The Shock of the Now - Issue #157
Afternoon All - Welcome to Issue 157 of The Shock of the Now! I hope you’re having an enjoyable week.
Once again, I want to start with thanks to all those who signed-up for a paid subscription following last week’s The Shock of the Now's Guide to Condo 2025, the response has been really heartening and is much appreciated as always! To those who might have missed it or couldn’t be out following the preview weekend trail, my guide to all forty-nine galleries exhibiting across twenty-two London spaces can be accessed Here. All Condo 2025 exhibitions continue until February 15th, at the earliest!
Onto this week, and the full issue below includes fifteen Recommended Exhibitions, as well as eight fresh Artist Opportunities.
I hope you enjoy Issue 157, and if so do forward it along! As always, questions and comments are welcome, so feel free to get in touch, H x
Recommended Exhibitions Opening This Week :
‘Hand Me Downs’ Group Exhibition - Flexitron, Angel (23rd January - 22nd February, opening Wednesday 22nd January, 6-8pm)
Flexitron presents ‘Hand Me Downs’, a group exhibition featuring Vic Scott, Andie Scott and Leon Scott-Engel (above).
“Conceptualised by Flexitron founder Andie Scott, this show explores the expanded background and origins of the gallery space, showcasing the work of three generations of artists (from father, to daughter, to grandson)” - Flexitron
‘The Nest’ Group Exhibition - Neven, Bethnal Green (24th January - 22nd February, opening Thursday 23rd January, 6-9pm)
Neven presents ‘The Nest’, a group exhibition featuring H M Baker, Freja Sofie Kirk and Shinoh Nam.
“The Nest brings together three artists working with the motif of the bird to explore the interplay - and, at times, collision - of nature, architecture, and human ambition. Proposed variously as symbols, foils or casualties in these works, the bird, the nest and the egg crystallise the tensions between freedom and constraint, nature and artifice, and the often-illusory and constructed nature of power in the corporate workplace and society.” - Neven
Chino Moya - ‘Meta-Mythical Optimisation’ Solo Exhibition - Seventeen, Haggerston (24th January - 1st March, opening Thursday 23rd January, 6-9pm)
Seventeen presents Chino Moya’s solo exhibition ‘Meta-Mythical Optimisation’.
“Chino Moya’s output spans a wide range of forms from feature films to gallery-based video installation, sculpture and photography. Meta-Mythical Optimisation is an exhibition composed of twelve video works depicting isolated figures dressed in utilitarian fabrics, who are slowly performing subtle, considered movements. Each figure is situated in a static landscape filled with geometric architecture, arches, domes, a starved classicism most associated with past totalitarian regimes or utopian futures.” - Seventeen
Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn - ‘When Water Embraces Empty Space’ Solo Exhibition - The Showroom, Edgware Road (24th January - 5th April, opening Thursday 23rd January, 6:30-8:30pm)
The Showroom presents Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn’s solo exhibition ‘When Water Embraces Empty Space’.
“Nugyễn’s practice explores how storytelling can promote healing, working with communities from different regions of the world that suffer from colonial trauma as a consequence of land and culture loss, wars and displacement. When Water Embraces Empty Space focuses on the Luf Boat, an exquisitely hand-carved fifteen-metre-long, wooden outrigger sailboat, from the island of Luf in Papua New Guinea. The boat’s provenance has been the subject of much debate in recent years. Taken from the island’s inhabitants following a genocidal attack and brought to Berlin by German traders in 1903, the Luf Boat now resides in the ethnological collection of the Humboldt Forum. With the loss of the last boat of its type and the craftsmanship preserved within it, the islanders also lost the knowledge of how to build these large vessels.” - The Showroom
‘SOIL: The World at Our Feet’ Group Exhibition - Somerset House, The Strand (23rd January - 13th April)
Somerset House presents ‘SOIL: The World at Our Feet’, a group exhibition co-curated by The Land Gardeners: Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy, curator and writer May Rosenthal Sloan and Claire Catterall, Senior Curator at Somerset House Trust.
Featuring Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Anya Gallaccio, Ana Mendieta, Annalee Davis, Asad Raza, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Clare Richardson, Cosmo Shelldrake, Daro Montag, Diana Scherer, Eve Tagny, Fatima Alaiwat, Fernando Laposse, France Bourély, Freddie Yauner, Harun Morrison & Paul Granjon, herman de vries, Howard Sooley, jackie sumell, Jim Richardson, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Jo Pearl, Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck, Joya Berrow, Julia Norton, Ken Griffiths, Kim Norton, Lauren Gault, Maeve Brennan, Marguerite Humeau, Mariana Heilmann and Lynne Boddy, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Michael Landy, Merlin Sheldrake, Michael Prime, Mike Perry, Miranda Whall, Sam Williams, Semantica (Jemma Foster and Camilla French) with Juan Cortés, Something & Son, Theo Panagopoulos, Tim Cockerill and Elze Hesse, Vivien Sansour, Wim van Egmond.
“This groundbreaking exhibition unites visionary artists and thinkers from around the world to explore the remarkable power and potential of soil. Through a range of artworks, artefacts and innovative approaches, visitors are invited to reconsider the crucial role soil plays in our planet's health. The exhibition delivers a message of hope and urgency, encouraging a more sustainable, harmonious relationship with the Earth—if we choose to act now.” - Somerset House