Below a selection press articles, blogs, announcements and slideshows links related to 'NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents' which took place between 24–28th June in New York (if we missed any materials, please do share the link with us!).

p.s. Some sources are confused about the nature of Latitudes' space in the festival. Just to clarify, we didn't built a faux Burger King, the 'scenario' – assembled entirely thanks to The Bruce High Quality Foundation – comprised real dining furniture from the abandoned 1983 Burger King from Governors Island (see photo-documentation of the original site taken by two photographers invited in 2003 by Public Art Fund – images 2 and 3 of the slideshow).

e-Flux, June 15, 2009
http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/6898

Holland Cotter, 'Restoring the ‘Eek’ to Eking Out a Living', New York Times, 24 June 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/arts/design/25soul.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=restoring%20the%20eek&st=cse
and slideshow here http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/06/24/arts 20090625_SOUL_SLIDESHOW_index.html

Jerry Saltz, 'Saltz: Glimpse Art’s Near Future at No Soul for Sale', 24 June 2009
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/06/saltz_glimpse_arts_near-future.html

Laura Meli, 'The Anti-commerce, Pro-art “No Soul for Sale” Festival', 25 June 2009
http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2009/06/the-anti-commerce-pro-art-no-soul-for-sale-festival

Time Out Art, 25 June 2009
http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/tonyblog/2009/06/no-soul-for-sale-at-x-initiative

William Pym, Artforum Scene & Heard, 'Whatever Works', 26 June 2009
http://www.artforum.com/diary/#entry23170 (text)
http://www.artforum.com/diary/id=23170#readon23170 (more images)

Sunday, 28 June, 2009 (images)
http://www.16miles.com/2009/06/no-soul-for-sale-festival-of.html

23 June 2009, www.designboom.com
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/6793/no-soul-for-sale.html

Ceci Moss, 'Dispatches from No Soul For Sale: More Highlights!', 29 June 2009
http://rhizome.org/editorial/2732

During 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' we are presenting several publications and parapharnalia related to our projects, including:

– Compendium of essays, artists' projects, etc. 'Land, Art: A Cultural Ecology Handbook' (Royal Society of Arts/Arts Council England, 2006)
– Magazine UOVO #14 'Ecology, Luxury and Degradation' (The Bookmakers Ed., Summer 2007)
– Exhibition catalogue 'Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities' (The Bookmakers Ed., February 2008)
– Artist book by Simon Fujiwara 'The Museum of Incest: A Guide' (Archive Books, May 2009)

We also have DVDs of Jan Dibbets' recent film '6 Hours of Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' (as part of Portscapes) and a public sculpture produced in October 2008 by Lawrence Weiner on occasion of his exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at Fundació Suñol, Barcelona (we also have the exhibition booklet available).

The Bruce High Quality Foundation also have a computer available from where visitors can burn DVDs for $5 as well as some of their publications.

Transposing our daily operations from Barcelona to New York's 22nd Street, Latitudes is presenting its recent publications, project-related paraphernalia and documentation. The office ‘scenario’ is conceived by the artist group The Bruce High Quality Foundation, incorporating dining furniture from the abandoned 1983 Burger King from Governor’s Island (see images above and below), where they have recently filmed 'Isle of the Dead'. This zombie movie about the death of culture in New York will be premiered during Creative Time’s ‘This World & Nearer Ones’ (opening June 27,2–4pm). Latitudes first collaborated with Bedford-Stuyvesant-based The Bruce High Quality Foundation for the group exhibition ‘Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities’ (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, February–May 2008). Touching on themes such as gentrification and public space, satire and self-promotion, its activities have included reality TV, films, tableaux vivants, photography, protests, installations, merchandising and a production based on the musical Cats.

