Currently, the Fondation Cartier is presenting the world of author, actor, comedian, TV show host, entertainer and artist Beat Takeshi Kitano 北野 武. Gosse de peintre is a site-specific exhibition for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain that presents a world in which the magical memories of Beat Takeshi Kitano’s childhood take center stage. “Kitano leads the visitor through surprises, gags, and games, all the while mocking contemporary art, experimenting with the sciences, and toying with the clichés associated with his country. Presenting paintings and video films, as well as astonishing objects and settings, whimsical and fantastic machines, Beat Takeshi Kitano invites the visitor to think, play, dream and join the show.” (excerpt from the PR).

Beat Takeshi Kitano: Gosse de Peintre at Fondation Cartier, Paris. March 9, 2010. Video by Christophe Ecoffet.

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PR: Funny yet touching, unpredictable yet brilliant, Beat Takeshi Kitano is a multifaceted and prolific artist that has captivated the Japanese public. Comedian and host of nine TV shows ranging from the highly comical to the very serious, he is one of the most popular entertainers in his own country. Abroad, Takeshi Kitano is a widely acclaimed author and actor, and has directed ‘Sonatine’ (1993), ‘Hana-Bi’ (1997, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival) and ‘Zatôichi’ (2003), among other masterpieces of contemporary film. His compelling work gives beautiful form to the expressions of violence, solitude and childlike playfulness. He also has a love of painting, his first and most private passion. For him, painting is the ideal form of representation and it plays an important role in the creative process of his filmmaking.

General Director of the Fondation Cartier, Hervé Chandès has had a long-standing fascination for the work and personality of Kitano, giving him the idea to invite the artist to create an exhibition with free reign to transform the gallery spaces of the Fondation Cartier. His recent discovery of the artist’s paintings and scenario “Achilles and the Tortoise” —the story of a child who dreams of becoming a painter—, provoked their first meeting and marked the beginning of their conversations.

Beat Takeshi Kitano got caught up with their collaboration and imagined an extraordinary project. He is currently creating “Gosse de peintre”, a site-specific exhibition for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain that presents an unexpected and captivating world in which the magical memories of his childhood take center stage. With subtlety and an impertinent humor, that moves from black to zany, Kitano leads the visitor through surprises, gags, and games, all the while mocking contemporary art, experimenting with the sciences, and toying with the clichés associated with his country. Presenting paintings and video films, as well as astonishing objects and settings, whimsical and fantastic machines, Beat Takeshi Kitano invites the visitor to think, play, dream and join the show.

This very first “Beat Takeshi Kitano Exhibition” is undeniably one of the most unexpected and ambitious shows ever created for the Fondation Cartier. After its presentation in Paris, “Gosse de peintre” will be shown at other venues around the world.

Bidoun Projects has invited Sohrab Mohebbi and Özge Ersoy, independent curators based in New York, to curate a video screening for Art Dubai 2010. The screening is part of a survey of video representations of contemporary art in forms of documentations, mediation, educational, and promotional material to investigate the possibilities of the new media outlets. The screening, titled “Strike a Pose” offers a look on how progressive institutions have utilized the new media potentials, made available via the rapid expansion of the internet, in forms of podcasts, streamings, YouTube video channels and official video channels, to expand outreach and viewership.

The project tries to answer the questions: How is the regime of the visual changing with new PR strategies? How can art professionals/institutions experiment with presentation, documentation and promotion of art production and art events? Can they contribute to the formation of a new lexicon that can use mass media in engaging modes and establish a critical distance at the same time?

Part of the screening will be two of VernissageTV’s videos, Rudolf Stingel at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and VTV’s report on the 11th International Istanbul Biennial 2009.

VernissageTV met with Sohrab and Özge in New York to talk about the project.

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The Danner-Rotunda at Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich presents contemporary works from over hundred international goldsmiths. The exhibition is to a large extend drawn from the international collection of the Danner Foundation (Danner-Stiftung). The collection reflects the broad creative spectrum of modern jewelry arts, starting with the avant-garde artists of the 60’s and their immediate successors up to the experiment-focussed jewelry visions of the present day. They stem from European countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Spain, as well as from the USA, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Other exhibits come from the collection of Die Neue Sammlung and private loans.

In rotation of several of several years, guest curators are invited to present a different view on the Danner Collection. The inaugural exhibition has been curated by Professor Hermann Jünger, who was Director of Studies for Gold Work at Munich’s Academy of Fine Arts from 1971 to 1990, and Professor Otto Künzli, who took over his task starting 1991.

