Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lost
POSTED BY THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO:
Epic and intricate, monumental and meticulous—the paintings of Kashmir-raised, London-based artist Raqib Shaw offer fantastical meditations on identity, transformation, and the redemptive power of beauty.
Born in Calcutta and raised in the verdant Himalayan mountains of Kashmir, Shaw draws deeply on the landscapes and memories of his early life, many of which were fractured by political upheaval. Forced to leave Kashmir as a teenager, he relocated first to New Delhi and later to London, where he studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
His work is influenced by a broad range of sources—Mughal and Persian miniatures, Renaissance altarpieces, Old Masters paintings, Japanese arts of the Momoyama period, Kashmiri and Urdu poetry, and Hindu and Western mythology—and yet his visual vocabulary and technique are all his own.
His signature method involves applying an acrylic liner on gesso to create a golden line almost like the leading of a stained glass window. He then applies automobile enamel paints with needle-fine syringes and manipulates those with a porcupine quill, often adding glittering inset stones and baubles that further enhance the magical and dreamlike quality of the depicted scenes.
At the Art Institute, Shaw debuts his more-than 100-feet-wide, 21-panel Paradise Lost (2009–25), the artist’s most ambitious and personal project to date. This magnificent allegorical painting takes viewers on a spellbinding journey, from the nocturnal solitude of the artist’s childhood in Kashmir to the frenzied daylight of the art world and the West to finally a fragile, renewed dawn. Each panel is dense with symbolism: mythical beasts, anthropomorphic hybrids, collapsing kingdoms, and natural beauty in various states of transformation. Throughout, the work is dotted with images of the artist, sometimes as a humanoid creature with different animal heads, at another time as a monkey looking with awe at the gleaming edifices and the wealth of the West, and sometimes unambiguously in full human form seated on a bed of saffron under a blossoming cherry tree, lost deep in his thoughts.
The work is not a direct retelling of Milton’s 17th-century poem Paradise Lost, but rather a reflection on the many paradises lost across a lifetime: childhood innocence, creative freedom, mental tranquility, cultural belonging. “This is not just my story,” Shaw explained. “It is the story of each of us, and the story of our times.”
While Shaw has previously shown the first chapter of Paradise Lost, this exhibition marks the first time all four chapters will be displayed, showcasing the fullest extent yet of this epic masterpiece. “This painting was made not only to document a life,” Shaw shared, “but to offer something to those who come after, to offer a space of reflection for emotional recognition and perhaps for quiet rebellion against forgetfulness. I do hope that this work invites the viewer to slow down and to look carefully and to feel without haste.”
Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lost is curated by Madhuvanti Ghose, Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art, Arts of Asia.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Destyni "Desi" Swoope: Abuela's House
POSTED BY THE NATIONAL PUERTO RICAN MUSEUM:
Abuela’s House transcends the traditional notion of an exhibition; it is a love letter to identity, cultural inheritance, craftsmanship, and home. Each of the seventeen scenes realized by Destyni “Desi” Swoope’s own hands are a true mix of paint, found objects, and an eclectic collection of fabric. This exhibition is an intimate exploration of the enduring creative and personal influence of the artist’s maternal great-grandmother, and a celebration of the magic of time, wisdom, and love channeled by a single person. The exhibition and its accompanying text are curated by Zee Lopez Del Carmen.
A force in Caribbean culture, abuela isn’t simply the person to guide us or make us feel at home in moments when we don’t even know what home looks like. She’s the personification of our history, the rich soil from which we sprout and bloom into our fullest, truest selves. For families that have experienced immigration, abuela is the bridge to everything that affects our past, present, and future. Abuela’s House encourages us to understand that the colors of our lives come directly from the seeds our ancestors sowed for us, and we now have the opportunity to bloom freely, wildly, and on our own terms.
Desi has loved on each piece from conception to the final stitch. Layers of found fabrics and secondhand clothes are expertly hand-sewn into the artist’s uniquely electric and playful color palette. Yellows, blues, purples, and pinks, breathe life into scenes of a game of dominó (Heirloom, 2023), colorful neighborhoods made of stacked buildings (Boriken, 2023), cafecito cups from Abuela’s Kitchen (2023), and even Papi and Abuela’s Anniversary (2024). The colors and textures found in her work are the manifestations of her grandmother’s grace and prayers.
