London art exhibitions: Plaster staff picks

Ana Viktoria Dzinic, ‘Repetitive’, Nicoletti

Dzinic’s new paintings on velvet at Nicoletti convey a feeling of malaise with their familiar appearance: repeating Y2K cameras feel like an abandoned relic; discount sale signs feel both familiar and distant; the soft velvet surface feels like a knowing wink to Issy Wood. All monochrome, the works remind me of when I turned my iPhone screen to black and white on accessibility settings to reduce screen time – scrolling through Instagram was eerily unsatisfying because everything contemporary felt so lost and distant. (It didn’t last long). – Laurie Barron

Until 18th May at 12a Vyner Street, London E2 9DG

‘this dark gleam’, ICA

I’ve seen a lot of new-wave immersive (and dark) performances recently: from Club Are run by Mika Kailes, Alex Baczynski-Jenkins at Material Art Fair to Coumba Samba at Cell Project Space. I’m sure this six-month dance programme at ICA will be no exception. Performances are titled GONER, Afterlife, Raving and letting go of things. If this isn’t a sign to let go of something you’re holding onto, then I don’t know what is (sorry for the art horoscope). Expect sweat in a ‘pop’, ‘punk’, ‘French Baroque’, ‘Italian Renaissance’ kind of way… whilst maybe *intellectually* thinking about Raving by McKenzie Wark. – Henry Gibbs

Until 16th August at ICA, The Mall, St. James’s, London SW1Y 5AH

Yoko Ono, ‘Music of the Mind’, Tate Modern

My highlight is from Grapefruit, a series of instructions written on paper: “Borrow the Mono Lisa from the gallery. Make a kite out of it and fly. Fly it high enough so the Mono Lisa smile disappears. (a) Fly it high enough so the Mono Lisa face disappears. (b) Fly it high enough so it becomes a dot. (c)” – Emma Ralph

Until 1st September 2024, Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Trophy Lives (book), by Philippa Snow

Reading a piece of writing by Philippa Snow is like riding a rollercoaster blindfolded. The twists and turns are unforeseen; the drops stomach-shifting; the rush addictive; the highs and lows intense and indistinguishable; the giggles and gasps inexorable. I know this because Snow is a Plaster columnist and because I gobbled up Trophy Lives (her latest extended essay) in one sitting. What’s the difference between art and celebrity? Is Kim K just as much an artist as Koons or Abramović? Only Snow could pull this off. I want another ride. – Harriet Lloyd-Smith

mackbooks.co.uk

‘shedding:::selves’, Ugly Duck Bermondsey

Queer East Festival expands its programme with a new art exhibition, ‘shedding:::selves’ at Ugly Duck, Bermondsey. The group show brings together eight queer East and Southeast Asian artists working across sculpture, painting, video and installation, aiming to forge new connections between science, technology, mythology and memory. I’m particularly drawn to Megumi Ohata’s ethereal and cyberpunk sculptures. – Izzy Bilkus

20th – 28th April 2024 at 47/49 Tanner Street, London SE1 3PL

‘The Blue Hour’, Union Pacific

The ‘blue hour’ falls when the sun sets and the sky is still light. In folklore and mythology, this is a time of transformation. But you don’t have to believe in that to recognise that people change when the sun goes down. Our moods and desires shift as we change out of our work clothes and reflect on the day passed and the night to come. As this group show explores, perhaps our personalities and behaviours aren’t as fixed as we think. With sculpture and painting by Niklas Asker, Antonia Brown, Adam Easton, Kim Farkas, Nova Jiang, Sang Woo Kim and Danny Sobor. Opening Saturday 6th April, between 6–8pm, just in time for sundown. – Jacob Wilson

Until 11th May at 15 West Central Street, London, WC1A 1JJ

Albert Oehlen, ‘New Paintings’, Gagosian

Despite the immense success Albert Oehlen has had over the years, it is thoroughly refreshing to see an artist continue to experiment and maintain creative integrity. His ‘New Paintings’ at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, showcased a fresh style of cubist backdropping, adding yet another feather to his creative cap. – Arthur Aldridge

Until 11th May 2024 at 20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3QD 

Karol Radziszewski, ‘Filo’, Auto Italia

‘Filo’, Auto Italia’s forthcoming survey of works by Warsaw-based artist and archivist Karol Radziszewski looks fascinating. His painted portraits depict ‘queer people from Central and Eastern Europe who faced discrimination or persecution, because of their views on sexuality, identity and politics, or were overlooked in mainstream canons of queer history.’ Also on view will be a collection of rare photography, printed matter and ephemera from the artist’s own Queer Archives Institute tracking ‘Filo’, one of the first underground queer magazines in central Europe. – Laurie Barron

