Yin Xiuzhen

Heart to Heart

★★☆☆☆

On until 3 May 2026

Can a contemporary art institution dedicated to showcasing the work of ‘international’ artists credibly critique globalisation? Xiuzhen remediates commodities, turning second-hand fabrics into ‘immersive’ experiences, concrete building blocks into objects of speculation, and, as a side-effect, all mass-market goods into high-status ideas. She is, in other words, the gallery’s quintessential supply chain contractor.

Xiuzhen’s fabric installations show up the seamlessness of air travel and sameness of ‘global cities’ which render moving between them as futile as driving to the shopping mall in the next town in search of inspiration. This revelation was, sadly, lost on the artists and failed to stop the art shippers in their tracks. Xiuzhen’s chagrin is only for Beijing; London’s lot remains made in China.


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

Shu Lea Cheang at Project Native Informant ★★☆☆☆

Shu Lea Cheang

Scifi New Queer Cinema, 1994-2023

★★☆☆☆

With material this gratuitously explicit and a curator this absent, it’s a miracle that this project wasn’t shut down by the licencing, or indeed art-historical authorities.

Lutz Bacher, AYE! at Raven Row ★★★★☆

Lutz Bacher

AYE!

★★★★☆

There’s joy in repetition. There’s joy in repetition. There’s joy in repetition. There’s joy in repetition. There’s joy in repetition. There’s joy in repetition.

Megan Rooney, Echoes & Hours at Kettle’s Yard ★★☆☆☆

Megan Rooney

Echoes & Hours

★★☆☆☆

For all this bravado, Rooney’s compositions offer only a very surface experience of abstraction.

Poppy Jones, Solid Objects at Herald St ★★★★☆

Poppy Jones

Solid Objects

★★★★☆

The lightness of the painter’s gesture cries out for a sledgehammer that would relieve the viewer of his doubt.

Avery Singer, Free Fall at Hauser & Wirth ★★☆☆☆

Avery Singer

Free Fall

★★☆☆☆

This show would be better without the baggage of the artist’s personal story and even better without the Twin Towers altogether.

Manfred Pernice, Megan Plunknett, >anticorpo< at Galerie Neu and Emalin ★★★★☆

Manfred Pernice, Megan Plunknett

>anticorpo<

★★★★☆

Such ‘80s nostalgia for meaning before history’s end is a comfort blanket.

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