Alexander Gray Associates, 510 West 26 Street, New York NY 10001

Polly Apfelbaum: The Potential of Women

  Polly Apfelbaum: The Potential of Women, installation view, Alexander Gray Associates (2017)

In Polly Apfelbaum’s first show at Alexander Gray Associates, The Potential of Women, the artist borrows both the title and central design symbiology from the decades-old symposium’s accompanying publication. Her appropriation of this essentialist feminine image, denoted as such by the suggestion of a bob haircut, signals a further call to equity while contemplating the scope of modern identity politics itself. Review by Torey Akers

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The Midland Hotel, Marine Road West, Morecambe LA4 4BU

Jenny Steele: This Building for Hope

Not so Nautical A Divide, print on vinyl banner, 2017 artwork and beach

It's rare to find an exhibition which leaves viewers feeling uplifted, sentimental and optimistic. More often than not, artists hotfoot it past nostalgia and the seemingly passé. Manchester-based practitioner Jenny Steele reinvigorates our acquaintance with the past: in this case, with the ‘Seaside Moderne’ and its transatlantic journey between Miami and Morecambe. Review by Selina Oakes

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Siobhan Davies, Studios 85, St George's Road, London SE1 6ER

Katinka Bock: Mesonya/

Katinka Bock, Mesonya/, 2017. Siobhan Davies Dance.

As you enter the Roof Studio at Siobhan Davies Dance, you encounter a subtle array of objects distributed seemingly randomly across the space. Some are objects you might expect to encounter in this setting; a slightly dishevelled rolled black foam mat and an electric heater, for example. Others seems more alien, like the floppy, malleable looking ceramic that hangs over the side of the heater and the small video work propped up in the corner. All of course belong here in the context of Katinka Bock’s exhibition ‘Mesonya/’, part of the newly launched ‘Traces Commissions’ programme. Review by Amy Jones

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Project Narrative Informant, Morley House, 26 Holborn Viaduct, The City of London, London EC1A 2AQ

Juliana Huxtable

Installation view, Project Narrative Informant

In her first UK solo show, Huxtable's focus shifts to what covers the bodies of others. The exhibition is centered around ten panels of text displaying fragments from a larger narrative written by Huxtable. Threaded through the story of a young blonde who falls in with a crowd of skinheads in London, is an analysis of struggles over the meaning of the white skinhead aesthetic: bomber jackets, Fred Perry, Ben Sherman. Review by Kevin Brazil

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Kurimanzutto, San Miguel Chapultepec, 11850 Ciudad de México

Anri Sala: All of a Tremble

Installation view of All of a Tremble

Kurimanzutto's second exhibition of Anri Sala, where the artist explores the relationship between image construction and the physicality of sound. The exhibition illustrates how sound becomes a means to investigate the relationship between form and formation, process and production, being and becoming.

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Simon Lee Gallery, 12 Berkeley Street, London, W1J 8DT

Jeff Elrod

Installation view

At a time when the slippages between our own real and virtual, Jeff Elrod exhibits a series of hybrid images that incorporate analogue techniques into experiments in digital and print media, and explore the relationship between hand-painted and digitally created mark-making.

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15th Istanbul Biennial

a good neighbour: 15th Istanbul Biennial

Wonderland

There’s a certain irony to the theme of this year’s Istanbul Biennial. As Donald Trump promises to build a wall between the US and Mexico, Kim Jong-Un fires missiles over Japan, and Teresa May negotiates Brexit, the title, ‘a good neighbour’ seems, well…laughable. Yet, when the curators - Danish artist duo, Elmgreen and Dragset - initially set the subject of the exhibition, how were they to know that this worthy attempt at exploring our universal endeavour to establish a sense of place, would be so timely? Review by Wilhemina Madeley

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The Miller’s House, Three Mill Lane, London E3 3DU

Changing Places

Changing Places at the House Mill - Residue by Desire Machine Collective.

‘Changing Places’ is a touring exhibition of recent film and video work from South Asia. Curated by Mariam Zulfiqhar and Film and Video Umbrella, the show has been supported by the Canal and River Trust and is being shown in heritage buildings and sites along its network across England. The intention of this in the 70th anniversary of the end of British rule in India is to make a link between sites in the UK that developed through imperial trade and the contemporary experience of South Asian artists in order to reflect upon the legacy of colonialism and globalisation. Review by Piers Masterson

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Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power

Faith Ringgold, America People #20 Die

Covering the period 1963 to 1983 the choice of theme for ‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’ is a timely move, bringing together a disparate selection of work around the theme of artistic responses to the American civil rights and Black Power movements, and the specific experiences of artists as activists for or from the African-American community. Review by Piers Masterson

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David Roberts Art Foundation, Symes Mews, London NW1 7JE

(X) A Fantasy

Installation view of (X) A Fantasy at DRAF, 2017

‘(X) A Fantasy’ is David Roberts Art Foundation’s 10th year anniversary exhibition, its final in the current Camden space. The show brings together twenty-five paintings, photographs, friezes, sculptures, installations and videos by close to twenty artists. Series are rife, their repetitions and alterations mirroring the mechanisms of fantasies. Review by Edmée Lepercq

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KELDER, Basement of Mercer & Co., 26A Chapel Market, London N1 9EN

I Want My Ideal Paste

Col Self & Body Drift, BLK Vapour Purity Ritual, 2017

‘I Want My Ideal Paste’ takes the viscous semi-state of slime as its focus, bringing together artists, practitioners, youth workers and filmmakers to investigate the potentials held in all things that creep, shudder, stretch and burst. Review by Freddie Mason

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Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, 6 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BT

Uwe Henneken: The teachings of the Transhistorical Flamingo

Uwe Henneken, The teachings of the Transhistorical Flamingo, solo exhibition, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2017)

At first sight, there is no strict theme linking the series of works by Uwe Henneken exhibited at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. They do not belong to a single series, the subject matter shifts from bestial creatures to human figures, from magical settings to surreal landscapes. Carolina Mostert responds to the exhibition

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