments will never be on your schedule.

Where’s your go-to for an aperitivo?

One of my favorite spots is the garden of Hotel Flora. It’s a small, almost secret corner where time slows down; the perfect place to step away from the intensity of the week, have a proper conversation, and enjoy a great Bloody Mary in one of the most unexpected gardens the city has to offer. The welcome by the Romanelli family is always impeccable. Gioele Romanelli is one of those rare hosts who truly lives the city, someone you can speak with about what’s happening in Venice, new ideas, new projects.

Where are we going for dinner?

Dinner, for me, is about atmosphere as much as food. I’d take you to Do Farai, a historic Venetian spot I fell in love with from the very beginning (my friend took me the evening I moved to Venice). It recently reopened under a new artistic direction led by an exceptional host, Guillaume Pinaut, and has found renewed energy. It’s unmistakably Venetian, yet with a contemporary pulse.

If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?

I would choose a book. Lately, I haven’t missed a single publication by Wetlands, a small independent publisher whose work I find consistently thoughtful and beautifully crafted.

Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?

The lagoon, beyond the more familiar islands like Burano or Murano, towards quieter, less-travelled places like Sant’Erasmo, Torcello, Mazzorbo. A simple table set in nature, lunch with friends, the sun overhead, a good bottle of wine. Time stretches differently out there.

Mohamed Mire

Photographer and co-curator of the Somali Pavilion

Though he lives between Venice and Stockholm, Mire finds himself drawn back to Venice frequently. Though he’s now technically no longer a resident, the ties he made when he did live full-time in the city are so strong they keep bringing him back. This year, he’s co-curating the Somali Pavilion, the first time the nation will be participating in the Venice Art Biennale.

What are your main tips for someone visiting Venice for the first time during the Biennale?

Go against the current. Get lost. Allow yourself to stumble upon something unexpected, a small show, a hidden space, a conversation. Those discoveries are often the ones that stay with you the longest.

Where are we going for dinner?

A true classic during the Biennale opening: Vini da Arturo. You sit down, and soon you’ll find yourself talking with Hani and Ernesto, the historic hosts, about who has been there, who is coming next, and everything in between. A bit of Biennale gossip is inevitable, and in a city like Venice, it’s part of the experience.

Any other top food or drink recommendations? Where’s somewhere you’d never miss?

Absolutely, Bepi Antico 54. Anything with artichokes, don’t think twice. Build a meal around small antipasti, letting the table fill gradually.

If you had to get someone a gift from Venice, what would you get them, and where would you buy it?

A copy of Fondamenta degli Incurabili by Joseph Brodsky.

Where are your favorite places to browse on a lazy weekend?

A trip to Pellestrina, a quick lunch at Da Nane or Ristorante da Celeste, and then back onto the water, drifting, watching the sunset, letting the lagoon set the pace.

Give us your Venetian classic and a new kid on the block.

Classic: Don’t look for monuments, look for pozzi, or the Venetian wells. They’re scattered across the city, in courtyards, palaces, and hidden corners. Each one hints at a different layer of Venice’s history. New kid on the block: Do Farai [recently reopened under new management]. It’s quickly becoming a point of convergence, where locals gather and bring their international guests.

A wild card recommendation?

Follow the water. At some point, leave behind appointments, maps, and expectations, and just move through the lagoon. That’s often when Venice becomes most clear.

See all these tips, as well as all the 2026 Venice Biennale locations, in Artsy’s Google Map.

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Renée Levi to transform London’s Hayward Gallery with Audemars Piguet commission this fall. https://ift.tt/3KRQc06

Painter Renée Levi will unveil a new large-scale work on the façade of London’s Hayward Gallery this fall. The two-panel painting has been co-commissioned by the Hayward Gallery and Audemars Piguet Contemporary, the watch brand’s dedicated art programme. The installation will mark the programme’s first painting commission and is Levi’s first large-scale commission in the U.K. It will be on view from September 23rd through November 15th.

