15 evocative, introspective, and thought-provoking shows cap off the first half of 2024 LIFESTYLE.INQ’s mid-year list of must-see shows begins with a riveting sculptural and architectural commentary on bodily entropy—a metaphor for the artist’s late grandfather’s tremors, a solitary neon light bulb reminiscent of a lightning bolt is situated at the center of a room with steel-clad walls. As the viewer moves within the installation, the light emanated by the ragged linear sculpture ripples and undulates through a foreboding sea of uneven mirrored surfaces.
Like an inconspicuous tremor, an atmosphere marked by a silent yet lingering sense of disturbance is felt. From an installation that poignantly captures an artist’s personal confrontation with a loved one’s chronic degenerative illness, and an AI-generated image of a mushroom cloud that is painstakingly hand-rendered through a controlled oxidation process, to an ambitious institutional exhibition that presents awe-inspiring latex “skins” forcibly peeled from architectural structures and even a group exhibition that promotes rehabilitation and reform by shedding light to the brilliance of persons deprived of liberty (PDL), 2024’s must-see mid-year exhibitions invite viewers to confront the brevity of life, contemplate the irrationality of war, question and subvert long-held societal constructs, and celebrate the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. In their own words, the artists, curators, art writ.