Mire Lee “Black Sun” New Museum / New York
My lone star is dead — and my bespangled lute / Bears the black sun of Melancholia. — Gérard de…
Reviews
Martin Wong “Malicious Mischief” Camden Art Centre / London
In a poem from the 1970s, Martin Wong, in his angled scrawl, urges a “poisoned garden,” a “temple of dawn,”…
Roni Horn " I am paralyzed with hope" Centro Botín / Santander
It might be unusual to begin a review by quoting a philosopher who lived some 2,600 years ago, but I…
Isaac Julien “What Freedom is to Me” Tate Britain / London
In Harlem Renaissance writer Richard Nugent’s 1926 story “Smoke, Lilies and Jade,” the narrator remarks that it’s “funny how characters…
Ndayé Kouagou Fondation Louis Vuitton / Paris
“Maybe you are extraordinary, and if you are, leave my temple, it’s a space for average people.” A line from…
Marc Camille Chaimowicz “Nuit Américaine” WIELS / Brussels
“Nuit Américaine,” Marc Camille Chaimowicz’s solo exhibition at WIELS, spans more than five decades, grouping the iconic Celebration? Realife Revisited…
“Chryssa & New York” Dia Chelsea / New York
“Chryssa & New York,” currently on view at Dia Chelsea, marks a homecoming that is both institutional and personal. Although…
Barbara T. Smith “The Way to Be” Getty Center / Los Angeles
In a small vestibule painted library green (Benjamin Moore 699), personal artifacts from Barbara T. Smith’s archive, acquired by the…
“Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream” Centre d’Art Contemporain / Genève
The risk of partial reception or the flattening of content in thematic, muscular exhibitions like the one presented by the…
Roberto Cuoghi Fridericianum / Kassel
The first thing visitors hear upon entering the foyer of Fridericianum is a swelling, deeply unsettling noise. Cascade-like, akin to…
June Crespo “They Saw their House Turn Into Fields” Museo CA2M / Madrid
Metal artifacts are arranged neatly against the walls: the spectator is surrounded. From this description, you’d be forgiven for thinking…
LuYang “Vibratory Field” Kunsthalle Basel
“What am I? Which part of this body is me?” asks an animated figure in The Great Adventure of Material…
Carolyn Lazard “Long Take” Nottingham Contemporary
How do we experience an artwork? For most readers, and for me, our eyes receive and process it, often in…
Alfatih “Day in the Life” Swiss Institute / New York
In Alfatih’s exhibition “Day in the Life” at the Swiss Institute, the viewer becomes a new kind of observer: one…
Gordon Matta-Clark & Pope.L “Impossible Failures” 52 Walker / New York
The concept of impossibility changes over time, reflecting larger shifts in consciousness and zeitgeist. What is probable becomes common and…
Anne Imhof “YOUTH” Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam
My generation confronts the anxiety of death in a new and peremptory way. I was reflecting on this as I…