Thomas Hirschhorn

Yesterday I unpacked, washed my laundry, repacked and now I am in the Thalys on my way to Paris. I have a meeting lined up with Thomas Hirschhorn, at this studio in Aubervilliers. I am very excited.

Hirschhorn's work stormed into my professional life at Documenta 11. The Bataille Monument was a work I hated, I loved, hated, loved, and so forth. But as a result, I have been following his work closely over the last couple of years. The Mussee Precaire Albinet I have used as a reference in many presentations in order to show that the combination of 'high' art and a 'difficult' neighbourhood is very well possible, desirable even,

It has taken a long time and a lot of effort to get this appointment - and to be honest, most of the effort came not from me, but from Maria Bojan, a Rumanian curator.

Tate Modern

No more art fairs. Decided to go to the Tate Modern. Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth is great. So is the Louise Bourgeois exhibition. One must admire the way the Tate communicates: the leaflets, the exhibitions displays, etc. Anyone claiming art is elitist should head over there. It strengthens my view that art is not accessible or inaccessible, it is the way it is communicated that makes it so.

Zoo Art Fair

After meeting some friends over lunch at The Thomas Cubitt, I head off to the Zoo Art Fair. It has relocated to the Royal Academy of Arts (oh dear, Mayfair again). It is still chaotic, but not as much as before at the Zoo. Here too, in the wake of the Frieze, artists, gallerists, critics and collectors roam the aisles. Big sponsors have arrived (a champagne brand, I'm not complaining!) and the fair boasts 2.8 million pounds in sales.

I crave for a curated exhibition.

Frieze update 2

Just got a call from the gallery. I have a meeting tomorrow morning at one of their branches in town. Shouldn't party too hard tonight!

Frieze update 1

Getting more to terms with the commercial side of the art world. Everybody is here, not so much to buy works of art (although that too of course) but to meet people you'd otherwise have to go see in Parijs, Berlin, New York or Tokyo. I am getting more and more into the frantic, gossipy, money-crazy vibe that typifies the Frieze.

I am here to meet a rep of a gallery. There is an artist I would very much like to have in Open Source Amsterdam, but he has been impossible to get hold of. We've been sending e-mails and calling people since May! And now finally, we've got the gallery interested. The guy is not at the booth in the fair. I've called his cell phone and left a message.

In the meantime I have a better look at the art fair. This is not the place for new discoveries: it is one big name after the other. Works by several of the artists on my list can been seen here. Crousel Gallery from Paris has some collages by Thomas Hirschhorn. Neither Chantal nor Lara is at the booth. What a shame, I wanted to say hello and thanks. They have been very kind and helpful towards our project. In the meantime, a couple of booths further down, an untitled pile of small cushions by Louise Bourgeois is sold at $750,000.

The Frieze Sculpture Garden is just outside. Nice informal atmosphere. As for the art...judge for yourself (see pictures above).

Frieze frenzy

After months of working on theoretical frameworks, exhibition concepts, artists' ideas, and so forth, I am blasted into the Frieze frenzy. Hundreds of artists, thousands of works crammed into the booths. Art as commodity, stripped of any context that could generate meaning. Brrrr. Can't handle it right now.

Open Ateliers: Street for Kids

Today the Street organised a workshop for children at the yearly Open Atelier Route in Amsterdam Southeast. The kids created their own miniature works of art and placed them on a map of the porject area. So at the end of the day, we had our first little Street of Sculptures.