BY MORGAN DESFOSSES
Berlin
“Haven” by Danielle Mckinney
Where: Galerie Max Hetzler
When: September 7–October 26, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Danielle Mckinney makes her solo debut at Max Hetzler with 15 new works exploring the solitude and introspection of Black women as they take refuge in their own personal space. The portraits provide a look into the protagonists’ domestic havens, away from the disorder of the outside world.
Know Before You Go: Trained as a photographer at the Atlanta College of Arts and Parsons School of Design, Mckinney’s portraits recall the dramatic use of light and shadow of Spanish Golden Age painting.
“Me & U” by Kayode Ojo
Where: Sweetwater
When: September 12–October 26, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Kayode Ojo uses sculpture, photography, and video to examine interpersonal relationships, pop culture, and artificial glamor. His sculptures—often crafted from glass, musical instruments, or rhinestones—stand precariously in this multimedia exhibit, while photographs on analog film capture candid moments of personal life and spontaneity.
Know Before You Go: Ojo is based out of New York and has had work featured across the world including at spots in Mexico City, Hanover, and Athens.
“Ya-bunanma-m-a-ta-ta: WHAT I SEE WHEN I DREAM” by Elyla
Where: Galerie Barbara Thumm
When: September 12–November 2, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: This multimedia installation by Nicaraguan artist Elyla centers her film, A prayer for tending death. The work is a fever dream delving into the world of ritual and men, one that ultimately transforms a scene of hypermasculinity and violence into the domain of play. Through this film and the accompanying installations, Elyla subverts gender and societal norms while highlighting the impact of normativity.
Know Before You Go: Elyla has done extensive research into traditional communal practices as part of her interest in anticolonial and decolonial thinking.
London
“Testing the Objects of Affection” by Alison Wilding
Where: Alison Jacques
When: September 20–October 26, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: “Testing the Objects of Affection” surveys the 50-year career of Alison Wilding, whose abstract sculptures employ material and shadow in an interplay of concealment and revelation, capturing the physicality of encounter and human desire. In juxtaposing a broad array of materials, from rubber and sand to brass and bronze, Wilding’s work challenges traditional notions of value and highlights the significance of both the inexpensive and the costly.
Know Before You Go: With pieces ranging from small and intimate to large and free-standing, Wilding’s work will force you to adapt to its contours, ducking and kneeling to appreciate each facet.
“Anthony McCall: Raised Voices”
Where: Sprüth Magers
When: September 13–December 21, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: Anthony McCall’s new solid light work makes its U.K. debut alongside a collection of drawings from the breadth of his career in “Raised Voices.” This large-scale installation of digital projections and haze, coupled with a soundtrack by David Grubbs, invites viewers to become an active participant in an immersive environment where light and sound intersect in an unsettling exploration of urban chaos and tranquility.
Know Before You Go: The exhibit runs concurrently to two solo shows by McCall at the Tate Modern (through April 27, 2025) and Guggenheim Bilbao (through October 11, 2024).
“Orixás: Personal Tales on Portraiture” by Gustavo Nazareno
Where: Opera Gallery
When: October–8 November 9, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: São Paulo-based Gustavo Nazareno’s inaugural exhibition with Opera Gallery presents a new body of paintings and charcoal drawings that respond to a wide range of influences—from Afro-Brazilian religions and fashion photography to Renaissance paintings.
Know Before You Go: Nazareno’s process incorporates elements of textile arts and set design to create tableau vivants. His work often explores the synchronicity between the human and the divine through an examination of the use of religious iconography, society’s proclivity towards worship, and the space between good and evil that is celebrated within Candomblé.
“Storm in a Teacup” by Antonio Tarsis
Where: Carlos/Ishikawa
When: September 20–October 19
Why It’s Worth a Look: As a Brazilian immigrant in London, Antonio Tarsis transforms tea into a critique of colonial and racial injustices. The work examines the entanglement of labor and violence and its centrality in human life, while contrasting dynamics of industrialization with those of meticulous craftsmanship.
Know Before You Go: Growing up in a favela and beginning his artistic practice with materials found on the street, Tarsis’s material minimalism recalls the scarcity of his beginnings.
Brussels
“Jan Vercruysse: Vie d’Artiste”
Where: Xavier Hufkens
When: September 13–October 12, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: As a poet and visual artist whose work ranged from photography to sculpture, Jan Vercruysse was regarded as one of Europe’s foremost conceptual artists. The posthumous “Vie d’Artiste” examines the artist’s personal tension between the realms of everyday life and the transcendence of the art world.
Know Before You Go: Vercruysse was Belgian and his art exhibits his passion for foreign languages like French, Italian, and English.
Paris
“Untitled (Video, Audio, Objects)” by Andrea Fraser
Where: Marian Goodman
When: September 6–October 5, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: This multidisciplinary exhibition by Andrea Fraser delves into the deeply personal to consider the fraught relations between the financial and emotional economies of the art world. "Untitled (Video, Audio, Objects)" revisits and builds upon Fraser’s most infamous project: a video of a sexual encounter between the artist and a collector who had pre-purchased the film’s product.
Know Before You Go: The exhibit features five new wax sculptures, the original silent and unedited video, as well as a later audio installation in which the participating collector is notably absent—a void that can be filled by the listener’s own imagination, positioning them implicitly as the collector.
“Devoir-Pleurer” by Miriam Cahn
Where: Galerie Jocelyn Wolff Romainville
When: September 8–October 26, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: “Devoir-Pleurer” is Miriam Cahn’s fifth solo exhibition with Galerie Jocelyn Wolff. The show features a range of work, including paintings, works on paper, slideshows, photography, and notebooks that explore themes such as injustice and the violence of war, as well as intimate aspects of identity, sexuality, and gender.
Know Before You Go: This year saw Cahn honored with two of Europe’s most distinguished art prizes: the Oskar Kokoschka Prize and the Goslar Kaiserring.
Athens
“Induction” by Dena Yago
Where: High Art
When: September 13–November 11, 2024
Why It’s Worth a Look: With her exhibit, "Induction," Dena Yago offers a provocative commentary on late capitalism and the climate crisis through a charged array of symbols. The exhibition transforms an urban setting into an allegorical stage of animals, plants, and objects. With images like the Grim Reaper seated atop a Lanternfly or Santorini donkeys carrying Amazon packages, Yago reflects on the harsh realities of our contemporary moment.
Know Before You Go: In addition to a mural and eight paintings, the exhibition features First, 2024, a sculpture reminiscent of New York construction fencing, reflecting the transformation of cities by real estate developers—something familiar to both New Yorkers and Athenians.