The current exhibition has been curated by Karl Fritsch, a renowned protagonist of the international jewelry scene. The Danner Collection is the core of the new exhibition. By expanding it with pieces from the loan of the gallery Spektrum, the donation of Peter Skubic, and donations and loans by individual jewelry artists, Karl Fritsch provides the visitor with a fresh and exceptional insight into the international jewelry art scene.

Danner Rotunda. New. Curated by Karl Fritsch. Curator Karl Fritsch in Conversation with Dr. Corinna Rösner (Chief Curator Die Neue Sammlung). Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich, March 5, 2010.

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• Giampaolo Babetto: L'Italianita dei Gioielli / Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich

For his solo show “L’Italianita dei Gioielli” at Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich italian jewelry artist Giampaolo Babetto created an exhibition tailor-made to the circular, light-filled gallery space on the second floor of the rotunda in the Pinakothek der Moderne. In this video we have a look at the exhibition and Dr. Corinna Rösner, Chief Curator of Die Neue Sammlung provides us with an introduction to Giampaolo Babetto’s work.

Giampaolo Babetto (born 1947 in Padua) has had a marked influence on the avant-garde goldsmiths’ scene since the late 1960s. He is one of the protagonists of the so-called Padua School and has significantly moulded the image of art jewellery in Italy. Babetto’s works are decidedly contemporary, distinct and radical with regard to their formal reduction – and deeply rooted in Italian culture. Babetto’s work reflects contemporary art movements such as concrete art, minimal art, kinetic or op art in a unique, purist and plastic manner. Made up of different abstract elements, broken down into modular units, or rendered moveable through the use of ingenious links, Babetto’s works have a tectonic character – like mini architectural pieces or mini sculptures.

The artist prefers working in gold due to its stable malleability and its warm sheen which he combines with unconventional materials such as plastic or glass, dusting the surface with a velvet-like pigment in luminous reds or blues or using enamel and age-old niello-based techniques.

“Babetto’s works mirror a refined aesthetic concept based on dialogue, interrelationships and a blurring of boundaries between art genres.” (Florian Hufnagl, Director of Die Neue Sammlung).

A publication with texts by Dorothea Baumer and Ellen Maurer together with photographs by Ulrike Myrzik and Manfred Jarisch accompagnies the exhibition. An exhibition of Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich In co-operation with Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Munich.

Giampaolo Babetto: L’Italianita dei Gioielli / Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich. March 5, 2010.

Giampaolo Babetto in conversation with Dr. Corinna Rösner (in German language): Click here.

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• The Danner Rotunda – Jewelry Arts in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich curated by Karl Fritsch

From February 19th to May 16th 2010, La Maison Rouge in Paris, France presents Vinyl, an exhibition of records and covers compiled by the British collector, publisher and curator Guy Schraenen. For more than 30 years, Guy Schraenen’s fascination with artists’ multiples (objects, catalogues, books, magazines) has led him to amass a unique and highly specialised collection on the theme of sound. Vinyl shows LPs from an acoustic and visual angle to illustrate how artists from the 1920s and throughout the twentieth century have experimented with language and sound. The exhibition presents close to 800 albums alongside tapes, CDs, specialist magazines, reference books, catalogues and artworks.

In this video by Christophe Ecoffet, Guy Schraenen talks about his interest in the relationship between visual art and sound, and the concept of the exhibition.

Vinyl, Records and Covers by Artists / La Maison Rouge, Paris. Interview with Guy Schraenen, February 18, 2010.

More information after the jump.

PS (March15, 2010): Review by Heinz Peter Schwerfel at Art – Das Kunstmagazin (in German language).

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Fifty-five artists were selected by curator Francesco Bonami and associate curator Gary Carrion-Murayari for the 2010 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. It’s the 75th in the ongoing series of Biennials and Annuals presented by the Whitney since 1932, two years after the Museum was founded.

The Whitney Biennial aims to provide a panoramic survey of the latest in American art. It includes well established artists as well as emerging artists from all of the country. The works range from film and video to photography, painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, performance and architecture. Among the artists are Huma Bhabha, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, George Condo, Thomas Houseago, Aki Sasamoto, and Piotr Uklański.

As a prelude, counterpoint, and coda to the Whitney Biennial 2010, the Museum’s fifth floor is devoted to artists in the Whitney’s collection whose works were shown in previous Biennials.

