Mar. 1, 2024
Every month, Berlin Art Link shines a spotlight on international exhibitions and events with our Worldwide Hit List. We want to highlight artists, galleries, museums and new projects touching on a variety of topics, employing multiple media and featuring diverse subjects. Below are some of the stand-outs that we’ve selected for the month of March.
Fruitmarket
Martin Boyce: ‘Before Behind Between Above Below’
Exhibition: Mar. 2–June 9, 2024
fruitmarket.co.uk
45 Market St., Edinburgh EH1 1DF, UK, click here for map
Glasgow-based artist Martin Boyce will open his solo exhibition ‘Before Behind Between Above Below’ at Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, showing installations that reference and re-work textures and forms from the built environment. The Scottish sculptor draws from architecture and design in his practice, often creating elaborate site-specific installations that include everyday urban objects—vents, screens, telephone booths, fireplaces and lanterns—repurposed in new configurations to poetic results. Boyce was one of the first two artists to show in the Fruitmarket’s ‘Visions for the Future’ strand of programming for Scottish artists in 1999, and has represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale. He was also the winner of the 2011 Turner Prize.
Martin Boyce: ‘Dead Star (Reclining),’2017, painted wood, painted steel, brass, painted bronze, dyed fabric fringes // Courtesy of the artist
M+
Apichatpong Weerasethakul: ‘Primitive’
Opening: Mar. 8, 2024
mplus.org.hk
Hong Kong, West Kowloon, Museum Dr, 38號 M+ Cultural District, click here for map
Ahead of and throughout Art Basel Hong Kong, M+ Museum will present acclaimed Thai director and screenwriter Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s ‘Primitive,’ marking the work’s premiere in Hong Kong. Comprising a site-specific presentation in The Studio, ‘Primitive’ is a multi-screen video installation made up of two short films and an artist’s book. Originally commissioned by Haus der Kunst, Munich with FACT Liverpool and Animate Projects and completed in 2009, it represents a pivotal moment in Weerasethakul’s career, a point at which the bridging of visual art, moving image and cinema became a defining aspect of his practice. ‘Primitive’ was shot in the border town, Nabua, in northern Thailand, where the Mekong River divides Thailand and Laos, an area with a long history of racial migration and slaughter. It was also a “red zone” where the Mao-influenced Communist party moved into the mountain range and the Thai government targeted local communities as communist sympathisers. Nabua has an ancient legend about a widow ghost who would abduct any man who entered her empire. The multi-platform project follows the activities of teenagers and observes their conversations, songs and dreams, re-imagining Nabua as a town of men, freed from the widow ghost’s empire.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul: ‘Ghost Teen,’ 2009 // © Apichatpong Weerasethakul, courtesy of the artist
Biennale of Sydney
‘Ten Thousand Suns’
Exhibition: Mar. 9–June 10, 2024
biennaleofsydney.art
Various Locations
The 24th Biennale of Sydney, titled ‘Ten Thousand Suns,’ will be held across six iconic Sydney locations, including the White Bay Power Station, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Sydney Opera House. The 2024 edition will feature 116 artists and collectives from 45 countries and territories, with practices firmly grounded in diverse communities and artistic vocabularies. Aiming to foster a shared humanity, ‘Ten Thousand Suns’ highlights the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of collective expression. The Biennale offers regular programming, including the film screening and panel on cyberfeminism in Australia with the artist duo Soda Jerk. Open to the public for the first time in over 100 years, White Bay Power Station—a colossal structure symbolizing the monumental efforts required to power the settler colony of Australia—will host a series of talks, art activations, workshops, music and event days throughout the Biennale.
Hayv Kahraman: ‘Untitled,’ 2023, acrylic and oil on linen, 127 x 243.8 cm // Photo by Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; Vielmetter Los Angeles; and The Third Line, Dubai
The National Art Center Tokyo
Group Show: ‘Universal / Remote’
Exhibition: Mar. 6–June 3, 2024
nact.jp
106-8558 Tokyo, Minato City, Roppongi, 7 Chome−22−2, Japan, click here for map
The upcoming group exhibition at the National Art Center Tokyo titled ‘Universal/Remote’ reflects on contemporary conditions in the 21st century, where capital and data flow globally. Through exploration of surveillance and high-tech networks, as well as themes of human isolation, the artworks engage directly with the current era and its post-COVID landscape. Featuring works by eight individual artists—including Berlin-based Hito Steyerl and Trevor Paglen—and a collective of three, the exhibition delves into societal states influenced by these conditions.
Jeamin Cha: ‘Chroma-key and Labyrinth,’ 2013, single channel HD video, color, sound, 15 min // © Jeamin Cha, courtesy of the artist
MASI Lugano
Shahryar Nashat: ‘Streams of Spleen’
Exhibition: Mar. 17–Aug. 18, 2024
masilugano.ch
Piazza Bernardino Luini 6, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland, click here for map
MASI Lugano will present Swiss artist Shahryar Nashat’s largest solo exhibition in Switzerland to date. The exhibition is dedicated to Nashat’s extensive body of work, across video, sculpture and installation. The heart of the show is the video piece ‘Streams of Spleen’ (2024)—from which the exhibition takes its title—screened on a loop on a large wall of screens. The video, which features wolves, serves as the artist’s invitation to step out of our human-centric perspective and adopt an animal point of view. In MASI’s underground space, the artist has completed a site-specific installation that aims to alter the atmosphere and structure of the space. The work includes a sound element, filling the space with a musical composition described as a “symphony of laments.”
