Hi everyone,
Today in Toronto itâs breezy and cooler, a premonition of the season to come. Fall is my favorite time of year, both meteorologically and culturally. And as some of you may know, my background is in contemporary art and photography. With âFall Arts Previewâ articles dropping like leaves, I thought Iâd offer you my own version.
I trust you to find your way to MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, or the AGO here in Toronto. Instead, this idiosyncratic and opinionated short list includes exhibitions that fit two criteria. First, they examine themes relevant to this newsletter and/or contain artists I deeply admire. Second, they are being presented in lesser-known venues that nonetheless have strong reputations among those in the know. These shows would be at or near the top of my to-do list if I was visiting these cities.
After that, your regularly scheduled updates on the stories weâve published recently.
If you end up visiting any of these shows, Iâd love to hear from you! Or if there are other shows youâre particularly looking forward to, send them my way.
Love all ways,
Brian
In the Galleries

Toronto. In my home city, Iâm especially looking forward to the Museum of Contemporary Artâs presentation of two eminent women sculptors, Phyllida Barlow and Liz Magor. Barlowâs work is best served by architecture it can push against, and MOCAâs peculiar columns and industrial patina will make this show one you feel as much as see. The picture above gives you a sense of what I mean. Magor is one of Canadaâs most eminent artists and educators, but one whose work I havenât encountered much in person. Iâm eager to complement what Iâve read and heard about her work with time spent in its presence.
Montreal. Though it opened in May, I havenât yet visited the Canadian Centre for Architectureâs exhibition âThe Lives of DocumentsâPhotography as Project.â Itâs the first in a three-part series of exhibitions scrutinizing the relationship between image media and architecture that will culminate in the centerâs 50th anniversary in 2029. You can expect a forthcoming issue dedicated to this exhibition.
New York City. I think artistic projects are wonderful vehicles for exploring alternative forms of education, and Iâm eager to visit Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Guptaâs exhibition at Amant, a relatively new nonprofit organization in Brooklyn (with a campus designed by SOâIL). At the International Center of Photography, three of my favorite working photographersâGregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks, and Vasantha Yogananthanâhave been brought together to explore what it means to immerse yourself in and record another place or culture.
(OK, OK, one nod to a giant institution: I expect many of you will be interested in âLife Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Designâ and âEmerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalismâ at MoMA. But donât miss the survey of photographer An-My LĂȘ, whose powerful vision of America and its landscape she articulated in my March 2020 interview with her for Art in America.)
Los Angeles. In the past fifteen years, a small and dedicated group of dealers, curators, and artists have elevated the visibility of artist Barbara T. Smith, a pioneering performance artist and LA stalwart. Sheâs now getting the full hometown treatment, with a survey exhibition at ICA LA and an accompanying catalogue. Another wonderful institution, the California African American Museum, is presenting a touring exhibition exploring the legacies of the Great Migration on leading Black artists. Even if you canât visit, the programming it generated at earlier presentations in Baltimore and Mississippi is a deep and rewarding rabbit hole for anyone interested in Black life, twentieth-century history, and cultural inheritance.
London. For London visitors with an art-focused itinerary, South London Gallery and Camden Art Centre are about as far apart as you can get. But I nearly always find myself visiting both on my trips. âLagos, Peckham, Repeatâ brings together Nigerian and British-Nigerian artists to understand the social, cultural, and economic links between the London neighborhood and the Nigerian capital. âTamara Henderson: Green in the Groovesâ is a large multimedia presentation of the London-based Canadian artistâs fascination with âthe primordial intersection of life beneath and above the Earthâs surface.â Send me airfare and Iâll write a newsletter about both shows and about the urban experience of riding a bike the 15km between them.
Berlin. My Berlin picks win the award for ungainly titles: âAs Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Storiesâ at Haus der Kulturen Welt and âThe Assault of the Present On the Rest of Timeâ at Schinkel Pavilion and the BrĂŒcke-Museum. The former looks at the the many worlds across North Eurasia that have existed in parallel to the regimes that have controlled this vast land area. The latter is a two-part exhibition, of artists working in the 1930s and today, that explores how artists respond to war. Lastly, as with the CCA in Montreal beginning a long-term project, C/O Berlin launches its long-term consideration of photography and nature with âImage Ecology.â
Updates
More stories related to past Frontier Magazine issues.
Re: âThe Farther Shoreâ (July 5)
𩎠4 Columns, a wonderful venue for arts criticism, has published its âLazy August Reading Listâ: five very brief books to meet your demands for both quality and quantity. I can vouch for the last two.
Re: âBad Moon Risingâ (July 19)
đŁïž A marketing-industry newsletter on the exploding popularity of 3-D billboards
âș In Dirt, Michelle Santiago CortĂ©s on âout of homeâ advertising meant to circulate the internet
Re: âDeep Divesâ (August 2)
đ The Boston Globe surveyed half a dozen college presidents about their commitments to the humanities
đïž The first episode of a new podcast about the art of criticism features and cites many of the figures discussed in our story
Re: âCool Runningsâ (August 16)
đ„ Global engineering firm Arup has created an âUrban Heat Snapshotâ of cities like London, Madrid, Mumbai, and LA