Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has a plethora of treats lined up next year for its 40th anniversary including the largest UK exhibition to date dedicated to the UK artist Tony Cragg (4 March-3 September) along with a much-needed show of works in the current climate by the Chilean artist-activist Alfredo Jaar (14 October 2017-25 February 2018). The leading poet Simon Armitage will take-up a 12-month residency at the Park while Haroon Mirza will transform the James Turrell Deer Shelter Skyspace with an audiovisual installation powered by the sun’s energy. An intriguing exhibition drawn from the Arts Council collection, Tread Softly (27 May-3 September in the Bothy Gallery), brings out the child in artists such as Tracey Emin, Susan Hiller, Bedwyr Williams and Fiona Crisp whose photographs of desolate caravans evoke rainy seaside holidays (TD8, 1999). Finally, 40 life-size sculptures of Nubian masked men will soon grace the Yorkshire hills, thanks to Zak Ové. His (truly) monumental piece Black and Blue: The Invisible Man and the Masque of Darkness (2016) goes on show next year at YSP.
