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


All, Art, Auctions, Exhibitions, Travel & Hospitality, Initiatives

Viewing Helen Marten: Sparrows On the Stone

This solo show is brimming with complex ideas, thoughts and feelings. Not surprising, given it contains 12 paintings, 2 floor-based sculptures and 14 works on paper by Helen Marten, the Turner Prize winner best known for her smart use of metaphor and word play.

At the heart of the exhibition is an exploration of the body politic — and a giant metal stick figure prone on the floor. Elsewhere, you’ll see everything from multi-layered abstract works and an embossed bar of soap to fragmented body parts glossed with words by WH Auden, American novelist William H Gass and Marten herself. You’ve guessed it — nothing is quite what it appears.

‘This was meant to be a really simple show: literally just paintings on walls,’ Marten told Frieze Magazine. ‘But, whenever I try to make deliberately smaller works, it just becomes an aggregation of parts and ideas such that it simply has to expand. When meaning twists into a constellation with something else like a knot, it’s incredibly theoretically satisfying.’

There’s a lot to unriddle here but persevere and you’ll reap the rewards. Catch it before it closes at the end of the month.

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Dates
04 September 2021 — 30 October 2021
Further information

Viewing Lux: New Wave of Contemporary Art

If you’re a fan of interactive and immersive art, head down to 180 Studios for its major new audio-visual exhibition, featuring 13 large-scale installations by 12 artists and collectives, among them Hito Steyerl, Carsten Nicolai and Refik Anadol.

Standout exhibits include Julianknxx’s Black Corporeal (Breathe), a short film exploring the relationship between materiality and the black psyche; a new kinetic media sculpture by Swiss studio iart; and Es Devlin’s monumental, red-lit tunnel, BLUESKYWHITE. Made in response to solar engineering proposals to ‘dim the sun’, the two-part installation encourages viewers to contemplate the issue from two perspectives.

‘In the tunnel visitors are immersed in a nineteenth century Romantic poet’s first-hand account of “the year without summer” caused by an 1815 volcanic eruption,’ Devlin explains. ‘Once through the tunnel they are presented with contemporary accounts of solar geo-engineered solutions to global heating based on the phenomenon experienced by Byron.’

This exhibition will likely be just as — if not more — popular than the recent Ryoji Ikeda smash-hit, so book tickets asap.

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Dates
13 October 2021 — 18 December 2021
Further information

Viewing The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea

Since launching in London in 1999, the Affordable Art Fair has expanded to 10 cities worldwide and seen over 2.8 million people cross its arty threshold. This week, leafy Battersea Park will welcome back the autumn edition of the Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, bringing together hundreds of artworks from over 100 local and international galleries.

With prices starting at just £50, there’s something to suit every taste and budget. Look out for the ‘Artworks under £500 Wall’ and the Recent Graduates Showcase to discover exciting emerging talent including Zimbabwean-British artist Bokani Tshidzu and photographer Amanda Gordon. Then, make a beeline for Fluid Form, a new immersive installation made from hand-blown glass and ice sculptures that transform from solid to liquid by artist duo Violeta Maya and Persiis Hajiyanni.

Once you’ve done the rounds, stop for a bite to eat and a Bubble Bramble, a delicious gin cocktail created especially for the fair and inspired by Katharina Jung’s surreal artwork, I’ll only fly away. Happy hunting, art lovers

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Dates
21 October 2021 — 24 October 2021
Further information
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