Egyptian artist Wael Shawky wins Ernst Schering Foundation Art Award. Art Writer Leanne Goebel recalls his controversial participation in SITE Santa Fe’s Lucky Number Seven biennial.
Here is a video of the Liberators exhibit on display through September 26, 2010 at Museo de las Americas in Denver. The video originally appeared on adobeairstream.com.
Accused of being a terrorist, Hasan Elahi began broadcasting his every move, his every meal, his daily activities. The artist questions who is watching and how much is too much information in a new exhibit at SITE Santa Fe called Tracking Transience.
Was Wael Shawky censored by SITE Santa Fe? And did they have reasonable grounds to ask him to change his concept? He did, but the controversy remains when the artist showed his New Mexico work in Egypt and Jordan.
This global focus of the art world, the film world, the creative world on the demand of the market has eroded a sense of community.
We need fewer artists doing the same thing and more artists pushing the boundaries stretched by artists from the past. We need independent voices willing to speak out and act as regulators of the marketplace—not regulators of the Art. We need critics willing to debate and stand up for what they believe. We need to recognize that there are artists all over the world quietly making interesting and challenging art, overlooked by the system and market.
Leanne Goebel 