New York Times Art Critic Genocchio Joins Lousie Blouin Media

New York, NY - March 16, 2010 - Louise Blouin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Louise Blouin Media announces the appointment of Benjamin Genocchio, Vice President of Editorial, Louise Blouin Media and Editor in Chief, Art+Auction.

"We are delighted to have Benjamin lead our talented team of writers and editors around the world," comments Ms. Blouin. “As someone who has lived in numerous cities in Asia, the Americas and elsewhere, speaks and writes in Spanish fluently and is a published expert on Latin American, Asian and European art, Benjamin perfectly embodies the company’s goal of taking culture beyond borders. With a PhD in Art History and a track record of covering the arts around the world, Benjamin is that rare individual who combines academic rigor and theory with on the ground reporting,” Ms. Blouin continued.

Mr. Genocchio has been a distinguished figure in the art world for over two decades, working as a writer and editor for some of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines and serving most recently as an art and culture critic for The New York Times for eight years. Mr. Genocchio will bring strong, international editorial direction to the Louise Blouin Media print and online publications. “Art+Auction and Modern Painters are two of the art world's most respected media brands, and it is a great honor to be entrusted with their future editorial direction. I will strive to maintain the high standards for which they are known. I am also excited about the growth potential for our sister website ARTINFO.com, one of the world's most trafficked art media sites," Mr. Genocchio continued.

Prior to his position at The New York Times, Mr. Genocchio was the chief art critic and the national arts correspondent for The Australian, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Australia’s leading daily quality broadsheet newspaper. In this position he covered arts and culture in more than two dozen countries, including Pakistan, India, China, Russia and Egypt, as well as most of Europe and the Americas. Mr. Genocchio has also written on business, politics, social issues and the arts for Business Review Weekly, The Bulletin and the Sydney Morning Herald, where he began his career as an art critic. Mr. Genocchio has also served as Editor in Chief of Postwest magazine. An Australian native, he was twice shortlisted for the Pascal Prize for cultural criticism and is the author and editor of seven non-fiction books, including Dollar Dreaming, about the corruption in the Aboriginal art market; and forthcoming books -- The Cupcake (Henry Holt Publishers) about the two-decade saga to build Frank Lloyd Wright’s, Guggenheim Museum, and a second book, about the Asian contemporary art market (Random House). Mr. Genocchio has a PhD in Art History from the University of Sydney.

Mr. Genocchio joins Louise Blouin Media as the company is making its entrance into the Chinese marketplace with the launch of ARTINFO.cn and the debut of the China Yahoo! CULTURE+STYLE channel, scheduled to launch in the second quarter, 2010. ARTINFO.cn, will be the premier online destination for local and global news covering the visual and performing arts, style, design, architecture, luxury and the art market from a Chinese perspective. The new CULTURE+STYLE channel will feature art, culture, fashion, celebrity and luxury content for China Yahoo!'s readers.

Louise Blouin Media is the leading global media company focused on art, culture, luxury and lifestyle sectors. Properties range from in-depth reporting and coverage of the art market in Art+Auction, to the insider art scene in Modern Painters, to the breaking news and analysis on ARTINFO.com. With the launching of ARTINFO.cn and the China Yahoo! partnership, Louise Blouin Media publications and media will reach over 20 million global readers a month. In addition to the media properties Louise Blouin Media owns and operates art publisher, Somogy; art market analytic tool, Art Sales Index; Global Consulting and Communications Services – a global branding, consulting and communications group, and through the Louise Blouin Foundation runs the Global Creative Leadership Summit in New York, and the Louise Blouin Foundation Museum in London. The company's mission is to promote cultural understanding and acceptance beyond our borders through dialog and education.


Thanks, Eunice!

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Victor Pinchuk Foundation Inaugurates First Worldwide Art Prize, Awarded through an Open Competition, in Support of a New Generation of Artists

$100,000 Prize, Mentorship by Renowned Artists and Exhibition at PinchukArtCentre are Among the Benefits of Major New Award


KIEV, UKRAINE, December 8, 2009

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation today announced that it has inaugurated the Future Generation Art Prize, a major new international competition for artists up to 35. Established to discover and provide long-term support for a generation of emerging artists, wherever they may live and work, this unique artist-focused prize aims to make a major contribution toward the production of new work by young artists.