During NO SOUL FOR SALE we are also showing Jan Dibbets’ 6 Hours Tide Object with
Correction of Perspective (1969/2009) (8 mins.) as well as the 'making of' the film (20 mins). Shot in February 2009 and premiered on 14 June in Rotterdam, this Dibbets work is the inaugural project of Portscapes, the Latitudes-curated commission series taking place throughout 2009 in and around Maasvlakte 2, a 5000 acre extension to the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

NO SOUL FOR SALE: 24–28 June, 1–9pm. Free admission.
28 June, 6–7pm: Screening three films by The Bruce High Quality Foundation

X INITIATIVE: 548 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011 (former Dia Center)
GETTING THERE: C or E train to West 23 Street station, and walk west on 22nd towards X

All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

Latitudes will be soon participating in 'NO SOUL FOR SALE – A Festival of Independents' (24–28 June, 1–9pm, free entrance) an event hosted by X initiative which will bring together 38 not-for-profit centers, alternative institutions, artists’ collectives and independent enterprises from Berlin, Milan, Dublin, Lisbon, Paris, Reykjavík, Hong Kong, Rabat, Trinidad, New York, Los Angeles, etc. that contribute to the international art scene by generating a diverse cultural programme.

Latitudes will set up a temporary office-base camp, transposing our daily operations while presenting our publications (exhibition catalogues, guest-edited magazines, artist books and anthologies) and other paraphernalia. The office-'scenario' will be conceived by the artist group The Bruce High Quality Foundation, incorporating dining furniture from the abandoned Burger King facility on Governor's Island, where they have recently shot 'Isle of the Dead', a zombie movie to be premiered in Fort Jay Theater during Creative Time’s 'This World & Nearer Ones' (opening June 27, 2–4pm) as well as in the X Initiative screening & performing area on Sunday 28th from 6pm.

During 'NO SOUL FOR SALE' Latitudes will also premiere the 8 minute film '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective', the new version of a 1969 film by Dutch Conceptual artist Jan Dibbets (1941) and the inaugural project of Portscapes, the public commission series taking place throughout 2009 in and around Maasvlate 2, the 2,000 hectare extension to the Port of Rotterdam.

Participants: Artis Contemporary Israeli Art Fund (New York and Tel Aviv), Ballroom (Marfa), BizArt/Arthub (Shanghai/Hong Kong), DISPATCH (New York), Empty Purse Publications (New York), Filipa Oliveira + Miguel Amado (Lisbon), FLUXspace (Philadelphia), Galerie im Regierungsviertel / Forgotten Bar Project (Berlin), Hermes und der Pfau (Stuttgart), K 48 (New York), Kadist Art Foundation (Paris), Kling&Bang (Reykjavík), L’Appartement 22 (Rabat), Latitudes (Barcelona), LAXART (Los Angeles), Light Industry (Brooklyn), Lucie Fontaine (Milan), Migrating Forms (New York), Mousse Magazine (Milan), Next Visit (Berlin), Not An Alternative (Brooklyn), Office for Contemporary Art Norway (Oslo), Participant Inc. (New York), Rhizome (New York), STARSHIP (Berlin), Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York), Studio Film Club (Trinidad), Supportico Lopez (Berlin), Surasi Kusolwong (Thailand), Swiss Institute (New York), TART (San Francisco), The Mountain School of Arts (Los Angeles), Thisisnotashop (Dublin), Transformer (Washington, D.C.), Via Farini (Milan), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), WAGE Artists (New York), White Columns (New York).

Latitudes' participation is partly supported by the Institut Ramon Llull

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X INITIATIVE, 548 West 22nd Street (former Dia Center), New York, NY 10011, USA [MAP HERE]
Opening Reception: June 23, 6-9 pm with a performance by Martin Soto Climent.
Opening Hours: June 24–28 2009, 1–9 pm. FREE ENTRANCE

GIARDINI - All images: Latitudes (unless credited otherwise)

