Latest news with #artscene
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
As 2 Hong Kong art spaces seek new leaders, experts weigh in on the impact
Para Site and Asia Art Archive (AAA), two long-standing independent cultural institutions in Hong Kong, are simultaneously seeking new executive directors at a pivotal moment for the city's cultural scene. On June 2, Para Site in Quarry Bay announced that Billy Tang had stepped down as executive director and curator after concluding his three-year contract. The British-born former senior curator of Shanghai's Rockbund Art Museum took over from Cosmin Costinas – who had run Para Site for 11 years – in May 2022, just as Hong Kong lifted its Covid-19 pandemic ban on non-residents entering the city. Since then, the non-profit art space founded in 1996 has undergone major changes, such as embracing more environmentally friendly and longer-running exhibitions, and opening an additional exhibition space on the 10th floor of the building where it is based which has given emerging artists the chance to undertake more site-specific and interactive projects. Billy Tang stepped down as Para Site's director and curator on June 2, 2025. Meanwhile, AAA in Sheung Wan , which maintains an extensive art archive and runs regular public programmes and a well-used library, put up a job posting for a successor to Christopher K. Ho , who joined AAA as executive director in 2021.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘We're here to disturb the algorithm' – inside Dubai's surprising art scene
It's 6am and I'm trying to decide whether it's the heady scent of jasmine or the jet lag that's got me so lightheaded. Probably both. I've woken up at ridiculous o'clock and managed to locate the button to automatically open my curtains from the giant bed at the Jumeirah Al Arab – whilst taking in the scenery of pure white sand, sunbeds as far as the eye can see and discreet workers who are beavering away at the day's maintenance. The mighty seven-star Jumeirah Burj Al Arab looms in my vision on its man-made island opposite my balcony. Dubai loves a superlative: tallest tower, fastest lift, deepest pool, highest dancing fountain – and I begin my quest to discover its burgeoning art scene with the biggest breakfast. The Al Arab dining experience is something to behold, and for a city known for its belt-busting brunch experiences, that's saying something. Saffron croissants, check. Sushi, check. Shakshuka, check. Somewhere between a third coffee and a bite of za'atar bread, I notice the tables filling up with glamorous families in their matching baby'n'me Prada twin sets. Rather than gawp, I push my sunglasses firmly into position and prepare myself to explore Dubai 's art scene. My first stop is Alserkal Avenue, Dubai's edgy, creative lung. Wedged inside Al Quoz, a district that still bears the marks of industry, it comprises gritty warehouses, greasy mechanics' garages and large cranes suggesting exciting new developments. Crucially, it's a world away from the Gucci tracksuits and Tesla showrooms that I expected to find here. Founded by Emirati patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, the Avenue is a defiant snub to the city's luxury obsession and has gone from strength to strength since it opened with just one gallery, 'Ayyam', in 2008. Now there are seventeen galleries and a hip crowd of Gen Z-ers wearing paint-stained Dickies and Crocs, who flaunt multi-coloured hair as they zip around on scooters. The vibe here is ultra-cool, and lunchtime brings an edgy gaggle of workers who patiently queue at the vegan café for their Ethiopian pour-over coffees. I find Chafa Ghaddar in her 8th Street Studio. Lebanese-born, she relocated to Dubai seven years ago and has found that the rhythm of life here suits her. She talks me through her work whilst offering me one of her mum's delicious homemade chocolates that she regularly ships over from Beirut. Known for her contemporary fresco work – a medium steeped in history which she distils through a contemporary lens – her work offers an interesting insight into the female perspective. Next, I drop into Rami Farook's studio. Part personal museum, part existential garage sale, Farook's works include self-portraits scrawled on plywood, scuffed zines from 2006, found objects and fake ads. 'This,' he says, motioning around, 'this is Dubai. Not the malls.' I'm in town for Dubai's official art week, Art Dubai, where the vibe is much more formal. Headquartered at the Madinat Jumeirah, where even the air feels curated, my comfortable-for-the-35-degrees sundress stands out like a sore thumb against the gallerists' blanket uniform of 50 shades of black. After silencing my imposter syndrome, I make my way through the vast showcase of work. I found an affinity with the digital section, which launched in 2022 and showcases works which are radical, virtual and visionary. It has rapidly established itself as one of the most ambitious experiments of its kind: a curated space that not only embraces the aesthetics of the online world but wrestles seriously with the ethics, politics and implications of living within it. Speaking to Caroline Spinks, the mind behind the Espace Gallery, the British-born curator is firmly embedded in the UAE's creative ecosystem. Her work with Ralph Khoury (aka Ginger Potter) isn't just about presenting digital art, it's about asking what happens when the simulation becomes more real than the thing it imitates. 