Cultural Diary: make the most of galleries and museums reopening this month
Museums around the UK reopen on 17 May, so this month’s Cultural Diary is chock-full of exhibitions. Celebrate the arrival of spring with David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts, familiarise yourself with foldable sculptures at the Henry Moore Institute, and plunge into a series of immersive digital worlds at 180 The Strand. Plus, discover a sprinkling of the latest fiction hitting the shelves.
Joan Miró: La Gran Belleza, Newlands House, West Sussex
This colourful exhibition takes its name from Joan Miró’s joy and optimism. La Gran Belleza, which translates as ‘The Great Beauty’, celebrates the great 20th-century artist’s commitment to living with positivity and intent – even through the Spanish flu and Civil War. Spread across the Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse and adjacent coach house in the market town of Petworth, the show traces 50 years of Miró’s career through almost 40 magical abstract drawings, paintings, engravings and sculptures. This homage to the modern master, guest-curated by Dr Javier Molins, is on until 4 July.
Portable Sculpture, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Think sculpture and you’d be forgiven for picturing a solid stone figure that’s fixed in place. But an exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, which runs from 18 May to 29 August, showcases an alternative – and altogether more agile – form of artistic expression. Portable Sculpture presents pieces made between 1934 and the present day that are designed to “fold up, pack down and dismantle”. Curated by Claire O’Dowd, the show will feature the work of 15 artists, from Louise Bourgeois and Alexander Calder to Mohamad Hafez and Do Ho Suh. Some have been made adaptable for personal reasons, others due to shifts in the socio-political landscape. All raise questions of identity, stability, and belonging.
James Barnor: Accra/London – A Retrospective, The Serpentine Gallery, London
The visionary British Ghanaian photographer James Barnor started his career in his hometown of Accra, where he set up his Ever Young studio in the early 1950s, taking portraits and staging images that captured a hopeful nation on the brink of independence. In 1959, he moved to London, where he shot for South Africa’s Drum magazine and presented a different take on the black communities settling in the city. This major retrospective, which opens on 19 May, will chart his career as a portraitist, photojournalist and lifestyle photographer, as well as examining his influence on the next generation of artists around the world.
A Glittering City: Ayo Akingbade with Duchamp & Sons, Whitechapel Gallery, London
The London-based artist and film-maker Ayo Akingbade has collaborated with Whitechapel Gallery’s youth collective Duchamp & Sons to start a conversation around urbanism, gentrification and public space. A Glittering City presents two films that are both practical calls to action and hopeful visions for the future. Fire in My Belly (2021) sees these young Londoners discuss the meaning of community and belonging, while Dear Babylon (2019) follows three art students as they seek to find a solution to a fictional new social-housing law. From 19 May until 15 August.
Ryoji Ikeda, 180 Studios, 180 The Strand, London
For something a little more multi-sensory, head to 180 The Strand, where The Vinyl Factory and Fact magazine, in collaboration with Audemars Piguet Contemporary, are presenting a new exhibition of immersive artworks by the Japanese audio-visual artist Ryoji Ikeda. The subterranean show – which runs from 20 May until 1 August and is Ikeda’s largest-ever exhibition in Europe – will take over multiple floors of 180 Studios and bring its cavernous spaces to life with 12 digital worlds, five of which have never been seen before. A dizzying technological exploration of light and sound.
David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Spring has sprung and the Royal Academy of Arts is celebrating in style. Last year David Hockney captured the unfolding of the season at his home in Normandy, and this year his vivid landscapes and still lifes will be exhibited on London’s Piccadilly. The 116 artworks were “painted” on an iPad and then printed on paper; colourful streams and skies hum with life. While you’re in the building, be sure to also check out Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict, an exhibition that pairs the Kenyan-born artist’s fantastical mural-sized paintings with works by six contemporary East African painters.
May fiction releases
For those of you seeking out culture closer to home, look no further than this month’s fiction releases. First up is the new novel from author of the tour de force Outline trilogy: Rachel Cusk’s Second Place (Faber & Faber) explores male privilege and the power of art through an encounter between a restless female writer and a famous male artist. Fault Lines (Orion) by Emily Itami is a bittersweet modern love story that follows the double life of Japanese housewife Mizuki, while Mother Mother (Headline), the debut novel from DJ and broadcaster Annie MacManus (also known as Annie Mac), is a coming of age tale about family, addiction and grief. Mira Sethi’s Are You Enjoying? (Bloomsbury) is a bold collection of short stories that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. Plus, tune into The London Library Lit Fest (1st-3rd May) and Hay Festival (26th May-6th June) for author talks aplenty.
RELATED ON THE MODERN HOUSE
What to see at Open House London 2021
How design duo Isabel + Helen explore movement, materials and mechanisms in art
How Liliane Tomasko and Sean Scully deal with abstraction
How Sophie Taeuber-Arp changed modern art and design
How Rachel Kneebone unravels the human experience in art
How Eduardo Chillida created a sense of time and space
How Charlotte Perriand pushed the boundaries of design
Culture at home in March 2021
The best of what to see, read and do from your sofa in February 2021
Cultural highlights in January 2021, from architecture exhibitions to art openings