Ultimately, Desi patchworks the spirit of the Puerto Rican/Caribbean women who have carried on for generations, whose traditions and beliefs inspired her to dream for them and for herself. “Our stories and lives should not succumb to extinction amidst the rapid evolution of the world,” Swoope says. “Through Abuela’s House, I assert the great significance in cultural preservation, despite the complexities of identity and societal expectations.” This exhibition prompts us to reclaim the power of our memories. The artwork made for this debut museum exhibition paints the tapestry of her Abuela’s legacy as the vibrant, living foundation of her family.
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
SWEETMEATS
POSTED BY BUSH THEATRE:
“Their souls are on fire because after all these lonely days, they finally found their own.”
Hema hasn’t indulged in sweet treats for years. She wants to be healthier and hopes the type 2 diabetes course she’s been attending will help.
Everything seems on track. Then Liaquat shows up.
Unapologetic and unafraid to break rules, Liaquat influences Hema to enjoy all the world has to offer and in return, Hema helps Liaquat get his health under control. As the unlikely pair grow closer, they face the aching pull of romance they’d long thought they had outgrown.
An intimate love story between two South Asian elders, this charming world-premiere will pull at your heartstrings. Written by Karim Khan (Brown Boys Swim, Soho Theatre) and directed by Tara Theatre Artistic Director Natasha Kathi-Chandra.
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Art of Noise
POSTED BY COOPER HEWITT:
Art of Noise shows how design shapes the way we experience music—how and where we listen to it, how it’s communicated visually, and what we choose to hear. For many people, these design choices feel like a part of the music itself; they become a key part of how we remember and understand sound in a multisensory way—through our ears, our eyes, and our sense of touch.
Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and adapted to the history of the New York music scene for its East Coast presentation, Art of Noise presents hundreds of works that have shaped our relationship to music over the past century. From concert posters to record albums, phonographs to digital music players, handheld radios to sound systems, the exhibition demonstrates how our experiences are built by both the sounds we hear and the objects that help illustrate or activate them, whether through color and composition or through form, material, and mechanics.
AMPLIFYING MUSIC THROUGH GROUNDBREAKING GRAPHIC DESIGN
Unforgettable album covers, flamboyant posters, and eye-catching flyers demonstrate graphic design’s ability to provide a visual accompaniment to auditory experiences. These visual outputs are so correlated with the sound that genres of music are often associated with specific typographic styles, color palettes, and even production techniques—from hand-drawn to photocopied to digitally manipulated.
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN
The look and feel of music players—including radios, stereos, boomboxes, turntables, and portable devices—has developed alongside advancements in technology and evolving cultural aesthetics. Art of Noise maps these expressive styles and iconic product designs, from the mechanical and analog playback devices of a hundred years ago to the modern tools that deliver nearly infinite access to digital streaming.
LISTENING ROOM BY DEVON TURNBULL
Central to the exhibition’s experience and located on the first floor of Cooper Hewitt is HiFi Pursuit Listening Room Dream No. 3, a large-scale, handmade, audio system by multi-disciplinary artist Devon Turnbull. The listening room is programmed daily and activated throughout the run of the exhibition with either special live operator appearances or genre specific playlists.
EXHIBITION DESIGN BY TEENAGE ENGINEERING
The exhibition environment is designed in collaboration with Stockholm-based teenage engineering, whose groundbreaking speakers and synthesizers have garnered an international following. Museum visitors will encounter a new interactive seating environment designed by teenage engineering with a custom-designed device for audio playback that allows visitors to interact and discover new music. The device contains curated playlists that span genres and eras, with songs focused on the incredible range of music created or augmented in New York.
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
FORTUNE presents: Year of the Fire Horse x Ramadan
POSTED BY EVENTBRITE:
FORTUNE presents: Year of the Fire Horse x Ramadan
A fire can spark when we gather fiercely, lighting up the faces of loved ones. A fire fed by our connections, our insistence on freedom, our resolve. Welcome to FORTUNE’s 7th annual Lunar New Year party — this year, falling during the holy month of Ramadan. Come by, break your fast among queer kin, and warm yourselves with us for awhile.
