A tour around Amy Winehouse’s private junk: five free art exhibitions to see
The Back to Black singer’s books, shoes and jigsaw puzzles have gone on display. Elsewhere, a leaky Barbican and some gloriously gloopy sculptures can be viewed in London galleries this week
Key points
- Alex Margo Arden has assembled duplicates of objects and books once owned by Amy Winehouse for an exhibition in a Chelsea flat, on view until 23 January 2027.
- Yuko Mohri's Barbican installation turns the building's leaks into music, with drips triggering cymbals, a triangle and a drum.
- Rebecca Warren returns for her first London show in 16 years with lumpy clay and bronze figures, while William Kentridge shows new work about Johannesburg's decline.
Five free art exhibitions are on view in London this week, according to a Guardian Culture roundup. They include a display built from objects once owned by Amy Winehouse, a Barbican installation that turns leaks into music, and new work by Yuyan Wang, Rebecca Warren and William Kentridge.
The Winehouse exhibition, by artist Alex Margo Arden, is at the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation and runs until 23 January 2027. Arden bought duplicates of the singer's makeup, Vogue copies, boardgames and books after researching archive material and auction records.
Winehouse objects and celebrity fetishisation
The display includes ballet pumps signed by fans and left on Winehouse's doorstep after her death, and a birthday card from Mark Ronson and Adele that she never opened. The roundup describes the show as a weirdly cold display that pairs a portrait of an icon with an uncomfortable look at the fetishisation of celebrity.
The reviewer calls it smart, critical conceptual art that makes viewers feel grubby and intrusive.
When it gives you a leaky roof, you make musique concrète.
— The Guardian Culture
Leaks, artificial light and clay
At the Barbican, Yuko Mohri's installation treats the building's many leaks as creative collaborators. Water drips from sinks and pipes in the Curve into buckets and tarpaulins and is funnelled through tubes, each drip triggering a cymbal, triangle or mallet on a drum. Sensors measuring moisture in rotting fruit and breezes through draughty walls control repurposed lamps.
Yuyan Wang's film at Shoreditch church begins with a 2018 Chinese government initiative to launch artificial moons for continuous daylight. It shows moths and bugs drawn to a lamp, plus footage of drills, mines, LEDs, fireworks and lasers.
Rebecca Warren's first London show in 16 years features rough clay and bronze nudes, while William Kentridge's latest animated film depicts Johannesburg's ruin, including a gas explosion and protesters.
