On my radar: Conrad Shawcross’s cultural highlights

Foundation (Apple TV)

I’m really enjoying this sci-fi series based on the Foundation books by Isaac Asimov – the third season came out a few months ago. Set in the far future, it’s about the preservation of a galactic empire ruled by three emperors who are genetically the same person, existing in three generations simultaneously. The envisioning of architectural worlds is exemplary and the depiction of time is the most sophisticated I’ve seen on screen. I wasn’t aware of the Asimov novels until I saw the series and now I’m quite obsessed with his work.

Selected Poems by Don Paterson

A friend recently introduced me to the poems of Don Paterson, in response to my work, and I’ve been reading his Selected Poems – I really enjoy his use of structure, light and shadows. One poem called Motive has stuck with me. I like it partly because it talks about machines and the difficulty of glimpsing the mechanisms of reality. These are things I focus in a lot in my own work. I’m trying to read one of his poems a day, but that’s been my favourite so far.

Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, at the Royal Academy

This is such a wonderful show. Every painting is a pleasure to bathe your eyes in, and the breadth and diversity of Marshall’s style is awesome. They’re largely figurative landscapes and portraits concentrating on black identity – there’s a particularly beautiful one of a ship sailing across a bay. As an abstract, kinetic artist, I really enjoy going to shows that are beyond my skillset, because I can approach them from a non-technical viewpoint. I see musicians and painters as mystics; I have no idea how they do it.

Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

I’m doing a lot of research into black holes at the moment because I’m working on a commission that tries to represent them. So I’ve been listening to the audio version of this book by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw (I listen to a lot of audiobooks while I’m driving my sculptures around.) It’s been really useful, giving a very clear, concise, accessible insight into these entities. Black holes are still mind-boggling; it takes years for your brain to familiarise yourself with these abstract ideas and to begin to understand them. But this is a good place to start.

Frieze Sculpture, Regent’s Park, London NW1

Last month I went to the opening of Frieze Sculpture, which I thought was particularly strong this year. The theme is “In the Shadows”, and as an artist who works a lot with shadows, I was really intrigued to see the curator Fatoş Üstek’s interpretation of the subject. It feels extremely coherent and well curated, with some great works in particular by Reena Saini Kallat (Requiem) and Abdollah Nafisi (Neighbours). It’s free to enter and definitely worth seeing before it ends [on 2 November].

Photographs by Getty Images, Alamy