'We're not here to entertain,' she tells me, sipping black tea from a paper cup. 'We're here to disturb the algorithm.' I nod in agreement, but I am distracted by a very real-looking butterfly on the screen behind her; not an insect at all, but a computer file. Venturing further into the abyss of interactive art, I was bestowed a personal affirmation from a chip-infused ceramic bird at the Inloco Gallery stand. Iranian-born Mohsen Hazrati's "Fãl" project was inspired by the fortune-telling parrots found in Iranian markets in his parents' era, brought up to date thanks to AI. Keen to try, I was able to type a question, scan my bird and receive an answer – a digital divination based on the poems of Iranian poet Hafez. Intriguing? Indeed. Enlightening. Sadly not. After my whirlwind visit, I'd say that the art scene in Dubai seems to be mixing tradition with disruption to great effect. This was reinforced by one of the artists I met, who said: 'Dubai is not a blank slate. It's already full. We're just adding layers.' During my visit, I felt I'd got under at least some of those layers and was enchanted with the city's mesmerising confidence. When asked, 'So, did you get it?' I'd answer, yes. I think I probably did. Sara Darling was a guest of Visit Dubai and Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab.
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Real reason Natalie Portman quit US to live in France
Natalie Portman has shed light on her decision to leave the US and move to France, where she is raising her family. The Oscar winner ditched Los Angeles and moved to Paris when her then-husband Benjamin Millepied accepted a job as the director of the Paris Opera Ballet. The 'Black Swan' actress shares two children, Aleph, 13, and Amalia, 8, with Millepied. Speaking with Marie Claire, Portman said Paris was 'one of the most exciting places to be in the world,' while praising the city's impressive art scene. 'It's really central in terms of the arts. It feels like things are happening in L.A., you know?' she said. 'New York is more where art is bought than where art is made. 'When Ben asked me if I wanted to go to Paris, I freaked. Everyone dreams of living in Paris.' The couple ended up calling it quits after Millepied had an alleged affair with a 25-year-old climate activist named Camille Étienne. The New York native stayed in Europe following the break-up with Millepied, revealing the Parisians understand her boundaries. 'They're very good at privacy here,' she told Net-a-Porter. 'I feel like the biggest compliment is 'elle est très discrète' ['she is very discreet'].' The Hollywood starlet said she also enjoys soaking up all the culture the European city has to offer. 'Even when it's cold and grey, there's always some incredible exhibit or concert or dinner party or writers in town; something fascinating and stimulating happening … and the frequent vacations are so clutch!' she said. The 43-year-old pushed back on a stereotype that Parisians are 'rude', pointing out the 'weird' social differences between the US and France. 'I find the people here are actually incredibly friendly – you just have to know how to interact, so that we're not the ones being rude,' she said. 'Now, when I go back to the US, I'm like, oh, I would go into a store and not say hello to everyone there? It's weird.' 'I think we have an assumption that Western cultures are all the same, and kind of evened out by all this pop culture that everyone consumes. It's not true: it's extremely specific here.' However, Portman has not cut all ties with the US. The 'Star Wars' actress retained residence in Los Feliz, Los Angeles she purchased in 2009 for $US3.3 million. Eight years later, Portman purchased a second California property in Montecito, which she picked up for $US6.5 million in June 2017. However, she quietly offloaded the home in an off-market deal in 2021 for $US8 million after relocating to France. According to Realtor, the sale netted the 'V for Vendetta' star a tidy profit, with $US1.5 million more than she bought it for. Portman's career has continued since she moved to Europe. The actress racked up numerous credits since she relocated in 2014, including roles in Marvel's blockbuster 'Avengers' series. She'll make her next appearance in the Guy Ritchie-directed heist movie, 'Fountain of Youth,' in which she stars alongside John Krasinski.
