Thurston Moore and Mary Weatherford at Gagosian, London
Normally, I see virtually everything. Now I see everything virtually. But it’s not all bad. Not surprisingly, the big galleries have upped their game: see for example White Cube’s current presentations of Emma Cousin and Rachel Kneebone; Phyllida Barlow touring her Hauser & Wirth show with Jennifer Higgie; or Thurston Moore performing in Mary Weatherford’s installation at Gagosian.
Kara Chin: detail from ‘You Will Knead’ 2021
But smaller galleries have also stepped up. Vitrine, who already have a Covid-friendly window-only means of display, have neatly dovetailed physical and online aspects of to make up Kara Chin’s new show.
Miriam Austin: ‘Buttercup Gloves (for Alset)’, 2020
The ideal physical experience of an exhibition is to tour the show one-to-one with the artist, but that takes some arranging outside of a crowded opening (remember those?). But it’s easier for all online, and Bosse & Baum set up the opportunity for anyone to arrange an online tour of Miriam Austin’s recent exhibition with Miriam, who was potentially available from her studio much of the time. Add that their online presentation of the gallery is one of the least clunky, and online might even have been ‘better than being there’ in some cases. And it was an interesting place to be, too. Austin’s installation includes mainly silicone casts of – for example – buttercups, bodies, hyacinths and parts of a Teslar car. You can see as beautifully evocative tools and costumes for unknown rituals in an alternative society – or as an entry point for what she had in mind: specific imagined places and communities; and narratives relating imperialist legacies to the natural world.
Emma Cousin: ‘Base Camp’, 2020
Art writer and curator Paul Carey-Kent sees a lot of shows: we asked him to jot down whatever came into his head
Read more Paul Carey-Kent here
