5 To See: This Weekend

This week’s selections question realities and re-establish norms. From site-specific installations that draw dialogues with international conspiracies, to photographs that encompass joy as their main element, the shows for 20-21 October attempt to communicate something new.

Alfredo Jaar at YSP, Wakefield
Politically engages yet poetic in style, the art of Alfredo Jaar addresses humanitarian trauma and the politics of image-making. As part of YSP’s 40th anniversary celebrations, this major solo exhibition sees Jarr’s installations transform the Underground Gallery and its open-air concourse, whilst a new commission, The Garden of Good and Evil, references the CIA’s secret “black sites.” www.ysp.org.uk.

Self/Guided, SF Camerawork, San Francisco
Curated by Marilyn Claes, this unique exhibition examines a connection between structural boundaries and identity. Measuring and contemplating boundaries is the focus for the works on show, which come from Eve Arnold, Johnna Arnold, Kimberly Austin, Tammy Rae Carland, Sarah Christianson, Susannah Hays, Christina Koci Hernandez, Mona Kuhn and more.www.sfartscommission.org.

New Danish Modern, O Space, Arhus
Continuing Arhus’s programme as European Capital of Culture, New Danish Modern demonstrates how design is part of Danish national identity, making use of objects ranging from the classic furniture and lamps of the 1950s to the work of young, contemporary creatives. Ends Saturday. www.aarhus2017.dk.

Malick Sidibé, Fondation Cartier, Paris
One year after the death of the Malian photographer, Fondation Cartier pays tribute with the career-spanning Mali Twist. Many of the black and white images capture his signature subject matter, the youthful nightlight of Bamako from the 1960s onwards, where couples intertwine. www.fondationcartier.com.

Paul Graham, The Whiteness of a Whale, High Museum, Atlanta
In The Whiteness of the Whale, British photographer Paul Graham examines the intersections between race and social status in America. The images authentically depict that which the artist is critiquing: the undercurrents of political change and wider globalised perceptions. Ends 22 October. www.high.org.

Credits:
1. Alfredo Jaar,
THE SOUND OF SILENCE 2006.
2.
Christina Seely, Lux: Metropolis 40° 25′ N 3° 41′ W (Madrid) Archival inkjet print.
3. Ant by Arne Jacobson, furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansen. Courtesy Fritz Hansen.
4. Regardez-Moi!, 1962. Collection Fondaion Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris. Courtesy Malick Sidibé.
5.
Paul Graham, New Orleans (Cajun Corner), 2005. Courtesy of Pier 24 Photography.