Global Antiquity
Fondazione Prada, Milan
5 November–1 March 2027
In 1954, a golden plaque made in the fourth century BC to decorate a gorytos – a kind of bow case often produced by Greek artisans – was recovered from a Scythian tomb in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol. On loan from the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, it’s one of the 150 artefacts in this show demonstrating the often unexpected connections between cultures spanning the Mediterranean and Asia between 300 BC and AD 1000.
Franz West: The Revolution of Sculpture
Albertina Modern, Vienna
6 November–29 March 2027
Humour characterises the Austrian artist’s work, from his toilet films to a jazzed-up version of Sisyphus’s boulder (2002). This show surveys his four-decade career.
Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
7 November–9 May 2027
Though the city has changed hands and names over the past two millennia, its artistic output has never faltered. Some 1,600 years of history are represented by 200 objects in this exhibition, from Byzantine relics of Christian worship to Ottoman silks, ceramics and much more.
Sophie Calle: Is It Better?
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
13 November–4 April 2027
In the late ’90s, the French conceptual artist wandered around Berlin photographing public spaces that were once marked by symbols of the GDR and asked people how they felt about their removal after reunification. Those photographs and excerpts from a resulting book of interviews, together titled The Detachment, make up one of six bodies of work in this show, which are presented alongside a new piece that has been donated to the museum for its 30th anniversary.
Thomas Schütte
K21, Düsseldorf
14 November–11 April 2027
‘I’m really only interested in spaces,’ Schütte has said, and his sculptures take on ‘a life of their own’ in whatever environment they are placed in. This show comprises architectural models – which Schütte sees as artworks in their own right – as well as monumental sculptures such as Mother Earth (2024). There are also several works that have never before been on public display.
Nan Goldin: You Never Did Anything Wrong
Hayward Gallery, London
24 November–14 March 2027
Pigeons burst across the sky and cats stare out blankly in Nan Goldin’s You never did anything wrong, Part I (2024), an eerie home movie inspired by the ancient myth that solar eclipses are caused by animals taking a bite out of the sun. This show debuts the second part of that film, which is presented alongside photographs and other video works including Stendhal Syndrome (2024), in which snapshots of the artist’s friends, lovers and family are paired with images of classical, Renaissance and neoclassical art, such as Canova’s sculpture of Cupid and Psyche (1787/93).
Liaisons Françaises: French Art in Bavaria from Claude Lorrain to François Boucher
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
26 November–4 April 2027
Landscapes by Lorrain and allegorical paintings by Poussin are among the standout works in the Alte Pinakothek’s collection of French art, the largest of its kind in Germany. This show looks at how French works ended up in Bavaria, whether through patronage from the Munich Court or other means.
