Cars, hair, glue and smashing windows from Jochem Hendricks at John Hansard Gallery

Exhibition Preview: Jochem Hendricks, John Hansard Gallery and John Hansard Gallery Central, Southampton, until December 20 2012

Due to some complicated tax “arrangements”, Jochem Hendricks has partly been forced to turn a Mazda MX5 sports car into a part-time sculpture.

Elaborate stories underscore the German artist’s works, such as the synthesised diamonds he makes from the concentrated essence of birds, a 25 mile-long human hair glued from individual strands and, in a series of prints made by the former wife of Carlos the Jackal, photos from an archive of police investigations carried out during the 1970s.

Those are all at John Hansard, and at the Gallery Central Hendricks’ visceral film installation, Front Windows, shows 200 panes being smashed from the inside of an old building at different speeds.

Breaking free from the inside out, Hendricks’ infatuation with art’s wider influence connects with the outside world in explosive fashion here.

• John Hansard Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm (4pm Saturday); John Hansard Central open Tuesday-Saturday 11am-6pm. Admission free. Follow the gallery on Twitter @JHansardGallery.