Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian

Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian, 2019, banana and duct tape, 7 ⅞ by 7 ⅞ by 2 inches (installation dimensions variable), image courtesy of Sotheby's
Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian, 2019, banana and duct tape, 7 ⅞ by 7 ⅞ by 2 inches (installation dimensions variable), image courtesy of Sotheby’s

At Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019, Maurizio Cattelan presented a work of art that captured public attention and has kept it, now five years later, past any expiration date. It was deceptively simple—a banana duct-taped to a wall and titled Comedian—but it was a provocation that became the subject of discussions about the value of art.

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Santiago Arau. Territorios

Santiago Arau, Puebla desde el Iztaccíhuatl, 2019, color digital print, image courtesy of Museo Amparo
Santiago Arau, Puebla desde el Iztaccíhuatl, 2016, color digital print, image courtesy of Museo Amparo

For seven years, a man explored the length, width, and height of the territory of Mexico. He traveled 33,302 kilometers, documenting the borders, cities, mountains, and volcanoes that shape the country. The explorer, Santiago Arau, is a photographer and filmmaker whose project, Territorios, is the subject of an exhibition at the Museo Amparo in Puebla.

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The Lost da Vinci?

Andrea del Verrocchio, Christ and Saint Thomas, 1467-1483, image © Musée du Louvre / Antoine Mongodin

In October 2019, the Louvre opened an unprecedented exhibition of works by Leonardo da Vinci. The show marked 500 years since the death of the Renaissance master and it was the largest-ever collection of his works brought together in one place. After more than ten years of research and planning, the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition offered an exhaustive catalogue of da Vinci’s oeuvre and set a record for attendance. One excluded painting, though, is a problematic footnote.

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Tatiana Bilbao Estudio

Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Villa Ventura, 2011; photo by Iwan Baan, courtesy of Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

At the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, The Architect’s Studio – Tatiana Bilbao Estudio is the third installment in a series of monographic architecture exhibitions that explore globalization, sustainability, and social challenges. With drawings, collages, models, and materials, the exhibition reveals the philosophies and processes of the Mexico City-based architecture team.

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Les Paradis, Rapport Annuel

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There are more than 800,000 companies based in the British Virgin Islands, but only 28,000 inhabitants. Image © Paolo Woods and Gabriele Galimberti

In the summer of 2016, 11.5 million documents from the world’s fourth largest offshore banking law firm were leaked by an anonymous source, exposing financial and attorney-client information of more than 214,000 offshore companies. The Panama Papers, as they are known, reveal some of the complex structures that allow the extremely wealthy to exploit offshore banking and shell corporations to commit fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and other crimes.

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Ólafur Elíasson, Baroque Baroque

Ólafur Elíasson, Five Orientation Lights, 1999; Stainless steel, colored glass, halogen bulbs, Fresnel lenses, each lamp: 200 x 70 x 70 cm, installation: dimensions variable; The Juan & Patricia Vergez Collection, Buenos Aires; Baroque Baroque installation view at the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Vienna, 2015; image © Ólafur Elíasson
Ólafur Elíasson, Five Orientation Lights, 1999; Stainless steel, colored glass, halogen bulbs, Fresnel lenses, each lamp: 200 x 70 x 70 cm, installation dimensions variable; The Juan & Patricia Vergez Collection, Buenos Aires; Installation view at the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Vienna, 2015; image © Ólafur Elíasson

At the Winter Palace in Vienna, a selection of works by Ólafur Elíasson forms a site-specific exhibition titled Baroque Baroque. More than a dozen works, created during the last twenty years, are installed within the architecture of the 18th century palace. The contrast of Elíasson’s contemporary works inside grand Baroque staterooms alters perceptions of space and history for an experience that supersedes both.

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My Generation: Young Chinese Artists

Chi Peng, Sprinting Forward
Chi Peng, Sprinting Forward, 2004; chromogenic print, 47-1/4 x 91-1/2 in; © Chi Peng, courtesy of the artist; photo courtesy of the Tampa Museum of Art

At the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, My Generation: Young Chinese Artists presents works by artists born in mainland China after 1976. They are products of China’s one-child policy and have grown up during a time of rapid urbanization, globalization, and cultural transition.

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Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, ca. 1500 – 1505, oil on oak panels, 220 x 389 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of at least eight triptychs by Hieronymus Bosch, an early Flemish painter active from the late 15th century.  Triptychs were typically produced as didactic altarpieces, and those in the style of the Northern Renaissance frequently incorporate allegory and moralizing narratives.

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