SHOWNews: Your Weekly Arts Bulletin

Say Goodbye To SHOWstudio's SHADOW-BAN exhibition

If you haven't managed to make your way down to 22D Ebury Street yet to see our seminal exhibition SHADOW-BAN, then what have you been doing? Including art by Peter Saville, Von Wolfe, Tom of Finland, Harley Weir, George Rouy, Simon Foxton and more - you'd have to have a very good reason to miss this. If you want to find out more you can read up about the exhibition and project here otherwise, get up, get ready and get OUT (address listed here) before the exhibition closes on 15 November.

Artist Louis Morlæ Presents Aut-OOO-Arcadia at Somerset House

The other day, I stumbled across a rather strange article by The Guardian headlined 'Is Your Air Fryer Spying on You?' I dismissed the read as nothing but fear-mongering fluff but five minutes later, found myself scrolling back through my open tabs to find the page and give it a read. Is this the beginning of the dystopian future George Orwell warned us about? Of course not, that began in the 1990s. Regardless, this seems like the next stage of the apocalypse looming (coupled with Trump's win). Why is this important? Well, it's not, really, but it does - in part - relate to the work of Somerset House's Creative Technologies Fellow Louis Morlæ whose recently opened exhibition Aut-OOO-Arcadia reflects on his practice exploring the not-so-distant future implications of automation and robotics, diving into mass change in many social structures inherent for a society to thrive. Via a deeply intriguing combination of robotic sculptures, video and interactive multimedia, Morlæ looks to revel in 'a post-work future', one the artist describes as a ‘fully automated arcadia’.

Although there isn't an air fryer in sight, the notion isn't too far-fetched for Aut-OOO-Arcadia, whose exhibiting artworks does include a wall-mounted interface that analyses human activity in a future without productive labour - sound familiar? Titled Mother, the piece is meant to reflect on the age-old notion of future gadgets and the army of unnecessary trackers they come with, aka, The Guardian's case for the trusty air fryer in question. Freaky paranoia-inducing articles aside, in an era where much of our engagement with technology feels intangible - hidden in algorithms and data streams - Morlæ’s robotic sculptures serve as a reminder of the tactile, intertwining nature and technology forevermore to suggest a new type of utopia, as far away as humanly possible from the one we're currently presented with.

Aut-OOO-Arcadia at Somerset House is open to the public until 23 February, 2025. Wondering where to grab your ticket! You don't need one - lucky for you, this exhibition is free.

The British Museum Exposes Picasso's Printmaking World In New Exhibition

We all know about Picasso's prolific output in oil paint, but what about his print works? In addition to the many, many paintings, sculptures, drawings and even textiles the artist worked on throughout his career, there are also over 2,400 prints - a medium the artist readily used to explore spare-of-the-moment ideas and techniques later pursued in his paintings.

Charting Picasso's world of printmaking, from his early years as an artist in Paris to his old age in the South of France, the British Museum's Picasso: printmaking exhibition offers audiences a chance to get up close and personal with not only the artist himself but also the many varied subjects featured in his work - not to mention the stylistic twist and turns he made (some of which influenced the most famous art movements ever documented) as the decades rolled by.

Whether you're intrigued by prints made before the artist's breakthrough painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), or his remarkable burst of late creativity as proven by his series 347 Suite - completed aged 86 in 1968 - the past and present collide as thematic threads surrounding love, sex and war come full circle in this exhibition, Picasso style.

Picasso: printmaking at the British Museum is open to the public until 30 March, 2025.

Saatchi Gallery Opens As We Rise: Photography From the Black Atlantic

Taking from the Wedge Collection - Canada’s largest privately-owned collection committed to championing Black artists - Saatchi Gallery's latest exhibition As We Rise: Photography From the Black Atlantic, showcases an incredible display of photographs from the African Diasporic culture, with artists hailing from everywhere including Canada, the United States, Great Britain, The Caribbean, and the African Continent all involved. Uniting concepts of community, identity and power, the exhibition endeavours to not only recognise but champion the beauty, vulnerability, and diversity of Black life.

As We Rise: Photography From the Black Atlantic will be open to the public at Saatchi Gallery until 20 January, 2025.

Autograph Gallery Opens Rotimi Fani-Kayode's Exhibition The Studio – Staging Desire

If you haven't come across Rotimi Fani-Kayode's work before then get learning. An artist who gained traction for exploring the intersection between sexuality and race, his stylised portraits and compositions are considered to be some of the most poetic to come out of 1980s Britain. Modelling his style of photography on Mapplethorpe's distinct black-and-white signature aesthetic, Fani-Kayode's portfolio is one that borrows from an array of eclectically rich references, in particular, the artist's own Yoruba upbringing. As for the late artist's current exhibition at Autograph in London, make sure to head down to the Shoreditch-based gallery before next March to bear witness to a shining emphasis on a variation of delicately staged and crafted portraits taken by the artist in his Brixton-based studio, all of which playfully negotiate the status of being an ‘outsider’; a thread that underpinned his entire creative output.

The Studio – Staging Desire at Autograph is open to the public until 22 March, 2025.

New Book By Dylan Jones Entices You To Dive Into the Cinematic Style of James Bond

You know James Bond is penetrated deep into society's cultural psyche when you consider how 'Bond Girl' is a category all of its own - 'so much so that the term has entered our fashion lexicon', writes Elle's Joe Zee in Dylan Jones and Lindy Hemming's latest book James Bond: Style - a publication sure to ooze as much sophistication as a Diana Riggs costume. Name rings a bell? So it should. Not only an army of Bond costumes to her belt, Riggs was also the designer behind The Avengers costumes in the 1960s and 70s... I digress. If you're a lover of timelessness, elegance, and Bond-style sophistication, this book is for you. Want the full experience? Get yourself down to the 007 Bond store in Burlington Arcade this week for a 'Goldfinger' cocktail and immerse yourself in what could truly be the set from No Time To Die.

You can order James Bond: Style here.