15 must-see exhibition that are closing soon

The Kunstmuseum in Basel is hosting an extensive retrospective dedicated to Dan Flavin, Dedications in Lights, until August 18. Flavin throughout his career has often dedicated his works to individuals or events: Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, Henri Matisse, Vladimir Tatlin, and Otto Freundlich are some of the names that appear in the titles of the American artist's works. A practice that, unlike the anonymity of fluorescent tubes, allowed the works to be linked to a particular aesthetic, political, and social context. Hence, the title of the exhibition, curated by Josef Helfenstein and Olga Osadtschy, which features more than fifty-eight works, including light installations, works on paper and paintings, as well as a selection of works first presented at the museum in 1975.

The exhibition Roni Horn. Give Me Paradox or Give Me Death at Museum Ludwig in Cologne delves into the concept of paradox through a collection of multidisciplinary works by the American artist. Horn, known for her conceptual approach, uses sculptures, photographs, drawings and installations to interrogate themes of identity, language and ambiguity. The works on display play with the audience's expectations, inviting them to reflect on the nature of change and duality. 

The title of the exhibition recalls a quote from Patrick Henry, an advocate of American independence in the 18th century, who concluded a speech with the words, “Give me liberty or give me death!” The artist replaces the word “liberty” with “paradox”, determining an equivalence, which shows how for Horn paradoxes are a gateway to ambiguity, in which opposites coexist.

Through September 2, the Seattle Art Museum celebrates the art of the U.S. West Coast counterculture with the exhibition Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, curated by Carrie Dedon.

An audacious depiction of the rebellious and creative ethos of the West Coast during the 1960s and 1970s, featuring a range of pieces by artists whose radical and nonconformist perspectives deeply shaped the cultural environment of that time. The exhibition highlights how these creatives used art as a tool for protest and social change.

A collaboration between the Madre Museum in Naples and Gucci, the exhibition The Rest of Nothing, curated by Eva Fabbris and Giovanna Manzotti, delves into the connection between the architectural setting and the experiences within it. Aldo Loris Rossi's groundbreaking projects in Naples, such as the Casa del Portuale and the Piazza Grande residential complex, serve as a starting point for the exhibition's exploration of living spaces and their emotional and sentimental significance.

Works by artists like Tobias Zielony, Vincenzo Agnetti, Nanda Vigo, and Franco Mazzucchelli, among others, engage with these themes to address the questions raised by the analysis of Aldo Loris Rossi's architecture in the urban context of Naples.

Kunsthalle Basel is hosting Ghislaine Leung's first solo exhibition in Switzerland, Commitments, until August 11. What does it mean to be an artist committed to art and its production? What are the expectations of institutions and the public, and what are the implications of dedicating one's life entirely to art? The Swedish artist showcases nine fresh pieces that explore the challenges and paradoxes of materializing her artistic concepts, translating the time and space aspects of her life occurrences and gallery arrangement into visual and immersive components.

Objects carry memories and reflect the world they belong to, creating numerous connections and meanings as they interact with their surroundings. Danish artist Nina Beier showcases her exploration of the life stories of objects at the KIASMA Museum in Helsinki until September 8 in the exhibition Nina Beier. Parts.

 The artist creates artworks by blending existing objects and materials in conflicting combinations, focusing on gender roles and human interactions with the world beyond humans.

Since the late 1990s, Sarah Sze has been creating installations that challenge the static nature of art and transform the spaces in which they are immersed. For the exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center, in Dallas, through August 18, the artist presents a series of immersive works activated by encounters with visitors, highlighting how experience continually shifts according to the relationship between the flow of visual information that surrounds us, and our personal memory, from which we derive our perception of the world. 

The American artist invites visitors to reflect on the relationship between the physical, digital and real dimensions, amplifying into poetic compositions ephemeral details of everyday life that fall within the realm of the indefinable uniqueness of human life.

