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Tino Sehgal’s Art Wins Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and You Can’t See It


June 3, 2013 | Kyle Chayka

British-born Tino Sehgal — the artist behind this year’s much talked about manga-inspired piece at the Frieze Art Fair — just won the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Bienniale.

The award, essentially the equivalent of an artist receiving an Academy Award, is quite an impressive achievement for an artist who not only prohibits the photography of his work, but sells much of his “constructed situations” based solely on verbal contract, leaving little to no evidence of anything ever having occurred, apart from the viewers memory of the event. It’s also no surprise that there is very little information available about Sehgal’s piece at this year’s Venice Biennale and none of us were there to experience it personally. 🙁

All we know is that the piece featured “a small number of people who were humming and beatboxing while moving around on the floor.”

Sehgal is also in the running for the next Turner Prize, along with our beloved David Shrigley.

Here’s his acceptance speech at the Venice Biennale.

(Images: Guardian/EyesTowardsTheDove)