Look Ahead: 2018

V&A Dundee Archive: Ocean Liners

​It's the start of something new: elements of promise and excitement greet us in the first few days of 2018 - all before those January blues kick in. Along with the countless resolutions, there's another way to mark the New Year: to look ahead at the array of exhibitions and events coming up across the UK. Dundee, Yorkshire and London are all on the radar.

V&A Dundee, Scotland's first design museum, opens its doors in September with Ocean Liners: Speed and Style. Three years in the making and costing an estimated £80 million, this new landmark on Dundee's waterfront will provide a comprehensive platform for international design, fashion, architecture and photography in Scotland. Mirroring the work of V&A London, this institution will shine a light on the nation's design achievements through its dedicated Scottish Design Galleries.
​

Another favourite is Yorkshire Sculpture Park's stellar programme featuring an expansive Giuseppe Penone retrospective and an in-situ installation by Chiharu Shiota. Works from nearly five decades of Penone's career will be on display throughout the 500-acre park, reflecting on the Italian artist's ability to intertwine human and organic narratives. His focus on nature, the body, memory and time connects audiences with the outside world. Likewise, Shiota identifies the ways in which humans carve out a sense of place. Her iconic threadwork, seen at the 56th Biennale di Venezia, will immerse viewers in the architecture and history of YSP's 18th century chapel from 30 March.

In London, the Royal Academy relives Tacita Dean's innovative responses to Landscape. Held within the RA's recently opened Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries, this exhibition sees Dean explore the concept of 'landscape' in its broadest sense - from her enigmatic charcoal and chalkboard drawings to her experimentation with photochemical film. Sitting in dialogue with these familiar pieces will be a new 35mm film titled Antigone. Made with the same masking technique seen in Tate Modern Turbine Hall's FILM (2011), Antigone layers together the talents of Anne Carson and Stephen Dillane with multiple places, geologies and seasons.
​

Tacita Dean, Foreign Policy (detail), 2016

Additional highlights on the horizon: 14-18 NOW's final commissions - including Akram Khan, Xenos, Sadler Wells - continue to mark the WWI centenary; Glasgow International returns with its most ambitious line-up and features Turner Prize winner Lubaina Hamid;  and the  Hayward Gallery reopens with extensive Andreas Gursky and Lee Bul exhibitions following its major refurbishment. Happy viewing!

Diary Dates:
Scotland:
Glasgow International, 20 April-7 May.
V&A Dundee, Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, 15 September 2018-24 February 2019.
Yorkshire:
YSP, Chiharu Shiota, Beyond Time, 30 March-2 September / Giuseppe Penone, 26 May 2018-6 January 2019.
London:
Royal Academy, Tacita Dean, Landscape, 19 May-12 August.
Hayward Gallery, Andreas Gursky, 25 January-22 April / Lee Bul, Wayward Wander, 30 May-19 August.
Nationwide:
14-18 NOW, nationwide throughout 2018.