mounir fatmi at Bellevue Arts Museum in US

fatmi participates in a group exhibition, Cut Up/Cut Out (30 June – 22 October), at the Bellevue Arts Museum in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington, USA. Cut Up/Cut Out is an exhibition by international artists who explore the captivating methods of decorative piercing and cutting, using a wide range of media from paper and plastic to metal and rubber.

Hank Willis Thomas in two-person show at Baltimore Museum of Art

Thomas’ And I Can’t Run is on exhibition, alongside Kara Walker’s Salvation, at the Baltimore Museum of Art (28 June – 18 March). Through contrasts of light and dark, white and black, and obscurity and revelation, the work engages in a powerful metaphorical conversation about acts of horrific violence and racial inequality in the United States

Various artists at Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea

Four Goodman Gallery artists – Kudzanai Chiurai, Gabrielle Goliath, Tracey Rose and Yinka Shonibare – are included on the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea’s group exhibition, AFRICA. Telling a world (27 June – 11 September). Curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, the exhibition investigates the diversity of contemporary African art practices, and poses questions surrounding the issues of racial, political, gender and religious identities that continue to inform the continent at large.

Yinka Shonibare on group show exploring royalty at the Kensington Palace

Shonibare’s Mrs Pinckney and the Emancipated Birds of South Carolina features on Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte and the Shaping of the Modern World at Kensington Palace (22 June – 12 November). The work was commissioned especially for the exhibition, which is presented by Historic Royal Palaces and the Yale Center for British Art. It explores the lives of three German princesses whose marriage into the British royal family and wide-ranging interests placed them at the very heart of the Enlightenment underway in 18th-century Britain.

Kiluanji Kia Henda wins 2017 Frieze Artist Award

Kia Henda is the first African artist to receive the prestigious 2017 Frieze Artist Award, for which he will realise a new installation at Frieze London (4 – 8 October) as part of Frieze Projects, the fair’s celebrated non-profit programme curated by Raphael Gygax. Frieze Projects and the Frieze Artist Award are supported by the LUMA Foundation. Following an open call, artist applications were received from more than 82 countries. The Luanda-based artist – who works across photography, video and performance – won on the basis of his proposal for a two-part installation, Under the Silent Eye of Lenin. Taking the cult of Marxism-Leninism after independence in Angola as its starting point, the piece will draw parallels between witchcraft practices during Angola’s civil war and science fiction narratives used by Cold War superpowers. Kia Henda’s performative installation, which will change throughout the duration of the fair, looks at how fictional fantasy and its power of manipulation become a vital weapon in situations of extreme violence.

Kendell Geers on group show at CENTRALE, Brussels

Kendell Geers takes part in a group exhibition, BXL Universel, at CENTRALE for contemporary art in Brussels (14 June – 3 September). Through archive documents, films, photographs and other work by artists who live there, the show presents a subjective portrait of the bustling city that is the Belgian capital. On exhibition is one of Geers’ polymorphic installations, which captures the diversity and uniqueness of the city.

David Goldblatt documentary makes world premiere in South Africa

The first ever feature-length documentary on the legendary South African photographer David Goldblatt – titled, Goldblatt – makes its world premiere in Johannesburg on 6 June at 6:30pm at Rosebank Nouveau and on 9 June at Cape Town’s Labia Theatre at 6:30pm as part of Encounters Documentary Festival (1-11 June 2017). Goldblatt is produced by Liza Essers and Josh Ginsburg, and directed by Daniel Zimbler. It turns the lens on one of South Africa’s most prolific image-makers and documents his remarkable contribution to photography, both locally and on an international scale. Offering unique insights into the photographer’s practice, it features interviews with Zanele Muholi, William Kentridge, the late Nadine Gordimer, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Howard Booth.

‘This moving documentary has been in the making for six years,’ says Essers. ‘It comes at an exciting moment in the 87-year-old’s career, which is showing no signs of slowing down, with two current exhibitions in British prisons and an upcoming retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in 2018. The documentary marks the moment when we finally turn the lens on this shrewd witness to social change in South Africa and document his remarkable contribution to photography, both locally and on an international scale. It is the second film in an ongoing documentary series on major SA artists that I conceptualised ten years ago, starting with a film on William Kentridge and Marlene Dumas in conversation in 2010.’