Workshops with Alice Sparkly Kat, Chan — register for these when you purchase your ticket!
Opening Ceremony by URIOL
Performances by Beau Mahadev (NY), Hing, Shometha Monét
Karaoke with Frisbee Jackson & Sh’Maia Twain Chao
DJ Set by Chauder
Artist Vendors: Akhtarshenas Studios, frequent crier club, Ghazni Clay, Horse Girl Treasures, Many Folds Press, Peri Law, The Noxious Crow Metalworks, Tracy Chahwan, Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez
This year, we will have a separate and serene Spa area, featuring:
Handpokes by Soft Tissue Tattoo
Nails by Myx Lee (NY)
Facials by Maybe Khim
And there’s more variety! Mahjong and cards, activity tables, and a raffle with all proceeds going to Juntos and Vietlead.
$20–50 sliding scale (NOTAFLOF)
Free snack buffet (with halal options) served at sundown
Cash bar (and bring tips for our drag performer!)
KN95 or higher quality masks required, day-of rapid-testing encouraged (supplies provided at the door)
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Laylit
POSTED BY RESIDENT ADVISOR:
Laylit is a platform and collective celebrating music and artists from the Arab/SWANA region and its diaspora. Over the last 7 years their dance parties have carved out an unmatched place in North American nightlife, becoming an anticipated social gathering and unique musical experience.
Each party takes you on a genre-spanning journey, highlighting the incredible musical diversity, depth and richness that comes out of the region. Laylit has established its place on the scene with a signature electronic sound blending shaabi, dabke, mahraganat, Arabic pop and hip-hop with contemporary, boundary pushing dance music (techno, breakbeat, hyperpop, jersey, ukg, bass, dancehall, baile etc.) inspired by New York's underground clubs.
Featured in multiple publications including the New York Times and Pitchfork, Laylit is celebrating its 7-year anniversary this year with parties across the globe. Laylit values inclusivity and unity across cultures, languages, dialects, religions, identity and sexual orientations.
Presale price: $20
Door price: $25
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
All That’s Left of You + ScreenTalk with Cherien Dabis
POSTED BY BARBICAN:
Director Cherien Dabis joins us to talk about her powerful drama depicting the generational trauma of occupied Palestine spanning 75 years.
After a Palestinian teen gets swept up into a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the family story of hope, courage and relentless struggle that led to this fateful moment.
Jordan’s official entry for the international feature Oscar, All That’s Left of You takes the audience through four crucial periods of political unrest, from the Nakba in 1948 to the consolidation of a new status quo in the West Bank in 1978, the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1988 and the all-too-familiar present.
Dabis’ urgent film is a complex and heart-breaking tale of bravery, displacement and humanity.
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
YOA
POSTED BY DICE (TRANSLATED):
A serum of truth, clarity, and contemporary relevance: That's YOA, the child prodigy of pop with an electro pulse. With her debut album 'La Favorite', released on January 31, 2025, Yoa breathes new life into French pop, challenges conventions, and tackles important themes (friendship heartbreaks, sexual violence, mental health, love, and heteronormativity...).
In concert, each of her performances is a powerful experience: it's no wonder she was named Stage Revelation at the 2025 Victoires de la Musique awards!
Just a few weeks before her sold-out show at the Olympia on April 15, Yoa invites you to join her on January 29 and 30, 2026 at the Salle Pleyel.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
La montaña sagrada
POSTED BY SORONODO:
In La montaña sagrada (The Sacred Mountain), Suwon Lee brings together three lines of work which, though distinct in form and materiality, converge within a single constellation of meaning. The mountain appears as a metaphor for origin, the body, and memory, and as a site from which to reflect on the diasporic experience.