* its global dimension;
* its focus on a young generation of artists;
* its open and democratic Internet application process;
* the long-term commitment of leading artists of our time;
* a distinguished Board, Jury and Selection Committee;
* an exhibition of shortlisted artists at the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev, one of the largest and most active new contemporary art institutions in Europe;
* and an award of $100,000, to be conferred by a respected international jury.

Applications for the Prize will become available online on January 18, 2010, at the competition’s website, www.futuregenerationartprize.org. The exhibition of shortlisted artists will open at the PinchukArtCentre (PAC) in October 2010. The jury will announce the winner of the main prize in December 2010, and up to five special prizes for artists who will be provided with various forms of support.

According to Victor Pinchuk, “This worldwide contemporary art prize will be an important contribution to the open participation of younger artists in the dynamic cultural development of societies in global transition.”

To encourage the assistance of one generation of artists to the next, a group of renowned Mentor Artists has committed its long-term participation in the Prize and will provide in-person counsel and support to the Prize winners, and one of the Mentor artists will have a parallel show at the same time as each shortlist exhibition. The Mentor Artists are Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.

A distinguished international Board oversees the Future Generation Art Prize. In addition to chairman Victor Pinchuk and the four Mentor Artists, the Board’s membership includes Eli Broad, Dakis Joannou, Elton John, Miuccia Prada and art museum directors Richard Armstrong (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum), Glenn D. Lowry (The Museum of Modern Art), Alfred Pacquement (Musée nationale d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou) and Sir Nicholas Serota (Tate).

Extending the reach of the Future Generation Art Prize, an invited group of approximately one hundred arts professionals from around the world will nominate artists for consideration. By combining the open application process with these nominations, PAC aspires to achieve the participation of a true global cross-section of the up-to 35 generation.

“Our first goal in establishing this Prize is to reach out to the world’s younger artists on a truly democratic basis, so that virtually everyone has the opportunity to participate,” stated Eckhard Schneider, General Director of the PinchukArtCentre. “Our second goal is to provide sustainable support for the future generation, by bringing the most promising of these young artists into a network that includes curators, critics, educators, scholars and some of the world’s most celebrated artists.”

Speaking of his participation in the Prize, Takashi Murakami stated, “The last several years made the rising of the young generation of Japanese artists possible. This new prize wants to make this rise happen in Ukraine and the rest of the world, because now the world is expanding and at the same time shrinking. I am very happy to join this project and hopefully this prize will become every year bigger and bigger, and famous and famous-er."

Explaining his support for the Prize, Damien Hirst said, “I think art needs to be encouraged. Art prizes are really important. All children draw and paint and for some reason a lot of them stop. In the beginning they all paint—even the bank managers, accountants and the lawyers. To encourage art is a great thing.”

The launch of the Future Generation Art Prize follows the inaugural year of the PAC’s prize competition for Ukrainian artists up to the age of 35. An exhibition of the 20 shortlisted artists for this prize is on view at the PAC from October 31 through December 20, 2010.


Timeline of the Prize

Artists may submit applications at www.futuregenerationartprize.org from January 18 through April 18, 2010. Toward the beginning of this application period, PAC will announce the names of the international jury for the Prize.

Following the close of applications, an expert Selection Committee comprised of members chosen by the jury will review all applications and decide on a shortlist of as many as twenty artists, whose names will be announced on June 22, 2010. These artists will participate in the Prize exhibition by showing the existing works they highlighted in their applications and may also create new works specifically for the PAC galleries. The winner of the national PinchukArtCentre Prize also will participate, bringing the maximum number of artists in the exhibition to 21.

