Early 2018 brings the chance to see two solo exhibitions of work by Jake & Dinos Chapman in Europe. The exhibitions coincide with the release of a new artwork by the brothers on Sedition.

At the Goya Museum in Zaragoza, Spain, the Chapman brothers present The Disasters of War, which is on display until 11 February. The show is the third in a series of solo exhibitions at the museum by artists whose work forms a dialogue with that of Francisco Goya. The Disasters of War features 83 hand coloured etchings which respond directly to Goya’s etchings of the same name.

The Chapman brothers have a long lasting interest in Goya and in particular to The Disasters of War, notably making direct modifications to original Goya pieces in a show in 2003. The brothers’ recent exhibition at Blain Southern took a comprehensive look at the Chapman-Goya history, combining sculptural works with reworked originals. The artists’ century-crossing relationship was recently examined in detail by Sylwia Serafinowicz in an article for ArtForum.

As well as their exhibition in Zaragoza, the Chapmans contribute to a new group show at Bern’s Natural History Museum in Switzerland. Apocalypse: End Without End features Omer Fast, Camille Henrot, Julian Charrière, Chiu Chih, among others. It combines scientific and artistic perspectives to look at the apocalypse - a human concept which has for centuries been used as a device for extending power, containing anxiety, and making sense of events such as mass extinctions or devastating bombings. The exhibition’s setting in the Natural History Museum links it closely both to the mechanisms of museum display and academic study, and to the complexity and enormity of natural phenomena.

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The Disasters of War takes place until 11 February at Museo Goya, Zaragoza, ES.

Apocalypse: End Without End is at the Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, Bernastrasse 15, CH-3005 Bern until 10 November 2022.