12th Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador
Titled Leaving to Return – a translation of the Ecuadorian expression Ir para volver, describing a temporary physical absence without a defined duration – this year’s Cuenca Biennial is presented in six different venues and features the work of 42 different artists. The idea of movement and travel features widely, and among the many works on display is Adrián Balseca’s film about driving the only car ever designed and produced in Ecuador – the Andino – on a 300-mile trip. A journey he undertook without putting any fuel in the car’s tank, instead relying on the pulling power of animals and trucks.
Until June 27, www.bienaldecuenca.org
Modern Fears, Pinheiros SP, Brazil
This show is the second edition of the Instituto Tomie Ohtake’s Arte Actual programme, an initiative from the organisation’s rather Orwellian-sounding Curating and Research Department. Modern Fears features South American artists Luiz Roque, Matheus Rocha Pitta and Nicolás Robbio and through a variety of media – video, painting, drawing, sculpture – the works address modern anxieties around sexuality, food, communication, innovation and individual identity.
Until 4 May, www.institutotomieohtake.org.br
Celebrating 50 years at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA
It’s 50 years since American art collector Larry Aldrich founded this independent contemporary art museum in Connecticut. To celebrate, the museum is presenting an exhibition of work from 1964-74, featuring artists that The Aldrich supported in that period, including Robert Smithson and Robert Rauschenberg. Alongside this are a series of new projects by contemporary artists Taylor Davis, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Michael Joo, and Michelle Lopez, plus new paintings by Jack Whitten, whose work was originally exhibited at the museum during its first decade.
5 April – 21 September, www.aldrichart.org
Smart New World, Düsseldorf, Germany
This group exhibition asks a rather big question: What does it mean to be an individual in the information society? With the premise that industrial capitalism is transforming itself into digital capitalism – ‘the world is ruled by binary code’ says the curatorial statement – 13 artists including Aleksandra Domanović, Omer Fast and the International Necronautical Society present work which, say curators Elodie Evers and Magdalena Holzhey, ‘deal perceptively, critically, and humorously with the possibilities, visions and also dangers of digitalisation’.
5 April – 10 August, www.kunsthalle-duesseldorf.de
