Big Crisis, Small Gestures

Große Krise, kleine Gesten

The article reviews the second edition of the Klima Biennale Wien, which opened in early April in Vienna. It notes that while the biennale aims to address the urgent triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, its execution falls short. The exhibition features symbolic works such as a beached whale, a broken boat, and a compostable SUV sculpture, but these motifs feel repetitive and lack the necessary impact. The author contrasts these with historical precedents like Menashe Kadishman's 1978 Venice Biennale installation and Joseph Beuys' "7000 Eichen" (1982), arguing that the themes of nature and sustainability are not new, only the urgency has intensified.

Art for Our Age of Chaos

The article reviews two major New York exhibitions opening in 2026: the Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, featuring over fifty artists, and "New Humans: Memories of the Future" at the newly expanded New Museum, with over a hundred artists. Both shows are described as enormous and defiant, responding to a distracted public and financial pressures. The reviewer notes that both exhibitions juxtapose large-scale immersive works with tiny, intimate pieces, and finds the Whitney Biennial lacking urgency, while preferring the New Museum's historical narrative about technology and modernity.

Queer Saints, Big Egos

Queere Heilige, große Egos

Andrew Durbin's new biography examines the intertwined lives of artists Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, focusing on their art, desire, and self-staging. The review notes that while the book covers their creative circles—including figures like David Wojnarowicz, Divine, John Waters, and Susan Sontag—it loses sight of the urgent political and social context that animated their work, particularly the AIDS crisis and Reagan-era repression.