Merike Estna

The House of Leaking Sky

★★☆☆☆

On until 22 November 2026

Is painting better than basketball? Estna’s Estonian pavilion is one of those ‘come back in three months’ dos that have the artist working on site for the duration of the Biennale. Not a bad way to catch an afternoon’s Aperol sun. Less great, however, for the school kids who gave up their sports hall for the painter’s studio.

The glossy tile flooring and gesso-clad walls overlaid on the court do carry a promise of an immersive vista — and Estna is a capable painter. But the whole thing’s a racket, and not one useful for sport. 


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

Maja Malou Lyse: Things to Come at the Danish pavilion in Venice ★★★★★

Maja Malou Lyse

Things to Come

★★★★★

Eros is dead. Long live Eros.

David Muenzer, Teen at Final Hot Desert ★★★☆☆

David Muenzer

Teen

★★★☆☆

Muenzer’s messy show bedroom actually is someone’s messy bedroom most nights of the week.

Liquid Tongues at the Polish pavilion in Venice ★★☆☆☆

Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski

Liquid Tongues

★★☆☆☆

Liquid Tongues is a collaboration between two artists and a community choir of deaf and hearing people. Despite drawing on many ideas, the film lands a generic, corporate look. Were Burska and Kotowski not aware of the rich history of linguistic…

Michael Simpson at Modern Art ★★★★☆

Michael Simpson

★★★★☆

In this meditation of surface disguised as a study of objects, neither is a truer likeness of the events.

Karimah Ashadu: Tendered at Camden Art Centre ★★☆☆☆

Karimah Ashadu

Tendered

★★☆☆☆

Ashadu’s films are as banal as they are overbought with glib signifiers.

James Welling and Bernd & Hilla Becher at Maureen Paley ★★★☆☆

James Welling and Bernd & Hilla Becher

★★★☆☆

Welling’s veneration of brutalist concrete borders on fetish.

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