Wolfgang Tillmans and Shirin Neshat side by side in Turin shows

The German-born, naturalised British artist Wolfgang Tillmans tells stories connected with the human body and the crisis of the individual in society today in this exhibition (20 February-5 May) that runs alongside a show by the video artist Shirin Neshat (until 5 May). Examples of Tillmans’ early work in photocopied images are on display with his later work done in collaboration with magazines such as i.D and Parkett, where the magazine was used as a kind of gallery for his photographs in a way that was intended to recall fashion photography. The experimental aspect of his work is found in the “abstract” images that he creates as if from a camera obscura and with which he claims to “paint with light”. At the same time there are other photographs that are figurative, showing interiors, bodies and still-lifes, by the simplicity of which the artist aims to show his desire “not to force the photographic process to do anything more”, that is, not to imitate painting. The inevitable comparison with the highly political work of Neshat, who constantly attends to the formal aspects of her work, makes for fruitful viewing. Three of her videos are being shown, “Pulse”, “Possessed” (accompanied by music by Sussan Deyhim; production still, above) and “Passage”, produced in collaboration with Philip Glass.