Husband and wife artists Ed and Nancy Kienholz have formed a taboo-challenging partnership for 20 years, and the Hoerengracht – Dutch for “the whores’ canal” – sits comfortably in that category as a three-dimensional model of Amsterdam’s red light district, replete with scantily clad sex worker mannequins in the windows.
It’s an evocative and innovative exhibition, but the Keinholzs’ pious advocacy of the working girls’ rights jars with their decision to attach glass cases to the women’s faces, emphasising their status as commodities.
» National Gallery, Trafalgar Sq, WC2N 5DN. Until Feb 21. Free
