Sigmar Polke

“A finished painting is an impression of millions of impressions. For me the image isn’t important, it’s the human behavior of wanting to touch it that is.” Sigmar Polke

ICA (UK) 23 May - 27 Jun 2007

Proposal for Iraq War Memorial, Symbolic Transposition of effects of war in Iraq to the U.S. and England: 10 Downing St., Parliament, U.S. Capitol and the White House [detail], 2007, Sam Durant.

The ICA has invited 26 artists from around the world to make proposals for a memorial to the Iraq War. These memorials address topics such as the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the country's slide into civil war, the deaths of soldiers and civilians, and the conflict's relation to global jihadism and the War on Terror. The intention is not to find a definitive memorial to a war - a difficult task at any time, and especially in the context of an ongoing conflict. Instead the exhibition explores different views of the Iraq War, and different perspectives on what can or should be memorialised.

Steven Parrino

LA MARQUE NOIRE /
STEVEN PARRINO
RETROSPECTIVE, PROSPECTIVE
Palais de Tokyo, Paris
May 24 - August 26 2007
This summer, the Palais de Tokyo devotes the entirety of its exhibition spaces to a program of and around the artist Steven Parrino entitled LA MARQUE NOIRE. The exhibition will show works by Parrino and the artists whom he chose to exhibit, support, and often collaborated with. LA MARQUE NOIRE becomes a universe that stretches from minimalism, tattoos, experimental films, and cartoons to industrial design, No Wave, and punk.

Samuel Beckett

We are all born mad. Some remain so.
–Waiting for Godot

Tate has now announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2007. The artists are Zarina Bhimji, Nathan Coley, Mike Nelson and Mark Wallinger. This is the first time that the Turner Prize has been presented outside London since it began in 1984, and is a curtain-raiser for Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008.

The Prize, established in 1984, is awarded to a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work. It is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art and is widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.

Damien Hirst: Beyond Belief

Portrait of the artist
Photo: Johnnie Shand Kydd

The Moore Space and SMOCA

Gerhard Richter

On Oct. 24, 1990, Richter made the following entry in his journal, available from the MIT Press, titled The Daily Practice of Painting. "The much-maligned 'art scene' of the present day," he wrote, "is perfectly harmless and even pleasant, if you don't judge it in terms of false expectations. It has nothing to do with those traditional values that we hold high (or that hold us high). It has virtually nothing whatever to do with art. That's why the 'art scene' is neither base, cynical, nor mindless: it is a scene of brief blossoming and busy growth, just one variation on the never-ending round of social game-playing that satisfies our need for communication, alongside such others as sport, fashion, stamp-collecting and cat-breeding. Art takes shape in spite of it all, rarely and always unexpectedly; art is never feasible."

Bonner Kunstverein and Kunstmuseum Bonn

Person with Guitar (Red), 2005, 6-color screenprint in 3 layers, handcut, 88,9 x 104,1 cm
JOHN BALDESSARI (*1931), is doubtless one of the foremost American artists, whose work – since the 1960s and 1970s – has influenced young American, as well as European, artists. The collaboration between the two institutions will explore Baldessari's artistic engagement with music.