After the exhibition has been on view for two months, the international jury will gather in Kiev in December 2010 to view and discuss the artists’ works. The jury will select one main Prize winner, who will receive a total of $100,000 ($60,000 as a cash award, and $40,000 toward the production of new work). An additional $20,000 will be allotted to fund artist-in-residency programs for up to five other special prize winners. Images of works by all the shortlisted artists will be posted on the PAC website, and members of the public will be invited to vote via the Internet for People’s Choice Prize.

Following the inaugural year, the Future Generation Art Prize will be awarded on a biennial cycle.

Victor Pinchuk Foundation

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation was established in 2006 by Ukrainian businessman and public figure Victor Pinchuk. It is the largest international, private, non-partisan, philanthropic foundation based in Ukraine. Its goal is to empower future generations to become the change makers of tomorrow. To achieve this goal, the Foundation develops projects, builds partnerships in Ukraine and worldwide and invests in three directions:
- Investing in people, to boost human capital;
- Investing in society, to promote social responsibility;
- Investing in the world, to foster a more integrated world.
www.pinchukfund.org

PinchukArtCentre

Located in the historic architectural complex of Kiev’s Besarabka quarter, which has undergone a major renovation in the past decade, the six-story, 43,000-square-foot PAC opened in September 2006 as one of the largest contemporary art institutions in Europe. Dedicated to presenting exhibitions by leading Ukrainian and international artists, PAC to date has presented solo exhibitions of artists including Damien Hirst and Sam Taylor-Wood, and group exhibitions such as 21 Russia (works created by 21 Russian artists during the first years of the 21st century), Reflection (a group exhibition with a selection of international artists), and Red Forest (works by seminal Ukrainian artists of the 1990s, shown in an exhibition named after a wooded area adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear station).

PAC was also responsible for presenting the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and 2009 and in 2005 exhibited the first acquisitions of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the Venice Biennale.
www.pinchukartcentre.org

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ART | BASEL | MIAMI BEACH 2009

The Eighth Edition of America's Most Prestigious Art Show, Featuring Totally New Exhibition Design and the Launch of the Oceanfront Area

From December 3 through 6, 2009, Miami Beach, Florida, will be home to the 8th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, the international art show. More than 250 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa will take part. Chosen by the renowned gallerists of Art Basel Miami Beach Selection Committee, the galleries will show works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Special sectors are devoted to very recent artworks, curated exhibits, performance, and art in public spaces.

Mona Hatoum, Undercurrent (red), 2008 | Galleria Continua | San Gimignano

This year, the layout of Art Basel Miami Beach will be extensively redesigned, including larger spaces for many galleries, and an innovative floorplan to maximize the visitor experience inside the Miami Beach Convention Center. The Art Positions sector, focused on special projects by young artists and galleries, formerly situated at Collins Park, will now be sited in the center of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Art Galleries, the main section of the show, will again feature the Art Kabinett program, which spotlights curated presentations in the selected gallery’s booth, while Art Nova will present new works by more than 170 artists.

John Baldessari, Raised Eyebrows/Furrowed Foreheads: Woman (with Semaphore Flags), 2009 | Mai 36 Galerie | Zürich

The totally new Oceanfront exhibition environment will be created by Los Angeles artist Pae White commissioned by Creative Time, the legendary New York-based public art organization, and host a daily program including the Art Basel Conversations, Art Perform, Art Video and Art Film. Presented in the public spaces between and around the Oceanfront and the Miami Beach Convention Center, this year’s Art Projects will connect the two main areas of the show.

Georg Baselitz, Dix besucht Goya, 2008 | Contemporary Fine Arts | Berlin

The show’s list of participants makes Art Basel Miami Beach the most prestigious art show of the Americas, featuring highly established galleries and the most dynamic newcomers. Prices range from a few hundred dollars for multiples and works by young artists, to several million for museum-quality masterpieces.

On the eve of the opening, prominent guests from around the world will attend the exclusive Vernissage. Many major US museums are organizing trips to Florida, and numerous groups of art collectors from Latin America and Europe have already announced their visits. During the show’s five-day run, more than 40,000 art lovers are expected to visit the international art show.


For the latest updates on Art Basel Miami Beach, visit www.artbaselmiamibeach.com.

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