The main series, titled La montaña sagrada, focuses on mountains from different geographies, among them Pico Bolívar, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Mount Shasta, Mont Blanc, Mount Everest, and Mount Teide. Working from images taken from vintage postcards that the artist collects, enlarges, prints, and intervenes with oil pigments, these works activate the landscape as a territory with a spiritual dimension. The interventions do not seek to idealize the sites, but rather to awaken their symbolic power; they project experiences of displacement, loss, and the search for belonging.
Within this series, the Canaima diptych occupies a central position. In this work, the tepuis, sky, and earth are articulated together with water, present both as river and waterfall, forming an image in which these elements converge. More than a representation of a specific landscape, Canaima functions as a symbolic synthesis in which geological, atmospheric, and fluvial forces intertwine in a tense, dynamic balance. The work condenses an understanding of territory as an energetic field and a space of origin, a place where material and spiritual dimensions overlap. In this sense, Canaima emerges as an affective and conceptual core of the project, an image of high symbolic intensity from which the rest of the series is structured.
Lee conceives the mountain as a place one enters, one that demands time, presence, and attention, rather than as a space defined by the conquest of a summit. In this way, artistic practice becomes contemplative, and looking turns into a form of dwelling.
This notion extends into the series Dictée/Exilée, composed of collages and a video derived from the performance of the same name presented at Americas Society in 2024. In these works, language unfolds like a linguistic mountain, stratified by layers of memory, migration, and silence. Drawing on texts from the work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Lee overlays images of prisons in which political prisoners in Venezuela are held onto landscapes, configuring a topography of political trauma and diasporic memory that alludes to notions such as border, absence, and blurring.
Alongside these works is Tejiendo de origen (Weaving Origin), composed of two vintage photographs of the artist's grandparents that are interwoven and suspended in space, functioning as a genealogical foundation. Here, the gesture of joining the images operates as an act of repair, in which genealogy and affection intertwine as an emotional root and a point of return.
Taken together, the works construct a sensitive cartography in which genealogy, language, and memory intersect with the experience of territory. The mountain is not a fixed symbol, but a method and a practice of attention, a way of seeing, remembering, and remaining.
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Maggots
POSTED BY BUSH THEATRE:
‘She scrubs desperately. Fervently. Furiously. The filth is in the walls and she can feel it in her bones and under her skin.’
As the stench in their building intensifies and infestations spread, a lonely group of tenants starts to ask questions.
But when the housing association barely lifts a finger in support and pest control “don’t deal with maggots”, the neighbours are left to grapple with their suspicions and fears alone – blurring the boundaries of their usually private lives in the process.
An exploration of the importance of human connection, Maggots questions what it really takes to build community. Written by Tony Craze Award winner Farah Najib and directed by Jess Barton, and produced by Jessie Anand Productions (This Might Not Be It).
Cast includes Sam Baker Jones, who plays Jack Grealish in the BBC’s upcoming Dear England, Safiyya Ingar who is known for appearing in two seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher, and Marcia Lecky, whose illustrious career includes the West End plays and feature films, alongside TV appearances in EastEnders, Ted Lasso and Doctor Who.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Sundance Film Festival
POSTED BY SUNDANCE INSTITUTE:
As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists in film and episodic storytelling to create and thrive.
Robert Redford founded the Institute in 1981 to foster independence, risk-taking, and new voices in American film. That year, 10 emerging filmmakers were invited to the Sundance Resort in the mountains of Utah, where they worked with leading writers, directors, and actors to develop their original independent projects.
Today, our team of 165 employees works year-round to offer 12 labs and intensives, grants exceeding $3 million, and ongoing mentorships that support more than 1000 artists each year. Each January, the Sundance Film Festival introduces a global audience to groundbreaking work and emerging talent in independent film.
In addition to the Festival, the Sundance Institute hosts many public programs in the U.S. and around the world to connect artists with audiences to present original voices, inspire new ideas, and create community around independent storytelling.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
PORTAL
POSTED BY RESIDENT ADVISOR:
OPENING PORTAL 01.17.26
<3 CALLING ALL REAL & PASSIONATE DANCERS <3
A NIGHT OF AFRO-LATIN-INDIGENOUS DIASPORIC RHYTHMS AND ECLECTIC EXPERIMENTS FROM UNDERGROUND CLUB CULTURES ACROSS THE WORLD.
