EVENTS | HAPPENINGS | WORLD OF CABANA


Lucca Hue-Williams’ hit gallery Albion Jeune, reveals Pristine, a new exhibition by Timur Si-Qin. Sophie Goodwin recollects her impressions from the front line of London's Frieze.


BY SOPHIE GOODWIN | HAPPENINGS | 27 OCTOBER 2026


A standout in London’s Frieze Week, Albion Jeune’s Pristine by Timur Si-Qin, is an arresting body of work exploring the New York-based artist’s ongoing engagement with the Peruvian Amazon. The show honourably follows the gallery and artist’s recent permanent conservation of 36,000 acres of glacial land in Augusante in Peru, in partnership with Art into Acres.

Born in 1984 in Berlin, Timur grew up in a cultural melting pot, within a German, Mongolian-Chinese and San Carlos Apache Native American family in the American Southwest. This unique multi-visual perspective, combining his indigenous upbringing with diverse global influences, defines his work. Si-Qin works across different media, installations of 3D printed sculptures, light-boxes, websites, texts, and virtual reality, questioning distinctions between the organic and the synthetic, the natural versus the cultural.

Pristine shows, in no uncertain terms, what nature can do without human interference: the relationship between flora and fauna co-exists freely. This, for Timur, is proof that heaven is on Earth. ‘The pristine still exists. Across the planet, fragments of ecologically intact wilderness remain: places where ancient relationships between species continue, and where the self-organizing intelligence and grace of the living world remain vividly present.’

Lucca tells me: ‘Timur and I met when I was part of the curatorial team for the inaugural Saudi Biennale, and our first exhibition two years ago at the gallery centered on species from Al Ula in Saudi Arabia, with the proceeds from this show we conserved 36,000 acres in Peru so it is particularly meaningful to be presenting work from this biodiversity hotspot this year. These works look like sparkling gems, archival objects from another time, but there is something Trojan-horse-like about them too - beautiful, seductive forms carrying a much larger ecological proposition within them.’

Since 2019, the artist has been travelling to Peruvian Amazon annually. These trips became a form of escape from an urban world with no water or electricity facing the remote jungle. He instinctively forged a deep connection with nature, finding new ways to communicate with the world. The exhibition is a result of this unique relationship, showing arresting stainless steel sculptures of roots, trunks, leaves, trees and other botanical forms emerging from Si-Qin's encounters with specific plants.

To mark the auspicious occasion, Lucca invited 70 of the best names in craft and culture, including patrons, friends, and art world professionals such as Paul Ettlinger, Helene Nguyen Ban, Ivana Bašić, Electra Niarchos, Irma Roder, Faisal Mahmood, Veronica Fendi, and Aindrea Emelife, for endless Ruinart champagne at her gallery on Little Portland Street on the opening night of Frieze London. Lucca then packed the Hart in Marylebone to the rafters, squeezing in 70 people spread over two floors for a candlelit dinner of sweetbread and steak, punctuated by espresso martinis and tiramisu. The gossip of the evening: Si-Qin’s exciting upcoming fashion project. The ripple effect of his timely work continues far and wide.

 


 

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