by This weekend (and beyond), commercial galleries across the city will be showing the work of their most important artists – and entry is free. Here are 10 great shows to catch if you’re in the capital, from a Nan Goldin film to images of Palestinian youth.
Kiki Kogelnik: The Dance
In the paintings and sculptures of the late Kiki Kogelnik, silhouettes of floating women and celestial orbs on a billboard have a bold appeal and come in solid candy colors. But she spends time with her flattened fragmented selves and her vision for the future doesn’t look any brighter. This show focuses on the potential of space travel for freedom and alarm. From her outlines of people cut from smooth, shiny vinyl to bodies adorned with kitschy love hearts, Kogelnik suggests the danger of losing human depth in a technological world. Special exhibition tour guides for the weekend will include top Polish artist Paulina Olowska, a fan of Kogelnik whose work has also drawn imagery from women’s magazines. Pace Gallery, W1, until 3 August
Matthew Barney: Middle School: Light Lens Parallax
Shown in four galleries around the world with accompanying exhibitions, Barney Secondary’s film is a stunning, brutal addition to his canon of major film projects that explore extreme physical conditions with wildly bizarre costumes. In it, dancers interpret the famous 1978 American football tragedy, in which player Darryl Stingley was paralyzed. Reflecting on the media that serves them and the audience’s interest in violence, new sculptures explore the physical frailty of exploited sports stars by delineating forms of athletic equipment. These include a ceramic work such as the back raised by dumbbells and two power racks (weight lifting cages) that echo the struggle between the two footballers in the film. Sadie Coles HQ, W1, until 27 July
Adam Rouhana Before Freedom part 2
The photographs of young Palestinian-American Adam Rouhana celebrate the daily life in Palestine that is ignored by the news. His latest works were created during the spring of this year while he was in artist residency, and capture children playing on a farm, teenagers cooling off in the river, lush fruit trees, rugs being folded on a sunny day and an elderly man enjoying a ride to the barber. Not that he ignores the reality of a country at war. Rather, it is that the razor wire and soldiers, when they appear, in the background. The new life is the focus here. TJ Boulting, W1, 30 May until June 22
Nan Goldin: Sisters, Saints, Sibyls
The master chronicler of 1980s New York’s seedy subculture has found the laudatory venue for this rendition of his 2004 three-channel film exploring his sister’s troubled teenage years and suicide. In the defunct Welsh Church of Soho, this work usually begins in raw form with St. Barra, whose Heathen father has been debunked. This contrasts with the short life story of Goldin’s rebellious sister Barbara, who was committed to mental institutions by her parents before dying aged 18. It is a moving study of secular martyrdom and cross-generational cultural misunderstanding, which shaped the artist’s vision. The Welsh Chapel, 83 Charing Cross Road, WC2, 30 May until June 23
Nil Yalter: I Land of Troubles
Co-recipient of this year’s lifetime achievement award at the Venice Biennale, Paris-based octogenarian Turkish artist Nil Yalter has spent her career exploring exile and immigration. To complement a capsule survey of works from the 1970s to the present in Ab-Anbar, she is staging her first ever live performance with the help of a group of Anatolian dancers at a community center in the East End. It pays tribute to her friend, the poet and folk singer Nesimi Çimen, who was killed in the infamous Sivas massacre of 1993 that targeted Alevi intellectuals, artists and musicians. Traditional Anatolian oral traditions will be explored through poetry and music, followed by a talk with the artist. Halkevi – Turkish and Kurdish Community Centre, E8, 2 June
Otobong Nkanga: We Come from Fire and Return to Fire
Nkanga is at the forefront of a new wave of can-do environmental artists. Not content to describe the eco-crisis, her work suggests solutions that she finds successful in the real world, such as the organic farm she has established in Nigeria. After a major museum show in Europe, her first UK solo exhibition presents her holistic vision of tapestry, rope and ceramic sculpture, sound and more. While raku-fired ceramic towers suggest burnt trees, the destruction is offset by potential renewal in the form of herbal remedies in hand-blown vials, carpet work dusted in minerals, ritual offerings of oil and seeds. Liosson Gallery, NW1, until 3 August
Harminder Judge: A Ghost Dance
The lush, colorful fields of 20th century American abstract painting meld the meditative shapes of Indian Tantric art in the works of this upcoming artist. They are not traditional paintings on canvas, however. The judge paints on wet plaster that dries quickly, then polishes and wears it down to create layers of color and texture. Staged across two south London galleries, his new work references Native American ceremonies to summon spirits to help the living reclaim the land occupied by colonists. New sculptures bring to mind an urn and a dead body, while his plaster work suggests transformation and insight into hidden lives. Matt’s Gallery, SW11, and the Sunday Painter, SW8, until 7 July
Can Altay: Waiting for the rain
Headlines about polluted rivers and failing water companies, not to mention floods and droughts, have given fresh impetus to questions about how we access clean water. With this in mind, Altay, an artist with a background in design and architecture, is exploring the fountain as an urgent form of public sculpture and a key element of regenerative technology, collecting and redistributing water for communities. This show builds on his presentation at last year’s Coventry Biennale and includes his signature drawings on newsprint, water processing designs-cum-prototypes and research exploring underground urban rivers, harvesting rainwater and on the way to renewable energy. ArcadeFlat House, SE15, 31 May until July 7
Dean Sameshima: Being Alone
In the post-digital world, a visit to an IRL gay porn theater is a rare feat. It’s only marginal territory that would interest photographer Dean Sameshima, whose other recent series focused on glory holes and used condoms in trash cans, allowing us to contemplate the human encounters that inspired them. . First seen at this year’s Venice Biennale, the photographer’s newest work, Being Alone, contemplates these hidden cinemas in deliberately unrevealing monochrome. Although there are people to be seen here, the screen itself is an image-free version of white, with little black outline of the individual viewer. True to the spirit of the establishments, their name is kept. They seem both guarded and detached. Soft Opening, E2, until June 8
Adelaide Cioni: Touch Song
This young artist’s installations previously used simple forms – from basic geometric shapes such as circles and triangles to brighter lightning strikes or bananas – to explore the human tendency to make patterns. Her new exhibition of giant drawings on loose cotton at the Approach gallery brings the ancient headless and limbless statues back to their original form. A performance accompanied by two giant hands, music and slapstick comedy in Piccadilly explores another way we make our mark on the world, through our desire to connect with others. Southwood Garden at St James Piccadilly Church, W1, 31 May
• London gallery weekend takes place 31 May-2 June
