SHOWnews: Your Weekly Art Bulletin

Artist Hajime Sorayama's Exhibition I, Robot at Almine Rech Proves Robots Can Be Sexy Too

If you are yet to see Hajime Sorayama's exhibition I, Robot at Almine Rech, take this as your sign to do so (but quick, the exhibition closes 27 July). Based on Isaac Asimov's seminal story I Robot, Sorayama expertly ponders on the alluring possibilities of what happens when woman is merged with not man, but droid, one carrying a fleshy anatomy with flashy armour at that. Borrowing from the poses of Hollywood's pin-up girls to imagining a fantastical Blade Runner-inspired cyborg future, the artist proves it's not only mankind that has a libido, so do robots, or at least Sorayama's robots.

Find more about the exhibition here.

Visit Art After Hours With Ashleigh Kane

We get it, an ever-rotating list of art shows that are open one week, closed the next, can be exhausting to fit into your weekly schedule, especially if you have a 9-5 job. The only time most of us can fit in a gallery visit is on a Saturday afternoon and that's if you haven't already pencilled in a brunch date, cinema date, family date or you know, a date date, either. Alas, don't sweat: renowned editor, writer, and consultant Ashleigh Kane is here to save the day (and your gallery experience) thanks to her monthly Art After Hours Supper Club. This week's edition counts shows at Alice Black gallery, Edel Assanti and Tristan Hoare Gallery as well as a complimentary Spritz at the London EDITION Hotel. Go on, we know you want to...

Find more information about this week's Art After Hours gallery tour here.

Join Peter Kennard and Friends at Whitechapel Lates To Celebrate the Opening of Peter Kennard: Archive of Dissent

There are few things in life better than coming across a really good exhibition and that's hearing an artist you love talk about their really good exhibition... cue the next edition of Whitechapel Lates: Peter Kennard and Friends. Marking 50 years of powerful and influential image-making bridging art and politics, the evening will see the reigning king of photomontage Kennard himself talk about his latest exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery Archive of Dissent with artist and curator Harris Elliott and will also feature poetry readings by playwright, poet, novelist and spoken word artist Kae Tempest. Joining this stellar line-up is the collective Arfoud Brothers & Sisters, who will be performing two sets of Moroccan-inspired music. Truly, what could be better?

For more information about the event, click here.

Immerse Yourself In the Artistic World of Zhuo Xiong With the Artist's Latest Exhibition Gone With the Wind

The fear and loneliness of unfamiliar environments is a universal feeling, belonging to anyone and everyone who has found themselves aimlessly wondering through a city they don't recognise, especially those who were once new to London's West End: the location of RCA graduate Zhuo Xiong's upcoming exhibition Gone With the Wind. Via a series of ten paintings, Xiong reflects on the contrast between his Mongolian roots and Western education, creating complex cultural narratives that are equally introspective as they are candidly frivolous. Opening on 26 July until 15 August, this is a show not to be missed, especially for its unique location which takes place in the former National Gallery Archives on Whitcomb Street.

For more information, click here.

Venezuelan Artist Victoria Ruiz Thinks Anyone Can Be President, and Her Latest Photo Series Proves It

When Donald Trump was elected to become the 45th President of the United States in 2016, the world watched, mouth agape with horror. 'Anyone really can be president' was a collective thought penetrating the minds of many then and most certainly now, especially in the case of Central Saint Martins graduate, artist Victoria Ruiz whose latest collaboration with fellow UAL alum Helena Cebrian has culminated in a photo series and exhibition taking from this ideology in the name of expression and reinvention. Taking place at Rio de Janeiro's renowned cultural space Tropigalpão, Anyone Can Be President ultimately sees Ruiz and Cebrian playfully (and tactfully) subvert what they refer to as the 'European symbolism of the presidential sash', investigating new possibilities for political and personal representation across Latin America. Embedded in their work is a fundamental message of hope and revolution - two tropes we've never needed more than now. Open to the public until 1 August, this is a must-see show for anyone who happens to find themselves in Rio de Janeiro this summer.

For more information, click here.

Roger Mayne Youth

If Roger Mayne is to be remembered for one thing, it should be for his extraordinary ability and artistic passion for photographing human life as he found it, unedited and real. Ask any avid gallery hopper, Mayne's work is no doubt a sprawling wide web consisting of iconic street images depicting unknown children and teenagers that has done the rounds of many London galleries for years, held in an eternal loop. Alas, it's time to rejoice because until 1 September, the documentary photographer's work will stay put in one place at The Courtauld Institute of Art thanks to the exhibition Roger Mayne: Youth. Including around 60 almost exclusively vintage photographs as well as an almost entirely unknown selection of intimate and moving images of his own family at home in Dorset, this exhibition is an ode to Mayne as an artist and as well as his own life's mission in striving for the acceptance of photography as a real living and breathing art form.

For more information, click here.

Penny Slinger Performs An Excorcism, Inside Out At Richard Saltoun Gallery

Coinciding with the re-publishing of artist Penny Slinger's book An Exorcism last month, Richard Saltoun's latest exhibition of the artist's work (which takes the same name) explores Slinger's mightily fantastic artistic output which is as spectacular as it is immersive. Although previously published in the 1970s, An Exorcism predictably faced censorship upon import to the UK, thanks to it being marked as pornography, and consequently burned. Those with their thinking cap on know this means one thing: this exhibition serves as a landmark occasion, marking the first comprehensive encounter for the British public with Slinger's sumptuously erotic project since the 1970s. Need more of a reason to attend? We think not.

For more information, click here.