10 Digital Exhibitions To See This Weekend
Rear Window at White Cube
Rear Window is an online exhibition inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film about the seductions – and the dangers – of looking. Rear Window could be thought of as a lockdown movie: photojournalist ‘Jeff’ Jeffries (James Stewart) has a broken leg which keeps him stuck in a wheelchair in his apartment, and we are trapped there with him, all the action confined to his field of view across a Greenwich Village courtyard through a sweltering New York summer. Jeff can hardly tear himself from his window, as if the scenes unfolding in the stacked windows of his neighbours’ apartments are like so many films unspooling in front of a mesmerised cinema-goer. This exhibition at White Cube is an invitation to consider how artists construct scenes and suggest narratives, use cinematic devices to tease viewers’ innate voyeurism, and how they explore and challenge the idea of ‘the gaze’ which Hitchcock’s film was instrumental in formulating.
Visit WhiteCube.ViewingRooms.com
Leila Alaoui: Rite of Passage at Somerset House
Somerset House is offering a virtual tour of its exhibition Leila Alaoui: Rite of Passage, guided by award-winning broadcaster and cultural commentator Ekow Eshun. The first major UK retrospective of works from the celebrated French-Moroccan photographer, video artist and activist, the exhibition opened to coincide with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in October. For those who missed its opening weeks, the virtual tour offers the opportunity to discover Alaoui’s timely and moving work, and gain insight into the evolution of her practice, before she was tragically killed in a terrorist attack at the age of 33 while working on a photography project promoting women’s rights in Burkina Faso in 2016. The tour introduces three of her defining series: ‘No Pasara’ which documents the lives of North African migrants trying to reach Europe; ‘Natreen (We Wait)’, which follows families trying to flee the Syrian conflict; and ‘Les Marocains’, which meets the many individuals who make up the multifaceted fabric of contemporary Morocco.
Visit SomersetHouse.org.uk
Lobsteropolis at Saatchi Gallery
Contemporary British artist Philip Colbert's Lobsteropolis is the largest UK survey to date of Colbert's artistic universe, inviting viewers to engage digitally with the works. Audiences can physically visit the Gallery space in December by booking a ticket at the Saatchi Gallery or choose to explore the exhibition digitally through the eyes of Colbert's robotic lobster. The virtual experience enables visitors to move around the gallery via their smartphone or computer and zoom into the unprecedented detail of Colbert's monumental paintings and sculptures – of which his lobsters feature heavily.
Visit SaatchiGallery.com
LOUISE BOURGEOIS THE COUPLE, 2007-2009 THE EASTON FOUNDATION
Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer at the Barbican
The Barbican has launched the first major exhibition of dancer and choreographer Michael Clark. This exploration of Clark’s work establishes his radical presence in British cultural history, looking back to his meteoric rise as a young choreographer in the 1980s. Film, photography and material from Clark’s practice is presented alongside his legendary collaborations across visual arts, music, fashion and film. While the gallery is closed, viewers can watch Jarvis Cocker’s new band JARV IS perform an exclusive set of songs in the exhibition space. The performance includes covers of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Venus in Furs’ and The Fall’s ‘Big New Prinz’, as Cocker and his band are surrounded by Charles Atlas’s newly commissioned immersive film installation ‘A Prune Twin’ (2020), the recreated set of Clark’s collaboration with The Fall for ‘I Am Curious, Orange’ (1988).
Visit Barbican.org.uk
Louise Bourgeois: The Heart Has Reasons at Hauser & Wirth
This December, Hauser & Wirth is hosting exhibitions by two of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century – Louise Bourgeois and Philip Guston. Available to experience at the exhibition space Tarmak22 in Gstaad and online, Louise Bourgeois: The Heart Has Its Reasons takes its title from Blaise Pascal’s well-known phrase: “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” Featuring a selection of important sculptures and drawings from the artist’s legacy, it explores themes central to her practice and reoccurring motifs such as: couples, homes, landscapes and human anatomy. Important sculptures in the presentation include, ‘Couple’ (2007-2009), in which the hair of the female figure is transformed into an eccentric spiral form that binds together with the male figure, and bronze work ‘Eyes’ (2001).
Visit HauserWirth.com
Lost For Words by Rankin
Royal London has joined forces with photographer Rankin to launch the digital exhibition Lost for Words. The moving collection, shot by Rankin over the summer, is made up of a series of photographs of people superimposed next to images of loved ones they have lost, bringing together the departed and those left behind. It also includes an interview series and short film discussing the importance of talking about death and planning for the inevitable. Those who have been photographed include Jeff Brazier, Konnie Huq, Doreen Lawrence and Ashley Walters.
Visit LostForWords.RoyalLondon.com
Natural History Museum
Delve into the Natural History Museum from home with a virtual self-guided tour of the galleries, an interactive experience about Hope the blue whale and audio guides narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Google Arts & Culture gives website visitors access to 300,000 specimens within the museum's collections, along with 14 digital exhibitions, virtual tours and an interactive gigapixel photo – so enormous you can zoom in on the tiniest detail – of Hintze Hall's gilded canopy. We also recommend having a look through this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year images, where you can explore the exhibition at your own pace – and without the crowds.
Visit NHM.ac.uk
Victoria & Albert Museum
There's lots to discover online at the V&A – from exclusive content, games and family activities, to art history courses with V&A Academy. The museum is allowing visitors to delve into 5,000 years of human creativity with its online collections. Here, viewers can discover fascinating stories, celebrated design styles, and the most influential makers in design history, from William Morris to Alexander McQueen. Visitors are also encouraged to join in discussions with leading figures from creative industries, as well as curator talks, which pair the collections with unparalleled expertise to connect you with some of the museum’s 2.3m objects.
Visit VAM.ac.uk
Kandinsky at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is currently hosting 33-minute virtual tours of its new exhibtion Kandinsky, a comprehensive selection of paintings and works on paper of the artist Vasily Kandinsky, drawn primarily from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s collection. Guggenheim began collecting Kandinsky’s work in 1929 and met him at the Dessau Bauhaus the following year. This exhibition draws from the foundation’s extensive holdings to illustrate the full arc of Kandinsky’s seminal career. The exhibition traces the aesthetic evolution of a pioneer of abstraction and his endeavour to free painting from its ties to the natural world.
Visit Guggenheim-Bilbao.Eus
Nevertheless at JD Malat Gallery
This weekend, Swiss artist Conrad Jon Godly showcases his latest artwork online at Mayfair’s JD Malat Gallery. The virtual exhibition, Nevertheless, includes paintings of Swiss mountain ranges, created using traditional Japanese techniques. Expect dramatic landscapes and vivid representations of remote corners of the world in the collection – the sublime and the beautiful at its best. The exhibition is free and will be available to view online until 9th January 2021.
Visit JDMalat.com
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INSPIRATION CREDITS: Pam Hog; Vasily Kandinsky; Rankin
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