Nan Goldin’s ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ will show at MoMA until the 12th February 2017, giving you ample time to bask in her deeply personal, evocative collection of photographs.

Drawing on her own experiences in Boston, New York and Berlin – mostly during the late 1970s and 1980s – Goldin describes her body of work as ‘The diary I let people read.’ ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ is comprised of almost 700 photographs and is set against a powerful musical soundtrack, capturing her subjects in raw moments of love and loss, and documenting both herself and her friends as they suffer from drug use, domestic violence and the effects of AIDS.

The collection is aptly named after a song in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s ‘The Threepenny Opera’ and features music from many of Goldin’s friends, including Maria Callas and members of The Velvet Underground. The photographs are presented in their original 35mm format, as they were when they were first shown in the bars and clubs of New York City in the 1980s. Since then, Goldin has continued her narrative and added photographs to the collection, but they are still produced as slides, as they were when Goldin had no access to a dark room and was unable to afford to have her photographs made into prints.

‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ is also available in the form of a book, which was reissued in 2012, recognising the persistent relevance of Goldin’s subject matter. The book can be bought online, or is available at MoMA.

Moma.org

Tags: MOMA, nan goldin, The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency, The Velvet Underground

It’s the start of a new year, and, to be frank, the post-festivity slump can get a little boring. Twin has picked the best of what’s on offer in across art, fashion and new openings for the next six months so you can get planning the year ahead from the safety of your sofa.

Knitwear: Chanel to Westwood

Until 18 January 2015

This major retrospective is nearing its end, which is all the more reason for you to head over to the Fashion and Textile Museum as soon as possible. Charting over 100 years of knitwear history, it explores not only the developments in style but also innovations in technology, from the first crocheted designs by Chanel in the 1930s to Westwood’s 20th century incarnations. Not to be missed are the rare Chanel cardigan suits, 1930s swimwear and vibrant Missoni patterns as well as conceptual garments by Comme des Garçons, Vivienne Westwood and Julien MacDonald: perfect winter wardrobe inspiration.

ftmlondon.org

Transmitting Andy Warhol

Until 8 February 2015

Warhol is undoubtedly one of the most influential and notorious artists of the 21st century, which is why this revelatory exhibition at the Tate Liverpool, providing a new insight into Warhol’s artistic processes, as well as the social, political and aesthetic implications of his work, is a must-see. Warhol was one of the first artists to span art, media, music, fashion and celebrity, and in doing so, redefined society’s accessed to art and culture. See the iconic Marilyn Diptych alongside his television commercials, fashion illustrations and his pioneering celebrity mag, Interview. An artistic all-rounder indeed.

tate.org.uk

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

14 March – 19 July 2015

The most hotly anticipated exhibition this spring, the V&A’s Savage Beauty will showcase the dominant influences and concepts in the late designers’ work. Featuring 10 sections, it will span McQueen’s womenswear, starting with his MA graduate show in 1992 and finishing with his last fully realised collection, Plato’s Atlantis (SS 2010) – widely thought to be his greatest achievement. A chance to understand more about one of fashion’s most legendary personalities, the display will attract more than your average aficionado.

vam.ac.uk

Walkie Talkie Sky Garden

Open now

April: the days will be longer and lighter, and summer will be just a breath away. Time, then, to start shedding jumpers and blankets, and trade in your sofa for a bar stool – preferably with a view.  The Sky Garden at the top of the Walkie Talkie will span three floors and afford its visitors uninterrupted views over the city skyline. With a cocktail terrace, bar, restaurant and open air terrace set alongside lush landscaped gardens, we predict that this will be summer’s hotspot.

skygarden.london

Thea Porter 70s Bohemian Chic

6 Feb – 3 May 2015

The Fashion and Textile Museum’s exhibition (the first ever) on design pioneer Thea Porter is a perfect celebration of the fashion world’s current crush on all things 70s. The figurehead of boho chic in the 60s and 70s opened her iconic shop on Greek Street in 1966 and immediately attracted a following from the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Streisand. Highlights from the exhibition include the Abaya & Kaftan; the Gipsy dress and the Faye dress – you might be surprised to find similar silhouettes in your own wardrobe, testament to the influence Porter has had on several generations of fashion.

ftmlondon.org

Björk

8 March – 7 June 2015

Readers stateside will surely have gotten wind of the Björk retrospective at MoMA. For those not in the know, the exhibition will showcase the adventurous projects of Iceland’s wonderfully quirky export. It will be presented in a narrative format, co-written by Björk and fellow Icelander Sjón, and culminates in a brand-spanking-new immersive music and film experience in 3D.

moma.org

Tags: calendar, culture, fashion and textile museum, MOMA, Sky Garden, tate, Victoria & Albert Museum

The metamorphoses of Cindy Sherman knows no boundaries, so it makes sense that an exhibition honouring her work is in a place as vast and all-encompassing as the Museum of Modern Art gallery in New York.

Looking back at her three decades and counting career, the just opened showcase contains over 170 of Sherman’s iconic pieces and portraits, witnessing her take on roles from cinema noir actress to Jean Fouquet’s Madonna of Melun. But Sherman’s countless transformations are beyond pure dress up and trying on a new persona; they are a deep questioning of identity, representation and the role and placement of women in society.

Rather than being solely retrospective, the exhibit is also the first showing of Sherman’s photographic murals from 2010 in America, as well as Carte Blanche: Cindy Sherman, a screening of films made and curated by the conceptual artist, which is fitting considering the strong influence of the medium on her work. The movies will range from horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to John Waters’ Desperate Living, whilst including Sherman’s short film Doll Clothes and feature film Office Killer.

The extensive display of her work shows that even under wigs, prosthetics and layers of makeup, the real Cindy Sherman is always unmistakably there.

Cindy Sherman is on display until June 11 at The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Exhibition Gallery, MoMA, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019
moma.org

Tags: Cindy Sherman, exhibition, film, John Waters, MOMA, photography

Four decades of society-questioning artwork will be on display as part of the Sanja Iveković: Sweet Violence exhibition at the MoMA.

A self-proclaimed feminist artist, she started out as part of the Nova Umjetnička Praksa (New Art Practice) generation in Croatia. To this day, the Zagreb-born creative continues to produce fascinating and deeply critical work in the form of photographs, sculptures and installations. In her early work, Iveković showed an insight into the psychological effects of mass media through work such as Double Life in 1975, which placed a collection of the artist’s personal photographs alongside women’s magazine advertisements.

Nowadays, her work analyses politics, gender, paradoxes as well as the place and representation of women within society. Figure & Ground, her 2006 compilation of collages depicting blood-covered female models in high-fashion military-style outfits as armed terrorists, as well as Women’s House, for which the artist produced facial plaster casts of abuse victims, are a testament to this ideology.

Innovative and thought-provoking, Sanja Iveković proves that art is best when served with afterthought.

Sanja Iveković: Sweet Violence is exhibiting at the The Museum Of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019 until March 26
moma.org

Tags: Croatia, MOMA, New Practice Art, Sanja Ivekovic, Sweet Violence, Zagreb