More than two hundred and fifty photographs from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France's renowned photography collection are showcased alongside works from the M+'s collection in Hong Kong to explore black-and-white photography as a traditional artistic medium. The exhibition The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc - A Story of Photography runs through August 31 in the halls of the Chinese art museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron. It is divided into three thematic sections titled Aiming for Contrast, Light and Shadow, and Colour Chart. The exhibition explores black-and-white photography from various angles, featuring works by international photographers who have shaped and transformed this style by experimenting with contrasts, light, and shadow.

At the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, the exhibition Hu Yun: Mount Analogue offers an immersive exploration that intertwines occurrences, individual accounts, and elements from nature, with the goal of questioning historical narratives that fluctuate between the visible and hidden, encouraging contemplation.

Hu Yun explores themes of identity, memory, and geography, drawing inspiration from René Daumal's unfinished adventure novel, The Analogue Mountain. Through a fragmented layout on the building's three floors, the exhibition invites visitors to embark on a journey of discovery between reality and imagination.

Farah Al Qasimi seamlessly navigates between personal and public spaces in her work, exploring unspoken social norms and values embedded in places, moments, and objects. Farah Al Qasimi debuts her first show in South Korea with Blue Desert Online, presenting a collection of works created over the past seven years. The exhibition includes nineteen images, both still and moving, that explore themes of reality, escapism, illusion, and anxiety in our digital era, prompting viewers to reconsider the concepts of public and private in today's socio-technological landscape.

The exhibition Vera Molnár: Speak to the Eye at the Centre Pompidou in Paris - through August 26 - celebrates Hungarian artist Vera Molnár, who passed away in December last year and was recognized for her pioneering contributions to digital art. 

Through a selection of historical and recent works, the exhibition traces Molnár's entire career from the late 1940s to the present, showing how she used algorithms and computer techniques to systematically explore forms, prioritizing iteration and seriality.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg through August 11 is hosting the exhibition Reincarnations of Shadows, which explores the work of Vietnamese artist Thao Nguyen Phan through a series of installations, video works, watercolors and sculptures. Phan investigates topics of memory, identity and mythology, interweaving personal and collective narratives. 

Her works reflect the Vietnamese cultural tradition and its interaction with modernity. Reincarnations of Shadows invites visitors to explore the relationship between the past and the present, offering a reflection on the shadows and transformations that shape our experience of the world.

The exhibition OSGEMEOS. Cultivating Dreams at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York presents the vibrant and surreal works of Brazilian duo OSGEMEOS, consisting of brothers Gustavo and Otávio Pandolfo. Thirteen new works and a site-specific immersive installation invite visitors to enter the vast and magical landscape of Tritrez, a dream world invented by the artists and developed in their work over the past three decades.

The exhibition explores themes of dream and imagination, anticipating the exhibition that will open in September at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington.

Fashioning San Francisco: A Century of Style is an exhibition celebrating the evolution of fashion in the city of San Francisco through a century of stylistic and cultural change. Curator Laura L. Camerlengo's project chronicles a city in constant movement towards the new through over 100 iconic pieces that are true works of art. 

From the sophisticated evening gowns of Dior and Lacroix to the daring and unconventional creations of Rei Kawakubo, San Francisco's fashion landscape reflects a blend of traditional and cutting-edge influences. The exhibition showcases how fashion in San Francisco has historically been used to reflect the identity and dreams of its people, while also documenting significant events and celebrations. Through August 11.

Anarchitect, as he calls himself since the days of the Italian radical wave, Gianni Pettena has always discussed through space every form of order, functionalism and capitalist logic running through society.

His works centered on the psychological and political value of bodies in space have found a perfect expression in the takeover of the CRAC, the regional center for contemporary art, in Sète, among the volumes of paper strips through which to carve alternative paths questioning existing structures,chairs to be worn, most famous performances and others unseen over the years, giving materiality and life to intangible phenomena such as sound.