“You can鈥檛 really pick your medium. Your medium picks you” says acclaimed sculptor . Today, we present a selections of shows in which contemporary creatives have explored their medium to the fullest. Included is the largest survey of work from Turner Prize nominee Anya Gallaccio, two inaugural shows at new galleries and an opportunity to see miniature work from the stellar participants in The Royal Society of Sculpture’s 10 Gram Challenge, including Antony Gormley, Cornelia Parker and Rana Begum.
| L’Appartement | Until 21 December
is a new art space set to open this autumn in Geneva, Switzerland. The gallery鈥檚 inaugural exhibition, Sound and Silence, features 24 works by the legendary Greek visual artist Takis (b. 1925) and 18 pieces by Swiss-Egyptian sculptor Yves Dana (b. 1959), with some works debuting in Geneva for the first time. It’s a show that invites visitors to consider the timeless importance of art in a world fixated on pursuing the new, reflecting on the notion that innovation is essential for artistic significance.
| Thomas Dane Gallery | 23 – 24 October
Rana Begum. Antony Gormley. Cathie Pilkington. Jacqueline Poncelet. Saad Qureshi. These are just some of the artists participating in the 10 Gram Challenge, a competition run by The Royal Society of Sculptors and Milwyn Casting Ltd. In total, 42 acclaimed artists create a sculpture out of a 10g of wax, which is then cast in bronze and presented in a selling exhibition at Thomas Dane Gallery. Profits raised will support the renovation of the Society’s Dora House, as well as the creation of studio and community workshop spaces.
| The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum | 28 October – 16 March
Gardens offer solace, community, nutrition and well-being. They can provide safe spaces for rebellion and empowerment, alleviate climate change and widen access to land use 鈥 providing localised food resources. A Garden of Promise and Dissent inaugurates a newly renovated campus and Sculpture Garden at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Connecticut. This intergenerational group exhibition of 21 artists addresses the animation of the 鈥済arden鈥 as a site of private expression (poetics) and public action (praxis).
| Turner Contemporary | Until 26 January
Turner Contemporary presents the largest retrospective to date of Turner prize nominee Anya Gallaccio (b. 1963). Renowned for her innovative use of organic, ephemeral materials 鈥 such as apples, flowers and chalk 鈥 the British sculptor explores concepts of transformation and impermanence. Over the years, she has reshaped our understanding of contemporary sculpture. Anya Gallaccio: Preserve spans three decades of a trailblazing practice, restaging iconic sculptures and unveiling a new site-specific commission.
| I DE V / l鈥櫭﹖rang猫re | Until 14 December
“One of our most pensive and poetic artists.鈥 Here The Observer鈥檚 Laura Cumming introduces award-winning sculptor Saad Qureshi (b. 1986), a contemporary artist making work that is beautiful and lyrical. Visitors will experience this in Saad Qureshi: A Handful of Paradise, the inaugural show at I DE V / l鈥櫭﹖rang猫re. Here, Qureshi poses the question: what does paradise mean for us today? In 2019, he asked this question to people of all faiths and none across the UK. Three large mindscapes evoke the answers to this question.
Words: Diana Bestwish Tetteh
Image Credits:
- Anya Gallaccio, The Inner Space Within, 2008. Chestnut tree, bolts, stainless steel.聽Installation view, Camden Art Centre, London.聽漏 Anya Gallaccio. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Andy Keate.
- SPIRAL, CIRCA – TAKIS, 1970.
- Anya Gallaccio, Falling from grace, 2000, 2,700 鈥楪ala鈥 apples, hop twine. Installation view, Anya Gallaccio: preserve, Turner Contemporary, 2024 漏 Anya Gallaccio. Courtesy the artist and Turner Contemporary. Photo: Jo Underhill.
