Open or closed, inside or out, happening or postponed, live or digital? The ongoing pandemic is keeping museums and curators, artists and audiences on their toes, with schedules being adapted, programmes updated and virtual options added every day. We take a look at the exhibitions and events that the art world has planned for early 2021, along with ways to get in on the experience online.
The Humboldt Forum has caused controversy time and again, mostly surrounding the provenance of objects in its collection, but also the choice to relocate it to a reconstructed Prussian Palace that has taken the place of the Communist Palace of the Republic on Berlin’s Museum Island. Now that the collection has moved into its new home, it’s time to make up our own minds. Until restrictions preventing museums from opening (currently until mid-February) are lifted, you can take a virtual tour online.
Joseph Beuys would have turned 100 in May, but centenary celebrations, exhibitions and events kick off in March. Whether they will be able to take place as planned, or get postponed or moved online, remains to be seen, but it’s never too early to start fantasy-planning your dream art trip with the help of the year-long anniversary programme. Alternatively, you could grab some felt and a block of lard and get creative. After all, as per Beuys, “everyone is an artist.” [Joseph Beuys, 1975, Photo: Caroline Tisdall]
There will be several chances to view “Living Abstraction”, a travelling survey of the work of Sophie Taeuber-Arp, throughout the year. The Swiss artist’s short, prolific career coincided with global times of turmoil and accompanying artistic reinventions. Most famous as part of the Dadaist movement, her output was eclectic, ranging from textile and interior designs to puppet theatre, paintings, drawings and sculptures. The exhibition opens at Kunstmuseum Basel in March, moves to Tate Modern London in July, then to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in November. If you can’t catch it live, Google Arts & Culture has you covered.
The Dutch Rijksmuseum is tackling a highly topical subject with “Slavery”, an exhibition examining the colonial history of the Netherlands. Instead of undertaking a sweeping survey of the country’s slave trade spanning centuries and continents, it is focused on 10 individual stories, brought to life through objects from the museum’s collection. If you can’t make it to Amsterdam, you can explore the subject by searching the virtual Rijksstudio for related works that are available online. Save them as a “route”, and you’ll be able to locate them via the Rijksmuseum App whenever you next visit the museum, even if the dedicated exhibition is over by then.
Opening any day now – barring further pandemic restrictions – is the Bourse de Commerce, a new home for François Pinault’s art collection. In the past, some of the fashion magnate’s most famous brands had used the former stock exchange building in Paris’ Les Halles as a runway, now it will hold his extensive collection of contemporary art. The imposing domed structure, transformed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando with support from the Chief Architect of National Historic Monuments, is expected to be as much of a spectacle as the art within. For now, you can read about the history of the building and its reconstruction, view sketches and take a virtual tour online.
The opening of Munch Museum’s new home, a gleaming tower on the waterfront of the Norwegian capital Oslo, has already been postponed, but while we wait, its collection can be explored online. Munch himself bequeathed around 42,000 of his artworks to the city, which opened a museum dedicated to him in 1963, on what would have been the artist’s 100th birthday. Now, the brand-new building will show the collection spread out over seven floors, while also leaving ample space for temporary exhibitions and work by other artists. The current stopgap programme includes virtual tours, online talks and in-depth analysis of individual pieces from the collection. [Photo: Adrià Goula]
Originally postponed from September 2020 until March 2021, GES-2, the new home of the V-A-C Foundation, is finally ready for its big reveal. The vast development, a former power station located in the centre of Moscow, was converted by Renzo Piano into a series of ambitious indoor and outdoor spaces, large and small. It will host not only exhibitions, but also workshops and laboratories dedicated to the visual, performing, culinary and other arts. [Photo: Ludvig14/Wikimedia Commons]
In Canada, a new museum is also biding its time with online programming. The Museum of North Vancouver is due to open later in 2021, but has already thrown open its virtual doors. A series of exhibitions offers a taste of the wide range of subjects and formats the museum will present. With topics ranging from photography and history to indigenous culture and society, it aims to tackle the themes “Passion for Place, Connections, Industry and Enterprise”.
The Macalline Art Center, scheduled to open in the summer, is soft-launching with a series of commissioned digital works, published to its social media channels. The physical space, located in Beijing, will be “a practice-oriented site focused on contemporary visual invention”. Find out what that may look like by visiting the centre’s social media profiles or website.
All around the world, art fairs – including some of the biggest and most famous – have been moved to summer or autumn, but Art Dubai remains one of the few events that is still scheduled to take place in the first quarter. In addition to rigorous COVID testing for overseas guests, organisers are clearly relying on the local market to be enough to sustain sales. If you can’t make it, you can still check out the online Art Dubai Portrait Exhibitions, which from 3 February will be highlighting the work of Abdul Rahman Katanani, a Palestinian artist and third-generation refugee living in Beirut.
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