SOUNDS BY:
WILHELMINA
SPEED.FM
OBREEZY
BEATS
RESONATE.JPEG
A PARTY BY THE DIASPORA CENTERED AROUND DANCING AND OPENING A PORTAL TO THE LINEAGE OF ANCESTRAL SOUNDS:
BATIDA, BUDOTS, DETROIT TECHNO, EAST-COAST CLUB, RAPTOR HOUSE, UK FUNKY, LATINCORE, BREAKS, BASS, GHETTO TECH, KUDURO, ELECTRO, HARD DRUM, DEMBOW, SENSUAL 100BPM CHUGGERS.
PORTAL IS A CONSCIOUS PARTY FORGED FROM THE NEED AND CURIOSITY TO CHALLENGE COMMUNITY THROUGH DECONSTRUCTING AND RESHAPING OUR SPACES, SOUNDS, AND IDENTITY TOGETHER. PASSING THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THESE SPACES AND SOUNDS ARE... DANCE IS NOT JUST A SINGLE RELEASE OR MOMENT OF JOY BUT A FORM OF RESISTANCE — A WEAPON IF YOU WILL.
HOUSE RULES:
1). THIS IS A PLACE FOR EVERYONE — THERE ARE NO HIERARCHIES. AT THE SAME TIME, BE MINDFUL OF THE SPACE YOU TAKE — SHARING IS CARING. PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR YOUR FELLOW DANCERS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS.
2). NO CONVERSATIONS NOR USE OF CELLPHONES WHILE ON THE DANCE FLOOR; THE FLOOR IS A SACRED PORTAL THAT WE ENTER TO DANCE!!! YOUR GOSSIP IS DISTRACTING — TAKE IT TO THE BAR.
3). THIS IS A PLACE WITH ZERO TOLERANCE FOR HATE, VIOLENCE, HARASSMENT, RACISM, GAWKING, TRANSPHOBIA, NOR NONCONSENSUAL. NO MISCONDUCT WILL GO UNNOTICED. YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REMOVED.
xoxoxo, PORTAL
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Alt B: Palestine Comedy Club Film Screening
POSTED BY BUSH THEATRE:
Join comedian Alaa Shehada for a special screening of Alaa Aliabdallah’s powerful debut documentary, Palestine Comedy Club.
Six Palestinian stand-up comedians write and tour a stand-up comedy show exploring the unlikely, often dark humour that surrounds the complexity of Palestinian identity. What starts as a blending of comic traditions to encourage honest and open reflections through the shared enjoyment of laughter becomes an existential imperative to survival and sharing common humanity.
Alaa Shehada will be joined by Palestine Comedy Club co-founders, Sam Beale and Charlotte Knowles to discuss the documentary and the origin story of Palestine Comedy Club (PalCom), the work PalCom is doing to amplify Palestinian stories through comedy and the plans for the future.
Winner of the Spirit of Raindance Award 2025.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Remi Abeli
Posted By DICE (Translated):
Already seen in Parisian comedy clubs, Rémi Abeli has opened for comedians at venues like Le Point Virgule, Le République, and La Petite Loge.
On stage, he embodies a new generation of stand-up comedians: funny, insightful, and unpredictable.
Get ready for a unique evening of stand-up, a blend of absurd humor, introspection, and unexpected punchlines.
On stage, he mixes personal anecdotes, social commentary, and WTF situations: therapy, life in Paris, family, the Congo, relationships, and depression become fodder for laughter and reflection.
This show is an explosive mix of survival humor and the poetry of everyday life. Rémi talks about everything we don't dare say, with rare honesty and sharp wit.
A show that speaks to those who laugh at everything… as well as those who laugh to survive.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Stews Across the African Diaspora
POSTED BY LUMA:
If you've ever had gumbo, egusi, corn soup with dumplings, or a simple curry chicken, you know that stews are a way to tell the story of the African Diaspora through food and they're a vehicle to memory.