“Drawing is an immediate, bodily act in situ within a site that determines material, scale, and action,” said the artist in a press statement. “Scale is body-based: reach, arm movement, spatial extension. Tools emerge from the situation and define mark-making. Rules arise within the act and exclude correction, overpainting, and composition. There is no return. The work is made in a single continuous passage. Drawing is action. Action produces the image. What becomes visible is time.”

Untitled, 2004
Renée Levi
Galerie Knoell, Basel

stanbul-born and Berlin-based, Levi’s practice spans painting, drawing, installation, and site-specific interventions. Her work investigates the immediacy of paint application, using bold colors and large gestures that are applied with aerosol or cleaning rags. Her installations examine painting as a practice that at once conceals, reveals, filters, and reshapes the surface on which it is applied. The resulting image is not one that is predetermined, but rather one that unfolds through exploration. Last year, the artist mounted "LA ELLE," at the Palais de Tokyo, an installation featuring mural paintings and window drawings.

Her site-responsive work for the Hayward façade takes cues from the gallery’s Brutalist architecture, taking its characteristic protrusions and windows as a starting point. It will be realized using an industrial mesh support to adapt to the outdoor environment.

“Activating the Hayward Gallery’s iconic architecture, Renée Levi’s new work expands the possibilities of painting,” shared Audemars Piguet Contemporary curator Audrey Teichmann in a press statement. “Levi approaches the Hayward Gallery not as a backdrop, but as a surface to engage, responding to its rhythm, materiality, and scale.”

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What Every Collector Should Know About Buying Performance Art https://ift.tt/bKsI3Pa

The Hero I, 2001
Marina Abramović
Dallas Collectors Club

You can’t always hang a piece of performance art above your couch. You can’t always photograph it. Sometimes viewers aren’t allowed to document it all.

And yet, performance art has a place in the art market. So, how exactly does one buy it? What changes hands between artists, dealers, and collectors?

Collecting performance art does not usually mean owning the live event itself. More often, it means acquiring one of the forms through which a performance can be preserved, circulated, or reactivated: photographs, video, sound recordings, props, costumes, written scores, instructions, contracts, archival materials, or the rights to stage the work again under specific conditions. In some cases, the collectible work is documentation of the performance; in others, it is an object or set of instructions that emerged from it.

For collectors curious about the medium, here’s Artsy’s guide to buying performance art.

Is performance art collectible?

Hat Trick, 2018-2019
Márcia Beatriz Granero
Darling Pearls & Co

Performance art is defined by its ephemerality. It is charged by the experience of being there, and often disappears as soon as it happens.

From that premise, collectors might assume it cannot be purchased. But that conclusion is too neat.

“Although performance is inherently ephemeral, collectors acquire its material ‘residue’—photographs, videos, objects—which anchor these practices in the art market,” said Alessandro Falbo, founder of London gallery Darling Pearls & Co. “The biggest misconception about performance art is that it cannot be collected; in reality, these traces preserve both its legacy and its value.”

Take Marina Abramović, often described as the “grandmother of performance art.” Collectors regularly buy photographs, prints, and editions related to her performance practice, rather than acquiring the performances themselves.

Painting to Be Stepped On (Bronze, cast of 1966 version), 1988
Yoko Ono
Galerie Lelong

Shoot, F Space, November 19, 1971
Chris Burden
Daniel/Oliver

Collectors can support performance art in several ways. Documentation, scores, props, contracts, and instructions can be part of the work’s collectible form. A collector might also acquire photographs or video that document an action, as with Chris Burden’s performance documentation; or a set of instructions or “event scores,” as in Yoko Ono’s instruction-based practice.

“[Performance art] can engage a multitude of media and is more of a verb (an act of doing) than a noun (a thing),” said New York and Los Angeles–based art advisor Irene Papanestor. “It dismantles static boundaries, is challenging to commodify, and, by extension, can be too slippery for the art world market to metabolize.”

What can you buy with performance artwork?

