The Power Plant

28 October 2007 / Jerry Saltz: The Good, the Bad, the Very Bad – A Year in the Life of an Art Critic

As senior art critic at The Village Voice from 1998–2007, and now as New York Magazine’s art critic, Jerry Saltz passionately chronicles the city’s art scene. Saltz has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism and in 2007 received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism. Seeing Out Loud (2003) is a collection of his wittiest and most insightful Voice columns which generously consider art of all kinds in relation to its social role and relevance.

27 October 2007 / Hou Hanru: The Istanbul Biennale

Born and educated in China, Hou Hanru has worked in France for many years. He is Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and Chair of the Exhibitions and Museum Studies program at the San Francisco Art Institute and has curated exhibitions including Cities on the Move in 1998–9. As Artistic Director of the 10th Istanbul Biennial (8 September–4 November, 2007), Hou curated Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary—Optimism in the age of global war. The biennial emphasizes collective intelligence and the process of negotiating historically and functionally resonant sites.

26 October 2007 / Louise Déry: Canada in Venice

Montreal-born artist David Altmejd’s exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale is widely seen as the most successful response yet to Canada’s notoriously awkward pavilion. By mirroring the interior walls so that they reflected his installation of glittering sculptures and fetishistic objects, Altmejd fused the aesthetics of window dressing, taxidermy and minimalism to dramatic, often hilarious, effect. Curator of the Canadian Pavillion at Venice and Director of Galerie de l’UQAM, Louise Déry has worked with Altmejd since 2000. Dr. Déry discusses collaborating with Altmejd and taking Canada to the world stage at Venice.