SHOWnews: Your Weekly Arts Bulletin

EXHIBITION

Temptation of Being by Ivana Bašić at Albion Jeune

If you were to walk down Little Portland Street right now, you'd be confronted with the almost-spiritual sculptures of Serbian artist Ivana Bašić, thanks to her latest exhibition at Albion Jeune titled Temptation of Being. Take a step inside the gallery and you'll be transported to a whole other plane that dives into the push and pull between beauty and brutality. Is there a difference? I know there is but when i'm standing in front of a Bašić suddenly i'm not so sure. As taupe greys converge with flesh-coloured tones, a sense of the maternal sprouts but as soon as you recognise it for what it is, it leaves you and is replaced with a deep sense of unease. Despite the equally unsettling, yet endless beauty on display, the result of sheer talent and dedication (Bašić is self-taught - 'taking up art as a pastime isn't really something one thinks of doing when you're in a war-torn country trying to survive' the artist told me at the press preview) cannot be overlooked.

If I can be sure on one thing, it's that when viewing Bašić's in person, your arm hairs are likely to raise. Maybe it's the artist's post-apocalyptic style that many journalists insist on mentioning, maybe it's the undercurrent of erotica that's threaded throughout (note the elongated drops that - although suspended - droop from various crevices as the materials wax, bronze, blown glass, oil paint and stainless steel merge to create the seemingly impossible). Whatever it is, I need more. The art world needs more.

The Temptation of Being at Albion Jeune is open to the public until 17 April.

POERTY NIGHT

Five Fold X I Love To Feel at Twilight Contemporary

If you're one of the lucky few who attended SHOWstudio's poetry night I Too, in association with The Black Curriculum charity, you will know how good a host and presenter Ethan Joseph is. Now, joined by his creative partner in crime Flora Scott (together the pair are in charge of the East London-based curatorial project Five Fold), Joseph will be hosting a poetry night of his own with a twist. In collaboration with I Love To Feel - a dedicated night that platforms women of colour who make experimental music, Five Fold have teamed up with Twilight Contemporary for a night of music and poetry as part of the Essex Road gallery's 'Twilight Lates' programme. Whether you're there for the DJs, the poets or the live improvised performances, (yes, there's all three) we couldn't think of a better way for you to spend your Thursday night. Scrap the pub, we know what we're doing.

This event is scheduled to take place between 19:00 and 23:00 on Thursday 27 February. For tickets, click here.

DANCE PREMIERE

Wayne McGregor's Deepstaria at Sadler's Wells

Have you ever wondered what 'nothingness' looks like? Thrown your mind into metaphorical places that measure how loud or silent or endless it can be? Sir Wayne McGregor has. So much so that the term 'void' has proven to be a keyword in the choreographer's recent lexicon as he's set to premiere his latest piece titled Deepstaria at Sadler's Wells this week. As captivating as it is highly sensory and meditative, the work's title references the profound nothingness that surrounds Deepstaria sea animals which are known for their thin, sheet-like bodies and are a genus of jellyfish, residing at the bottom of the ocean.

Utilising Vantablack technology on stage to recreate unfathomable darkness (the kind that Deepstaria are familiar with), McGregor envisions an environment that although humans may not be privy to, are still wholly captivated by. 'Since the beginning of time, humankind has had a fascination with the void' writes the show's press release, noting how the environment McGregor has successfully fabricated 'disturbs traditional hierarchies of perception.' We're not saying McGregor's dancers look like jellyfish on stage, but thanks to their weightless, meditative movements, we're asking you to leave your perceptions at the door and enter a deep sea state of mind. This is as close to Deepstaria as you'll be able to get.

Performances of Deepstaria at Sadler's Wells will be running from 27 February until 2 March.

EXHIBITION

Leigh Bowery! at Tate Modern

If you're one of those who is nostalgic for the Club Kid era then 2025 is your year. No, not because the Cha Cha Club is being revived, neither is Blitz or Taboo. Instead, the artists, designers and all-round creative revolutionaries who stood at the forefront of London's club culture scene in the 1980s are now getting their own tribute as seen via two glorious retrospectives.

