Abdulnasser Gharem’s “The Safe” (2019) is an installation that puts its visitors inside a padded room that recalls the slain journalist’s torture chamber.
Author Archives: Dorian Batycka
Dorian Batycka is an independent curator, art critic, and DJ currently
based Berlin. Previously, he was curator of contemporary art at Bait
Muzna for Art Film (Muscat, Oman), assistant curator for the first
ever Maldives National Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, and has
contributed to numerous publications including Art and Education,
Frieze Blog, Selections, and Nero. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram, @temp_projects.
Posted inNews
Violent Clashes Erupted at One of Kyiv’s Oldest Cinemas
During a conflict between municipal guards and activists protesting the privatization of Kyiv’s cinemas, a group of over 300 protesters was met with violence and homophobic slurs.
Posted inArt
An Inside-Out Airplane Visualizes Poland’s Political Divisions
At the Venice Biennale’s Polish Pavilion, a monumental sculpture responds to conspiracy theories and nationalist rhetoric surrounding the 2010 plane crash that killed Poland’s then-president.
Posted inArt
From Palestine to New York and Back Again: On the Life and Work of Samia Halaby
In the purportedly liberal realm of the art world, an artist like Samia Halaby is certainly deserving of closer attention.
Posted inNews
Hundreds of Protesters Wielded Bananas After a Polish Museum Censored Feminist Artworks
Following an anonymous complaint, the director of the National Museum in Warsaw took down the works of Natalia LL, Katarzyna Kozyra, and the duo Karolina Wiktor and Aleksandra Kubiak, sparking #bananagate.
Posted inNews
An Anonymous Campaign Calls Out Berlin Gallery Weekend for Being Overwhelming White and Male
According to a group of activists, 75% of the artists being platformed at Berlin Gallery Weekend are white and male.
Posted inNews
German Authorities Drop Investigation of Group that Replicated Holocaust Memorial Near Home of Rightwing Politician
After Björn Höcke called the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin “a monument of shame,” an artist built a replica beside the politician’s home.
Posted inNews
New Report Outlines the Threats to Artistic Freedom in 2018
The Freemuse annual report is a potent reminder that artistic freedom is in constant need of monitoring.
Posted inSatire
Sackler Family and Purdue Pharma Fund Damien Hirst Pills Retrospective
The exhibition, opening at the Brooklyn Museum in 2020, will feature several works from Hirst’s Medicine Cabinets series.
Posted inSatire
After a Lifetime of Rejecting Technology, Artist Tino Sehgal Falls in Love with Instagram
Tino Segal, famous for his “objectless” performances that are never to be photographed, is now on Instagram.
Posted inNews
Construction Workers Claim Kochi-Muziris Biennale Shorted Payment
A contracting company says it “has been left in a precarious financial situation” after the biennial declined to pay its full construction costs. The biennial says a government-approved valuer found “that the amounts demanded by the contractor are arbitrary.”
Posted inNews
Poland’s Ministry of Culture Accused of Attempting to Control an Important Cultural Institution
Poland’s current rightwing Minister of Culture, Piotr Gliński, is accused of attempting to take control of the museum in an effort to curtail its programming and replace its director with a ministry-appointed one.