Savory, comforting, and filling stews and soups are essential pillars in African Diasporic food cultures. Join us in an exploration of the history, flavors, and variety of stews throughout the Afro-Atlantic World. We will demonstrate the culinary foodways, heritage continuities, colonial resistance, and adaptive transformations that African Diasporic stews communicate in their rich tradition.
This is a tasting class so we will have several stews available for you to try, including legumé from Haiti, egusi stew with fufu from Nigeria, feijoada from Brazil, and Gullah Geechee Okra Stew with Carolina Gold Rice and Shrimp. We have several vegan options and all meat used is halal!
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Discostan with Lara Sarkissian and Zarina
Posted by Resident Advisor:
Discostan returns January 9 at the iconic La Zona Rosa, with guest DJ sets by Lara Sarkissian and Zarina.
Born and raised in San Francisco and currently based in Los Angeles, Lara Sarkissian is an electronic musician, DJ and sound artist. She is founder of platform btwn Earth+Sky, a label and curatorial project which encourages collaboration between musicians and producers, and prioritizes sound in visual arts realms. She is a resident on NTS Radio, a home for her narrative-style programs showcasing dance and electronic from around the globe, and a reflection of her collaborations with artists in the respected genres. Sarkissian previously co-founded CLUB CHAI; a record label and event series with an international network of artists that artistically hybridized and archived non-Western sonic worlds within electronic dance culture. For Discostan, Lara highlights past and present SWANA and non-Western archives, primarily reshaping her Armenian heritage through own unique sound signatures. Whether its sampling in productions or blends in dance sets, Lara pays homage to the vast and specific regional sounds by making connections in percussion, rhythm, and melody.
Zarina is a multidisciplinary artist and educator, born in Atlanta, GA and based in Brooklyn, NY. She’s the co-founder of decidedly sweet NYC party series ‘Lifesavers’, whose genre-weaving and future-building sets are made of music that might just save your life. Her highly personal and uncompromising ethic for punchy percussion, limber electro, and hypnotic soundscapes celebrates introspection at its most playful. She's not afraid to take you on a 100-160 BPM narrative journey in a set, while giving you all the necessary tools to traverse. Last time Zarina played Discostan, she commanded the decks for an extra hour and kept the floor sweaty and bumping, and we’re excited to see what she brings us in a few weeks!
The Rees/Sengupta Trio
POSTED BY EVENTBRITE:
The Rees/ Sengupta Trio is a jazz fusion trio made up of a group of 3 friends who all met studying music in London. We have a modern sound, and seek to incorporate the breadth of accessibility and heavy hitting grooves of fusion with the sensitive dynamic textures of more traditional jazz. We’re highly influenced by fusion pioneers, such as: Allan Holdsworth, Wayne Krantz and Jaco Pastorius but also readily compose our own material, creating a fresh sound. We’ve taken a unique approach to the traditional roles of the guitar trio, where in our sound the bass player and guitar player often swap roles: the bass playing a lead role and the guitar player holding it down. We hope that we can bring our cutting edge sound to your venue for a wide variety of audiences to enjoy.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Sherelle & Nikki Nair (All Night Long)
POSTED BY RESIDENT ADVISOR:
Sherelle joins Nikki Nair for the opening party of his 4 Fridays at Phonox residency this Jan. Expect a b2b set for the ages.
Hailing from the southeastern US, Nikki has distinguished himself as a bold voice in the landscape of hybridised dance music over the last few years. Often fusing electro, leftfield techno, breaks and UK bass, his releases have found homes on cult labels like Gobstopper, Banoffee Pies, Pretty Weird, and most recently, Future Classic.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
The Horse of Jenin
POSTED BY BUSH THEATRE:
‘The horse in Arabic is a symbol of freedom. But to us, this horse is much more. This horse is us.’
Built from the debris of a major invasion, the Horse of Jenin sculpture became a constant presence in Alaa’s life growing up in Occupied Palestine. It stood proudly in the centre of the city for twenty years, symbolising hope and resistance.
Then, on 29 October 2023, an Israeli bulldozer entered the city, ripping the sculpture from its place — and from its people.
Now, Alaa is left wondering… What happened to the horse?
