There are few certainties in life beyond death and taxes, but I’d like to add art to that weighty lineup. When the going gets tough, the tough get their craft supplies out and that has been the case since the first daybreak. This year, there are a few standout exhibitions you’d be remiss not to slot into your iCal. From fashion to photography to political discourse: you’re going to want to spend what’s left rattling in your purse after Beyoncé is done with us on these expos.
CARRIE MAE WEEMS / BARBICAN LONDON / JUNE 21 - SEPTEMBER 23 2023
Carrie Mae Weems Cyclorama - The Shape of Things, A Video in 7 Parts, 2021 Video © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York / Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin
Laying eyes on a Carrie Mae Weems original is a thrill in and of itself. In the largest show of the artist’s multi-disciplinary work in Europe ever, this expo will give you the chance to delve into CMW’s photography, filmwork, objects and installations created over the past three decades. From the iconic ‘Kitchen Table Series (1990)’ (as featured in the Helmut Lang Artist Series 2018) to the ‘The Shape of Things (2021)’ film, focusing on the history of violence in the US, the show will provide a long-overdue spotlight on the body of excellence created by an exceptional artist.
MAN RAY AND FASHION / MOMU - FASHION MUSEUM ANTWERP / APRIL 22 - AUGUST 13 2023
Lee Miller, 1930 (c) Man Ray
Icon photographer Man Ray gave us some of history’s most elegant imagework. In an all-new exhibition, MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp creates space for Man Ray’s fashion photography for the age’s grandest couturiers like Schiaparelli, Chanel and Poiret as well as his major editorial work for Vogue and Harper’s. Man Ray combined both technical mastery with tongue-in-cheek wit in a way that forever melded art with fashion. A forever influence, the imprint of Man Ray can still be found in the canon of Belgian fashion designers, who - like Ray - never shy away from a bit of Surrealism. While you’re at MoMu, be sure to carve out time to visit their other new exhibition ‘Geometrically Wired. Io Van Oostveldt: Between Clothing and Art.’ Celebrating the life and oeuvre of the 94 year-old Belgian artist, IO Van Oostveldt, the expo explores her multifaceted creative work through an archive of drawings, fashion design and visual art.
BLACK(S) TO THE FUTURE: QUIET REFUSAL / BEURSSCHOUWBURG BRUSSELS / NOW - MAY 21 2023
© Black(s) to the Future
The good folx at Beursschouwburg will always find thoughts left to provoke and their most recent exhibition parcours is no exception. In collaboration with afrofuturist transmedia platform Black(s) to the Future, the exhibition ‘Quiet Refusal’ seeks to explore the potential of speech as a tool for self-defense against the violence of colonial history. It unites the works of artists, thinkers, activists and writers like Sybil Coovi Handemagnon, Kyo Kim, Fallon Mayanja, Nicolas Pirus and Mawena Yehouessi in an assemblage of political and poetic understanding as well as a cinema club, offering new ways to engage while creating an environment where encounters, clashes, fantasies and tenderness can bring forth revolutionary ideas.
ZANELE MUHOLI / EUROPEAN HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY PARIS / NOW - MAY 21 2023
’Miss D'vine II, 2007’ Courtesy of the Artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York © Zanele Muholi
A beautiful opportunity to get close to the work of South African photographer and activist, Zanele Muholi, who garnered renown by portraying the Black LGBTQIA+ community throughout their entire career. This major expo showcases over 200 photographs and videos created since the early 2000s together with archival materials, giving a comprehensive overview of Muholi's process of collaboration. By inviting their subjects to co-design the photograph, Muholi has created a lexicon of imagery that dismantles historical misrepresentations and gives a platform to the othered, encouraging viewers to confront their own engrained biases and misconceptions.
IRIS VAN HERPEN / MUSÉE DES ARTS DECORATIFS PARIS / NOVEMBER 29 2023 - APRIL 28 2024
© David Uzochukwu
Envelopping the likes of superstars like Solange and Naomi, Iris Van Herpen has 3D-lasered a permanent mark on contemporary fashion and a major spotlighting is way past due. Placing the avant-garde, technology-pushing couture of van Herpen front and centre, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs has an immersive experience mapped out this autumn. Part ‘sensory exploration’, the exhibition draws you deep into Van Herpen’s universe by meshing fashion with art, design and science within an exoskeleton of eight themes that define Iris van Herpen’s body of work.