Trisha Brown's "Roof Piece", NYC, 1973, 1973
Peter Moore
Paula Cooper Gallery

In most cases, a collector buying a performance artwork is acquiring some combination of rights, instructions, documentation, and objects. This might include photographs or videos documenting the original performance.

In more specific cases, however, it may include the right to re-stage or activate the work under specific conditions.

“This field is so diverse that it is difficult to generalize,” said Anthony Allen, director of Paula Cooper Gallery. “The material traces of a performance (photographs, preparatory materials, props, etc.) are sometimes made available to collectors, though this varies widely from artist to artist.”

Tino Sehgal, 2015
Tino Sehgal
Gropius Bau

In this sense, buying performance art can be closer to acquiring a score than an object. A collector may acquire the right to re-present a work, but only under terms set by the artist and outlined through a contract, oral agreement, certificate, or other agreed-upon framework. Those terms might determine who can perform the work, where it can take place, how it should be documented, and what must remain unchanged.

In 2012, for example, Javier Lumbreras acquired Tino Sehgal’s Guards Kissing (2002), a work in which two guards kiss each time a visitor enters the exhibition space. Like much of Sehgal’s practice, the piece resists conventional documentation: According to the Adrastus Collection, there can be no video footage or photographic record of the work, and the sale did not involve an invoice or written proof of purchase. Instead, the acquisition took place as a conversational transfer of rights, with witnesses present to attest to the deal.

What should a first-time buyer of performance art ask?

Hooping Guggenheim 2, 2022
Christian Jankowski
Galerie Crone

Hooping Guggenheim 5, 2022
Christian Jankowski
Galerie Crone

For collectors used to buying paintings, sculptures, or other object-based works, performance art can feel unfamiliar—especially when the acquisition goes beyond related ephemera, prints, or photographs.

That makes due diligence especially important. A collector should ask advisors, gallerists, curators, and, when possible, artists to explain both the conceptual framework and practical requirements of the work.

“At a minimum, a collector should seek to understand both the context of the artist’s practice and the specific conditions of the work itself, including its conceptual framework and its practical requirements—how it is maintained, activated, or presented over time,” said Falbo. “This involves clarifying what exactly is being acquired (whether documentation, objects, instructions, or rights), under what conditions the work can be exhibited or reactivated, what technical, spatial, or human resources are required for its presentation, and how it is to be preserved, particularly when it involves live or time-based elements.”

Before buying, collectors should ask:

• What exactly am I acquiring: an object, documentation, instructions, rights, or some combination of these?
• Can the piece be re-performed or activated? If so, how?
• Who authorizes future performances?
• Who is allowed to perform the work?
• What space, duration, staffing, technology, or budget does the work require?
• What must remain fixed, and what can adapt over time?
• What documentation is allowed?

These questions are not just about logistics. They help determine whether the collector can responsibly care for the work after purchase.

What does it mean to care for a performance work?

Chess, ca. 1975
Joseph Sassoon Semah
Léna & Roselli Gallery

Iphigenie / Titus Andronicus, from portfolio: Forty Are Better Than One, 1969/2009
Joseph Beuys
Schellmann Art

The best way to understand how to care for a piece of performance art is to get as close as possible to the source.

“This would involve a conversation with the artist or their representative about how best to honor the work in the future, how to remain faithful to the artist's intent,” said Allen. “Obviously, if the collector remains in touch with the artist, these questions can easily be answered case-by-case, but that isn’t always possible. So I would seek clarity on what constitutes an ‘authentic’ iteration of the work and which elements are fixed versus open to adaptation, so the work can continue to exist independently of the artist's direct involvement.”

For collectors, stewardship may involve preserving more than physical materials. It can also mean protecting the artist’s intellectual property, conceptual intent, and conditions for presentation. A performance work may often depend on relationships with galleries, curators, technicians, archivists, or others who understand the work’s original conditions. Caring for the work involves understanding the network and knowing when to consult it.

