Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014, USA

Whitney Biennial 2019

The 2017 edition of the Whitney Biennial is remembered for the animated debate surrounding the inclusion of a controversial painting by Dana Schutz titled ‘Open Casket’ (2016). It spurred an open discussion about cultural appropriation, white privilege and freedom of creativity. It divided much of the art world and prompted a discussion panel with The Racial Imaginary Institute titled ‘Perspectives on Race and Representation.’ The painting ultimately remained. Despite the best intensions of curators Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley, this year’s Whitney Biennial wallows yet again in controversy. Review by Anaïs Castro

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HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, First Street, Manchester, M15 4FN

David Lynch: My Head is Disconnected

'My Head is Disconnected' spans 50 years of David Lynch’s non-filmmaking career. It is also one of the flagship offerings at Manchester International Festival, a bi-annual festival of new arts commissions which locates itself in venues both established (like HOME) and a little more unconventional (an underground brewery). The main gallery at HOME, one of the more serious festival venues, is filled with drawings, paintings, assemblages, lithographs and lamps - more on these later. The work is rich in depictions of internal torment interior and exterior spaces, children and insects. So far, so Lynch. Review by Lucy Holt

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Indian Pavilion, Arsenale, Venice, Italy

Venice Biennale 2019: Our time for a future caring

Pranamita Borgohain speaks to some of the artists, organisers, and key voices behind the Indian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.

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MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Blvd, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA

Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance

Rego’s work is undeniably powerful, both technically and emotionally, but her exhibition at MK Gallery also successfully brings together an incisive selection of key pieces that show her incredible range, from her exuberantly abstract and overtly political early work, railing against the Portuguese dictator Salazar, to the eerier, stiller style that matured in the 1980s and came to define her. Review by Clare Robson

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Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX

Myvillages: Setting the Table: Village Politics

Myvillages, the collective behind ‘Setting the Table: Village Politics’, was set up in 2003 by Kathrin Böhm, Wapke Feenstra, and Antje Schiffers. On their website the group give an indicative statement about the exhibition: it seeks, they write, to ‘equip the gallery as a space from where to access our and your own interest and knowledge about the rural’. Review by Harriet Smith Hughes

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Towner Art Gallery, Devonshire Park, College Rd, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ

Phoebe Unwin: Iris

The fifteen, light-infused works that make up London-based painter Phoebe Unwin’s exhibition at Towner Art Gallery give the impression of the snatched in-between moments of life that work together to create memories. The exhibition’s title, ‘Iris’, takes its name from the artist’s late grandmother but it also nods to the workings of the eye as light, atmosphere and objects take their effect on our senses. Review by Clare Robson

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French Pavilion, Giardini, Venice, Italy

Venice Biennale 2019: Laure Prouvost: Deep See Blue Surrounding You

A frenetic filmed odyssey from the utopian Tours Nuages tower blocks of Nanterre in the Parisian suburbs, via the vast expanse of the Marseillais coastline and ending in the grubby canals of Venice, ‘Deep See Blue Surrounding You’ comprises frantic scenes that last just seconds, cutting back to raspberries under rocks, horse hooves on orange peel, performers spewing lettuce, the plump frisson of eyeballs and bum cheeks, and the various jellies of assorted sea creatures. Review by Jessica Saxby

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Abandoibarra Etorb., 2, 48009 Bilbo, Bizkaia, Spain

Gerhard Richter: Seascapes

As you enter the top floor gallery that houses the exhibition: ‘Gerhard Richter: Seascapes’ at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, you would be forgiven for feeling a sudden melancholic jolt. Review by William Davie

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ICA,The Mall, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AH

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Kathy Acker

Kathy Acker was a plagiarist, a pirate, an emblem of postmodernism, a fascinating and complicated person, but most importantly, she was a writer. A literary exhibition is a challenging project, and so fuelled by a desire to see what curatorial decisions would locate writing visually, I went to see ‘I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Kathy Acker’ at the ICA - surely if any writer can sustain an exhibition it would be Acker. Review by Katie McCain

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Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA

Faith Ringgold

As I walk through the Serpentine Gallery’s retrospective of her 50-year career I can’t get Faith Ringgold, the person, out of my mind. The works on display, despite many of them depicting horrific scenes of physical and social violence; the riots that took place during the civil rights era of 1950s and 60s America; gender inequality; the Black Power movement and the manipulation of black bodies in white consumer-capitalist culture, are permeated with the same warmth and affirmative energy that emanates from the artist in her interviews. This is an unusual brand of ‘political’ art; the works are critical, incisive and defiant, yet the tone remains warm and positive, even joyful - much like the artist herself. Review by India Nielsen

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UNSW Galleries, Cnr of Oxford St and Greens Rd, Paddington NSW 2021, Australia

John Fries Award 2019: There is Fiction in the Spaces Between

‘There is Fiction in the Spaces Between’ connects the 12 artists - who are all finalists in the 2019 John Fries Award - and their nominated artworks through memory, place and personal narratives. Curator Miriam Kelly has produced a curatorial rationale that without intention invokes the sentiment of all the artists. Instead of a ‘prize’ exhibition, what we see at UNSW Galleries is a presentation of what ‘Australia’ looks like today. Review by Emma-Kate Wilson

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Hauser & Wirth, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0NL

Unconscious Landscape. Works from the Ursula Hauser Collection

The exhibition conveys strongly a sense of the struggle for emancipation experienced by the generation of women artists that this selection from Ursula Hauser’s personal collection features. Review by Piers Masterson

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The Crossing, 1 Milk Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SU

Eartheater & Semiconductor: Fracture Patterns

Three hexagon-shaped screens were lined on the floor and the sound of droplets filled the dark room, building tension. The only source of light came from the screens and the three spotlights on the floor, which lit up Eartheater’s white, sequin-covered suit and made it sparkle as she slowly entered the stage. Review by Laura O'Leary

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