John Akomfrah at The Arnolfini
Opening 16 January at Bristol’s Arnolfini Gallery, John Akomfrah’s Vertigo Sea, initially shown at last summer’s Venice Biennale, is a meditative three screen video installation that deals with man’s relationship to the sea. The Ghanian-born artist, who has been living in Britain since he was four, was originally part of the Black Audio Film Collective, who were active up until 1998. Akomfrah is one of Britain’s most talented post-colonial artists and film directors, and dissectors of racism in this country. Vertigo Sea is a history of slavery, conflict and migration, drawing upon Moby Dick and Heathcote Williams’ poem Whale Nation.
KAWS at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Longtime member of the i-D family, KAWS is set for his first UK museum exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield. Featuring KAWS’ trademark characters and reworked cartoons and graffiti inspired canvases.
CONDO
Opening 16th January across eight London art spaces, featuring 24 international galleries, CONDO is the art exhibition for January. All of favourite galleries will be bringing their artists to London for a month. Matthew and Societe from Berlin, Paris’ High Art, Essex Street from New York, amongst a host of others, will take up collaborative space in some of London’s best galleries like Carlos/Ishikawa, Arcadia Missa, The Sunday Painter, Project Native Informant and more.
Artists and Empire at Tate Britain
Open until April, Artists and Empire at Tate Britain takes a look at the art that was shaped by Britain’s colonial history, and the reaction it inspired. The legacy of the terrible role Britain has played across the globe is difficult address, especially as The Tate was founded by sugar magnates who profited from the slave trade. But the exhibition is an incredible journey into the heart of the British Empire and all that that means and resonates today. The other Casely-Hayford, Gus (Joe’s brother and Charlie’s uncle) will be doing a guided tour of the exhibition in March.
Simon Denny at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery
Open until the 16th February at the Serpentine’s new Sackler Gallery in Hyde Park, this is the New Zealand born artist’s first solo in London. Denny rose to prominence with his Personal Effects of Kit Dotcom in 2013, which rematerialised all the possesions seized by the police when the internet entrepreneur was arrested. He most recently took over New Zealand’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This new exhibition, Products for Organising, is a series of new installations that revolve around contemporary management practices and hacker organisations.
Mad About The Boy at LCF Fashion Space
Opening this Friday to coincide with the start of London Collections: Men, Mad About The Boy, curated by Showstudio’s Lou Stoppard, looks into fashion’s obsession with youth; J W Anderson, Larry Clark, Nick Knight, Tyrone Lebon, Martine Rose, Gosha Rubchinskiy and Raf Simons are just some of those taking part. Including a re-staging of Meadham Kirchhoff’s spring/summer 13 menswear presentation.
Champagne Life at Saatchi Gallery
The shocking heart of London’s YBAs has managed to make it into its thirtieth year, to begin the celebrations the gallery are hosting their first ever all female exhibition, featuring the work of 14 artists from around globe. Champagne Life is a tribute to the role the gallery has had in the past in supporting the careers of emerging female artists, like Tracey Emin, Cindy Sherman, and Rachel Whiteread.
Annie Liebowitz Women: New Portraits at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Continuing the photographer’s Women project, which she started 15 years ago with author Susan Sontag. This exhibition will feature the portraits of 30 women, including Caitlyn Jenner, opening on the 16th January at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, before touring 10 cities. The exhibition follows on from Liebowitz’s turn photographing the Pirelli Calender, where she ditched the naked women and replaced them with incredible minds and creative talents.
Bloomberg New Contemporaries at the ICA
Now in its sixth year at the ICA, Bloomberg New Contemporaries brings the best of the best from the country’s art schools together in one exhibition. Started in 1949 to provide supports to artists who’ve just graduated or are about to, this year Hurvin Anderson, Jessie Flood-Paddock and Simon Starling have selected works by 38 artists, this is your chance to see who could making waves in the art world for years to come. New Contempories’ alumni include the likes of Tacita Dean, David Hockney, Mike Nelson and Laure Prouvost.
Fabio Mauri at Hauser and Wirth
Hauser and Wirth’s exhibition of the works of Fabio Mauri at their Savile Row space. Born in Rome in 1926, Mauri’s career spanned fifty years, across multiple disciplines, but was always inflected by the trauma of fascism and war that defined his youth. Mauri was a vital part of Italy’s post-war avant-garde alongside Pasolini, Umberto Eco, and Italo Calvino. This is Mauri’s first solo show in the UK, and follows on from the exhibition of his works at the Venice Biennale and Istanbul Biennale last year. This exhibition focuses on Mauri’s war inflected works, like Picnic or The Good Soldier, a meditation on conflict through objects, and Oscuramento, a waxwork re-restaging of 1943’s Grand Council of Fascism, that led to Mussolini’s overthrow.