Rodeo Gallery is starting the season with a two-man exhibition: new works by Eftihis Patsourakis are accompanied by a new series of objects designed especially for Rodeo by designer Michael Anastassiades

How to celebrate things that don’t exist: The 31st Bienal de São Paulo opens its doors

Agnieszka Piksa, Justiça para os Aliens, Justice for Aliens
297 × 420 mm, 8 páginas • colagem digital, ©Agnieszka Piksa 2012

The title of the 31st Bienal de São Paulo - “How to (...) things that don’t exist” is a poetic invocation of art’s ability to create new objects, thoughts and possibilities. The sentence has a variable formula that constantly changes, anticipating the actions that might make present in contemporary life the things that don’t exist, are not recognized, or have not yet been invented.

Arthur Scovino, Caboclo Samambaia (O caboclo dos aflitos), Bracken Caboclo (The Caboclo of the Aflitos)
2014 • dimensões variáveis • instalação - desenho,  impressão à jato de tinta, monotipia e datilografia
©Arthur Scovino

Curated by Charles Esche, Galit Eilat, Nuria Enguita Mayo, Pablo Lafuente and Oren Sagiv with associate curators Benjamin Seroussi and Luiza Proença, and with 81 projects and more than 100 participants from 34 countries, totaling around 250 artworks on display, the exhibition has been conceived as journey through the Pavilion divided into three different areas: park area, ramp area and columns area.

Edward Krasinski, Lança, Spear, 1963/1964 • 12 peças de madeira pintadas em vermelho e preto, fios de metal, cortesia: Paulina Krasinska and Foksal Gallery Foundation  ©Eustachy Kossakowski / Hanna Ptaszkowska and Museum of Modern Art Warsaw  

Jo Baer, Na terra dos gigantes (Espiral e estrelas), In the Land of the Giants  (Spiral and stars), 2009-2013 • 155 × 155 cm
• óleo sobre tela • cortesia: Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlim, ©Jo Baer 

From 1st to 7th of September 2014, visitors will encounter projects that are grounded in contemporary life and particularly touch on aspects of religion, social conflict, sexuality, ecology, and identity.
 
“In the 31st Bienal, we have tried to bring together artists that tackle the complexities of today when the end of the modern meets the still uncertain beginnings of a new system of thinking”, suggests the curatorial team. “In this transitional time, artists no longer need to claim a special area of skill or knowledge. They are, like many others, searching for a new ethics and mode of existing by which to order their lives and contribute to society.”

Dan Perjovschi, Repertório de desenhos, Society Stadium [Estádio da sociedade]
1999-2013 • dimensões variadas • desenho

To know more about the 31st Bienal de São Paulo please visit http://www.31bienal.org.br/en/

Gaggenau - Michael Anastassiades 'Rigorously Purist'

When she's not busy being editor-in-chief of Le Cercle, our sister magazine from City News Publishing, Anastasia Nysten is working away with Michael Anastassiades to create beautiful design installations like these.

 

Gaggenau - Michael Anastassiades 'Rigorously Purist' from Olivier Hess on Vimeo.

THE ART PAPER GOES INTERNATIONAL

It was because we launched the first issue of the Art Paper - the art supplement that comes with Selections - in partnership with the Beirut Art Fair, that the focus was initially local, and we looked into the art world here in Lebanon. That was issue #00 - a trial run if you like - and we have now put together our first real issue #01 with a wider point of view.

The Small is Beautiful exhibition at Durub Al Tawaya 

& the Design Souq at Abu Dhabi Art 2013

As a result, Selections editor Kasia Maciejowska was in London this Autumn for Frieze Art Fair, and visited Brussels for a preview of BRAFA (Brussels Antiques and Fine Art Fair), while our contributors Jennifer Hattam in Istanbul and Anya Stafford in Abu Dhabi have written reports from art fairs there. 

Selections editor Kasia with couturier Giambattista 

Valli at Dover Street Market's party for Frieze

Our collector profile will be with Turkish textile magnate Öner Kocabeyoğlu, our curator interview is with young British influencer Nicola Lees, and we'll have exhibition reviews of work by Egyptian, Indian, Cuban and Austrian-American artists who have recently shown in various locations.

Egyptian artist Wael Shawky's Cabaret Crusades

at the Serpentine Gallery, London

This inclusive perspective doesn't mean we're ignoring local talent of course. We review the in-depth Paul Guiragossian retrospective at the Beirut Exhibition Centre, and Mark Hachem's display of collages by Syrian painter Rabee Kiwan.

We'll also be printing a neat list of new art spaces around the globe that have opened in the past year. Look out for the Art Paper with the coming Winter issue of Selections.

MEET OUR FASHION WRITERS

As a publication that takes an international perspective, Selections draws its contributors from far and wide. The magazine's two leading fashion writers Avril Groom and Thomas Rees both hail from London. Beyond their location and their passion for fashion, however, these two sartorial sages are quite different - which we like as they each bring their own point of view on the world of dress.

Avril has many years' experience writing about fashion and luxury for excellent publications of global standing, including the Financial Times How To Spend It magazine. Attending the catwalk shows in Paris, Milan, London and New York, she brings a sophisticated knowledge of the fashion industry and its moods to her seasonal catwalk reviews. Jewellery is also her thing, and Avril visits the major fairs to report on all the latest creations by leading jewellers and watchmakers - a favourite topic with Selections readers.

Thom, meanwhile, spends his days working as a Trends Researcher at LS:N Global, the editorial arm of trend forecasting agency The Future Laboratory. With this insider knowledge he puts together trend reports for Selections each season. Thom studied Fashion at the University of Brighton, so he's a dab hand at designing and styling himself. He knows absolutely everything about menswear and almost absolutely everything about womenswear. Based in the East End, at the heart of London's creative fashion scene, Thom is always in touch with up-and-coming labels and new styling details. We love his fresh eye and sense of humour - and his adorable Italian greyhound called Jelly.

LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2013

The editor-in-chief of our interiors magazine for the design store Le Cercle, Anastasia Nysten (above), spends a lot of time in London. Working as a designer herself, both under her own name and for Michael Anastassiades studio, she gets an insider view of the most exciting new design work emerging from the British capital.

These were her top installations at this year's recent London Design Festival:

The Wind Portal by Najla El Zein at the V&A

The Dinner Party by Scholten & Baijings at the V&A

Endless Staircase by Alex de Rijke at Tate Modern

 The Conductor by Faye Toogood at Established & Sons

Anastasia's favourite events included the Sleep by Design presentation by B&B Italia and Meet the Designers with Ligne Roset. For more details pick up a copy of the next issue of Le Cercle, out next month.