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:

Cynthia Hawkins: Maps Necessary for a Walk in 4D: Chapter 4 at Hollybush Gardens

Cynthia Hawkins

Maps Necessary for a Walk in 4D: Chapter 4

★★★☆☆

Hawkins’s paint reveals that her studio was no crime scene.

Phung-Tien Pham, doesn’t work at Project Native Informant ★★☆☆☆

Phung-Tien Pham

doesn't work

★★☆☆☆

Fad aesthetics for fad ideas.

Mohammed Z. Rahman, A Flame is a Petal at Phillida Reid ★★★☆☆

Mohammed Z. Rahman

A Flame is a Petal

★★★☆☆

Rahman’s zine hand makes this make-believe explicit but not plausible.

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, It Will End In Tears at Barbican Curve ★★☆☆☆

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum

It Will End In Tears

★★☆☆☆

With the right lighting, this story could be a mid-century colonial classic.

The Unfinished Business of Living Together at the Swiss pavilion in Venice ★★★☆☆

Nina Wakeford, et al.

The Unfinished Business of Living Together

★★★☆☆

If the Swiss don’t think they’re free, who is?

Max Boyla, Crying like a fire in the sun at Workplace ★★☆☆☆

Max Boyla

Crying like a fire in the sun

★★☆☆☆

Rothko’s abstractions are said to have induced tears in viewers overwhelmed by abstraction. Staring at the sun here, however, barely causes blindness.

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