Audio

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

This week: as the exhibition Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia opens at the Kling & Bang gallery in Reykjavik, Ben Luke talks to Masha Alekhina, one of the founding members of Pussy Riot, and the artist Ragnar Kjartansson, one of the co-curators of the show.

As protests continue across Iran, Aimee Dawson, The Art Newspaper’s acting digital editor, speaks to Shirin Neshat, the artist whose work expressing solidarity with women in Iran was recently installed outside the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

And this episode’s Work of the Week is by the Puerto Rican artist Gabriella Torres-Ferrer. Their 2018 sculpture—called Untitled (Value Your American Lie)—is part of a major new show at the Whitney Museum in New York, exploring art in Puerto Rico in the five years since the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia, Kling & Bang, Reykjavik, until 15 January 2023. Pussy Riot: Riot Days, National Theatre of Iceland, Reykjavik, 25 November. Proceeds from the concert and the exhibition go to supporting Ukraine. You can hear an in-depth interview with Ragnar Kjartansson from 2020 on our sister podcast A brush with… on the usual podcast platforms.No existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, until 23 Apr 2023. 

News: Slovakia Hosts V4 Summit, Somalia ‘Anti-al-Qaeda’ TV, Taiwan Votes

Slovakia hosts the Visegrád Group’s V4 summit, Somalia launches a TV channel aimed at countering al-Shabaab propaganda and Taiwan heads to the polls in local elections.

Plus: today’s papers and Andrew Mueller’s irreverent round-up of the week’s news.

News: Russia Strikes More Ukraine Utilities, Moscow Declared Terrorist State

Russia’s latest strikes in Kyiv cause more power cuts, as the European Parliament votes to declare Moscow a state sponsor of terrorism. Turkey threatens to launch a land operation against Kurdish militants in Syria and the European Space Agency wants to send more people to the moon.

Missile attacks on Ukraine’s battered power grid are an “obvious crime against humanity,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the UN Security Council. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to take action to stop Russian airstrikes targeting vital infrastructure that have once again plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness and cold as winter sets in.

“Today is just one day, but we have received 70 missiles. That’s the Russian formula of terror,” Zelenskyy said via video link to the Council chamber in New York. He said hospitals, schools, transport infrastructure and residential areas had all been hit. “When we have the temperature below zero, and millions of people without energy supplies, without heating, without water, this is an obvious crime against humanity,” he told the meeting in New York. In his speech,

Zelenskyy called for the adoption of a UN resolution condemning energy terror. Ukraine is waiting to see “a very firm reaction” to Wednesday’s airstrikes from the world, he added. The Council is unlikely to take any action in response to the appeal since Russia is a member with veto power. However, Zelenskyy called for Russia to be denied a vote on any decision concerning its actions.

“We cannot be hostage to one international terrorist,” he said. “Russia is doing everything to make an energy generator a more powerful tool than the UN Charter.” Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya responded by complaining that it was against Council rules for Zelenskyy to appear via video and rejected what he called “reckless threats and ultimatums” by Ukraine and its supporters in the West.

News: Turkey Strikes Syria, Moldova Energy Crisis, New Zealand Voting Age

Turkey mulls expanding military operations against Kurdish militants in northern Syria. Plus: Moldova’s energy crisis, New Zealand considers lowering the voting age and the latest technology news.

Analysis & Opinion: Is It The End Of Crypto?, Indonesia Matters, A New Trumpist

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, is this the end of crypto? Also, why Indonesia matters (11:00) and Glenn Youngkin’s unique approach to Trumpism (19:40).

Sunday Morning: Stories & News From Zurich, Lisbon, London And Hong Kong

Monocle’s editorial director Tyler Brûlé, Fabienne Kinzelmann and Oliver Strijbis discuss the weekend’s biggest news stories. Plus, check-ins with our friends and correspondents in Hong Kong, Lisbon and London.

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

Ben Luke talks to Hannah McGivern, a correspondent for The Art Newspaper who has just been to Qatar, about the vast number of public art projects that will accompany the FIFA Men’s World Cup that begins there on Sunday 20 November.

She also discusses the museums that Qatar plans to open by 2030. How does this explosion of cultural initiatives sit with Qatar’s record on human rights and treatment of low-paid migrant workers in the building of its cultural venues and World Cup stadia? It has been a heady fortnight of auctions in New York.

Ben speaks to Georgina Adam, an editor-at-large at The Art Newspaper, about the highs and lows, and whether we can expect even more sales of blockbuster collections in the coming years.

And this episode’s Work of the Week is an untitled painting by Luis Meque, an artist born in Mozambique who came to fame in the 1980s and early-1990s in Zimbabwe. Tandazani Dhlakama, the curator of the exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, tells us about Meque’s painting and his brief and brilliant life.When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 20 November-3 September 2023 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

News: U.S. Influence In Asia-Pacific, Sweden And Finland Push For NATO

As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum kicks off, how is US influence in the region being received? Plus: Turkey’s Nato demands for Sweden as the country implements anti-terror measurements and Finland’s border-fence proposal.

Headlines: Missile Blast In Poland, China Lockdown Unrest, Protests In Iran

We report on what we know about the missile blast in Poland. Plus China’s Covid lockdowns fuel unrest, bird flu prompts fears of Christmas turkey shortages and a flick through today’s papers.