News

We are delighted to announce that Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (b. 1962, UK) is the eighth artist to receive the prestigious annual Art Icon award, generously supported by the Swarovski Foundation. On Monday 22 March 2021, the award will be presented during a virtual gala celebration hosted by Iwona Blazwick OBE (Director, Whitechapel Gallery), and feature an exclusive performance from Angélique Kidjo.

‘Rituals of Resilience’ is a group exhibition co-curated by musician Chaka Mkali (I Self Divine) and Curator and Head of Contemporary Art at The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gabriel Ritter. This unique audio-visual experience combines 28 works by Black visual artists from the United States, Africa, and the greater African Diaspora with music created for the exhibition by Mkali and multiple collaborators.

Yinka Shonibare CBE and five other leading British artists have each made a new limited-edition print that will be distributed in UK schools to inspire children and support the teaching of Black histories. 

‘Emma Kunz Cosmos: A Visionary in Dialogue with Contemporary Art’ is a group exhibition at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland that presents the oeuvre of the Aargau researcher, healer and artist Emma Kunz (1892–1963) alongside contemporary artistic practises. Included in the exhibition are a selection of capes from Rivane Neuenschwander's 2015 project, 'The Name of Fear' at Whitechapel, London. 

As part of South South Veza’s ongoing series ‘In Dialogue: Collector Talks’ Yinka Shonibare CBE RA will join Pulane Kingston (South South Ambassador, South Africa), Tio Stephen Kauma (South South Ambassador, Uganda) and Jim Amberson (South South Ambassador, Singapore) for a virtual conversation to explore topics related to the arts ecology of the Global South. The event will be moderated by Daudi Karungi (Director, Afriart Gallery, Uganda).

‘Sharity – Teilen, Tauschen, Verzichten’ is a group exhibition at Kunst(Zeug)Haus, Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. The presentation explores how sharing and swapping can contribute to social transformation and a post-materialistic lifestyle, whilst questioning the reasons why we share in an increasingly digital society. 

Thomas Hirschhorn’s ‘Spinoza-Car’, 2012 is featured at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium.

New Museum Of Contemporary Art Helga De Alvear opens in Spain with an inaugural exhibition featuring a selection of important works from the collection of Helga De Alvear, comprising 145 pieces from over 100 leading contemporary artists. Curated by José María Viñuela, it is the first time the majority of these artworks are exhibited at a museum institution.

As part of SAIC's ongoing series of lectures ‘the Visiting Artists Program’ Yinka Shonibare CBE will join Delinda Collier (Associate Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism and interim Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) for a virtual conversation followed by an audience Q&A. The event is free, non-ticketed, and open to the general public.

'Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America' is a group exhibition conceived by curator Okwui Enwezor and presented at New Museum, New York. The show brings together works made in the past decade by thirty-seven artists who have addressed the concept of mourning, commemoration, and loss in response to racist violence experienced by Black communities in America. 

On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, MAXXI presents an exhibition that represents the past ten years of the museum’s activity, aimed at providing a new perspective on the institution’s future. Curated by Hou Hanru, MAXXI’s broad program is collated using 1,200 images, archive interviews, texts and publications analysed within five sections: MAXXI and the City; The Multitude; Worlds; The Challenges of Reality and Do You Believe in Innovation?

In celebration of Black History Month, Brooklyn Academy of Music presents ‘Let Freedom Ring Vol. 2’, the second edition of a digital billboard-based series exploring the meaning of freedom in 2021. Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, the new installation of the public art project features artwork from Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, Jordan Casteel, Kevin Claiborne, Lizania Cruz, Deborah Roberts, Amy Sherald, and Jasmine Wahi.

Kehinde Wiley features in HBO documentary ‘Black Art: In the Absence of Light’. The feature-length documentary film focuses on artist, art historian and curator David Driskell, who championed African-American artists in the landmark survey, ‘Two Centuries of Black American Art’ held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976. Assembled from interviews with artists, curators and scholars ‘Black Art: In the Absence of Light’ features some of the foremost Black visual artists of today’s contemporary art world.

'Nasher Mixtape' is a group exhibition compiled of 'tracks', micro-exhibitions focused on the Nasher’s permanent collection installed throughout the museum. Curated by Catherine Craft, each 'track' contains further content including interviews with artists, inspiration playlists, and insights from curators, educators, and living artists to accompany the exhibition.

Black Rock Senegal has revealed the participants for the second year of its artist-in-residence programme. Founded by Kehinde Wiley in 2019, Black Rock Senegal seeks to support new artistic creation through collaborative exchange and to incite change in global discourse about Africa. The second year of the programme will run between February and December 2021.

Yinka Shonibare Foundation and Guest Projects Digital present ‘A Fabricator’s Tale’. This project showcases the individual practices of ten artists who work collectively as the fabricators behind the classical figures and sewn quilts of Yinka Shonibare CBE. Works included are varied and strikingly disparate, underpinned by the artist’s shared experience as artistic practitioners.

David Shrigley joins other leading artists calling on the nation to participate in 'The Great Big Art Exhibition'. Inspired by the displays of creativity with which the British public have celebrated the NHS and key workers during recent lockdowns, the Exhibition invites you to paint, draw, sculpt or build your own artwork for display in your window or garden. Museums will be selecting influential works from their collections to spark ideas and every two weeks a different artist will choose a new subject for the public to respond to.

Two works by Kehinde Wiley have been installed at Barnard College, New York in the reception of Milbank Hall. The large-scale, oil-on-canvas paintings, “Portrait of Dorinda Essah” and “Portrait of Savannah Essah,” are part of a series of six paintings from the William Morris Gallery exhibit “Kehinde Wiley: The Yellow Wallpaper,” The paintings are on long-term loan to the College.

During this time of national lockdown in the UK, Guest Projects Digital will present its first online Film Festival exploring issues of migration, mobility and global crisis. The festival will show established and emerging artists who use film as a significant part of their work.