In this interview with curator Francesco Bonami, the curator talks about the title and concept of the exhibition, what is special about curating for the Whitney Biennial, and a group of work that exemplifies the Whitney Biennial 2010.

The Whitney Biennial 2010 runs until may 30, 2010, Collecting Biennials until November 28, 2010.

Whitney Biennial 2010 / Interview with Curator Francesco Bonami. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 23, 2010.

Update (Feb. 26, 2010): Review by Holland Cotter, New York Times.

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This is a short interview with David Bowen, who won the third prize in the VIDA 12.0 Fundación Telefónica Art and Artificial Life competition. VIDA rewards electronic works of art produced with artificial life technologies. The other laureates of the 12th edition of the award are Guy Ben-Ary, Philip Gamblen, Peter Gee, Nathan Scott, Brett Murry, and Dr. Steve Potter and his team (first prize with Silent Barrage), and Andreas Muxel (second prize with Connect).

Growth Modeling Device is a kinetic installation based on the rate of growth and structure of a onion plant. In this video, David Bowen explains how his Growth Modeling Device works.

David Bowen’s Growth Modeling Device has also won grand prize in the art division at the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival. His Wind Drawing Device is currently featured in Data + Art at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

David Bowen: Growth Modeling Device / VIDA 12.0 International Awards / ARCO 2010. February 18, 2010.

This segment has been realized with the kind support of Turespaña.

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• Michael D. Linares: Oasis / ATM Contemporary | Altamira / ARCO 2010
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The Rubell Family Collection (RFC) was started in New York in 1964 when Don and Mera Rubell were first married. Since 1993 it has been displayed in Miami at its current, 45′000 square-foot location, and it first opened to the public in 1994. Since then, the Rubell Family Collection has been recognized as the pioneer of what is often referred to as the “Miami model,” whereby private collectors create a new, independent form of public institution.

In 1998 the non-profit Contemporary Arts Foundation (CAF) was created to expand the Collection’s public mission inside the paradigm of a contemporary art museum. Each year CAF presents thematic exhibitions drawn from the collection with accompanying catalogs. The current exhibition bears the title “Beg Borrow and Steal” and deals with the question of artistic influence, revolving around the quote attributed to Picasso: “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” (see also VernissageTV’s video about the opening of the exhibition).

In this video, art historian and art expert Bettina Krogemann and Don and Mera Rubell sit down in Cady Noland’s installation “This Piece Has No Title Yet” (1989) to talk about the history of the collection and the various aspects of collecting art (Excerpt. Full-length version on VernissageTV’s HD page).

Interview with Don and Mera Rubell at the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Miami / Florida, February 4, 2010. A transcript of the interview is going to be published in the German art magazine Weltkunst.

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• Beg Borrow and Steal / Rubell Family Collection, Miami

The Solo Projects are an essential part of ARCO Madrid. The Solo Projects section aims to compliment the general program of the fair with one man show proposals presented by an international group of curators appointed by ARCO.

One of this year’s solo presentations is Michael D. Linares‘ installation Oasis (Inclusive Structure) at ATM Contemporary | Altamira. It’s a pyramid of cooling boxes with beer cans inside. In this video, Michael D. Linares gives us a short introduction to his installation.

The work has been proposed by the independent Spanish curator Juan de Nieves.

Michael D. Linares: Oasis at ATM Contemporary | Altamira / ARCO Madrid 2010. February 18, 2010.

This segment has been realized with the kind support of Turespaña.

ARCOmadrid_2010, 29th International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid / Spain. Professional Day, February 17, 2009.

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• David Bowen: Growth Modeling Device / VIDA 12.0 International Awards / ARCO 2010
• Interview with ARCO Director Lourdes Fernández at ARCO 2010
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ARCO Director Lourdes Fernández in conversation with Stefan Kobel at ARCO 2010. This is an excerpt of the interview. The full-length version is available on our HD page. A transcript of the interview in German language is available on Artnet Magazine.

ARCOmadrid_2010, 29th International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid / Spain. Professional Day, February 17, 2009.

This segment has been realized with the kind support of Turespaña.

