Kai Althoff ’s art— as opposed to his bohemian attitude, his participation in a band and in various collaborations, his penchant for oppositional and controlling framing of exhibitions—is tricky to pin down: Dominic Eichler spends 10,000 words dancing around it to predominantly tangential effect in his catalogue essay for this show. But we can start by noting that the challenging setting is present and correct at the Whitechapel Gallery, with three distinguishing features. First, the means of display are striking. Second, the sheer volume of work included is unusual. But whereas Althoff’s letter refusing to take part became his contribution to dOCUMENTA 13 (2012) and the German’s retrospective in his adopted home city of New York (MoMA, 2016–17) saw many of the paintings loaned left unpacked in their boxes, here we find 130 paintings and works on paper displayed. It’s enough to challenge the viewer’s ability to attend to them individually. And third, Althoff shows himself in conjunction with what is in itself a significant show of 50 ceramics by Bernard Leach (1887–1979)— mostly pots, jugs and tiles but also two drawings, several buttons and a necklace. All in all, then, as unpredictable as you would come to expect.