Constructed from the fragments of Palestinian actor and comedian Alaa Shehada’s own memories, The Horse of Jenin is an ode to the power of imagination and the resilience it brings.
FOR MORE INFO & TO PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective
POSTED BY MoMA:
“I’m not so interested in the expression of something. I’m more interested in what the material can do. So that’s why I keep exploring,” said artist, educator, and civic leader Ruth Asawa, reflecting on a six-decade-long career. Featuring some 300 artworks, Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective charts the artist’s lifelong explorations of materials and forms in a variety of mediums, including wire sculpture, bronze casts, drawings, paintings, prints, and public works. This first posthumous survey celebrates the ways in which Asawa continuously transformed materials and objects into subjects of contemplation, unsettling distinctions between abstraction and figuration, figure and ground, and negative and positive space.
Asawa made art every day, pursuing the inexhaustible possibilities offered by simple materials such as paper and wire since her days at Black Mountain College, where she studied in the late 1940s. Following a move to San Francisco in 1949, her practice grew exponentially as she produced a body of work ranging from endless variations of abstract looped-wire sculptures to calligraphic ink paintings.
Community was crucial to Asawa, who realized numerous public commissions—fountains, murals, and memorials—from the late 1960s onward, and stood at the forefront of arts education in the Bay Area and beyond. Taking a cue from her own work, Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective offers numerous points of entry into her art, encouraging close looking. It also reveals the model of integrated art practice cultivated by Asawa, for whom all acts held a creative potential and for whom there was no separation between living and making art.
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Yto Barrada: Thrill, Fill, and Spill
POSTED BY SOUTH LONDON GALLERY:
Yto Barrada’s multidisciplinary practice moves between micro-histories, borderlands, resistance strategies, and Tangier — the city where she was raised and which her work keeps circling back to. This exhibition spans textile, film, sculpture, and painting, gathering new and existing works that draw on her research into colour theory, abstraction, ecological crisis, and cultural memory.
The title Thrill, Fill and Spill borrows from a gardener’s mnemonic (a memory aid) which describes: a focal plant (thriller), companions (fillers), and those that overflow (spillers). Barrada turns this popular design concept into an allegory for creative thought — anchoring, accumulating, overflowing.
Natural dyeing is central to Barrada’s practice. Her textiles are dyed with plants she grows herself at The Mothership, her artist-led eco-campus and dye garden in Tangier. Plants include cosmos, indigo, madder and each have a colonial history tangled in its roots. Their colours are records of labour, migration, appropriation. Waxes trace historic trade routes, techniques from Indonesia, North Africa and West Africa have been borrowed, reclaimed and erased. For Barrada, dye sits at the intersection of colonial commerce, women’s labour, ecological fragility, and oral transmission.
Recurring themes include disobedience, political courage, and the quiet subversion of Modernist forms. This exhibition explores borders and protective structures through works like Tangier Island Wall, a porous “sea wall” of crab traps, and Acrobatic Formations, sculptures modelled after Moroccan human pyramids. Tintin in Palestine (2025) reimagines two historic versions of the publisher Hergé’s graphic novel, Land of Black Gold, as abstract colour grids, making visible the edits and erasures that reframe history.
Barrada’s commitment to place, community, and cultural exchange is exemplified by her founding of The Mothership and The Cinémathèque de Tanger, North Africa’s first art house cinema.
ABOUT YTO BARRADA
Yto Barrada is recognized for her multidisciplinary investigations of cultural phenomena and historical narratives.
Engaging with the performativity of archival practices and public interventions, Barrada’s installations reinterpret social relationships, uncover subaltern histories, and reveal the prevalence of fiction in institutionalised narratives.
Informed by postcolonial thought and socio-political concerns, Barrada’s interests range from the tensions around borders, immigration, and tourism to the urban landscape, and from children’s toys to botany and palaeontology. Her practice encompasses photography, film, sculpture, painting, printmaking, and publishing, while her installations often comprise both original work and found objects.
IMAGE: Yto Barrada, Thrill, Fill and Spill, 2025. South London Gallery. Photo: Lucy Dawkins
FOR MORE INFO, VISIT THE WEBSITE.