Shahryar Nashat: ‘Bone In (Since I met you I’ve been trippin),’ 2019, synthetic polymer, PVC, pigment, paper // Courtesy of the artist, photo by Jeff McLane
Kestner Gesellschaft
Anna K.E.: ‘Dolorem Ipsum (Silence in my Pocket)’
Exhibition: Mar. 23–June 30, 2024
kestnergesellschaft.de
Goseriede 11, 30159 Hannover, click here for map
Georgian artist Anna K.E.’s practice navigates across the languages of architecture and design, reflecting curiosity in transcending established cultural, social and artistic frameworks. Her latest solo exhibition, ‘Dolorem Ipsum (Silence in my Pocket),’ presented at Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover, delves into the realm of location-specific and performative installations. Within the exhibition, Anna K.E. explores the interplay between space, time and audience interaction, inviting viewers to engage with silence. Through her multidisciplinary approach, she challenges conventional boundaries and prompts reflections on the dynamics of contemporary existence.
Anna K.E.: ‘Studio Landscape II,’ 2020 // Courtesy the Artist and Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
The Third Line
Farah Al Qasimi: ‘Toy World’
Exhibition: Feb. 27–Apr. 19, 2024
thethirdline.com
Unit H 78, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, click here for map
Exploring the construction of images in a post-truth society, photographer Farah Al Qasimi’s latest exhibition ‘Toy World’ at The Third Line in Dubai considers the role of the “actor” in the theater of war. Al Qasimi is best known for her photos of life in the Persian Gulf, which examine post-colonial structures of power, gender and taste. Creating images that are both real (photographed) and fictionalized (staged) for this exhibition, Al Qasimi frees viewers from the impetus to disentangle the two. Her first exhibition of black-and-white images, ‘Toy World’ presents a contemporary world caught in the act of becoming historicized.
Farah Al Qasimi: ‘Jarash,’ archival inkjet print, 50.8 x 68.58cm, edition of 5 // Courtesy of Farah Al Qasimi and The Third Line Dubai
Fondazione Prada
Miranda July: ‘New Society’
Exhibition: Mar. 7–Oct. 14, 2024
fondazioneprada.org
Osservatorio, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, 20121 Milano MI, Italy, click here for map
Curated by Mia Locks, the first solo museum exhibition dedicated to Miranda July’s oeuvre spans three decades of her artistic work. It debuts ‘F.A.M.I.L.Y (Falling Apart Meanwhile I Love You),’ a multi-channel video installation July made in collaboration with seven strangers via Instagram, which is used in the show as a starting point for considerations of ideas in her earlier performative and collaborative works. Across one of the floors at the Osservatorio, documentation of July’s earliest performances in punk clubs is presented alongside her major performance pieces, as well as related props, costumes and archival documents. ‘Miranda July: New Society’ is accompanied by screenings of July’s entire filmography at Fondazione Prada’s Cinema Godard. The program includes three feature films, ‘Me and You and Everyone We Know’ (2005), ‘The Future’ (2011) and ‘Kajillionaire’ (2020), complemented by a selection of her short films and previously unreleased works.
Miranda July: ‘The Swan Tool,’ 2000, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon // Photo by Harrell Fletcher, Courtesy of Miranda July Studio
Palazzo Grassi
Julie Mehretu: ‘Ensemble’
Exhibition: Mar. 17, 2024–Jan. 6, 2025
pinaultcollection.com
Campo San Samuele, 3231, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy, click here for map
Julie Mehretu’s abstract compositions are palimpsestic, emerging from a density of ideas that originate from her longstanding engagement with history and photography. Her references are art historical, socio-political, geographical and personal, yet her insistence on the language of abstraction affords her space for experimentation and expression. Presented by Pinault Collection, Mehretu’s major exhibition in Venice showcases more than 60 of her paintings and prints created in the past 25 years, alongside works by Nairy Baghramian, Huma Bhabha, Robin Coste Lewis, Tacita Dean, David Hammons, Paul Pfeiffer and Jessica Rankin. Spreading over two floors of Palazzo Grassi, the show brings painting into dialogue with poetry, sculpture, film, voice and music. Mehretu’s habit of engaging in various forms of collaboration and sustained conversation with fellow artists is spotlighted in this display that foregrounds the relationship between intellectual and emotional affinities and artmaking. ‘Ensemble’ draws a collective portrait of an artistic community in a continuous dialogue.
Julie Mehretu: ‘Second Seal (R 6:3),’ 2020 // © The Artist, Courtesy BORCH Gallery & Editions, Copenhagen/Berlin
Gropius Bau
Nancy Holt: ‘Circles of Light’
Exhibition: Mar. 22–July 21, 2024
gropiusbau.de
Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10963 Berlin, click here for map
The exhibition ‘Circles of Light’ by Nancy Holt at Gropius Bau showcases Holt’s practice over the past five decades, through a variety of mediums, such as film, video, photography, sound works and poetry. Holt explores the relationship between time and space, utilizing earthworks, sculptures and installations to engage viewers with their surroundings and re-contextualize their definitions of environments. Her use of natural elements and careful consideration of landscape transformed ordinary spaces into immersive experiences that encouraged contemplation and reflection. Holt’s working process will have a particularly tangible presence in the exhibition at Gropius Bau, through texts and recordings by the artist.
Nancy Holt with Mirrors of Light II at Walter Kelly Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, in 1974 // Photo by John R. Bayalis