Yinka Shonibare on summer show in Switzerland

Shonibare’s Un Ballo in Maschera and The Crowning feature on the summer group exhibition, Un Bal Masque / A Masked Ball, at Le Chateau de Nyon (9 June – 26 November). The exhibition reimagines objects, artefacts and ceremonial occasions of 18th-century Europe by including works that offer a contemporary colouring to the garments, ornate subject matter and events of the period.

Dhlamini, Goldblatt and Sekgala in Aperture’s ‘Platform Africa’

Jabulani Dhlamini, David Goldblatt and Thabiso Sekgala are included in Aperture’s summer 2017 issue Platform Africa, which profiles the biennales, art spaces and educational workshops that are changing the shape of photography across Africa today. Edited in collaboration with John Fleetwood, former head of the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, Bisi Silva, founder and director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, and Aïcha Diallo, associate editor of the website Contemporary And, the issue is accompanied by an exhibition at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York (5 – 7 May).

Ghada Amer features on new contemporary art triennial in New York

Amer is one of 66 contemporary artists included in Uptown, a new triennial of contemporary art organised by Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University in New York (2 June – 20 August). The triennial showcases works by artists living or working in the Upper Manhattan area.

Yinka Shonibare at York Art Gallery in the UK

Shonibare features on a group exhibition, Leisure Land Golf, curated by Doug Fishbone at the York Art Gallery (2 June – 3 September). The artist’s Football Cloud forms part of the exhibition’s fully playable crazy golf course, with each golf hole designed and made by a different contemporary artist. The show is inspired by the curatorial theme of the ‘Leisure Principle’, which refers to the idea of tourism and trade as a metaphor to explore current global economic debates through one of the key values of leisure – consumption, and how it shapes our identity. Visitors are invited to play a round of crazy golf and engage with important cultural topics including migration, global warming and globalisation.

Clive van den Berg's 'Men Loving' series at Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre

Van den Berg’s most recent paintings, watercolours and sculptures, which form part of the artist’s ongoing Men Loving series, are on exhibition at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre (JHGC) (1 June – 31 July). The works on show reflect on the increasing persecution of LGBTQI people globally by looking at the murders of gay men in Syria and Iraq, and memorialising these lives. The showcase coincides with two related events (13 – 15 June) at the JHGC with speakers including Mark Gevisser, Dr Robert Beachy, Dr Beate Muller and Dr Matthew Boswell.

Alfredo Jaar at Lenbachhaus in Munich

Work by Alfredo Jaar is included on After the Fact: Propaganda in the 21st Century (30 May – 17 September), a group exhibition at Lenbachhaus in Munich. The exhibition looks at the concept of propaganda in order to broaden its definition in light of the societal, political and technological developments of the 21st century. The artworks gathered in the exhibition engage in various ways with current forms of propaganda and with the porous borders between reality and fiction that are symptomatic of the digital age.

Alfredo Jaar's 'Shadows' in Lisbon

In Shadows, a museum show at Lisbon’s Carpintarias de São Lázaro (20 May-3 September), Jaar presents the engrossing interventionist work Shadows as a tribute to Swedish photographer Koen Wessing. The work comprises seven photographs and forms the second part of a trilogy (the first being The Sound of Silence, in 2006), which unpacks the power of denunciation that images have in relation to the inhumanity of dictatorial regimes.

Broomberg and Chanarin on PhotoEspaña 2017 festival

The 20th edition of PhotoEspaña 2017 International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts (31 May – 27 August) will feature work by Broomberg and Chanarin. The artists will exhibit their work at the Centro Centro at the Círculo de Bellas Artes and Museo del Romanticismo in Madrid. In addition to being included on the main exhibition, Broomberg and Chanarin will head up a group of creative initiatives in an editorial laboratory in Tabacalera, with the intention of seeking out new proposals for photography publishing.

Candice Breitz at Kunsthalle Erfurt

Breitz’s Soliloquy Trilogy features on Kunst.Ort.Kino at the Kunsthalle Erfurt in Germany (15 July – 17 September).

Candice Breitz in Germany

Candice Breitz: Portrait of an Artist (21 June – 9 July) will be presented by Braunschweig University of Art, where the artist has been a professor of fine art since 2007. Her multi-screen video installation King (A Portrait of Michael Jackson) is included in Cult!, the Zeppelin Museum’s latest group exhibition (2 June – 15 October).