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• David Bowen: Growth Modeling Device / VIDA 12.0 International Awards / ARCO 2010
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Neon Monster is an art and design collective based in San Francisco that curates and creates limited edition experiences: handpicked selections of art, limited edition multiples, designer toys, current and back-issue comics, and new and vintage vinyl records. Neon Monster was founded in October 2007 by four collectors. John Crowe, Kristy Klinck, and brothers Jacob and Isaac Pritzker wanted to share their love for limited edition collectibles. Neon Monster also curates and hosts art shows featuring works by local and national artists. In this video, filmed at their temporary show in Miami’s Design District during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, partners Kristy Klinck and John Crowe introduce us into the world of Neon Monster.

Neon Monster at Limited Edition Experiences at The F Factory Moore Building, Design District Miami. November 30, 2009.

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French artist Pierre Molinier (1900 – 1976) began his career by painting landscapes, but his work turned towards a fetishistic eroticism early on. Pierre Molinier started his erotic production around 1950. His work has influenced European and North American artists since the 1970s, including Jürgen Klauke, Cindy Sherman and Ron Athey. Pierre Molinier’s work continues to engage artists, critics, and collectors today.*

The current exhibition Pierre Molinier: Oeuvres Inédites at the gallery Kamel Mennour in Paris, France, accompanies Jean-Luc Mercié’s monograph, who provides us with an introduction to Molinier’s work in this video. The work analyses the procedures and retraces the genesis of the photomontages and sets out a new biography drawing on unpublished correspondence. In 2000, galerie Kamel Mennour held a Pierre Molinier retrospective and published a catalogue in conjunction with it. In 2005, a second, more intimate exhibition was organised to coincide with the publication of the artist’s essays, Je suis né homme-putain.

The exhibition Pierre Molinier: Œuvres inédites. Collages & Photomontages focuses on an unknown section of his work, more extemsive and varied than had been thought, and in particular on the collages, kept secret until now, and which formed the “matrix” for the photomontages of Le Chaman et ses créatures. We also discover sketches, negative prints and one-off proofs enlivened with pencil, as well as photographs published for the first time. The installation evokes Pierre Molinier’s universe. It consists of a collection of furniture, paintings, drawings and objects taken from his apartment in Bordeaux. (Excerpt from the press release).

Video by Christophe Ecoffet. Pierre Molinier: Oeuvres Inédites at Kamel Mennour, Paris. Interview with Jean-Luc Mercié, February 11, 2010.

* Wikipedia, keyword “Pierre Molinier“, revision 23 January 2010, 02:02.

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David and Lee Ann Lester, founders of International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) have been the pioneers of the Florida art fair market, establishing Art Miami in January, 1991, The Palm Beach International Art & Antique Fair (now American International Fine Art Fair AIFAF) in 1997, and Art Palm Beach in 1998. They have organized more than 65 international art fairs worldwide in New York, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas and Hong Kong.

In 2009, the Lesters resumed ownership of the two Palm Beach fairs, acquired the historically favorable January art fair dates at the Miami Beach Convention Center, and in 2010 presented the first edition of MIA – Miami’s new January contemporary art fair. In 2009, IFAE entered into a joint venture with Clarion Events to serve as the partners and executive management of the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, now re-branded as the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia. Most recently they have announced plans for the Naples International Art and Antique Fair and Art Naples in 2011.

In this conversation with Bettina Krogemann, David Lester talks about how he and his wife became art fair organizers, the history of the American International Fine Art Fair AIFAF, the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia, their plans with the SeaFair, what makes a fair a successful one, and IFAE’s plans for the future. This video is an excerpt, the full-length version is available on our HD page.

Interview with David Lester at the VIP Lounge of the American International Fine Art Fair 2010. February 3, 2010.

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• American International Fine Art Fair Palm Beach 2010 / Highlights
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According to the founders of International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) and organizers of the American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF) David and Lee Ann Lester, a record 5,200 collectors attended the opening Vernissage of the fair at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on February 2, 2010. “The 2010 edition of AIFAF looks to be the most successful show in recent years,” said David Lester. “The numerous sales reported early in the show indicate that the nadir of the recession has passed and that collectors are once again feeling comfortable with purchasing excellent works of fine art from major dealers.” In this video Bettina Krogemann visits the booths of the German dealers Terminus, Numisart, Thomas and Brenske.

American International Fine Art Fair Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, USA. Highlights, February 3, 2010.

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The current exhibition at the new media art institution plug.in in Basel, Switzerland, presents the online project Beam me up. Beam me up is an online project that invites artists and authors from different countries to concern themselves with the concept of space in the form of art contributions and essays. Interpretations of the concept of space are here based on both pictures and texts, on artistic and philosophical models as well as on scientific experience. The project brings together works by artists such as Alec Finlay, Samuel Herzog, Esther Hunziker, Knowbotic Research, Marc Lee, Studer / van den Berg, and many others.

