Garage Opening Up Contemporary Art in Moscow

As I keep my eye out for inernational art news, I pay particular attention to my Motherland. Russia is not your typical contemeporary art capital, but for the past few months, it has been making serious strides.

The new Garage Center for Contemporary Culture opened this past September in Moscow, marking, as some argue, a monumental change in the Russian art world, where contemporary art was previously of a difficult access to the public. The space is an 8500-square-meter constructivist bus depot, built back in 1929, and is now the largest contemporary art exhibition to ever hit Russia, displaying works by prominent artists from some of the most famous collections in the world. The names represented in the present exhibition, titled "A certain State of the World?", include Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Dan Flavin, and Subodh Gupta (whose sculpture Very Hungry God depicts a skull made entirely of kitchen utensils). The center was founded by a young socialite Dasha Zhukova, with the aid of her boyfriend Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch. It is nice to see that the Russian elite is finally starting to channel their power and affluence into valuable causes. It would be interesting to see if the Garage helps Russia to continue developing this presence in the art world.

Here is the official site for the space; although it is all in Russian, it is interesting to check out: http://www.garageccc.com/

elena.

Coffee with a Professor Today - S. Hollis Clayson!

Join the Northwestern Undergraduate Art History Society (NUAHS) for its first Coffee with a Professor event as we enjoy coffee and engage in lively conversation with professor of art history and Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities S. Hollis Clayson.




Wednesday, April 29

4-5 PM
Crowe Cafe (On the ground floor of Crowe Hall connected to Kresge)

-L.A.U.R.E.N.

Easter Might Be Over, But There's Still CHIRP-ing - Record Fair This Weekend

This past weekend many celebrated the holiday of Easter, complete with honey hams, loving families, and mass quantities of jelly beans and Peeps. The birds aren't completely gone from sight yet, though, because CHIRP's Annual Record Fair is right around the corner. Complete with thousands upon thousands of vinyl records, this festival will have some of the best artwork you've ever seen, and it will be right under your nose . . . or quite possibly sweping through your ears.

Now in its 7th year, the CHIRP (Chicago Independent Radio Project) Record Fair & Other Delights is more popular than ever. Combining many of Chicago's greatest record labels and musics shops together in one location, this fair is every music lover's fantasy. Entertainment will be provided at the fair in the form of Chicago's best and brightest DJs and a few local up and coming bands. Running from 10 to 5 on Saturday and Sunday, the fair also offers a "pre-admission" from 8 to 10 (for an additional fee) for all those who are more serious about their record vinyls than Darth-Vader-look-alikes at a Star Wars convention.

CHIRP is "a non-profit organization formed to bring a new community radio station to Chicago," as their website proudly proclaims. They are attempting to create a new station for independent music and views, but have been thwarted by Chicago law that currently states that frequencies for low power FM radio licenses are not open to urban areas. If you are interested in supporting this cause, visit CHIRP's website at http://chicagoindependentradioproject.org .
Now, what does all of this have to do with art, you might ask? Well, for years publishers have been printing books raving about LP cover art. Artists like Andy Warhol are famous for creating cover art for bands like Velvet Underground and Aerosmith. These gorgeous creations were a way for musical artists to make their songs tangible, intricate pictures to house their records. Pick up any record from 1960 and onward, and you are sure to find some seriously stellar artwork. It has even become very popular recently to hang vinyl records as decoations, more and more stores each day selling special "LP Album Frames." Even a craze of making creations out of the records themselves has hit - bowls, notebooks, coasters, you name it.

So, even if you're not that interested in the music itself, come down to the CHIRP Record Fair to see all of the amazing cover art and creations. Although, if you ARE interested and obsessed with vinyl records like I am (because no music sounds as good as it does on vinyl), this is definately an event you won't want to miss.

So! Information Recap:

7th Annual CHIRP RECORD FAIR & OTHER DELIGHTS
April 18-19, 2009
Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 10am-5pm
(Saturday Pre-Admission 8am-10am)

Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union,
1340 W. Washington Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60607 Chicago, Illinois

Prices:
$7 - General Admisson
$5 - Discounted Admission - with any CHIRP ad (available on the website) or receipt from any record store dated 4/18/09
($25 pre-admission Sat. 8am-10am)

Don't miss out on this great event!

-L.A.U.R.E.N.

The Blog is Up and Running!

So in kind with the ever growing and increasingly electronic world, NUAHS has created a blog.


"My oh, my, I don't read blogs?" you might ask yourself. "What would the NUAHS blog be able to tell me?"

Well, the NUAHS Blog plans to bring you up to date information on what's going on with the art world. We hope to connect you with arts related events at Northwestern, in Evanston, and in Chicago. Not to mention, of course, we will be updating you on news within the Northwestern Art History Department itself.

So if your an Art History major or minor, and aficianado of the arts, or even just someone who likes visiting the Art Institute from time to time, you've come to the right place.

Stay tuned for more posts from all the members of the NUAHS Exec Board and more news about NUAHS' upcoming events!

Thanks for reading!

-L.A.U.R.E.N.

Welcome to NUAHS!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Northwestern's first Undergraduate Art History Society!
I really hope that you are excited, because the exec board surely is thrilled about all the plans that we have in the works. This quarter, you can expect some fantastic events, such as museum visits, coffee with professors, general group discussions, and more. Also, be sure to keep you eye out for our newsletter, event announcements through your email and, finally, take advantage of this blog.
The NUAHS blog will be a great resource for topics relevant to the art world and art history, and for information about Evanston and Chicago area events. Be sure to come back soon for updates, and don't miss out on another adventure!
Again, we are happy to have you on board.