SHOWnews: Charlie Porter's Literary Venture, Objects of Poetic Interest and More

TALK

An Evening With Charlie Porter In Conversation with Peter Parker at Hatchard’s Piccadilly

Honouring the joys of creativity and queerness, Nova Scotia House - Charlie Porter's debut novel proposes a radical vision of a queer 1990s London. Taking us to the heart of a relationship set within a community devastated by AIDS, the novel is narrated by Porter's protagonist Johnny Grant, who, for reasons that gradually unfold, faces stark life decisions, which he faces by indulging in memories of a relationship he had 30 years before. As Johnny’s mind travels between then and now, his ex-partner's past youth takes the spotlight as the prime example of 'experiments in living', experiments that lead to one of Porter's characters to ask halfway through Nova Scotia House 'What am I to do with this anger?', a question so simply put yet so multilayered, especially for generations of British gay men - Porter included. Consider Nova Scotia House Porter's written answer; a statement the author explores with Peter Parker at Hatchard's Piccadilly this week, along with Porter's own reasons for turning to fiction to craft a deeply personal and touching novel. For tickets and more information about the event, click here.

EXHIBITION

Tine Mara at Carl Freedman Gallery

'I'm at a place in my life where I am getting back to an inner child who painted for very pure reasons, to explore my emotional body... there's a sensitivity, a sweetness, a femininity, a queerness that I think even as a child, I was always a little ashamed of and I started to realise I have no use for that shame' - TM Davy.

Always surrendering his attention to fantasy, artist TM Davy is best known for his figurative paintings and pastels, all of which lean towards evoking a dreamlike reality that transcends liminal space thanks to Davy's own obsession with the ethereal. Armed with an abundance of talent and an aesthetic that stands at the intersection of classical technique and modern sensibility, it's no wonder Davy's art beholds such little traces of time, at least in the linear sense. His world is a world where creatures - imagined and real, past and present - converge, a subject matter explored tenfold in the artist's Carl Freedman Gallery exhibition Tine Mara. Inspired by Margate - where the artist lives - the works on show are shaped by the sea, the chalk cliffs, and the ancient caves that punctuate the area's coastline with Davy viewing them as mythic portals to another realm rather than just singular landscapes. You have to see it to believe it - looks like a trip to Margate is in order, for the views and this incredible exhibition.

Tine Mara is open to the public at Carl Freedman Gallery until 22 June. For more information, click here.

EXHIBITION

Shuyi Cao: Winding without shore at Gathering

Portals, it seems, are a hot topic for artists in 2025. Joining TM Davy in his fascination with the subject is Shuyi Cao, whose current exhibition at Gathering titled Winding without shore, transforms the London-based arts venue into what can only be described as an immersive gateway into the unknown. 'We often think about archaeology as a thread of connection between us and the deep past' notes the exhibition text. 'In Winding without Shore, artist Shuyi Cao presents us with an archaeology that combines recent and distant pasts with imagined futures, threaded together by quicksilver streams'.

Through sculpture and video, Cao looks at the entanglement between organic and technological forms, honing in on the half way point 'where past and future, physical and digital' collide by combining 3D scanning, printing, and hand-painting. Least to say, the works on show go beyond the everyday as AI-generated imagery, speculative cosmologies, and the shifting histories of geological and biological matter merge to form a visual path no artist has trodden before.

Shuyi Cao: Winding without shore is open to the public at Gathering until 7 June.

EVENT

Lost Property at Dalston Boys Club

What makes us human? This is a question philosophers have debated since Ancient Greece - and one we're not about to answer now. What we will say is that arguably, it's not the places we live in or jobs that define us but rather the smaller things; the objects of our affection that fall under the proverbial bracket of niche obsessions we all harbour. Honing in on this concept is London-based writer and editor Letty Cole, whose new lecture series Lost Property is part reaction to London's bubbling literary scene and part love letter to the mundane things that maybe aren't so mundane after all. 'I felt like there was a real gap in the London nightlife scene for an event that felt educational without being serious, and welcoming while still being a little hedonistic and weird. And so Lost Property was born, with curiosity and frivolity greatly encouraged', Cole told us over email.

Focusing on nothing but a person's irrational passion for their otherwise seemingly everyday possessions, it's worth noting no exact theme unites Lost Property. 'Each edition of the event will welcome a lineup of creatives to speak about whatever treasures and trivia they care to share, whether that's fringe histories that deserve to be told, quasi-philosophical debates, weird facts, social commentary or just pure miscellany', Cole elaborated. And so here we are, patiently awaiting the first edition of Lost Property to unfold, which will feature talks from writer and Five Fold co-curator Ethan Joseph, folk singer Maria Dearest, DJ and Fetchish founder, Zlata Mechetina, and Tate curator and cyberneticist Elliott Higgs.

See you there this Thursday at Dalston Boys Club. Doors open at 19.30. Bar is cash only. For more information and tickets, click here.

EXHIBITION

The Totalists at Albion Jeune

Fusing the virtual with the physical isn't a new concept in art, not even in painting - the most traditional of all mediums. What is new, not to mention wildly impressive, is when an artist uses an AI software they've engineered themselves. Welcome Rachel Rossin, whose latest exhibition, The Totalists at Albion Jeune, incorporates Rossin's own self-programmed AI to confront the exponential pace of technology that society has borne witness to over the last 30 years, examining its equally profound impact on human creativity and autonomy.

Reflecting on the widening chasm between human comprehension and machine intelligence, Rossin's paintings hint at the hidden infrastructure of our digital age via a series of abstract works that simultaneously conceal and reveal. As layers of paint mimic screen glitch effects, a myriad of colours are employed to evoke digital interfaces, suggesting how technology has come to function as a nervous system of our own. Consider our interest piqued.

The Totalists is open to the public at Albion Jeune until 1 June.