First, we had Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 1980s London which included the work of Leigh Bowery but this week, the performance artist has been given his own sumptuously sequined showcase at Tate Modern which plays tribute to the performing artist and his fellow entourage of close collaborators. During his life, Bowery took on many different roles - an artist, fashion designer, performer, club kid, model and even TV personality included - arguably cruising through more career paths than many people would do in a lifetime. For the first time since Bowery's early death in 1994, all these roles are highlighted as the icon's dazzling costumes are shown next to Charles Atlas' films, Nick Knight's photographs and Lucien Freud's paintings; all of which contribute to charting the journey of a young boy from the quiet suburb of Sunshine in Australia to the outrageously brilliant, shocking and law-defying character that Leigh Bowery became. To witness true flamboyance and artistry, look no further than Leigh Bowery! at Tate Modern: a scorcher of a show that holds something for everyone.

Leigh Bowery! at Tate Modern is open to the public until 31 August.

EXHIBITION

Resistance Curated by Steve McQueen at Turner Contemporary

Click on the Turner Contemporary's website right now and you'll be greeted with the tagline, 'How protest shaped Britain and photography shaped protest'; - a phrase that, although simplistic in its messaging, sets the gallery's latest exhibition Resistance - curated by Steve McQueen - apart from any other exhibition of similar nature that has come before.

From London's suffragettes to the country's more recent mass protest against the dreaded Iraq War, (one that attracted some 1.5 million people in the capital, with speakers at Hyde Park including Harold Pinter, Tony Benn and even Bianca Jagger), photographers have borne witness to a century of British resistance. Now you can too thanks to McQueen's arresting showcase that painstakingly recounts key moments from social history from 1903 to 2023 - from the protests that people still refer to today to the ones that have wrongfully dropped from the public's collective consciousness. It's all there. It's all happened before. All you need to do is look.

Resistance, curated by Steve McQueen is on display at Turner Contemporary until 1 June.

SCREENING

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive TV Pilot Screening at Farr's Dalston

How big a David Lynch fan are you? Can you count the number of times you've watched Mulholland Drive on one hand or are you a little bit more deranged, more... obsessed? If you're someone who is furiously nodding at the latter then we have just the treat for you, Lynchian style. On 1 March, Deeper Into Movies have teamed up with the Dalston-based pub Farr's School of Dancing to screen Mulholland Drive as it was originally conceived. Want the chance to compare the pilot to the final feature film and explore the director’s creative evolution? This one is for you, my fellow Lynch fanatic.

For tickets, click here.

EXHIBITION

The Rock & Roll Public Library Magazine Launches with an Exhibition at London’s Farsight Gallery

If Mick Jones rings some familiarity to you (fans of The Clash, we're looking at you), then drop all your plans for the foreseeable and make your way down to Farsight Gallery before 16 March to witness the musician's spectacular archive, officially known as The Rock & Roll Public Library. Including literally thousands of pieces of ephemera - books, comics, magazines, musical equipment, literature, art and even clothing - the archive is being celebrated in an exhibition that pays tribute to not only Jones' chosen career path, but the history of culture as we know it. The exhibition also marks the launch of the archive's first ever magazine which serves as a curated selective journey through the collection, with Jones writing in a statement to press that 'The magazine to me is like a record, with each article a separate track and it tells a story – my story. And by extension through our shared culture, all of our stories. I hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it.'

The Rock & Roll Public Library at Farsight Gallery will be open to the public between 1 and 16 March.

EXHIBITION

PLACES+FACES Unites With Sotheby's

Cast your mind back to 2013, when the internet was a simpler time and Tumblr ruled the minds (and hearts) of teens. It was also the year PLACES+FACES was founded, anchored in the principles of its founders, Imran Ciesay and Solomon Boyede, who had (and still do) an insatiable desire to document the 'culture they're a part of' while simultaneously travelling and working (and most importantly, enjoying it while doing so). Reflecting on this ethos, the duo have now teamed up with Sotheby's for an exhibition charting their travels across places like Jakarta, Bangkok, Cuba, and Cairo, as well as the famous faces they've seen along the way. From Quentin Tarantino to Rihanna and even the last ever portrait of Virgil Abloh, it's all there; the places and faces that make up PLACES+FACES.

The collaborative PLACES+FACES exhibition is open to the public at Sotheby’s London location on New Bond Street until 4 March.