“Stewardship involves not only conservation but also the capacity to faithfully rearticulate the work over time—often in collaboration with technicians, curators, or others familiar with its original presentation, so that what is preserved is not merely a set of objects, but a network of relationships, instructions, and contextual conditions that allow the work to persist and be meaningfully reactivated in the future,” explained Falbo. Clear terms also help protect authorship, credit, and the artist’s intent when a work is reactivated.

Why do collectors buy performance art?

Violent Incident (Man/Woman Segment) I, 1986
Bruce Nauman
Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art

Performance art can offer collectors a different kind of relationship to an artist’s work. It is often less about possession than participation, stewardship, and support. For collectors drawn to process, experimentation, and conceptual practice, that can be part of the appeal.

Allen encourages collectors to begin by seeing as much performance as possible.

“Attend as many performances as possible, develop relationships with artists working in this field and learn about the conditions, opportunities, and challenges they are navigating,” he said. “It’s particularly valuable to understand how each artist approaches translating performance into objects, instructions, or other formats, and how they envision the long-term life of their work. I would also recommend engaging with institutions, curators, and archives specializing in performance for additional context, and, most of all, remain open to how inherently fluid and variable this medium is.”

Collectors are often drawn to performance because they want to understand an artist’s creative process more deeply. Buying a performance-related work can be a way to support that process, preserve a legacy, and participate in the ongoing life of an artwork that resists easy ownership.

VB58.026.TS, 2005
Vanessa Beecroft
Lia Rumma

“My clients with the greatest curiosity about performance art have an inherent interest in both the creative process—how artwork is ‘made’—and an artwork's conceptual DNA,” Papanestor said. “In 2026, resistance is very much a part of the zeitgeist: our examination of the nature of privilege and the power structures it enables, late capitalism and wealth inequality, and the replacement of human labor by AI.”

For collectors, then, buying performance art requires a shift in mindset. The question is not only “what do I own?” but “what am I responsible for carrying forward?”

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Chanel to open major Lina Lapelytė commission at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof. https://ift.tt/lNGxBmk

A new large-scale sonic installation and performance by Lithuanian interdisciplinary artist Lina Lapelytė will open at the Hamburger Bahnhof — Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin on May 1st as part of Berlin Gallery Weekend 2026. Selected as the second iteration of the Chanel Commission, performances of the work, We Make Years Out of Hours (2026), will take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays through January 10, 2027. A public preview will take place on April 30th.

The work transforms the museum’s vast historic hall into a monumental space for collaboration, construction, and contemplation. Spread across the former train hall are 400,000 small wooden cubes, which are stacked neatly in formations or scattered in piles. Visitors are invited to build and dismantle temporary structures with the blocks, while a libretto centered around community, love, loss, and hope carries through the space. The lyrics are based on lines from poems by writers and artists including Lebanese artist Etel Adnan, Vietnamese American poet Ocean Vuong, and Palestinian writer Maḥmūd Darwīsh. A dozen performances activate the space at given times to construct and sing alongside the public as a meditation on the power of a collective force.

“As Hamburger Bahnhof marks its 30th anniversary, We Make Years Out of Hours embodies our commitment to shaping an institution grounded in community, participation, and inclusion,” said Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, co-directors of the Hamburger Bahnhof, in a press statement. “Lina Lapelytė’s work challenges us to rethink what a museum can be—not simply a site of display, but a space of encounter, shared authorship, and collective imagination.”

“Lina Lapelytė’s We Make Years Out of Hours exemplifies a form of artistic thinking that brings people together through shared experience, imagination, and care,” added Yana Peel, Chanel’s president of arts, culture, and heritage, in a press statement. “By enabling ambitious works that engage audiences across generations and cultures, the Chanel Culture Fund continues its commitment to fostering creative environments where new ideas can take shape and inspire meaningful dialogue.”

This is the second edition of the Chanel Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof, which provides artists the opportunity to realize ambitious, large-scale projects within the museum’s historic hall for long-term exhibition. The inaugural commission was awarded to Czech artist Klára Hosnedlová for her installation, embrace. The commission is a part of the fashion house’s Chanel culture fund, which supports artists through exhibitions, grants, prizes, and other initiatives.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/J9rBuiV