Visual Arts Buzz

A whip-cracking Christmas at Tate Britain

Fisun Güner Thursday, 09 December 2010

Giorgio Sadotti 'celebrates the power of nothing' with his unadorned Norwegian Spruce

It’s the time of year when Tate Britain unveils its much-anticipated, artist-designed Christmas tree. Over the years, we’ve had Fiona Banner decorating hers with unpainted Airfix models of fighter planes, while Sarah Lucas hung hers with stuffed tights instead of baubles....

A Turner Prize first for sound artist

Fisun Güner Tuesday, 07 December 2010

Susan Philipsz is the first sound artist to win the Turner Prize

Dexter Dalwood appeared to be an early favourite, while many wished Angela de la Cruz, who had suffered a debilitating stroke five years ago, a deserved comeback triumph (though the artist who makes evocative “sculpture/paintings” of crumpled canvases did win the prestigious £35,000 Paul Hamlyn Award last month). Few, apart from this reviewer,...

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Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson 1955-2010

joe Muggs Thursday, 25 November 2010

I once passed up the chance of meeting Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, who - it was announced by his Throbbing Gristle bandmates on Twitter - died in his sleep last night aged 55. In the late 1990s I was invited to interview him and his long-term partner Geoff Rushton aka John Balance at the country house where they recorded their ritual electronic music as Coil, but being a young and inexperienced writer at the time, I got scared off by their reputation as exploratory occultists and opted...

The Chaser Years, Maverik Gallery, London

sue Steward Thursday, 18 November 2010

“Hot sweaty tight jammed in can’t breathe heart pumping centre of the universe Monday night action in town. Racing down to Bar Rumba at midnight through the blaring siren wailing darkness of south London to the tinsel town wet streeted fakeness of the West End and the That’s How it Is sessions, Gilles Peterson, James Lavelle, UFO, Patrick Forge, Roni Size spin…” [sic] Peter Williams, London, 1994.

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Hereford Photography Festival

sue Steward Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Paul Shambroom's 'Alpharetta Military Helicopter - Suburban Street Furniture'

Cider, bulls and a beautifully restored cathedral which hosts the annual Three Choirs Festival are probably the key elements used to brand Hereford. But for 20 years, the city has also been home to the UK’s first photography festival. This month, its anniversary is being celebrated in several venues with the focus on Twenty, an exhibition at the charmingly old-fashioned Museum and Gallery where 20 significant photographers share wall space with a gigantic stuffed pike.

Subject: Re: Arts Cuts (Reply All)

theartsdesk Friday, 22 October 2010

It began with a review of 100 Years of German Song. Roused by a comment to a reader (see Igor's comment below), Fisun was moved to email Igor in support of his trenchant views on arts funding.

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Banksy Runs Riot in Springfield

Jasper Rees Monday, 11 October 2010

The elusive street artist Banksy was invited by Matt Groening to script an opening sequence for The Simpsons. "MoneyBart", the episode it fronted, was broadcast in America yesterday, and comes to the UK on 21 October.

'Things' Ain't What They Used To Be

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 06 October 2010

'Things' is a modern play on the traditional cabinet of curiosities

The public works for free. That is the founding principal of modern broadcasting culture. It phones radio stations with its air-filling thoughts on this and that. It monopolises Saturday nights on primetime in singing and dancing and plate-spinning. Until recently, it would sit in a house for weeks on end...

Von Ribbentrop in St Ives

Mark Hudson Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Andrew Lanyon with one of his cranky automata.

As Tate St Ives gears itself up for a major exhibition on the iconic Cornish painter Peter Lanyon – a show that will reinforce St Ives’s claims as a modern art Mecca – the artist’s son is responding with an exhibition that gently sends up the whole St Ives art mythology, while revealing a fascinating, but little known aspect of the town’s history.

Truth and Lies: Jillian Edelstein on Show

Jasper Rees Thursday, 16 September 2010

Regulars of theartsdesk will be familiar with the work of Jillian Edelstein. Her portraits of cultural figures have adorned several of our series, theartsdesk Q&A. There is now a chance to see pictures from her most celebrated collection at a new gallery and bookshop in south London.