Cai Guo-Qiang Speaks About Disastrous PST ART Fireworks Display, Controversy in Israel Over West Bank Archaeology Bill: Morning Links for October 4, 2024

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The Headlines
 
IT’S RAINING CAPS AND TUBES. In his first interview since his September 15 fireworks display to kick off Getty’s PST ART festival in Los Angeles injured some spectators, Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang opened up to The Los Angeles Times. In addition to raining quarter-sized, clay fireworks caps, tubes, and other debris onto viewers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the disaster of a show was also panned by some critics who said it contradicted the festival’s underlying environmental theme. Cal Fire’s Fire Engineering and Investigations is now working with the state fire marshal to investigate the event, titled “We Are,” according to the LAT. Over e-mail, the artist, who works with gunpowder and pyrotechnics, said he has “long been involved in improving the environmental and safety aspects of fireworks,” and was “deeply uneasy and apologetic.” He added that “there were no malfunctions with the fireworks.” But he was surprised by what happened. Gusts of wind, he conjectured, might have caused the debris to fall on the crowd. Cai said he relied on his pyrotechnics contractor Pyro Spectaculars by Souza to ensure safety and used his own AI model called cAI to choreograph the show. “In hindsight, I realize I should have reminded the audience via broadcast about the potential for loud sounds,” he added. 

DIGGING UP OLD BONES. Regional experts, including some Israelis, are warning that a new archaeology bill approved by the Israeli government to expand the country’s Antiquities Authority’s jurisdiction to sites in the West Bank violates international law, and could bring sanctions, reports The Art Newspaper. The amendment to the Israel Antiquities Authority Law was approved in July by a legislative committee, and is set to be reviewed by the Israeli parliament in November. Responsibility for archaeological excavations in the West Bank, which is home to thousands of historic sites, is currently shared between the Palestinian Authority and depending on the location, a unit in Israel’s Civil Administration. If passed, the law would centralize authority over those areas to the Israel Antiquities Authority. Meanwhile, the Israeli Archaeological Association is among those opposing the bill, and said “as its intention is not to advance archaeology, but to advance a political agenda,” violating current Israeli law.

The Digest

After 31 years, a French treasure hunt that attracted thousands of passionate followers, who painstakingly tried to solve a book of riddles leading to a buried golden owl statue comes to an end. The hunt’s social media account called it off on Thursday, but questions remain about where it was discovered, and by whom. [France 24]

Asymmetry and SculptureCenter, New York, have announced a new partnership with the creation of the Asymmetry Curatorial Fellowship at the renowned New York institution. Beginning in the Summer of 2025, it will be Asymmetry’s first international fellowship placement, and first collaboration outside of the UK and Europe. [Asymmetry]

ARTnews’ Top 200 Collectors discuss today’s art market, where an “investment mindset” has apparently run amok. Buying by volume may be down, but the top tier of collectors continues to acquire artworks, and several share their perspectives on the art world’s own version of “tulip mania.” [ARTnews]

An investigative report by local news outlets found that while New York City mayor Eric Adams was borough president of Brooklyn in 2016, his office allegedly pressured the Brooklyn Museum to host a Chinese history exhibition. Journalists Yoav Gonenand April Xu, respectively at The City and Documented, examined 2,500 pages of emails, which show how Adams’ aide, Winnie Greco, pushed the Brooklyn Museum to stage a show dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, the first provisional president of the Republic of China, in just one month’s time, on behalf of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China. [The City and Documented]

A US judge has ruled that a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting caught up in the fraudulent machinations of disgraced art dealer Inigo Philbrick, belongs to a collector Philbrick scammed, Alexander “Sasha” Pesko, and not the art lender Athena Art Finance, also a victim of Philbrick. [Artnet News]

The Kicker

ARTIST-TO-ARTISTS AT FRIEZE. Ahead of Frieze London next week, British artist Yinka Shonibare is one of six tapped to curate a new section of the fair called Artist-to-Artist. Speaking to The New York Times alongsideZenib Sedira and Lubaina Himid, the three discussed the struggling post-Brexit art scene in London, as well as the artists they have selected to feature in the fair’s special exhibit, which includes a total of six solo-shows. Shonibare observed, “things are shifting away from London.” “If you’re not bringing innovation and new ideas and challenging ideas, the sector becomes static,” he said. For the Frieze exhibit, he selected Nengi Omuku, a Nigerian painter working in Lagos. Omuku, he explained, is “dealing with identity issues” in her work, though not in a didactic way. “It takes courage to begin to find your own voice in relation to your own history and your own identity,” he said.