Large-scale survey show for Shirin Neshat at Kunsthalle Tübingen

The Kunsthalle Tübingen is devoting a major retrospective to Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat (1 July – 29 October). On exhibition are important artworks from all creative phases of the artist’s extensive oeuvre – from the famous superimposed text-based works of the 1990s, the early video installations exploring themes of life in exile and diaspora, to the new filmic productions of 2016 and 2017, including some being shown in Europe for the first time. The exhibition, funded by the German Federal Cultural Institution, will be accompanied by a catalogue as well as a wide range of events organised in cooperation with numerous partners.

mounir fatmi at Museum De Wieger in Netherlands

fatmi features on Beautiful Stranger, a group exhibition at the Museum De Wieger in Deurne, Netherlands (21 May – 17 September). On view are a selection of paintings, photos and multimedia from the Nadour Collection, one of the most important collections of contemporary Arab and Iranian art.

NTU collective on 89plus exhibition in Zurich

Work by NTU – the art collective founded by Nolan Oswald Dennis, Tabita Rezaire and Bogosi Sekhukhuni – is included on a group exhibition, 89plus: Americans 2017, at the LUMA Westbau in Zurich (19 May – 3 September). Curated by Simon Castets and Hans Ulrich Obrist for their ongoing 89plus project, it showcases new productions by 19 key artists and groups from around the globe. Stemming from the concept of algorithmic citizenship introduced by artist James Bridle’s Citizen Ex project, this group exhibition gives centre stage to the work of artists from countries as varied as Ghana, Kuwait, China, Lebanon, Austria and South Africa, all the while reflecting the influence of US-based ‘computerised processes’ over information, aspirations and concerns.

ruby onyinyechi amanze on three-person show in Houston

onyinyechi amanze is included on into the midst of things, with Regina Agu and Wura-Natasha Ogunji at DiverseWorks in Houston (13 May – 22 July). The exhibition looks at the potential of mark making in all of its forms to offer complex counterpoints to dominant cultural and historical narratives.

Solo museum show for Kentridge in Buenos Aires

The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes presents, for the first time in Argentina, the work of William Kentridge, in conjunction with BP17, Buenos Aires’s Performance Biennial (13 May – 13 August). On exhibition are the video installation Notes Towards a Model Opera and In Mockery of Progress, a series of watercolours on printed pages, both from 2015. Andrés Duprat, director of the museum, describes the works on show as “restor[ing] to art its explicit political dimension, exposing, with sarcasm and humor, the disasters of our era”.

Yinka Shonibare MBE on the Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017

Shonibare’s The British Library installation forms part of the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th La Biennale di Venezia. Presented by the International Curators Forum (ICF) and University of the Arts London (UAL), the exhibition takes place at the Palazzo Pisani S. Marina (13 May – 26 November). The Diaspora Pavilion is conceived as a challenge to the prevalence of national pavilions within the structure of an international biennial. By bringing together a group of 19 UK-based, ethnically diverse artists, the pavilion speaks eloquently of the infinite complexities of the very idea of nationality, whilst highlighting the continued relevance that diaspora as a lived reality holds today.

Kudzanai Chiurai and Sue Williamson on Fotografia Europea show

Photographic works by Chiurai and Williamson feature on A Short History of South African Photography (12 May – 9 July), curated by Rory Bester, Thato Mogotsi and Rita Potenza, at Chiostri di San Pietro in Reggio Emilia. The show, part of Fotografia Europea, is a presentation of 100 photographs taken in South Africa over the last 100 years, carefully selected from archival, museum and photographers’ collections. In positioning the photographs as placeholders, the exhibition recognises that photographs are moments and momentary, not only in time and space, but also in making and unmaking histories.

Mikhael Subotzky on Fabrica show in Italy

Bridge City by Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse is on the group exhibition, Up to Now: Fabrica Photography, at Chiostri di San Pietro in Italy (12 May – 9 July). Forming part of the 2017 edition of Fotografia Europea, the show is a collection of over a hundred photographic works by alumnae of Fabrica who went on to become renowned international artists. It offers a rich and intense overview of more than 20 years of visual research.

mounir fatmi on Tunisian Pavilion at 57th Venice Biennale

Fatmi features on Tunisia’s national pavilion, The Absence of Paths, at the 57th La Biennale di Venezia, the country’s first pavilion since 1958. Fatmi’s contribution, a series of photographic works, forms part of the pavilion’s exploration into human migration and how movement is becoming increasingly policed.

