Jenkin van Zyl's 'Surrender' Opens at Edel Assanti, London, Exploring Queer Desire and Love Hotels
The Facts
Jenkin van Zyl's first major solo exhibition, 'Surrender,' has opened at Edel Assanti in London, featuring an immersive installation centered on Japanese love hotels and queer desire. The show includes an inflatable rat head entrance, a labyrinth of pneumatic tubes, and a film of the same title starring an all-queer cast in a dance marathon inspired by Great Depression-era competitions. Van Zyl, known for his work with fashion designer Charles Jeffrey and his inclusion in the Hayward Gallery's 2019 'Kiss My Genders' exhibition, draws on the UK Leather and Fetish Archive at the Bishopsgate Institute, particularly the Mackintosh Collection of rubber and latex imagery. The exhibition runs through an unspecified period, with the artist describing the space as a 'networked body' that blurs boundaries between paradise and hellscape.
The Signal
For collectors and curators, 'Surrender' marks a significant escalation in van Zyl's practice, moving from East London's queer club scene to a major institutional-scale solo presentation. The show's focus on love hotels and fetish archives signals a deepening engagement with subcultural histories that are increasingly entering the contemporary art mainstream. Van Zyl's ability to translate nightlife aesthetics into gallery contexts—evident in his Vogue collaboration and Hayward Gallery exposure—positions him as a rising figure whose work resonates with current conversations around queer world-building and the politics of pleasure. The exhibition's emphasis on immersive, latex-laden environments may appeal to collectors interested in experiential and performance-based art, though its explicit themes could limit broader market appeal.
- Artists: Jenkin van Zyl
- People: Alex Margo Arden, Charles Jeffrey, Roxy Lee
- Galleries: Edel Assanti
- Museums: Hayward Gallery, Bishopsgate Institute
- Locations: London
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