Carrie Mae Weems, In The Edge of Time—Ancient Rome, 2006; digital c-print, 73 x 61 inches, edition of 5, with 2 artist proofs. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
In this week’s roundup Carrie Mae Weems tackles issues of identity and belonging, Kimsooja has a thirty-year retrospective, Ai Weiwei organizes a film program, and more.
- Carrie Mae Weems is in a group show at Jenkins Johnson Gallery (San Francisco, CA). Seven Sisters features ethnically diverse and world-renowned artists’ commentaries on the intersection of ethics, race, culture, and self-expression. In The Edge of Time—Ancient Rome Weems tackles questions of identity and belonging. A black-clad figure serves as a muse and a leader. Weems says, “This woman can stand in for me and for you; she leads you into history. She’s a witness and a guide.” Closes December 7.
- A thirty-year retrospective of Kimsooja’s work is on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, Canada). Kimsooja Unfolding ranges from early textile-based pieces to installations and single- and multi-channel videos that look at time, memory, displacement, and the relationship between the human body and the material world. Closes January 26, 2014.
- Ai Weiwei has curated a film program under the theme “Everything is Under Control” for the 2013 Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (Denmark). The festival lineup also includes the world premiere of Ai’s documentary Stay Home! (2013)—about a ten-year old Chinese girl who is denied HIV treatment because she is the second born in the family; and Untitled Film (2013) by Pierre Huyghe. The festival will take place November 7–17.
- Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) has two retrospective exhibitions opening on October 26 in Edinburgh (Scotland). I Give Everything Away, featuring a selection of works on paper, will be on view at Fruitmarket Gallery through February 23. A Woman Without Secrets, a major retrospective of Bourgeois’s later career, will be on view at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art through May 18.
- Sonezaki Shinju: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, a bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet theatre) created by Hiroshi Sugimoto and the artist Tabaimo was featured in last week’s Festival d’Automne a Paris. The production will continue to travel and is scheduled for venues in Tokyo and Osaka in March 2014.
- Charles Atlas’s sound collaboration with the New Humans was presented by BMW at Frieze London (October 17-20 at Regent’s Park). The piece played in BMW VIP cars to and from the fair. The nine-minute track is still available online.