Various artists on NSK State Pavilion at Venice Biennale

mounir fatmi, Candice Breitz, Oliver Chanarin and Kendell Geers are included in the NSK State-in-Time Pavilion (11 May – 15 July) at Palazzo Ca’tron, which takes place in the context of the 57th La Biennale di Venezia. Organised by NSK State in Time, it stands as an independent pavilion that will seek to redefine the idea of the state, and rethink what a contemporary state can be. It critically examines the issues that most trouble geopolitical states of today – migration, citizenship, history and identity, particularly as they relate to current-day Europe.

Alfredo Jaar at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit

Jaar is included on the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit’s major group exhibition, 99 Cents or Less (17 May – 6 August). The exhibition, curated by Jens Hoffmann, includes 99 artists who have produced work from items purchased at America’s ubiquitous 99 Cent stores. It addresses Detroit’s ongoing economic crisis and its 2013 bankruptcy – the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the history of the United States.

Thabiso Sekgala at the Walther Collection

Sekgala features on the Walther Collection’s group exhibition, Recent Histories – New African Photography (7 May – 29 October). Forming part of the collection’s ongoing projects showcasing contemporary photography and video art from Africa, the show focuses on how African photographers are engaging with revolutionary and current photographic practices to respond to ideas and understandings of African diaspora.

Various artists on Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Africa show

Five Goodman Gallery artists – Kudzanai Chiurai, David Goldblatt, William Kentridge, David Koloane and Sue Williamson – are included in Fondation Louis Vuitton’s exhibition Art/Afrique, Le nouvel atelier (26 April – 28 August). They are featured in the section Being There, which focuses on work by 15 artists from South Africa.

William Kentridge at Cincinnati Art Museum

On loan from the LUMA Foundation, Kentridge’s More Sweetly Play the Dance will make its American premiere at the Cincinnati Art Museum (26 April – 5 November). The artist’s film installation involves seven screen projections, creating an immersive panorama, and showcases a procession of travelers crossing over a charcoal-drawn animated landscape.

Sue Williamson at MAC VAL in Paris

Williamson’s new video work, What is this thing called Freedom?, from her ongoing No more fairy tales series is featured in Tous, des sang-mêlés, a group exhibition of approximately 60 artists at MAC VAL (Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne) in Paris (22 April – 3 September). Curated by Julie Crenn and Frank Lamy, the exhibition’s title is taken from the 1950 book Nous sommes des sang-meles: manuel d’histoire de la civilisation francaise (We are mixed-bloods: A history of French civilization) by the French historian Lucien Febvre.

Rose Shakinovsky to feature on international group show in Italy, March – July

Work by Rose Shakinovsky will form part of a group exhibition, titled L’emozione dei COLORI nell’arte, at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, opening on 14 March. The exhibition explores the use of colour in art, spanning different art movements that stand apart from the Western canon and other canonical histories associated with colour and abstraction. For more information visit castellodirivoli.org

Various artists at Parc de la Villette

Four Goodman Gallery artists – Samson Kambalu, William Kentridge, Kiluanji Kia Henda and Tracey Rose – feature on the Parc de la Villette’s group show, Afriques Capitales: Le Mois de la Photo du Grand Paris 2017 (29 March – 3 September). Focusing on various capital cities around Africa, the multimedia exhibition presents viewers with the opportunity to experience the ambiance of an African metropolis.

Kendell Geers features on group show about glass in Florida

Geers’ Cardiac Arrest VIII has been included on the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s group exhibition, Glasstress Boca Raton, in Florida (31 January – 2 July). As part of the museum’s new curatorial initiative and strategy, the exhibition examines glass art objects that have traditionally been considered ‘craft’, and asks viewers to rethink glass as an artistic genre all its own. The show intends to challenge viewers’ notions of glass as a ‘beautiful’ material and encourage them to explore the bold, political and sometimes less than pristine aspects of the medium.