The online project Beam me up has been conceived by Reinhard Storz, Xcult.org. The architectural design of the exhibition has been developed by Morger + Dettli. More information about the project is available at www.iplugin.org and www.beam-me.net.

Beam me up at Plug.in Basel. Opening reception and statements by Reinhard Storz, Fortunat Dettli, and Monica Studer / Christoph van den Berg, January 14, 2010.

Claire L. Evans on “Beam me up” at Rhizome.org.

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At the presentation of the Velux Stiftung Daylight-Award presentation at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel, Switzerland, another honorary award was given to Isa Stürm Urs Wolf Architects who realized a new (day-)light concept for the museum Kunst(Zeug)Haus Rapperswil-Jona. It’s an invention whereby the main structure of the building stays untouched. The jury states that “The building task is perceived as perfectly solved for an artspace; all the daylight is coming from the built annex on the roof, resulting in perfect exhibition light. It is perceived as a playful, unpretentious, intelligent and ‘fresh’ project.” In this video, Isa Stürm talks about the challenges the architects were facing in the course of conceiving and realizing the project.

Kunst(Zeug)Haus Rapperswil Jona / Stürm Wolf Architects.

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• James Turrell: Skyspace Piz Uter
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The Deutsche Guggenheim celebrates its 50th exhibition with a show that is dedicated to utopia as an inspiration for artistic creation and as a living model for artist collectives. The exhibition is titled “Utopia Matters: From Brotherhoods to Bauhaus” and brings together exceptional and rarely shown works by artists such as Kandinsky, Klee, and Mondrian. Utopia Matters introduces a selection of international artist communities. Through nine movements spanning 130 years many of the forms utopian artistic groups can assume are explored: the Primitifs, the Nazarenes, the Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and Arts and Crafts, the Cornish Art Colony, Neo-Impressionism, De Stijl, the Bauhaus, and Russian Constructivism.

In this video, Vivien Greene, Curator of 19th- and Early-20th-Century Art at the Guggenheim Museum and curator of “Utopia Matters” talks about her motivation to conceive this exhibition, the reason why utopian groups flourished throughout the 19th century, and contemporary movements with utopian aspirations.

Utopia Matters at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin runs through April 11, 2010. The exhibition is accompanied by the Youtopic workshop. Together with professors Hans Höger and Dominik Harborth and designer Alin Köhler, students have developed interactive objects with which visitors to the exhibition can experiment. In addition, Chinese artist Cao Fei has created a multi-media installation for the Deutsche Guggenheim, a new version of her RMB City internet-based project, and Luca Buvoli has installed a banner on the façade of the exhibition hall.

More information on the topic and a conversation between Susan Cross, Curator at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, and Vivien Greene, Curator of 19th- and Early-20th-Century Art at the Guggenheim Museum and curator of “Utopia Matters: From Brotherhoods to Bauhaus” can be found on DB Artmag. The supporting program includes lectures, guided tours and special events such as a talk with Patrik Schumacher / Zaha Hadid Architects on February 9, 2010.

Utopia Matters: From Brotherhoods to Bauhaus / Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin. Interview with curator Vivien Greene. January 22, 2010.

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James Turrell is famous for his work with light and space. He is best known for his work in progress, Roden Crater, where he is turning a volcanic crater outside Flagstaff, Arizona, into a monumental work of art. In Zuoz, Switzerland, James Turrell realized one of his skyspaces, rooms that are conceived to enable viewers to view the sky through an opening in the roof. Skyspace Piz Uter was set up on the initiative of the Walter A. Bechtler foundation and specifically developed for Hotel Castell in Zuoz. Häusler Contemporary negotiated and managed the project.

In this video, Gianfranco Schiavano of Häusler Contemporary talks about the characteristics of the project (in German language). James Turrell’s works for the “Skyspace” focus on the interaction between architectural internal space and natural external space by bringing the sky into the opening in the ceiling. In principle, the artist of Skyspace Piz Uter is concerned with “structural cuts” with openings completely above the line of the horizon and cut into the ceiling and roof. The impressive change in the sky and its colors can be appreciated during the transition from day to night.

