News & Announcements

March 8 is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. To celebrate, Kunsthalle Wien — which has extended the exhibition “POWER UP – Female Pop Art” through today — will feature a special midday program: POWER LUNCH, a guided tour of the show by curator Angela Stief.

Later in the day, Ursula Leitgeb and Hafize Gültekin will offer another guided tour of the exhibition (in German, with translation into Turkish) with the title “Vorsicht, Emanzipation kann Ihre Befindlichkeit nachhaltig verbessern!” (“Warning: Emancipation can produce a lasting improvement in your mood!”).

If you’re in Vienna and would like to register for the POWER LUNCH tour, contact Isabella Drozda at +43-1-521 89-1255 or kunstvermittlung@kunsthallewien.at. (Admission is € 5, which includes snacks following the tour.) For more information (also in German) about either event, visit the Kunsthalle Wien web site.

Finally, if you aren’t in Vienna or just can’t make it to the show today, don’t panic. “POWER UP – Female Pop Art” will also be appearing at Phoenix Art/Stiftung Falckenberg (in cooperation with Deichtorhallen Hamburg) from 19 April – 10 July, and at the Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen from 23 July – 9 October. Learn more about the exhibition.

WNYC in New York City asked New Yorkers what they thought of the outsized sculptures now embellishing Times Square as part of Armory Arts Week. (To hear a few of their responses, click the arrow on the audio player above.)

“On Tuesday morning after the unveiling,” writes WNYC Culture Producer Marlon Bishop, “tourists and native New Yorkers alike wandered among the statues, ranging from a voluptuous ten-foot ceramic woman by the late sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle to the 24 sheep made of paper by Brooklyn artist Kyu Seok Oh.”

Bishop notes that beyond the obvious artistic considerations, the sculptures were chosen “to withstand the wear and tear of a week in Times Square — where, according to curator Glen Weiss, people tend to be pretty ‘hands-on’ with the art.”

All five works will be on display until next Tuesday, 8 March. Learn more.

The exhibition “Niki de Saint Phalle: Outside-In” opened at SCHUNCK* Heerlen on 25 February. Thanks to an intrepid videographer, we can give you a glimpse of the opening ceremonies (some in Dutch, some in English), including remarks by Bloum Cardenas, Niki’s granddaughter and a trustee of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Trustees Marcelo Zitelli and David Stevenson were also in attendance.

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The SCHUNCK show is Niki’s first solo exhibition in the Netherlands since 1976, and her first major retrospective there since her death in 2002. “Niki de Saint Phalle: Outside-In” will run at SCHUNCK* Heerlen from 25 February – 19 June.

Fans of chamber music and art à deux, take note: On Sunday 13 February, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlotte, North Carolina will present “Chamber of Love: Sizzling Duets,” the next in the museum’s Music and Museum concert series.

The performance will feature music composed by Rachmaninoff, Casals, Kreisler, Gliere, and Richard Strauss paired with artwork by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, two Bechtler collection artists who were partners in art and in life. A cash bar reception at 5:00 pm will be followed by a 5:30 performance. Tickets are just $20 each and seating will be limited, so you might want to call ahead (704-353-9200) and reserve your spot. For more information, visit the Bechtler Museum web site.

We’re getting close to the 25 February opening of “Niki de Saint Phalle: Outside-In” at SCHUNCK* Heerlen — the first exhibition in the Netherlands since 1976 to be devoted solely to the works of Niki de Saint Phalle, and the first major retrospective there since Niki’s death in 2002. On the occasion of this exhibition, SCHUNCK* Heerlen organized a unique event inspired by “Hon – a Cathedral,” the legendary work Niki created for the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1966.

SCHUNCK* Heerlen challenged high school students from seven European schools to design a sculpture inspired by the Hon, then sent an expert jury — including Bloum Cardenas, Niki’s grand-daughter and a trustee of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation — to visit the schools and choose a winner. The winning design, a polar bear named “Tosca” created by students of the Institut Saint-Laurent in Liège, will be executed life-size and displayed from late March through mid-June 2011 at the Pancratiusplein in Heerlen.

The exhibition “Niki de Saint Phalle: Outside-In” will run at SCHUNCK* from 26 February through 19 June 2011. Learn more.

The Mingei International Museum, located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, will host the “Discover Mingei” treasure hunt on 30 January, as the North County Times reports.

Families will receive a treasure map that they can use to find hidden art treasures while exploring the museum’s collection. Prizes will be awarded to those who finish the hunt.

Here, three boys participating in a previous “Discover Mingei” scavenger hunt visit a sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle outside the Mingei International Museum.

The treasure hunt ($5 per family, $3 for singles) will take place from noon to 4 p.m. in Balboa Park, 1439 El Prado, San Diego, California. Visit the Mingei International Museum web site.

The group exhibition “Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists 1958-1968” has been chosen as Best Thematic Show Nationally for 2010 by the U.S. section of the International Art Critics Association (AICA).

The critically acclaimed show, which includes works by Niki de Saint Phalle and 21 other artists, was conceived and organized by Sid Sachs, director of exhibitions at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

“Seductive Subversion” examines the impact of women artists on the traditionally male-dominated field of Pop art — reconsidering the narrow definition of the Pop art movement, reevaluating its critical reception, and expanding the canon to reflect more accurately the women working internationally during this period.

“Seductive Subversion” opened on 27 January at the Tufts University Art Gallery after earning critical praise in its previous venues — the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. The award will be presented on March 14 in New York at the AICA awards ceremony.