Muse Reviews

A round-up of the week’s reviews and interviews

Okwui Enwezor, curator of All the Worlds Futures, the 56th International Art Exhibition, Venice 9 May–22 November). Photo: Giorgio Zucchiati

What to see at the Venice Biennale 

This will be an exhibition with no shortage of ambition, but in contrast to its immediate predecessors (Bice Curiger’s ‘ILLUMInations’ and Massimiliano Gioni’s ‘Enyclopedic Palace’), it promises neither enlightenment nor comprehensiveness. Enwezor’s Biennale will assert the impossibility of logical narratives or complete pictures – a radically anti-curatorial gesture from one of the world’s mega-curators. Preview from the May issue of Apollo.

‘El Cubo’, the Pompidou’s pop-up in Málaga © Carlos Criado / Ayuntamiento de Málaga

Highlights from the Pompidou pop-up in Málaga

The springboard of ‘The Collection’ is Pablo Picasso, the city’s beloved genius, who was born just a few minutes up the road at Plaza de la Merced, and was a Malagueño until the age of 19, before migrating to Paris. A canny, if somewhat obvious, move by the curators has been to play heavily on this history.

Salvador Dali on ‘What’s My Line’, CBS (January 27, 1957) © Fremantle Media

First Look: Modern art and television at the Jewish Museum 

‘Revolution of the Eye’ is one of the few museum exhibitions to highlight television’s artistic ambitions and the quality and depth of some of its early programmes. Critics have praised the excellence of recent television: but this artfulness is in the medium’s DNA.

Installation view: ‘What is Luxury?’ Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Window-shopping at the V&A 

When I followed the principle of ‘price on request’, the gallery attendants looked appalled – it was a bit like walking into Dior with Parisian dog shit on your shoes. Then again, perhaps I deserved it. After all, I’d committed the cardinal sin of confusing art with money. Who would do that?

At the boundary of art and politics: ‘Borderlands’ at GRAD reviewed 

The Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova’s sculpture – the remains of a wall that appears to have been bulldozed – stands apart from the other artworks, and not because of its size. Hewn roughly into the shape of her home country, the work reflects the reality of Russia’s military intervention. It reinforces the idea behind Borderlands, that identity is a battleground.