Anish Kapoor

★★☆☆☆

On until 18 October 2026

One has to pity Anish Kapoor. He’s spent a lifetime pursuing an alchemy of voids. He’s hung tonnes of steel from ceilings that cry for reinforcement, becoming in so doing beholden to steel magnates. He’s dreamt of cutting through mountain ridges. He’s polished mirrors until they gave him the squint, placing him solo in the centre of his creation.

Many of the sculptor’s grandest proposals don’t get beyond the maquette, however, and with good reason. This Hayward salvo is one such dead end IRL. Kapoor’s forms seem here restrained by visitor capacity concerns. Their profound substance, if any, hides in a glibly colour-coordinated Instagram aesthetic.

Fibreglass mountains hang from the ceiling, lacerations and outgrowths mark canvases and pedestals. Polished steel and Vanta black abound. Yet nothing here overwhelms the senses. Is this the abyss Kapoor dreams we dream of? If so, pity the artist: Kaspar David Friedrich got to it in a single canvas.


notes and notices are short and curt exhibition reviews. Read more:

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Lara Favaretto

★☆☆☆☆

Burning the art student’s undergraduate essays won’t solve the problem.

A Comparative Dialogue Act, Luxemburg pavilion in Venice ★★☆☆☆

Andrea Mancini, Every Island

A Comparative Dialogue Act

★★☆☆☆

Stage fright is real. Cowardice is another thing altogether.

Divine Southgate-Smith, Navigator at Nicoletti ★☆☆☆☆

Divine Southgate-Smith

Navigator

★☆☆☆☆

It is too late to save the regime, yet too early to mourn it.

Florian Meisenberg, What does the smoke know of the fire? at Kate MacGarry, ★★★★☆

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What does the smoke know of the fire?

★★★★☆

Meisenberg’s paintings are either the product of a conspiracy or documents of a conspiracy theory.

Future Relics at Union Pacific ★★★★☆

Future Relics

★★★★☆

“Reskilling” has the same ring in art as “reindustrialisation” does in geopolitics.

Yo Nishimura: Dislocation at Sadie Coles ★☆☆☆☆

Yo Nishimura

Dislocation

★☆☆☆☆

Dislocation was once the stuff of excitement. Today, it barely recognises its own homelessness.

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