You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels, 1966-1970
Victoria and Albert Museum, 10th September to 26th February
In another of its magisterial surveys of pivotal cultural moments, the Victoria and Albert Museum sets out to capture the rebellious 1960s: from fashion to photo- graphy, design, politics, high art, low art, film, literature, performance and, of course, music. It was in 1966, in Carnaby Street, this show argues, that a new youth identity was born—optimistic, creative and in revolt against its elders. This counterculture emerged in the nightclubs of Soho, on the barricades in Paris in 1968, at anti-Vietnam rallies in San Francisco, or at the music festivals of Monterey, Woodstock and Glastonbury. The exhibition also charts rising excitement about space travel, the explosion in consumerism and the emergence of idealistic communities in West Coast America. Objects will range from an Ossie Clark costume for Mick Jagger and original artworks by Richard Hamilton to a moon rock on loan from Nasa.
William Kentridge: Thick Time The Whitechapel Gallery, 21st September to 15th January South African artist William Kentridge is renowned for his expressionist animated films and large-scale immersive installations which explore, with wit and energy, colonialism and failed revolutions. For his first major public UK show in 15 years, the Whitechapel has brought together six works, including his tributes to early film.
Flesh: Skin and Surface York Art Gallery, 23rd September to 19th March
York Art Gallery, a finalist in Art Fund’s 2016 Museum of the Year Award, is mounting an ambitious show exploring depictions of flesh. It will draw together works across the centuries, from Rembrandt to Jenny Saville, exploring how this tactile, changeable substance can seem dead or alive, abstract or figurative, strange and familiar. It culminates with Steve McQueen’s powerful early film, Bear (1993), featuring himself and another male figure wrestling.
In another of its magisterial surveys of pivotal cultural moments, the Victoria and Albert Museum sets out to capture the rebellious 1960s: from fashion to photo- graphy, design, politics, high art, low art, film, literature, performance and, of course, music. It was in 1966, in Carnaby Street, this show argues, that a new youth identity was born—optimistic, creative and in revolt against its elders. This counterculture emerged in the nightclubs of Soho, on the barricades in Paris in 1968, at anti-Vietnam rallies in San Francisco, or at the music festivals of Monterey, Woodstock and Glastonbury. The exhibition also charts rising excitement about space travel, the explosion in consumerism and the emergence of idealistic communities in West Coast America. Objects will range from an Ossie Clark costume for Mick Jagger and original artworks by Richard Hamilton to a moon rock on loan from Nasa.
William Kentridge: Thick Time The Whitechapel Gallery, 21st September to 15th January South African artist William Kentridge is renowned for his expressionist animated films and large-scale immersive installations which explore, with wit and energy, colonialism and failed revolutions. For his first major public UK show in 15 years, the Whitechapel has brought together six works, including his tributes to early film.
Flesh: Skin and Surface York Art Gallery, 23rd September to 19th March
York Art Gallery, a finalist in Art Fund’s 2016 Museum of the Year Award, is mounting an ambitious show exploring depictions of flesh. It will draw together works across the centuries, from Rembrandt to Jenny Saville, exploring how this tactile, changeable substance can seem dead or alive, abstract or figurative, strange and familiar. It culminates with Steve McQueen’s powerful early film, Bear (1993), featuring himself and another male figure wrestling.
