Castor Projects, Enclave 1, 50 Resolution Way, London SE8 4AL

Rafal Zajko: Resuscitation

Breathing and the nature of our bodies as something that air passes through have never been considered so urgently as in this show. Rafal Zajko, a London-based, Polish artist, has been making wall-based works that look like vents for a year - a fact I discovered during a remote conversation with Zajko to discuss his exhibition, Resuscitation, at Castor Projects in London, which was open for just one day before its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Review by Laura O’Leary

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Keelin Montzingo: The Isolated Cut Out

Today as the boundaries between the personal and public are so murky, sousveillance is both a form of protection and an act of surrendering personal identity to corporate data banks. The act itself caught between an effort to control and shape one’s image and a helpless compulsion to either hand over aspects of private life or deliver an expected idea of self to an imagined audience. Keelin Montzingo’s paintings reflect on this grey area, neither criticising nor celebrating but rather trying to decode the way we have turned the camera on ourselves and use digital space to reclaim ownership of the female form and redefine the gaze. Referencing 20th Century male painters, Montzingo uses the image of the cutout female nude, weaving compositions of layered bodies which appear in nondescript digital spaces. Figures float over pixelated backgrounds, washes of colour and digital glitch in a non-physical realm of disruption and static. Text by Gabriella Sonabend

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(Re)Placing Chernobyl, interview with Vitalij Strigunkov

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Glasgow International 2020: Digital Programme

The COVID-19 pandemic has cleared the cultural calendar for the foreseeable future and Glasgow International, Scotland’s largest festival of contemporary art, has been postponed until 2021. Indeed, the cancellation of a festival which was planned to span 60 exhibitions and 120 artists will be a disappointment to artists and the public alike. The digital programme is the unintended consequence of this unforeseen event. Review by Hailey Maxwell

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Stephen Friedman Gallery, 25-28 Old Burlington St, Mayfair, London W1S 3AN

Andreas Eriksson: Mapping Memories, Tracing Time

Throughout his career, Andreas Eriksson has made subtle study of landscape and time. In his new exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery, the first half of the show focuses on a series of large-scale tapestries. Made in collaboration with a team of weavers trained at the noted Handarbetets Vänner textile school in Stockholm, the pieces were executed in his Berlin studio but, like much of his work, speak to the natural landscape of his Swedish home. Review by Kaitlyn Kane

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Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Among the Trees

Historically in western art, trees have generally been depicted as ornamental afterthoughts, their upright forms used to frame a scene or add definition to a landscape. ‘Among the Trees’ at Hayward Gallery, however, puts trees centre-stage, emphasising images where branches and leaves fill the frame, confusing the eye and defying the human scale of the viewfinder or canvas. Review by Anna Souter

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Keep Showing Club, Neopangea, Budapest, Hungary

Neopangean Nest

It’s the year 3000 in the great southern forest of Neopangea, where animal-machine-human hybrids form a graceful community. The earth’s population is now at approx. 1 billion, due to multiple waves of pandemics starting in the 2020s. Sonja Teszler responds to an innovative virtual exhibition that takes place in a forest setting in Budapest.

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Villa Romana, Via Senese, 68 50124 Florence, Italy

Lerato Shadi: MOSI KE O NE …

The artist, Lerato Shadi, is a South African, Berlin-based artist. ‘MOSI KE O NE’ begins with Shadi walking through a labyrinth of trees in the Italian countryside. Shadi is poised, dressed in all white, and the camera never reveals her face. She moves effortlessly, and her calm demeanour invites the viewer to follow her—the landscape of Shadi's work functions as a compelling narrative. ‘MOSI KE O NE’ is filmed outside of the traditional white-cube gallery setting. The landscape demonstrates how our bodies intrinsically connect to the earth. Review by Sheena Carrington

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Kadist, Paris, 19bis/21 rue des Trois Frères, 75018, France and Kadist, 3295 20th Street CA 94110, San Francisco, USA

AP: Assembled Personalities

The computer screen: the only gallery left open during lockdown. We’re glued to laptops and their infinite possibilities – but they also have a few obvious limitations. So how do galleries render art that is both authentic and innovative in this paradox? Showing films are at the front of the queue – we can choose to pause, re-watch, fast-forward at our own pace, which we can’t do in a gallery. ‘AP: Assembled Personalities’ for gallery Kadist, is an online exhibition of film that, as the title suggests, addresses the identities of five artists: Guy Ben-Ner, Keren Cytter, Alex Da Corte, Mark Leckey, and Li Ran. Review by Ted Targett

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Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS

Masculinities: Liberation through Photography

‘Masculinities: Liberation through Photography’ at the Barbican Centre is a masterful, comprehensive exhibition that outlines a sweeping artistic history that is probing, insightful and moving. Exploring how masculinity has been coded, performed, and socially constructed from the 1960s to the present day, this is a show of 50 international artists working through the medium of film and photography. Working across themes from queer identity, female perceptions of men, hypermasculine stereotypes, many of the participants don't sit easily within a gender binary, and rarely is the story told without an overlap to class, racism and the Western gaze; this is masculinity at its fullest. Review by Chris Hayes

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Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, 270 River Road Athens, GA 30602

Multiple Entry Points to Dis-ease: A Conversation with Amiko Li

Amiko Li’s 'The Purpose of Disease,' curated by Katie Geha, opened at The Dodd Galleries at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, on February 27th, 2020, but was closed prematurely by the outbreak of Covid-19 in the U.S. Nevertheless, the show’s relevance continues to proliferate. Li began the research for this work in 2017 upon discovery of a mysterious rash spreading across his body. As he investigated remedies for the condition, other threads of research, ranging from tetrachromacy in birds and the relationship between photographs and text, gradually converged experiences of mind and body. The following conversation with Li considers the multiple entry points to embodied and cultural dis-ease. Written by Laurel V. McLaughlin

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Billytown, Helena van Doeverenplantsoen 3, 2512 ZB The Hague, Netherlands

Ide André: Just a Satisfying Spiral

There is something very compelling about Ide André’s ‘Just a Satisfying Spiral’ that impresses itself on the viewer right upon entry. The airy exhibition hall not only bolsters the lively and idiosyncratic nature of the works by giving them ample space to breathe, but it also suites the dynamism that pervades the show’s constituents. Viewers quickly notice that they are in a transitional zone. Review by John Gayer

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Grand Union, 19 Minerva Works, Fazeley Street, Birmingham B5 5RS

Jamie Crewe: Love & Solidarity

The term ‘community’ conjures images of disparate individuals joined by shared interests, experiences, cultures, or religion. But the term also groups unquestioningly, disregarding an acknowledgement that frictions can - and do - exist. Jamie Crewe’s ‘Love & Solidarity’ at Grand Union, Birmingham, the sister exhibition of ‘Solidarity & Love’ at Humber Street Gallery, Hull, offers a conflictual understanding of kinship, and parameters for queer love and disdain. Review by Ryan Kearney

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