Times
19-05-2025
- Times
The fun, under-the-radar German city that's now easier to reach
Second World War bombs destroyed nearly all of Münster's large, shield-shaped Altstadt, or old town. Yet rather than opting for a contemporary look, the city mostly recreated streets in an ersatz historic style. The results, especially along the focal Prinzipalmarkt street, are impressive, with a handsome riot of cobbles, red bricks, arcades, alleys and gabled houses, plus 90-odd churches whose bells seem to permanently be tolling. Even so, this compact city, north of the Ruhr in western Germany, is far from fusty. Students, contributing a youthful energy, account for 20 per cent of inhabitants while bicycles — most prominent along the three-mile Promenade, a moat turned leafy cycleway and footpath that encloses the Altstadt — outnumber everyone. Other reasons to board new flights from Stansted range from a heavyweight contemporary art scene and some thrillingly bloody history to the chance to try or buy superlative, farm-fresh examples of Germany's beloved white asparagus. • Morning: St-Paulus-Dom cathedral• Lunch: Wochenmarkt• Afternoon: LWL Museum of Art and Culture• Drink at: Balthazar• Evening: Stadthafen• Dinner: Altes Gasthaus Leve • Morning: Old town walking tour• Lunch: Die 3 Schwestern• Afternoon: Münster Botanic Garden• Drink at: Pinkus Müller Altbierküche• Evening: Lake Aasee• Dinner: Global Tarsusi ● The colossal cathedral at the heart of the Altstadt, St-Paulus-Dom, contains gleaming golden reliquaries, porthole-like stained-glass windows and a still-operational, 16th-century astronomical clock. Ornate and enormous, this produces a glockenspiel-soundtracked display at noon as figurines representing the Magi appear twice and bow to Mary and Jesus. Arrive by 11.45 for a clear vantage point. ● Spread over two floors of cavernous rooms, the LWL Museum of Art and Culture's regionally centred exhibits run through the centuries, ranging from Madonna statues and Luther bibles to Yves Klein monochromes and an Edvard Munch nude. You can also see works from the Skulptur Projekte Münster, which changes every ten years, the next edition starting in 2027 (£9; ● Stadthafen, Münster's 'port', where grand industrial buildings line a basin off the Dortmund-Ems Canal, has been gentrified into a buzzy hub of creative agencies and water-facing bar-restaurants with big terraces. As the latter are all a bit overpriced, opt instead for some hazelnut ice cream from MaMa's, just inland (scoops from £2; ● Take a local-led tour of the handsome Altstadt. Its Peace Hall — where Louis XIV and other European dignitaries ended the Thirty Years War — and grand, gothic St Lambert's Church, complete with cages where the mutilated corpses of three Protestant revolutionaries were once shockingly displayed, are the headline acts (tours £61pp for two; ● Walk or pedal around the lime tree-canopied Promenade to the Schloss Münster, a baroque bishop's palace turned university building. Hidden behind is the Münster Botanic Garden; a circuit here reveals humid, lemon-scented glasshouses with boardwalks across ponds; a slumberous, lily-padded lake; bumpy rock gardens; and dappled copses studded with benches (free; ● Lake Aasee extends from the Altstadt's southwestern fringe. On sunny evenings, as locals festoon its flanks, ride the electric Solariis ferry (from £4; last service 5.30pm) to a museum of relocated historic buildings, headlined by a 17th-century post mill (£7; or look for Henry Moore's bronze amid a walking trail of former Skulptur Projekte works ( • 10 of the best places to visit in Germany On Saturdays and Wednesdays, the square surrounding the cathedral, Domplatz, hosts a large market. Food's the focus, with farm stalls selling punnets of strawberries alongside honey specialists and pumpernickel producers. The western side contains dozens of food trucks. Winterhoffs Flammkuchen serves crispy, pizza-like tarte flambées studded with bacon and onion for about £6, plus glasses of rosé ( Seconds from the deconsecrated Dominican Church, inside which Gerhard Richter's pendulum installation hypnotically proves the Earth's rotation, is the traditional Altes Gasthaus Leve inn. Full of cosy, dark-wood corners, this is the place to try typical Westphalian dishes: white asparagus with potatoes; open pumpernickel sandwiches; or veal ragout (mains from £14; On Wolbecker Strasse, this faintly beatnik vegan café majors in brilliant and beautifully presented brunch bowls. These might incorporate homemade banana bread, avocado, granola or kiwi fruit alongside smoothies or good coffee. Chilled-out beats play and it's common to queue for a seat (dishes from £5; Head east along the going-hip Wolbecker Strasseto find Münster's best cocktail bar. Decked out in jungle-green colours, compact Balthazar has a solar-system-themed menu. The Sun (gin, lemon sherbet, curaçao and yuzu saké) is the most popular, but I opt for a Venus, in which rich apricot, rhubarb and raspberry flavours riff with rye whisky and saké (cocktails from £10; Of the 150 breweries that once produced dark, malty altbier in Münster, only Pinkus Müller remains in business. Its century-old complex includes a simple restaurant with outdoor drinking tables. The classic summer order is altbierbowle, in which preserved strawberries or raspberries are added to the staple, chilled beer (beers from £3; Like all German cities, Münster has tons of Turkish restaurants. Offering more of a Mediterranean-wide outlook, this neighbourhood joint might be the best, aided by superb service. Sit out on the buzzy street and order herby minced lamb wrapped in freshly baked flatbread alongside homemade aioli (mains from £7; • Read our full guide to Germany This article contains affiliate links, which can earn us revenue Great design and gourmet foodRight on the Promenade, and very handy for the airport bus, this beautiful design hotel mixes mid-century furniture with oak-parquet floors, monochrome photography and moody taupes or greys. It also rents out bikes and has an ambitious but informal ground-floor restaurant, Reckos, whose white asparagus soup is outstanding (B&B doubles from £157; Simple style near greeneryIn a safe, residential area out near the Botanic Garden and Lake Aasee, adults-only Hotel Jellentrup's red-brick building contains 21 rooms exclusively on its first and second floors, but no lift. Expect simple but spacious furnishings in subdued colours, and to pay extra for a balcony with outdoor seating. Breakfast is a small but high-quality buffet (B&B doubles from £106; Private hostel rooms for a songDespite the name, this hostel inside the altstadt isn't just dormitories. There are also some capacious double or twin rooms with sitting areas, bathrooms and wardrobes. Drinks and coffee are available in the buzzy lounge, where pale woods and exposed bricks set a post-industrial tone. Expect a little late-night noise as younger guests return home (B&B doubles from £68; On March 30, Ryanair began flying four times a week from London Stansted to Münster Osnabrück; taking 60 minutes, these services will continue until October 25. The S50 bus, going to Munster Hbf from stop H outside the terminal, takes 40 minutes to reach central Münster and every half-hour (£8 one-way; Taxis cost about £60. If you want to join Münster's cycling swarms, or go rural and follow the 100 Castles Route cycling path to moated mansions and river valleys ( the Radstation shop by Münster Central Station has bikes from £9 per day. Electric options are also available ( Mellor was a guest of the German National Tourist Board ( and Münster Marketing (
Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Modja Modja House hotel review: arty Margate's new guesthouse
