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Viewing Collect Art Fair

Established in 2004, Collect is one of the only events of its kind in the UK devoted to museum-quality local and international contemporary craft and design. Held from 27 February – 1 March 2026 at Somerset House in London, the fair is presented by the Crafts Council, and this year brings together more than 40 specialist galleries from around the world. Showcasing exceptional work across a wide range of disciplines including ceramics, glass, jewellery, furniture, metalwork, sculpture, wearable art, textiles and more, each work is handmade and carries a rich narrative, reflecting both technical excellence and creative, material innovation.

The fair offers collectors—from emerging enthusiasts to seasoned patrons—the opportunity to acquire pieces that span price points from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds, making high-quality craft accessible while also supporting the market for collectible design. The Collect Open platform, meanwhile, invites individual artists and collectives to present bold, craft-led installations that challenge material, social, political or personal perceptions, highlighting experimental practices and emerging voices in the field. In addition to the display of works, Collect features a talks programme where visitors can hear from artists, galleries and leading experts about trends, materials and the role of craft today.

The Wick recommends heading to the booth of Daguet-Bresson to see work by Mel Arsenault, Jardin de falaise, who blends science, nature, and poetry to create enigmatic ceramic works that are alive with colour and dreams. Also among the highlights of the 2026 edition are incredible cast glass and textile pieces presented by Design-Nation, and beguiling metal and stone structures by OVO shown by Jig Studio, inspired by “a moment of stillness beside a river in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, the Rio Series began with the simple instinct to sit on stone.”

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Dates
27 February 2026 — 01 March 2026
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Viewing Isaac Julien: All That Changes You. Metamorphosis

Isaac Julien’s expansive practice has often been concerned with the orchestration of time. Slow, choreographed gestures and gliding camera movements create rhythms that resists urgency, encouraging contemplation. Figures appear in states of becoming—walking, floating, pausing—suggesting identity not as a fixed condition but as something continually reshaped by place and encounter. Architecture and landscape are not backdrops but active forces, pressing upon the body and absorbing its presence in return.

At Julien’s new solo exhibition All That Changes You, presented at Victoria Miro’s London galleries, a luminous series of photographs as well as a brand new, five-channel film installation, conceived as a visual poem, riffing on the theme of transformation—of bodies, landscapes, histories, and the self. Julien extends his long-standing exploration of Black subjectivity, memory, and global movement, weaving in references to writers Octavia Butler, Naomi Mitchison, Ursula K. Le Guin and philosopher Donna Haraway in a multi-layered and lyrical piece.

Sound of course plays a crucial role too. Music and voiceovers move between intimacy and grandeur, reinforcing Julien’s interest in the porous boundaries between the personal and the collective. Julien’s images are undeniably beautiful, yet they carry a quiet insistence, urging reflection on how histories—colonial, cultural, and emotional—leave their mark.

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Viewing Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life

Installed within the iconic brutalist architecture of the Hayward Gallery, Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life transforms the space into a poetic, contemplative environment — one that envelops visitors in a mesh of threads that echoes the complexity and nuance of life itself.

The Japanese artist is internationally celebrated for her immersive, large-scale, web-like installations constructed from intricate networks of thread that transform entire spaces into evocative environments. In this exhibition, she takes over the gallery’s top floor with expansive floor-to-ceiling works composed of woollen threads that weave through and around everyday objects — such as keys, shoes, beds, chairs and dresses — creating intricate nets that both reveal and obscure their forms. These entanglements explore themes of memory, consciousness, interconnectedness and the fragility of human existence.

Threads of Life not only includes these monumental installations but also features new large-scale sculptures, drawings, early performance videos and photographs, offering a comprehensive survey of Shiota’s artistic evolution. Her use of thread and found objects creates spaces that feel both intimate and universal, inviting visitors to reflect on life, death, relationships and the often invisible connections between individuals. There’s also a participatory elements in Letters of Thanks, where members of the public are invited to contribute handwritten notes of gratitude that will be integrated into the installation.

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