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Viewing Gucci Cosmos at 180 The Strand

The Wick Culture - Gucci Cosmos. Photography: Angnese Bedini

Above Gucci Cosmos. Photography: Angnese Bedini

The Wick Culture - Gucci Cosmos. Courtesy Gucci

Above Gucci Cosmos. Courtesy Gucci

Above Gucci Cosmos. Photography: Angnese Bedini

Above Gucci Cosmos. Courtesy Gucci

Above Gucci Cosmos. Photography: Angnese Bedini

Above Gucci Cosmos. Courtesy Gucci

Above Gucci Cosmos. Photography: Angnese Bedini

Above Gucci Cosmos. Courtesy Gucci

Gucci Cosmos
180 Studios, 180 The Strand

11 October to 31 December 2023

Fashionistas listen up. The art of fashion is here. Travelling exhibition, Gucci Cosmos, has touched down at London’s 180 The Strand and wow it’s making a buzz – as you can see before you even reach the show, thanks to the buses zipping around the capital adorned with Cosmos colours.

Curated by fashion critic Maria Luisa Frisa and first shown in Shanghai, it takes viewers on an immersive tour of the Italian fashion house’s past, present and future. Stage design master Es Devlin, hailed for her technological and artistic innovations, conceived the sets for its first outing and has rebooted the installation for London. With her help, Gucci Cosmos aims to entrance and discombobulate in equal measure.

The journey charting a 102 colourful history of fashion begins with a recreation of the red-lacquered elevator of The Savoy, where the house’s eponymous founder Guccio Gucci worked as a humble bellboy as a young man at the end of the 19th century, before leading visitors through a maze-like series of revolving doors opening onto different rooms and worlds. Highlights include a space filled with floating flowers and bees to evoke Gucci’s signature ‘Flora’ motif, and ‘Zoetrope’, recalling Eadweard Muybridge’s 1878 moving-image invention, in which ghostly horse animations appear on equestrian-inspired pieces from Gucci’s archives. You’ll definitely want to be FROW for this exhibition.

Visiting Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy

The Wick Culture - Marina Abramović, The Current, 2017. Video; 1 hour 35 mins. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović

Above Marina Abramović, The Current, 2017. Video; 1 hour 35 mins. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović

The Wick Culture - Marina Abramović, The House with the Ocean View, 2002. Performance; 12 days. Sean Kelly Gallery, New York. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives © Marina Abramović. Photo: Attilio Maranzano

Above Marina Abramović, The House with the Ocean View, 2002. Performance; 12 days. Sean Kelly Gallery, New York. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives © Marina Abramović. Photo: Attilio Maranzano

The Wick Culture - Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance; Studio Morra, Naples. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović. Photo: Donatelli Sbarra

Above Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance; Studio Morra, Naples. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović. Photo: Donatelli Sbarra

The Wick Culture - Ulay / Marina Abramović, Imponderabilia, 1977. Galleria Communale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Ulay / Marina Abramović

Above Ulay / Marina Abramović, Imponderabilia, 1977. Galleria Communale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Ulay / Marina Abramović

Above Marina Abramović, The Current, 2017. Video; 1 hour 35 mins. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović

Above Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974. Performance; Studio Morra, Naples. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Marina Abramović. Photo: Donatelli Sbarra

Above Ulay / Marina Abramović, Imponderabilia, 1977. Galleria Communale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives. © Ulay / Marina Abramović

Marina Abramović
Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly

23 September 2023 – 1 January 2024

The art of life. World renowned Marina Abramović has spent more than five decades stretching the limits of her own physical and mental tolerance through her work. The Serbian performance artist has had her clothes ripped and rose thorns stuck into her stomach by members of the public (in Rhythm 0, 1974) and survived on water alone while living inside a New York gallery for 12 days (The House with the Ocean View, 2002) – feats of endurance that are all represented at the Royal Academy’s not-to-be-missed survey of her work. She is the first female to hit the RA with a solo exhibition in 250 Years.

The exhibition explores human connection and trauma before shifting gear to a more peaceful and transcendent tone, as we see Marina’s own journey through life evolve. Video installations are spliced with four of her seminal performance pieces, reperformed by artists live at the Royal Academy, including the blush-inducing Imponderabilia, 1977, in which gallery-goers have to squeeze their way through two nude artists in a doorway to get from one room to another. At every turn the human body and how we use it as a tool to confront mental challenge is the star of the show. What strikes is Marina’s ability to capture the uncomfortable – those moments of pivot between joy and pain. Ultimately, this is an exhibition about what it means to be human.

Viewing Early Works, Princelet Street

The Wick Culture - CHRISTO
Early Works | Curated by Elena Geuna, Princelet Street
Courtesy of Gagosian

Above CHRISTO Early Works | Curated by Elena Geuna, Princelet Street Courtesy of Gagosian

Early Works | Curated by Elena Geuna
October 6–22, 2023
Gagosian Open, 4 Princelet Street, London

That’s a wrap. Gagosian presents a poignant exhibition of early works by the renowned artist Christo at 4 Princelet Street in London’s East End, curated by Elena Geuna. This exhibition serves as the inaugural project in the Gagosian Open series, an innovative program dedicated to showcasing exceptional art in unconventional settings.

The showcased artworks, dating mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, reveal Christo’s early creative exploration. These sculptural pieces cloak everyday objects with fabric or plastic, intricately bound with rope or twine. Even at this formative stage of his career, Christo demonstrated a profound ability to respond to domestic and urban environments, emphasising often overlooked details by obscuring them from view.

Christo and his artistic collaborator, Jeanne-Claude, are celebrated for their monumental temporary artworks, redefining the interplay between art and public spaces and pushing the boundaries of scale.