August diary: this month's must-see events and exhibitions

Date
2 August 2018

The month of August tends to be a bit quieter, dare we say it, than the rest of the year. Offices are semi-deserted as everyone heads off on their various holidays, from Marbella to Morocco via Margate, and the rest of the country adopts a slightly slower pace (how could we possibly function at full speed in this heat?). Make the most of the summer’s longer evenings, and actually leaving the office on time, by visiting some of the many art shows and exhibitions taking place around the UK and the rest of the world.

Drag: Self-portraits and Body Politics
22 August — 14 October
Hayward Gallery, London

Drag: Self-portraits and Body Politics is an exhibition taking place at London’s Hayward Gallery later this month featuring radical self-portraiture from the 1960s to the present day. Not presented in a linear-narrative, these portraits explore the work of artists who have used drag to explore or question identity, gender, class, politics and race as well the cultural shifts of the past 50 years. These sensitive and seminal topics will be explored through a multitude of voices including established names like Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe and Leigh Bowery alongside a younger generation of contemporary artists who have embraced drag as an art form such as Ada Chistensen and Victoria Sin.

Candida Hofer – Spaces of Enlightenment
26 July — 26 August
Kukje Gallery, Seoul

One of contemporary photography’s biggest names brings her large-scale works to a South Korean gallery for another wide-eyed glimpse into the world of private and public interiors. Arguably best known for her seminal 2005 monograph Libraries, Candida’s practice reminds us of the strange, disquieting stillness of unpopulated places. The interiors featured in her photographs, and specifically those on display in Seoul till the end of the month, include a diverse range of periods and geographies, but each share a common historical function, as places designed to assist in “enlightenment.”

Trix & Robert Haussmann, The Log-O-Rithmic Slide Rule: A Retrospective
14 July — 7 October 2018
Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham

The UK’s first retrospective exhibition celebrating the oeuvre of Swiss architect and designers, Trix and Robert Haussmann, The Log-O-Rithmic Slide Rule is named after the Haussmann’s “thesaurus of 100 manneristic keywords that can be re-arranged to form a total of 10,000 possible combinations”. The show brings together works from the last 50 years – across architecture, product design, installation, furniture and textiles – and explores their diverse range of influences, from pop culture to The Memphis Group to 16th-century styles.

3D: Double Vision
15 July — 31 March 2019
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA

Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents 3D: Double Vision, the first American exhibition to survey a full range of artworks that produce the illusion of three dimensions, dating from 1838 to the present. To experience 3D is to engage with questions about the nature of perception. The exhibition will draw from the realms of art, science, mass culture and entertainment, offering an interactive experience where viewers can use devices such as Victorian stereoscopes or polarised glasses.

Nina Beier: European Interiors
21 July — 23 September
Spike Island, Bristol

Danish artist Nina Beier works with an array of objects that carry particular social histories, from human hair wigs to mechanical rodeo bulls and cigars to soap. In this expansive solo show at Bristol’s Spike Island gallery, Nina dissects a jumble of power structures that make up our current reality from the most intimate to a global scale.

Coco Capitán: Is It Tomorrow Yet?
2 August — 27 January 2019
Daelim Museum, Seoul

Daelim Museum presents Is It Tomorrow Yet?, a solo exhibition of work by the Spanish artist Coco Capitán. The showcase will feature some 150 works, including photography, paintings, handwritings, videos and installations. Best known for her work with Gucci, the artist combines commercial projects with fine art. Coco’s statements and poems, scrawled in her signature uppercase style, are instantly recognisable. An instantly relatable young artist, the exhibition encapsulates her thoughts on the present and anxieties for the future.

World Press Photo 2018
31 July — 5 August 2018
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Ebisu

From 73,044 photojournalistic submissions from 125 different countries, this exhibition presents the winners of this year’s 61st World Press Photo Contest. Agence France-Presse photographer, Ronaldo Schemidt, takes first prize with a photo of a protester on fire during clashes with the police in Caracas, Venezuela, during the ongoing protests against the current regime. However, the competition also showcases images from the fields of sport, nature, arts, entertainment and daily life, including categories in both staged and observed portraits.

Ahead of the Curve
24 July — 2 November 2018
2 Willow Road, London

Award-winning designer Frith Kerr, the founder of Studio Frith, has partnered with the National Trust at 2 Willow Road to present Ahead of the Curve. The exhibition is part of the National Trust’s nationwide programme celebrating the 100 year anniversary of votes for women. Frith has invited six contemporary female designers to respond to six works by the female artists in the Willow Road collection. Each designer has been paired with an artist, responding to their artwork by placing an object that they have personally designed near to the piece — forming a kind of dialogue. Designers collaborating in the project are Ilse Crawford, Gitta Gschwendtner, Lyn Harris, Nina Chakrabarti, Roksanda Ilincic and Kitty Travers. They respond to work by Bridget Riley, Lee Miller and the previous owner of the house, architect Ursula Goldfinger.

The Robot Show
4 August — 27 January 2019
The Museum of Art History, Lancaster, Los Angeles

The Robot Show is comprised of eight exhibitions exploring the place that robots, and other forms of artificial intelligence, have in a contemporary social landscape – from popular culture to nature and spirituality. The Main Gallery will house a career retrospective of one of the most prolific “robot artists” in the world: Dave Pressler. Titled Idea and Object, the exhibition gives the public the opportunity to view the thought process behind the Emmy-nominated artist’s work in character designing, Other solo exhibitions within the show include Jeff Soto, Patrick McGilligan and Robert Nelson.

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