Alternative Art Guide: International Edition

A nice gallery visit never fails to get us out of a slump, and with days getting gloomier while our bodies are still refusing to accept any form of routine post-holidays, a little mood lift is in order. So, Glamcult scouted art scene’s current hot spots around our fav locations and curated a sweeping guide for that good art that hits the spot. An eclectic collection of both under-the-radar exhibitions and big names that you might have missed – this is your sign to drag yourself out of the house and get inspired. Scroll down for your city!

A hidden gem tucked away in a cosy alleyway of Nine Streets, Stevenson is a beautiful space that focuses on celebrating for contemporary talent from South Africa and African Diaspora. With spaces in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Stevenson encourage international conversations surrounding art and create worldwide opportunities for their artists. This month, Stevenson’s gallery in Amsterdam is joining forces with Kiang Malingue gallery in Hong Kong, and brings a powerful selection of works from Tao Hui, Tromarama and Wang Zhibo exploring the fundamental significance of faces, bodies and voices.

14 January – 25 February 2023

Landing to Stedelijk Schiedam at the end of the month, Femmy Otten‘s solo exhibition We Once Were One is a powerful call for vulnerability and openness. Otten doesn’t restrict her practice to one medium — through painting, sculpture and performance, her work is an exploration of emotions and memories that reside in the physicality of our flesh. With the theme of connectedness and proximity being as pertinent as ever following numerous lockdowns and social distancing, Otten sets foot to remind us of the unity and intimacy we are capable of.

All-women group exhibition (It’s my Party) I Can Cry If I Want To at Guts Gallery is a grotesque act of self-empowerment as it overturns the notions and expectations around the female body and gender roles. With an impressive breadth of talent and approaches, ten featured artists grapple with themes of consumption, hysteria and objectification under the female gaze that unites them — it’s unapologetic, poignant and unbound. As the exhibition text reads “these bodies devour the world in a narcissistic act of self-indulgence and, in doing so, prevent the world from devouring them”.

13th of January – 2nd of February

An Alternative History of Photography at the Photographer’s Gallery is an absolute must. Works of textbook photography idols such as Diane Arbus, Man Ray and Ansel Adams are shown alongside little known regional champions from East Asia to West Africa, to New Zealand and Uzbekistan. Placed together, these defining pieces are presented to be in a conversation as the exhibition showcases “a complex interchange of fine art, scientific, anthropological, documentary and amateur traditions”. The collection views the history of photography as an intricate spider web as opposed to a linear narrative, and delivers a comprehensive tribute to the unnamed heroes of the medium whose voices were overlooked by the mainstream history books.

Through February 19th

It’s 2023 and it’s hard to distinguish between real life and a dystopian surrealist painting. However, for a more magical and enigmatic kind of surrealism, we recommend visiting Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity at Museum Barberini just outside of Berlin, which is one of the most comprehensive exhibitions ever dedicated to the surrealist canon. From Dalí to Remedios Varo, the curation spans over 70 years of the movement and fifteen international artists, crafting an esoteric and whimsical world where surrealism becomes a state of mind. What’s special, is the exhibition’s focus on representing lesser-known voices that were crucial to the movement, as well as the significant (but often glossed over) contribution of women artists.

Through January 29th

To celebrate Henri-Cartier Bresson Foundation‘s new space, the gallery brings the works of the legendary Martin Parr for an unexpected juxtaposition. Depicting the unpolished reality of Margaret Thatcher’s England with irony, humour and stabbing rawness, Parr’s imagery brings a beautiful contrast to Bresson’s reserved, black & white style. As they come from two diametrically worlds, the exhibition draws a moving parallel between the two artists and their ingenious approach to capturing truth and humanity, all while inspiring us to become more careful observers of our own reality.

Through January 29th

To step away from New York’s chaos, we recommend visiting Julia Chiang‘s Salt on Our Skin at Nicola Vassel. Chiang’s works are meditative yet contemplative, as they explore “oscillating pressure of internalized tenderness against external restriction”. Through pottery and painting, Chiang masterfully manipulates forms and textures, as the viewer’s eye slowly glides along her tenderly crafted shapes and enigmatic colour spaces.

January 12th – February 25th

I Paint What I Want to See at Everyday Gallery is powerful in its simplicity. A group exhibition from Erik Chiafele, Michiel Ceulers, Louise Delanghe, Jonathan DeDecker and Sung Hwa Kim, the display is a celebration of monumental foundations of art – each brushstroke, pigment, line and every other element that imprints one’s imagination onto a blank canvas. Adopting entirely different visual approaches, all the featured artists are bound together by a sense of historical reference to art, and turn the exhibition into “an endless tumbling on the surface into a depth of history, in a deceptively flat plane.”

13th January – 2nd of February