Our top picks of exhibitions together with cultural spaces and places, both online and in the real world.

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Viewing Albert Paley at Messums West

The Wick Culture - Courtesy of Messums West

Above Courtesy of Messums West

Albert Paley: Heavy Metal and the Art Nouveau
Messums Wiltshire, Place Farm, Court St, Tisbury

14 October 2023 – 14 January 2024

Those headed to Wiltshire this festive season should make a bee-line for Messums to see American modernist sculptor Albert Paley’s rhapsodies in metal. “Using metal is like drawing in space,” the artist once said, and his sinuous sketches in the air give the gallery’s vast tithe barn a magnetic charge. From the Victoria and Albert Gate, commissioned by the V&A in 1982, to the Fence of the Hunter Museum, Paley has pushed his medium in ever more inventive directions. On show are works from the past 35 years, alongside a collection of his drawings. Catch the exhibition before it closes on 14 January.

https://www.messums.org/exhibitions/albert-paley/

Viewing The Casablanca Art School at Tate St Ives

The Wick Culture - Mohamed Melehi, Untitled 1971 © Mohamed Melehi Estate. Courtesy of private collection, Marrakesh

Above Mohamed Melehi, Untitled 1971 © Mohamed Melehi Estate. Courtesy of private collection, Marrakesh

The Wick Culture - Mohammed Chabâa, Untitled, 1981, Natural wood, 15 x 15 cm, Mohammed Chabâa Estate

Above Mohammed Chabâa, Untitled, 1981, Natural wood, 15 x 15 cm, Mohammed Chabâa Estate

Above chabaa studio 66 MM

Above Mohamed Melehi, Untitled 1971 © Mohamed Melehi Estate. Courtesy of private collection, Marrakesh

Above Mohammed Chabâa, Untitled, 1981, Natural wood, 15 x 15 cm, Mohammed Chabâa Estate

Above chabaa studio 66 MM

The Casablanca Art School
Tate St Ives, Cornwall

27 May 2023 – 14 January 2024

If on a festive escape to Cornwall, let Tate St Ives transport you to warmer climes via its exhibition The Casablanca Art School. The show explores the artistic rebirth that followed Morocco’s independence, forged by the experimental teaching methods of the Casablanca Art School in the 1960s and 1970s.

Led by Farid Belkahia alongside Mohammed Chabâa, Mohamed Melehi and others, this pioneering institution spawned a new generation of socially engaged modern artists. Works by 22 of them showcase the Moroccan ‘new wave’, from vibrant abstract paintings and urban murals to graphics and interior design.

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/casablanca-art-school

Viewing Leda and the Swan at Victoria Miro Gallery

The Wick Culture - Installation view, LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction, curated by Minna Moore Ede, presented by Victoria Miro and Vortic.

Left to right: [Robin Friend, Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History (from the series: We, Us), 2023; Kim Brandstrup, Leda and the Swan, 2014; Saskia Colwell: Slither, 2023; Lick of the Lips, 2023; Her Eyes were Full of Feathers, 2023; Miranda Forrester, Leda and Nemesis' children, 2023].

© The artists, courtesy the artists and Victoria Miro.

Above Installation view, LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction, curated by Minna Moore Ede, presented by Victoria Miro and Vortic. Left to right: [Robin Friend, Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History (from the series: We, Us), 2023; Kim Brandstrup, Leda and the Swan, 2014; Saskia Colwell: Slither, 2023; Lick of the Lips, 2023; Her Eyes were Full of Feathers, 2023; Miranda Forrester, Leda and Nemesis’ children, 2023]. © The artists, courtesy the artists and Victoria Miro.

Above Installation view, LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction, curated by Minna Moore Ede, presented by Victoria Miro and Vortic

The Wick Culture - Barbara Walker
End of an Affair, 2023
Graphite, charcoal, pastel and conte on paper Paper and image

© Barbara Walker
Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Above Barbara Walker End of an Affair, 2023 Graphite, charcoal, pastel and conte on paper Paper and image © Barbara Walker Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Above Installation view, LEDA and the SWAN: a myth of creation and destruction, curated by Minna Moore Ede, presented by Victoria Miro and Vortic

Above Barbara Walker End of an Affair, 2023 Graphite, charcoal, pastel and conte on paper Paper and image © Barbara Walker Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Leda and the Swan at Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Rd, London N1 7RW

1 December 2023 – 13 January 2024

Step into a curated dreamscape by Minna Moore Ede with Victoria Miro through Vortic Curated. This exhibition unveils new works from sixteen visionary artists, spanning diverse mediums. Drawing inspiration from the Leda and the Swan myth, this contemporary exploration weaves the classical allure of sixteenth-century masters seamlessly into present interpretation.

Inspired by da Vinci and Michelangelo, the exhibition elegantly blends the myth’s sensuality with modernity, using surviving drawings as portals into Renaissance inquiries. In collaboration with Conrad Shawcross, Marina Warner guides us through the nuanced tapestry of myth, revealing divine and mortal facets of mythical progeny. Vortic Curated, a revolutionary series, unfolds virtually on the Vortic platform and with esteemed galleries, transcending traditional boundaries and redefining contemporary artistic expression.