HENRY VAN DE VELDE AWARDS 23 EXPO / BOZAR BRUSSELS / NOW - APRIL 2 2023
© Paul Boudens
The Henry van de Velde Awards are like Belgium’s Oscars for Design. This spring, you’ll be able to discover the many incredible inventions, design innovations and breakthroughs by this year’s laureate class during a special exhibition at fine arts temple Bozar. Joining the ranks of past winners Ann Demeulemeester and Vincent Van Duysen, the 2023 Henry van de Velde Lifetime Achievement Award has been won by graphic designer extraordinaire, Paul Boudens. To experience firsthand how well-deserved this win is by master Boudens, head to the expo for a selected overview of Paul’s celebrated design legacy and get a guided highlight tour on March 7 by the GOAT himself. At the exhibit, pick up a poster (limited edition, so don’t snooze) featuring an interview by Dominique Nzeyimana and me & be sure to listen to The Most podcast conversation with Paul Boudens before you go to get the history behind the legendary work.
TSCHABALALA SELF / CC STROMBEEK, BELGIUM / OCTOBER 20 2023 - JANUARY 28 2024
Tschabalala Self, 'Leisure Woman Warm', 2022, silkscreen, enamel, acrylic, flasche vinyl paint, coloured pencil on canvas, 183.2 x 145.1 x 4.1 cm. Courtesy the artist and Pilar Corrias, London.
This autumn heralds the highly anticipated opening of the first solo exhibition in Belgium by feted American artist, Tschabalala Self. Born in 1990 in Harlem and currently based in New York, Self's work seamlessly blends painting and printmaking in her portrayals of the Black body. Through a combination of sewn, printed, and painted materials, Self crafts captivating depictions of that traverse the boundaries of artistic and craft traditions. Her conceptual virtuosity is a priceless enrichment and critical investigation into selfhood and human flourishing. A must-visit to round out this year.
© Maurizio Cattelan, La rivoluzione siamo noi (detail), 2000. Courtesy Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.
As if you ever need an excuse to head to Florence. This one, however, makes for a very fine specimen: the new expo celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo collection. At the glamorous Renaissance-era (not that Renaissance! I know your nerves are shot, Beyhive) Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, ‘Reaching for the Stars’ will feature major works by the world's leading contemporary artists like Maurizio Cattelan, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, Lara Favaretto, Cindy Sherman, William Kentridge, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Josh Kline, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Rudolf Stingel. Paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, and performance art: it will be a feast for the senses to enjoy before you pasta-pass out in your hotel chambers. If you want some more Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, because obviously, bookmark her exhibition at Bilbao Guggenheim from March 31 until October 9 2023!
(c) Klaas Rommelaere
Ever-buoying with incredible talent and great energy, Belgian artist Klaas Rommelaere unveils a new part of his body of work so far. In a free-to-visit exhibition in his birthplace of Roeselare, Belgium, you have until the late spring to discover Rommelaere’s ‘MEMORIE’. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Klaas has a fashion education - interning with Henrik Vibskov and Raf Simons - but found that the industry was not the right one to bring his ideas to life. Instead, he turned to visual art, using needle, thread, wool, and yarn to spin new truths inspired by film, comics, books, and life lived. At this new show, you’re invited to unravel Klaas's memories of Roeselare in colour and even join Klaas and his trusted team of ‘madammen’ (retired women who lend their expertise to collaborate on Klaas’s work) during workshops to create your own embroidery with the master(s).
Header image: Candice Nkosi, Durban, 2020 Courtesy of the Artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York © Zanele Muholi
Listen to The Most podcast conversation with MoMu Director & Head curator Kaat Debo here.
Listen to The Most podcast conversation with Beursschouwburg Artistic & General Director Melat Gebeyaw Nigussie here.
Listen to The Most podcast conversation with graphic designer Paul Boudens here.
Listen to The Most podcast conversation with artist Klaas Rommelaere here.