Margate hotels are understandably in touch with their arty side. In the Kentish seaside town that meant so much to JMW Turner, where galleries thrive and the local girl Tracey Emin has returned to nurture native talent, it's an unofficial bylaw that accommodation must represent the local art scene on walls, shelves and breakfast tables. At Modja Modja House, a 19th-century former sweet shop in the up-and-coming Cliftonville district, Amy Croft and her partner Yuri Suzuki have taken this one step further. Artists themselves, they have designed and decorated their B&B using their own works and pieces commissioned from friends and mentors to create a delicate, offbeat, Japanese-influenced aesthetic. Stay here and they'll help you plug straight into the town's art scene. This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Score 8/10About as boutique as guesthouses get, Modja Modja House has just two en suite first-floor bedrooms (the name is a Japanese term referring to unruly curly hair, like Croft's). Bare floorboards and white walls are the simple backdrop to pleasing design touches such as book-sized pastel-metal floating bedside ledges, bespoke touch-release cupboards and embroidered throws and cushions on the UK-made organic wool-mattress Naturalmat beds. Room 1 has a bow window overlooking quiet Bath Street and, in the en suite, an oatmeal Royal Doulton sink and moss-coloured clawfoot bath. In a boxy orange rack are toiletries from the quirkily named local company Formerly Known As Haeckels. Room 2, reached through colourful sliding shoji screens by the London-based designer Rio Kobayashi, has a shower room and looks over rooftops and the family's small garden; at sunset it's bathed in honeyed light. The rooms share a tray of coffee and tea-making things, and Tunnock's tea cakes and Mini Cheddars are left in the rooms. Neither has a TV but both have ambient sound machines designed by Suzuki — on each, a panel of 32 switches allows you to create your own soothing, sleep-inducing soundscape. Score 7/10Continental breakfast is served around the dining table downstairs in a room with more intriguing objets and art: Croft hand-stitched the colourful noren curtains half-screening the kitchen and among items displayed on the shelves are some of Suzuki's ceramic ornaments, made with the Mallorcan tile company Huguet. The wall-mounted digital 'clock in a bag' was designed by Suzuki's mentor, Daniel Weil. The food itself comes beautifully presented: bespoke ceramic bowls for the fruit and homemade granola; Greek yoghurt in individual Kilner jars; loose-leaf tea in an elegant red pot; and a glazed platter for outsize pastries from the Oast bakery round the corner. If you're after a trad fry-up nip to the Dalby Cafe a few minutes' walk away (@dalbycafe). For dinner near Modja Modja there are a few options on Northdown Road but the latest opening is the restaurant at Faith in Strangers, a seafront space that already has a daytime co-working space, events and after-hours DJs. Open on Fridays and Saturdays, the kitchen is run by the accomplished chef Jackson Berg, and offers a short but compelling menu: try the deep-fried devilled eggs and the salt and vinegar cured sea bass. Kick off with a £5 negroni to go with the sunset sea views behind the totemic Lido sign (mains from £19; There's nothing in the way of spa or grounds but Croft and Suzuki run a very on-brand occasional residency scheme for invited musicians and artists. (There's also free on-road parking.) Score 7/10Cliftonville (so on the up it's at the top of a hill) is a largely residential part of Margate — it's 25 minutes' walk from the station but only ten from the old town, with its galleries, vintage shops and boutiques. It's free entry at Turner Contemporary (the excellent Steve McQueen-curated exhibition Resistance runs until June 1; and the fab Crab Museum ( For a dip, aim for the main beach or head east to Walpole Bay Tidal Pool. Croft has loads of local tips, including the rabbit-warren second-hand shop Scott's, round the corner from Modja Modja. Price B&B doubles from £140Restaurant N/AFamily-friendly NAccessible NDog-friendly N Liz Edwards was a guest of Modja Modja House (
