Hudinilson Jr. at KOW
Hudinilson Jr.’s (1957–2013) collages and xerox prints cling to the body, revealing every ridge of skin and trace of hair. In fact, they are scans of flesh: the artist literally straddled a photocopier machine, genitals and all, and pressed “copy”. Clearly not oblivious to the appearance of self-obsession of these prints-cum-performances, Hudinilson Jr. titled many of them as “exercises of seeing oneself”, or bluntly, “Narcissus”. Yet, while the copier machine was so close to the body that one can tease out individual strands of hair, the images are cropped and collaged in such a way that one loses sight of where the body ends and begins. The viewer is subjected to a scrutinizing but tender gaze; trailing from an armpit, to an eyebrow, to other undetected crevices or creases. The works ooze with desire and queerness, without ever turning the body into an object. Hudinilson Jr. was active in São Paulo’s underground art scene from the late 1970s onwards. The show at KOW is his first solo-presentation in Germany.
On view until July 26, 2025.
© Hudinilson Jr., Exercício de me ver II / Narcisse, 1981, courtesy of Hudinilson Jr. Estate, Martins&Montero, and KOW, Berlin.
Diane Severin Nguyen at Galerie Molitor
Entering the exhibition Spring Snow, one is surrounded by a sheer, white curtain that marks Diane Severin Nguyen’s latest video installation. In an artist talk at the Neue Nationalgalerie, held as part of the public program of this year’s Gallery Weekend, Severin Nguyen alluded to the curtain as a kind of camera house or shutter, allowing for more or less light to enter the space. The use of white fabric to mark and transform the gallery space is echoed in the show’s recurring motif of snow: from scenes of artificial snowfall in the jungle, seen in the video installation, to photographic still lifes of objects dusted with a white powder that could be sugar, snow, or chemical residue. The snow-like particles, much like the fabric, function as entrapments of time and light, but also lend the works an additional semantic layer that remains impossible to fully pin down. It’s beautiful and unnerving.
On view until June 7, 2025.
© Diane Severin Nguyen, Drain the Whole Sea, 2025. LightJet C-print, custom velvet frame 60,9 x 81,3 cm
SoiL Thornton at Galerie Neu
My first impression of SoiL Thornton’s show at Galerie Neu was one of mild annoyance. What is described by the gallery as a “playful and multi sensorial experience” felt more like a conceptually riddled ball pit, which I didn’t feel particularly inclined to take part in. Visitors were trying to figure out what to do with the colorful pompom balls scattered across the floor, while gallery attendants quietly collected and re-ordered them. The title of the show, The Rest, did not seem fitting at all, given the busy colors and constant motion. Clearly, the title alluded to something other than rest as repose, but perhaps rather to a resistance to meaning or purpose. Several wall pieces alluded to a deconstruction of binary logics and language, or to some kind of respite. Despite my initial reaction, I feel inclined to come back again – perhaps on a quieter day – to see what meanings might emerge when the weekend buzz has passed.
On view until June 14, 2025.
© SoiL Thornton, The Rest, installation view at Galerie Neu. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Neu, Berlin. Photo: Stefan Korte.
Leelee Chan at Klemm’s
The sculptures presented in Leelee Chan’s show Spiral Diaries have a mystic aura. Some resemble animal shapes or fossils, while others seem inspired by man-made architecture or religious tokens. The eclecticism of form and materiality is an intentional strategy but requires some deciphering. I learned upon my visit that the cathedral-like silhouette of the bronze work Wood Wide Web (2025) was in fact cast from plastic shipping pallets. Another piece, Maker’s Egg Cases (2025), has the segmented shape of a spine or a caterpillar, but is made from enlarged egg cases and hex nuts. Carefully crafted and multifaceted, the pieces are open to interpretation – whether one focuses on the merging of animal and non-animal elements, or the melding of industrial and handcrafted materials.
On view until June 6, 2025.
© Leelee Chan, Spiral Diaries, installation view at Klemm’s. Courtesy of the artist and Klemm’s, Berlin.
Sky Hopinka at Tanya Leighton
After jumping from gallery to gallery, Sky Hopinka’s exhibition at Tanya Leighton felt like a welcome breather. On display is a small selection of photographs and a video with skies and landscapes as their leitmotif. The new video work, He Who Wears Faces on His Ears (2025), opens with a plunge into an expansive sky framed by clouds, as if there were no up or down. Another central element of the work is text: a poem circles around the screen in an inward spiral motion, almost hypnotic. The title refers to a figure from Ho-Chunk mythology – Red Horn – a spiritual being “who moves between the human and the mythic”, according to the exhibition text. There’s something about the shifting perspective and drifting motion that makes the work quietly captivating and meditative; both introspective and expansive.
© Sky Hopinka, Bone & Light, installation view at Tanya Leighton, Berlin.