James Turrell’s Skyspace Piz Uter won an honorary award in the Daylight-Award competition of Velux Stiftung. The “Skyspace Piz Uter” of James Turrell is considered by the jury as the most poetic project. “The artwork shows the essence of light in a building in an unrivalled consequence.” On the 14th January 2010, the Velux Foundation presented the second Daylight-Award in the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel. The presentation was realized in collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (DARDEN ETH), Zürich and the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum. Winner of the Daylight-Award 2010 is the Therme Vals of Peter Zumthor in Vals, Switzerland. Two honorary awards go to James Turrell for his Skyspace Piz Uter in Zuoz and to Isa Stürm Urs Wolf Architects for the Kunst(Zeug)Haus in Rapperswil, both in Switzerland. An additional honorary award goes to Prof. Anna Wirz-Justice. The Daylight-Award aims to encourage developers, planners and specialists to systematically use daylight in order to increase quality of life and energy efficiency. VernissageTV realized three short documentaries for Velux Stiftung about the awarded works. The videos are already available at the website of Velux Stiftung.

James Turrell: Skyspace Piz Uter, Zuoz, Switzerland.

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• Kunst(Zeug)Haus Rapperswil Jona / Stürm Wolf Architects
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On December 3rd, during Design Miami 2009, Luminaire opened its showroom in Miami’s Design District. One of the highlights was the installation The Third Space conceived by 52 German interior design students. In this video, Sabine Trieloff talks with four of the students who created the installation during the opening of the exhibition at the Luminaire showroom.

The installation is meant as an experiment which combines the work of all three divisions the course „interior architecture“ at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich consists of (interior design, product design and designing in free space). To communicate the trans-disciplinary basic idea of the study course in full size, the students created an installation in order to make interior space sensible instead of just showing a retrospect of the students work. The project deals with sociological terms such as profiling, community or privacy and translates them into specific spacious situations. Is there any interior design without form, style and spirit of age? What are the real qualities of good design? How do interior corresponds with outdoor spaces? The students created the installation by their own hands during 16,870 hours of work with 1 292 300 zip ties.

The installation premiered in 2008 in Munich where it was shown at Pinakothek der Moderne and then traveled in new modification to Dresden (Ostrale 2008) and to Langenthal, Switzerland, where “The Third Space” won the Designers’ Saturday Award Best Stand Design. In 2009 it was already shown at gallery Aedes Berlin and Lothar Fischer Museum Neumarkt.

The Third Space, Luminaire showroom, Miami Design District. Opening reception and interview, December 3, 2009.

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On the 14th January 2010, the Velux Stiftung presented the second Daylight-Award at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel. The presentation was realized in collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (DARDEN ETH), Zürich and the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum.

Winner of the Daylight-Award 2010 is the Therme Vals of Peter Zumthor in Vals, Switzerland. Two honorary awards go to James Turrell for his Skyspace Piz Uter in Zuoz and to Isa Stürm Urs Wolf Architects for the Kunst(Zeug)Haus in Rapperswil, both in Switzerland. An additional honorary award for her important contribution to a better understanding of the effects of daylight to the human organism and its health goes to Prof. Anna Wirz-Justice, a chronobiologist of the University Basel, Switzerland. The Daylight-Award aims to encourage developers, planners and specialists to systematically use daylight in order to increase quality of life and energy efficiency.

VernissageTV realized three short documentaries for Velux Stiftung about the awarded works. The videos are already available at the Velux Stiftung website and will be published on VernissageTV within the next days.

In this video we have a look at the project that was awarded the first prize, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals. In his studio in Haldenstein / Switzerland, the architect speaks about this work, focusing on the aspect of daylight. The Jury states: “The building is exceptional, already a ‘classic’. It is still perceived as the most accomplished project in terms of daylight due to an archaic, minimalistic layout and an outstanding interplay with light and darkness. The architecture controls the light in a wonderful way, it is judged as a magnificent project.” According to the jury the architect Peter Zumthor became an artist dealing with daylight.

Peter Zumthor is one of the most famous contemporary architects. In 2009 he won the Pritzker Prize. Among his most known works are Therme Vals, Art Museum Bregenz, and Kolumba Museum in Cologne.

The Velux Stiftung was established in 1980 and promotes projects investigating the effect and better utilization of daylight. The Velux Stiftung is interested in the effect of daylight on the well-being of humans and on the recovery process from both physical and psychological illness, but also its impact on nature, and in technologies for the utilization of daylight in buildings for energy efficiency and illumination.

Peter Zumthor: Therme Vals / Interview. Vals and Haldenstein / Switzerland, December 15, 2009.

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