fig-futures, KARST, Plymouth
Over the next four weeks, Plymouth’s KARST is hosting four quick-fire exhibitions, with each show lasting just four days before the next one is installed. It is the final part of fig-futures, which involves 16 week-long shows across four UK venues. Curated by Ben Borthwick, first up is British artist Suzanne Treister whose work explores the relationship between technology and alternative belief systems. The following week sees Austrian sculptor and installation artist Eva Grubinger (pictured above) presenting a 3D work that explores scale, context and the maritime as a metaphor. In week three, Paris-based artist Charlotte Moth will present architecture-inspired work, including a new off-site installation in Plymouth’s iconic 1950s market building. Finally, in week four the programme rounds off with Laura Eldret transforming KARST’s gallery into a space to socially engage visitors and community groups.
Until 30 March 2019. karst.org.uk
Geta Brătescu, Hauser & Wirth, London
Romanian artist Geta Brătescu (1926-2018) worked across a variety of media, including drawing, collage, photography, performance, illustration and film. This show focuses on the final decade of her life, which was spent predominantly exploring the line as a ‘structuring principle’. Highlights include a series of drawings on post-it notes, plus Untitled (The Line – Game of Forms), a 35-part work that combines abstract and representational elements, which the artist described as ‘traces of her memories and experiences’. Also on display are two film works, screened in the centre of the gallery space, that give insights into her creative process.
Until 27 April 2019. www.hauserwirth.com
Facing Out: Life after treatment for facial cancer, The Whitworth, Manchester
This powerful exhibition features portraits of people who have experienced facial cancers together with their choice of artworks from the Whitworth collections. The portraits were painted in public by artist Lucy Burscough during her residency at Maggie’s Cancer Support Centre at The Christie Hospital, Manchester. The results raise a number of intriguing questions, including if the face changes, how does it affect a sense of self?
Until 2 June 2019. www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk
Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Bartha Contemporary, London
This group exhibition, which is a collaboration between Patrick Heide Contemporary Art and Bartha Contemporary, presents wider questions in relation to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. 15 artists from a variety of backgrounds explore themes ranging from inclusion and exclusion, to migration, memory, and a sense of belonging, with highlights including Susan Stockwell’s Jerusalem-Br-Exit, which visualises a feeling of frustration and deflation, presenting a UK map coming loose at its southern border.
Until 13 April 2019. www.barthacontemporary.com
Foreign Trade, The Gallery, Liverpool
‘Foreign Trade’ explores the cultural impact and legacy of LGBTQI artists who have chosen the UK as their home, and features work in a variety of media, including photography, painting and installation. Highlights include South African photographer Phillip Prokopiou’s work inspired by sculptures from the British Museum which have then been reimagined in both a queer and political context. Elsewhere, there is video and photographic work by French performance artist Thierry Alexandre, Dee Stanford’s large metal spheres created by fusing tiny figures together, and work by Spanish photographer Gozra Lozano.
Until 31 March 2019. www.thegalleryliverpool.com
Images:
1. Eva Grubinger, 2015
2. Lucy Burscough, Nigel, 2018, Oil on canvas. Copyright: the artist
3. Susan Stockwell, Jerusalem-Br-Exit, 2018, Knitted wool and dressmaking pins. Photo: Seb Camilleri; Courtesy: Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
4. Phillip Prokopiou. Courtesy: The Gallery, Liverpool
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