Welcome to This Week in Culture, a weekly agenda of show openings and events in major cities across the globe. From galleries to institutions and one-of-a-kind happenings, our on-going survey highlights the best of contemporary culture, for those willing to make the journey.
“El fin de la imaginación” by Adrián Villar Rojas with Mariana Telleria
The Bass Miami
What is going to happen to our earthbound traditions and agreed-upon truths when humanity launches itself into space? That’s the question Adrián Villar Rojas investigates in his exhibition with Mariana Telleria, looking at the forthcoming colonization of distant planets. Villar Rojas, an experimental sculptor and installation artist, presents new work alongside past projects recontextualized for the present topic. “El fin de la imaginación” is on view through May 14, 2023 at The Bass in Miami Beach.
“Graphite Paintings from The Tablada Suite (1992) and Poema Pedagógico (1996)” by Guillermo Kuitca
Sperone Westwater New York
A new exhibition of Guillermo Kuitca’s work is coming to New York, focusing specifically on the artist’s abstractions of architectural plans. “The Tablada Suite” is one of the artist’s most well-known series and derives its name from a Jewish cemetary in Buenos Aires. The map of the cemetery was transformed by Kuitca into a collection of artistic representations, which can be seen in the 112-page catalogue, Guillermo Kuitca: Drawn Paintings, set to be published alongside the exhibition. “Graphite Paintings from The Tablada Suite (1992) and Poema Pedagógico (1996)” will be on view through December 17, 2022 at Sperone Westwater in New York.
“In Praise of Shadows” by William Kentridge
The Broad Los Angeles
The Broad has complied over 130 works by William Kentridge for its new exhibition, featuring pieces on loan from across the United States and South Africa. The collection reflects the artist’s varied career, with work spanning drawing, filmmaking, printmaking, sculpture, and theater. Included is a series of short films paying homage to the birth of filmmaking—7 Fragments for Georges Méliès, Day for Night, and Journey to the Moon—all of which capture the magic of cinema in their experimental design. “In Praise of Shadows” is on view through April 9, 2023 at The Broad in Los Angeles.
“New Perspectives” by Lucian Freud
The National Gallery London
The Lucian Freud collection at The National Gallery is the first major exhibition of the artist’s work in a decade, and surveys the entirety of the his 70 year career. More than 60 paintings are on display, charting the progression of his mastery over figurative expression. Over the course of his life, the artist’s own cult figure often loomed large over his work, and as such the show aims to recenter the narrative squarely on Freud's considerable contribution to the British canon. “Lucian Freud: New Perspectives” is on view through January 22, 2023 at The National Gallery in London.
“Isles of the Blessed” by Wael Shawky
Lisson Gallery New York
In Wael Shawky’s new film, Isles of the Blessed (Oops!...I forgot Europe), a clay marionette delves into the first settlements on the continent. The tale mixes Arabic, the artist’s native language, with traditional Greek legends of the Phoenician princess Europa. Alongside the film is a series of new paintings in which magical interpretations of mythology are layered on top of historical events. “Isles of the Blessed” is on view through December 17, 2022 at Lisson Gallery’s 508 West 24th Street location in New York.
“A Chair and You” by Thierry Barbier-Mueller
Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts Lausanne, Switzerland
Thierry Barbier-Mueller has been collecting chairs since the ‘90s and has amassed one of the largest private collections of artist, designer, and architect chairs anywhere in the world. The seats, reimagined time and time again by designers from across the globe, are placed in scenery created by American theater director Robert Wilson. “A Chair and You” is on view through February 5, 2023 at the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“The Conceptualists” by Hernan Bas
Victoria Miro London
Hernan Bas’s new series of portraits follow characters that are each consumed by an obsessive passion. The figures spend their time dying cats’s fur or mailing their neighbors dead flies. To accompany the surreal collection of works, the artist collaborated on a limited-edition publication of the same name with writer Linda Yablonsky. The book contains short fiction pieces that explore the lives of each protagonist. “The Conceptualits” is on view through January 14, 2023 at Victoria Miro’s 16 Wharf Road location in London.
