In the past year, we have all become used to impermanence. Travel plans, wedding dates and exhibition openings are routinely postponed, moved online or cancelled. As we look ahead to the coming season of art events, we are filled with optimism. Hopefully, this will finally be the return to normal we’ve all been craving. However, keep in mind the aforementioned impermanence: dates, locations and exhibition details are, as always, subject to change. [Photo: Musée Subaquatique de Marseille, © Guillaume Ruoppolo, Wallis.fr]
“Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging – 16 Women Artists from Around the World”. The title of this exhibition at Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum already tells you most of what you need to know. It features work by female artists ranging from 71 to 105 in age, from 14 different countries, whose work the curators assess as challenging the status quo in one way or another. Their energy certainly seems worth tapping into after a year of disruption. Maybe their perspectives can show us a new way forward? [Phyllida Barlow, untitled, Photo: Damian Griffiths]
For more female perspectives, head to Kunstmuseum Basel, where the Sophie Taeuber-Arp retrospective runs until the end of June, overlapping with a Kara Walker exhibition that gathers hundreds of drawings spanning decades, many never before seen in public. If you can’t catch the American artist’s show in Switzerland, “A Black Hole is Everything a Star Longs to Be” will move on to Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany after its run in Basel, then to De Pont Museum in Tilburg, Netherlands and The Broad in Los Angeles, USA.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe meets David Chipperfield: The completed refurbishment of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie in April is sure to be a major architectural event. The ensuing art events will have to wait until later this year, when the first exhibition opens in the revamped museum. In the meantime, why not take a virtual tour or browse the collection of Berlin’s state museums. [Photo: BBR / Thomas Bruns]
Palais de Tokyo is bringing an extra dose of cool to its big spring exhibition. The Paris art institution has given Anne Imhof a carte blanche to transform the entire space. For “Natures Mortes”, the German artist and Venice Biennale winner combines performance, painting, music and installation. In the past, she has collaborated with the likes of Patti Smith and Riccardo Tisci, so we are particularly curious to find more about the “pieces by guest artists which will punctuate the show”.
Ready for an island escape? Set sail for Porquerolles Island off the coast of southern France. The Fondation Carmignac, located on a protected site within a national park, is hosting a particularly escapist art experience this summer. For “The Imaginary Sea”, American curator and writer Chris Sharp will transform the foundation’s villa into an “underwater natural history museum”. [Miquel Barceló, Not titled yet, 2018 © Fondation Carmignac, Photo: Luc Boegly]
Sticking with the maritime theme: why not dive into the nearby Musée Subaquatique de Marseille, which opened late last year? Once temperatures rise and tourism resumes, this underwater museum – the first of its kind in France – will attract water and art lovers alike. By then, the submerged sculptures should have amassed enough marine life to start changing and adapting to their surroundings. The official launch is currently scheduled for 8 June, World Oceans Day. [Photo: © Guillaume Ruoppolo, Wallis.fr]
A little further west, an ambitious cultural complex developed by the Luma Foundation nears completion in Arles. The Parc des Ateliers, a 27-acre former industrial site, will be home to a library, exhibition and research spaces, as well as artist studios. The architectural centrepiece, a shimmering Frank Gehry tower, along with the surrounding gardens and public park, are due to open in spring. Pandemic permitting, the complex may even host the events cancelled last year: photography festival Rencontres d’Arles and music festival Les Suds.
Although Georgia O’Keeffe is massively popular in the Americas, her work is not quite as well explored by European museums. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is taking a big step towards righting that wrong with the first retrospective in Spain, offering a complete career survey. In autumn, the exhibition travels to Centre Pompidou in Paris and next year to the Fondation Beyeler in Basel. [Lucero de la tarde n.º VI, Courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum]
With London museums scheduled to reopen mid-May, art lovers on the island are sure to be working on their exhibition to-do list. After all, who knows how long the blockbuster shows will be around and how quickly tickets will sell out with limited capacity. Wondering what to put on your post-lockdown list? How about “Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty” at the Barbican, “The Making of Rodin” at Tate Modern, or “David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020” at the Royal Academy … It pays to be prepared! [Jean Dubuffet, Skedaddle(L’Escampette), © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London]
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is due to unveil the final stages of its major overhaul in May. The transformation will result in 2,000 additional square metres of gallery space and more public spaces, all part of a Frank Gehry master plan for the institution. Scheduled exhibitions emphasise the museum’s local focus, with “New Grit: Art & Philly Now” dedicated to contemporary artists and the new “Early American Galleries” telling “the story of how Philadelphia became the young nation’s cultural capital”. [Photo: “Flight,” 2017, by Tim Portlock. © Tim Portlock. Courtesy of Locks Gallery and the artist.]
SFMOMA reopened in March with a highly topical reflection on lockdown life. “Close to Home: Creativity in Crisis”, featuring work by Bay Area artists, will stay in place throughout the year. Upcoming spring and summer exhibitions have strong video elements: a retrospective simply named “Nam June Paik” and the epic “Diana Markosian: Santa Barbara”, in which the artist reimagines her own family history as a soap opera.
The “Yoshitomo Nara” exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been closed for the majority of its run. Although it remains unclear when and how the museum will reopen, LACMA has already committed to extending the run of this unusual exploration of the creative process. It features album covers from the Japanese artist’s collection, as well as idea sketches and an installation that recreates his drawing studio. Next, the exhibition will move on to the Yuz Museum Shanghai and is rumoured to be scheduled for several European appearances in 2022.
A year after its local inauguration, Hakanto Contemporary in Madagascar celebrates its official international debut. True to its objective of putting Malagasy culture into dialogue with the international art scene, the contemporary art centre is hosting an exhibition of local artists. Its title, “NY FITIAVANAY”, translates to “my love” and it is scheduled to open on Madagascar’s Independence Day, 26 June. [Installation view, Courtesy of Hakanto Contemporary]
Since the opening date of the long-anticipated Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) has been postponed countless times, we will carefully say that its grand opening is currently scheduled for June 2021. The imposing structure, located in close proximity to the Giza Pyramids, has already hosted events, so we are cautiously optimistic. The sprawling 100,000-square-metre building by Heneghan Peng will hold over 100,000 artifacts and offer views across the world-famous UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site.
Since Australia’s been largely isolated for the past year, it makes sense that the country’s museums are looking inward rather than out. “Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now” at the National Gallery in Canberra showcases art made by women. The exhibition will run in two parts, with part one running until the beginning of July and the second part opening in late July.
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