Daniel Birnbaum's 'Making Worlds' felt less melancholic though still very much in keeping with his recently-curated '50 Moons of Saturn', the 2nd Turin Triennial (see post 10 November 2008). Both exhibitions shared several artists (Ulla von Brandenburg, Koo Jeong-A, Pietro Roccasalva, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Lara Favaretto, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Haegue Yang, Paul Chan, Tomás Saraceno, Wade Guyton, Keren Cytter and Rosa Barba), while Venice included several students (including Att Poomtangon) or professors (Simon Starling, Wolfgang Tillmans) from the Birnbaum-directed Staedelschule in Frankfurt, and the support of curator Jochen Volz in the artistic organization (additional advice was provided by a team of 'correspondents': Savita Apte, Tom Eccles, Hu Fang and Maria Finders). In contrast with the 2007 biennial by Robert Storr it felt less painterly and more sculptural and with a notable lack of 'black boxes' with film and video work.

There seemed to be however, a certain self-reflexivity with regard to the biennale context: several works referred to the winter life of the Giardini venues (Steve McQueen's film in the British Pavilion; Haegue Yang's video in the Korean Pavilion) and the challenge artists face when asked to present work for the Venice. This was most evident in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's video in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly named 'Padiglione Italia'), a touching exorcism of artistic exhaustion. During the last twenty years she has been asked to participate in the Biennale not less than five times, and she speaks about the pressure of expectation in creating something new every time.

Elsewhere in Venice the Biennial threatened to be overshadowed by the opening of François Pinault’s über-collection hosted in the recently renovated Punta della Dogana (the former customs house). The spectacular triangular building has undergone a speedy renovation by Japanese architect Tadao Ando (see video here) and the inaugural exhibition's sombre atmosphere is much in contrast to the über-kitch displays at Palazzo Grassi.

ARSENALE - All images: Latitudes (unless credited otherwise)
Without trying to be at all comprehensive (with almost one million square feet of exhibition space, more than ninety artists, seventy-seven national contributions, forty-four collateral events that seem increasingly impossible) here are some highlights in no particular order of the Giardini (see first slideshow with 111 images) and Arsenale (slideshow above with 49 images):

Roman Ondák’s 'Loop' contribution in the Czech/Slovak pavilion: a walk-through pavilion with a path running from the entrance to the back door that has been landscaped with exactly the same greenery that exists in the Giardini – it was executed with such precision that some visitors asked the artist if his work was the pavilion building itself as they could not find the 'art' anywhere.

Haegue Yang's 'Condensation' (Korea Pavilion) atmospheric assemblage of Venetian blinds, lamps or bulbs, scent atomizers, infrared motion detectors and crochet.

'The Collectors' in the Nordic and Danish pavilions, taken over by artists invited by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset which included exquisit works by Pepe Espaliú's ('Carrying Project') and Simon Fujiwara.

Lara Favaretto's 'Momentary Monument (Swamp)' at the Giardini delle Vergini as well as the three minute man-horse-motorbike film by David Bestué & Marc Vives, which together with their 'Acciones en casa' presented in the Arsenale, gave one of the only humorous notes in the exhibition.

Finally the biennial at last has a decent cafeteria! Tobias Rehberger was given the Golden Lion for the Best Artist for his neo-pop environment. It could well have been recognised along with another new facility previously in dire need of a revamp: the bookstore, which was designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija and hosted a comprehensive collection of monographs and catalogues.

EVENTI COLLATERALI – All images: Latitudes (unless otherwise credited)

Off-Giardini highlights (slideshow above with 41 images):

Joao Maria Gusmao & Pedro Paiva's 'Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air' (Portugal) which included five 16mm films, a mixture of humour and magical realism (a sunset with three suns, a man lifting a bucket filled with water by grasping the water...)

Teresa Margolles (Mexico) showing 'What else can we talk about?'. An traumatised and almost empty Palazzo Rota Ivancich highlighted the many Mexicans who have recently died in a violent manner. Margolles and her collaborators gathered blankets with blood and mud where victims fell. That mud and that same blood is slowly moistened in the ground floor and later used to mop the main floor. A decadent palazzo in almost complete silence combines personal dramas and national sorrow. As the artist put it 'we live in a country that cries' (La Jornada, 10 June). This, perhaps alongside Taiwan ('Foreign Affairs'), was by far the most self-critical national representation.

