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Viewing Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster at The Serpentine

The Wick Culture - Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Alienarium, 2022. Produced by VIVE Arts and developed by Lucid Realities. Installation view, Alienarium 5 (Serpentine South, 14 April - 4 September 2022). Photo: Hugo Glendinning. © The artist and Serpentine, 2022.

Above Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Alienarium, 2022. Produced by VIVE Arts and developed by Lucid Realities. Installation view, Alienarium 5 (Serpentine South, 14 April – 4 September 2022). Photo: Hugo Glendinning. © The artist and Serpentine, 2022.

The Wick Culture - Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Martial Galfione and Mike Gaughan, Metapanorama, 2022. Installation view, Alienarium 5 (Serpentine South, 14 April - 4 September 2022). Photo: Hugo Glendinning. © The artist and Serpentine, 2022.

Above Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Martial Galfione and Mike Gaughan, Metapanorama, 2022. Installation view, Alienarium 5 (Serpentine South, 14 April – 4 September 2022). Photo: Hugo Glendinning. © The artist and Serpentine, 2022.

The Wick Culture - Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster with John Morgan studio, Alienarium 5 (Neon), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Corvi-Mora, London. Installation view, Alienarium 5 (Serpentine South, 14 April - 4 September 2022). Photo: Hugo Glendinning. © The artist and Serpentine, 2022

Above Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster with John Morgan studio, Alienarium 5 (Neon), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Corvi-Mora, London. Installation view, Alienarium 5 (Serpentine South, 14 April – 4 September 2022). Photo: Hugo Glendinning. © The artist and Serpentine, 2022

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster: Alienarium 5
14 April – 4 September 2022
Serpentine South Gallery, London

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster has been exploring the artistic possibilities of science-fiction, outer space and alien life for more than 20 years. The resulting projects, which include Cosmodrome at Le Consortium in 2001 and Martian Dreams Ensemble at GFZK in 2018, have brought her both critical and commercial success.

Opening this week at Serpentine South is Alienarium 5, the artist’s first major institutional solo show in the UK since TH.2058 at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2008. Conceived specifically for Serpentine, and installed across the gallery’s internal and external spaces, it brings together mostly new works that engage the senses and ask us to imagine what alien encounters might be like.

As you meander around Serpentine’s gardens, you’ll see an alien sculpture made by Gonzalez-Foerster in collaboration with the writer and philosopher Paul B. Preciado and a new soundscape created in collaboration with the musician Julien Perez.

The space inside the galleries has been transformed into an immersive, multi-sensory environment, featuring a 360-degree panorama, a scent collaboration with Barnabé Fillion of Arpa Studios and a new multi-user VR piece that contemplates alternative forms of connection through extra-terrestrial embodiment. Expect other worldly experiences left, right and centre.

Viewing Ivan Michael Blackstock’s Traplord

The Wick Culture - TRAPLORD, image from Production - credit Camilla Greenwell

Above TRAPLORD, image from Production – credit Camilla Greenwell

26 March – 16 April 2022
180 Studios x Sadler’s Wells, 180 Studios, London
https://www.180thestrand.com/traplord

Ivan Michael Blackstock’s Traplord, a dance, music, spoken word performance, tackles raw and confrontational issues including mental health, racism and masculinity. Through energetic bouts of rap, hip-hop, krump and spoken poetry, Blackstock interrogates stereotypes of Black masculinity in western society in bold and daring ways. The result is a magnificent meditation on male vulnerability and violence.

Except high energy, intense physicality and a compelling dance performance punctuated by flashes of theatrical brilliance. Simisola Majekodunmi’s lighting creates a dark, brooding atmosphere, while the visual projections of video games echo the rhythms on stage. There’s a lot going on here, which makes the narrative difficult to follow at times, but this intense, upfront and powerful show will stay with you long after you’ve left the performance space.

Viewing 1-54 Paris

The Wick Culture - Khalifi, Anuar, MAN CHEST CAN ONLY HOLD ONE, 2020, Acryic on canvas, 184 x 152 cm. Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line.

Above Khalifi, Anuar, MAN CHEST CAN ONLY HOLD ONE, 2020, Acryic on canvas, 184 x 152 cm. Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line.

The Wick Culture - Adjaratou Ouedraogo, La boite rouge, 2021, Acrylic, pastel, pigment and charcoal on canvas, 35 x 35 cm. Courtesy of Françoise Livinec.

Above Adjaratou Ouedraogo, La boite rouge, 2021, Acrylic, pastel, pigment and charcoal on canvas, 35 x 35 cm. Courtesy of Françoise Livinec.

The Wick Culture - Seydou Keïta, Sans titre/Untitled (01096-MA.KE.158), 1956-1959, Posthumous gelatin black and white silver print on cartoline paper 280g back-mounted on aluminium 1mm (large format), Framed: 179 x 139 x 4.7 cm, Edition of 5 + 2 AP. Courtesy of CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection and Galerie Nathalie Obadia. © Seydou Keïta/SKPEAC.

Above Seydou Keïta, Sans titre/Untitled (01096-MA.KE.158), 1956-1959, Posthumous gelatin black and white silver print on cartoline paper 280g back-mounted on aluminium 1mm (large format), Framed: 179 x 139 x 4.7 cm, Edition of 5 + 2 AP. Courtesy of CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection and Galerie Nathalie Obadia. © Seydou Keïta/SKPEAC.

The Wick Culture - Nú Barreto, Chutes et ascensions, 2021, Collages (cardboard, paper, fabric), ceramic pencil, semi-fat pastel and recycled paper, 78 x 118 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia. © Bertrand Huet/Tutti image.

Above Nú Barreto, Chutes et ascensions, 2021, Collages (cardboard, paper, fabric), ceramic pencil, semi-fat pastel and recycled paper, 78 x 118 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia. © Bertrand Huet/Tutti image.

Above Khalifi, Anuar, MAN CHEST CAN ONLY HOLD ONE, 2020, Acryic on canvas, 184 x 152 cm. Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line.

Above Adjaratou Ouedraogo, La boite rouge, 2021, Acrylic, pastel, pigment and charcoal on canvas, 35 x 35 cm. Courtesy of Françoise Livinec.

7 – 10 April 2022
Christie’s Paris
https://www.1-54.com/paris/

Rolling back into Christie’s Paris this weekend is 1-54, the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and the African diaspora. For its second Paris edition, 1-54 brings together 23 international exhibitors presenting more than 50 artists working across a variety of styles and media, including photography, textile, painting and installation. Artists to look out for include the celebrated photographer Seydou Keïta, Nigerian-born Deborah Segun and the up-and-coming Senegalese artist Djibril Drame.

Of all the things to see at the fair, this year’s special projects look set to be a highlight. Make a beeline for Aïcha Snoussi’s large-scale installation Memorial to the Drowned, produced by the MO.CO and Zinsou Foundation and presented by Galerie La La Lande. The installation, which pays homage to the tchechs of Zembra and their missing lovers, features bottles filled with drawings, stories of dreams, desires and crossings placed in a circular mound in an effigy of the missing. Also worthy of note is Memory of today, Memory of the future, a new work by the collective N.E.T celebrating the launch of the African Space Art Project.

The fair will also be accompanied by 1-54 Forum, a curated programme of talks, screenings, performances and workshops exploring the collective possibilities of art on the African continent and its diaspora in the wake of the global lockdowns. If you’re unable to travel to Paris, you can explore the fair online from 7-14 April via Artsy.