12th April – 9th June 2024 at 44 Bonner Road, London E2 9JS

‘Vampire-Junkie’ curated by Blue Marcus, Rose Easton

“Affirmative mutations galore.” It’s the techno-social body we should be worried about. Well, maybe not worried, perhaps just aware of its vampire-junkie condition. In her debut curatorial project, Blue Marcus has devised a new term: Contemporary Hieroglyph. It’s a note towards futurity (whether we have one or not), malfunction, and a world, speculatively, destined for system override – a cataclysm written into our futures. I’m intrigued to see if this is true with works from Hampus Hoh, Samuel Guerrero, Scott Keightley and Callum Jones. – Henry Gibbs

14th March – 27th April 2024 at 223 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 0EL

‘Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence’, V&A

Sitting at my desk in the dreary, drizzly depths of February, I’m already longing for summer in the city. So I was happy to learn of the V&A’s Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence exhibition, which surveys the relationship between modernist architecture and tropical climates. Unsurprisingly, I am a fan of the brutalist style. But I often remember a university lecturer vocalizing that slick concrete structures appear much sexier when paired against hot blue skies rather than gray, densely populated urban environments (like here). I’m curious to observe if this is true… – Laurie Barron

2nd March to 22nd September at V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Zineb Sedira, ‘Dreams Have No Titles’, Whitechapel Gallery

I can’t wait to see Zineb Sedira’s ‘Dreams Have No Titles’. The show was previously at the Venice Biennale in 2022. The gallery space has been turned into a film set of real and fictional scenes. You can walk through Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers (1966), Luchino Visconti’s L’Etranger (1967), Ettore Scola’s Le Bal (1983) and Sedira’s Brixton living room. – Emma Ralph

Until 15th May 2024 at 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX

Francis Picabia, ‘Women: Works on Paper 1902-1950’, Michael Werner

An artist of “unusual artistic strategies”, Picabia is associated with Dadaism, Cubism, Impressionism, Pointillism, Surrealism and even Futurism. Some would call him insatiable. Maybe all the best artists are. “In the making for the last fifteen years”, Michael Werner presents 40 works on paper made throughout Picabia’s 50-year career. Co-owner, Gordon VeneKlasen tells me: “The gallery has a close relationship with the work of Francis Picabia that stretches all the way back to the 1960s. Michael Werner used to travel with Georg Baselitz on the student bus to go and see works by Picabia.” I wish I was on that bus. – Henry Gibbs

23rd February – 11th May 2024 at 22 Upper Brook Street, London W1K 7PZ

‘Some May Work as Symbols: Art Made in Brazil, 1950s–70s’, Raven Row

Works from four major Brazilian museum collections are making their way to Raven Row’s exquisite Spitalfields townhouse in an exhibition curated by artistic director of MAM Rio, Pablo Lafuente, which brings together a group of pioneering Brazilian artists working in the mid-twentieth century. Among new names to me, I’m very excited to see works by some of my favourite artists including Lygia Clark, Rubem Valentin and Lygia Pape. – Laurie Barron

6th March – 5th May 2024 at 56 Artillery Lane, London E1 7LS

‘When Forms Come Alive’, Hayward Gallery

At every turn, I fight the urge to get my phone out and Insta everything. It’s all so shiny and big and theatrical. Everyone’s pointing at something; children charge around and enjoy the art theme park; I do too. When I find EJ Hill’s rollercoaster, I forget I’m not actually in one. There is some epic work here: Eva Fàbregas’ bulbous, candy-coloured intestines, Holly Hendry’s pastel pipework; Ruth Asawa’s pendulous hangings; and Franz West’s baby pink Epiphanias an Stühlen (which now looks a little too close to the viral structure of Covid-19). – Harriet Lloyd-Smith

7th February –⁠ 6th May 2024 at Hayward Gallery, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Shuvinai Ashoona, ‘When I Draw’, The Perimeter

Shuvinai Ashoona’s surreal colour pencil drawings are best seen on an overcast February afternoon. The daily lives of residents and fictional creatures of the Arctic happily blow away the winter cobwebs. – Emma Ralph

24th January – 26th April 2024 at 20 Brownlow Mews, London, WC1N 2LE

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, ‘THE REBIRTHING ROOM’, Studio Voltaire

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s practice incorporates animation, sound, performance and video games to ‘record, archive and remember’ the Black trans community. Her enveloping and interactive shows synthesise aesthetics of surveillance, theatre and dystopian cinema to distil ‘the experiences of being a Black trans person.’ ‘THE REBIRTHING ROOM’ at Studio Voltaire looks to be one of her most radical projects to date, creating a space where audiences can choose ‘to be born again’. I smell a Turner Prize nomination on the horizon… Can’t make it to the show? Here’s a link to play some games: daniellebrathwaiteshirley.com – Laurie Barron

31st January – 28th April 2024 at 1A Nelsons Row, London SW4 7JR