At Isola di Certosa: 'Animated Scene' by Irish artist John Gerrard: an amazing three-screen real time computer-generated projection of the American West: a reconstruction of a 1935 Texas dust storm, a year in the life of an automated pig production facility in the Great Sothern Plains and a man blacking out the facade of a white silo in Kansas – see images here.

Disappointments:

The Golden Lion for Best National Participation going to Bruce Nauman's 'Topological Gardens'. Yes, indeed a great artist but partly agreeing with Harry Bellet and Philippe Dagen from Le Monde: 'a retrospective without any new work is far away from the very principle of the Biennale: to reveal the present'. It also presented very familiar work from the 1960s until today from museums and private collections. His presentation did however come more to life in IUAV Tolentini and Ca'Foscari yet the need to crame three venues seems questionable.

Steve McQueen's ticketed entry to the British pavilion, showing a double-screen film portraying the off-season of the Giardini during the winter months: insects silently making their way through the vegetation, rain drops, Venetian bells ringing in the mist, greyhounds scavenging a trash-scattered Giardini, gay cruising in the small hours of the night. One cannot argue against the evident beauty of the piece, yet its impact quickly wore off.

Miquel Barceló representing Spain: not only because the choice of the project didn't follow any semblance of a democratic or juried selection (as did the Catalan Pavilion) but also the frankly flatfooted delivery: a hagiographic mini-retrospective complete with reading area.

Italian Pavilion in the Arsenale curated by Luca Beatrice and Beatrice Buscaroli: an embarrassingly poor exhibition, doing no justice to the tremendous artistic talent in the host country.

The sudden cancellation of Emily Jacir's project 'Stazione' for the Palestinian Pavilion (to display the names of each vaporetto station along the Grand Canal in Arabic alongside the Italian). It would have been a telling reference to the cross-cultural exchange between Venice and the Arab world and a great addition to the very little public-space work produced for this Biennale.

'In-Finitum' at the Palazzo Fortuny included some great works (include those by Anselmo, and a room with Lucio Fontana) although the exhibition felt much less compelling than 2007's 'Artempo: Where time becomes art'. This year it seems to include more 1950s-1970s work, more monochromes (Gutai group, Antoni Tàpies, Robert Ryman, James Turrell, Mark Rothko, Hiroshi Sugimoto...) and did not exactly run with the concept of 'the infinite'. The strength of this curatorial exercise lies in widening the timeframe while building a link between Fortuny's legacy and 'anonymous' work (e.g. Egyptian ancient sculpture) with contemporary works (on this occasion John Gerrard, Michael Borremans, Berlinde Bruyckere et. al.), which failed to spark this time.

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53rd International Art Exhibition: Making Worlds // Fare Mondi // Bantin Duniyan // Weltenmachen // Construire des Mondes // Fazer Mundos…
Artistic director: Daniel Birnbaum
Giardini della Biennale / Arsenale

Open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Giardini closed on Mondays / Arsenale closed on Tuesdays

http://www.labiennale.org

Below is the new website design of Portscapes (www.portscapes.com), an accummulative series of newly commissioned projects curated by Latitudes in and around Maasvlakte 2, the extension of the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, throughout 2009. (+ info) If you would like to receive Portscapes newsletters, please subscribe here.

Following the news on the extension process of the Port of Rotterdam, which will become the Maasvlakte 2, the Port has just announced that after months of dredging vessels spraying sand (‘rainbowing’) 3km away from the present coast line (see image above) the first bulldozers are driving around on an island in the North Sea to make sure that the sand is distributed correctly amongst the islands (see image below). Slideshow of aerial images of the rising island here.

[Images (top to bottom): Portscapes website; Photo: Eric Bakker; Photo: Ben Wind. All photos © Port of Rotterdam Authority; Thanks to Ria Haagsma and Sjaak Pope.]