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Author name: Kaat Van Der Linden

Art, Uncategorized

Paris Art Spring 2026: What Not To Miss

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Paris Art Spring 2026: What Not To Miss text Eva Drakenberg Birds singing, green trees dancing, and happy Parisians drinking wine in the sun at every single brasserie. Spring has fully sprung in Paris, which not only entails blooming tulips at the florists but also a full-on blossoming art scene. As the season draws to a close, a few current exhibitions are truly worth visiting. Explore recurring themes of light, chaos, female energy, and spiritual geometry. Les Petites Aquarelles, n° 1,1908, aquarelle et crayon sur papier, 26 × 36 cm, HaK085. By courtesy of the Hilma af Klint Foundation – photo The Moderna Museet, Stockholm LIGHT EXPLOSION As spring arrives, we tend to crave more light in our lives, and a few shows offer exactly that. At the Bourse de Commerce, the Pinault Collection is presenting the striking Clair-Obscur, where over one hundred works explore the philosophical interplay of light and shadow. From Sigmar Polke’s unconventional postwar paintings and Wolfman Tilman’s photography, to Maria Martins’ sculptures, artists working across media transport you to new realities.  Meanwhile, across the Seine, the Musée d’Orsay offers a glimpse of Scandinavia with its temporary Northern Light exhibition. In a small room featuring eight paintings, artists such as the Swedish national romantic Carl Larsson capture the subjectivity of light. By visiting both shows, we allow a dialogue between the past and the contemporary. How is our relationship to light influenced by the ideas of our time?  Pinault Collection, Clair-obscur  Open now to August 24 View of the exhibition “Clair-obscur”, Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris, 2026. © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, Niney et Marca Architectes, agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur. I Pierre Huyghe. Camata. 2024. Robotic driven by machine learning, self-directed film, edited in real time by self-learning algorithms, sound, sensors. Pinault Collection. © Adagp, Paris, 2026 Musee D’Orsay- Northern Light  Open now to May 10 Carl Johan Forsberg. Pax, 1905. Musée d’Orsay. Achat, 2022. © Musée d’Orsay, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Sophie Crépy NAVIGATING CHAOS How often have you heard “we live in such a crazy time” recently? Well, you are definitely not alone. As always, artists help us navigate difficult societal issues such as climate change and inequality. Find clarity, comfort, or discomfort through performative works by Paul McCarthy, photography through the lens of mass tourism by Martin Parr, and figurative paintings by Henry Taylor. These American and British contemporary artists navigate a turbulent world through their own artistic expressions. Hauser & Wirth Gallery – Paul Mccarthy, SS EE Saint Santa Eva Elf Open now to May 9 Installation view, ‘PAUL McCARTHY.SS EE SAINT SANTA EVA ELFDRAWING SESSIONS 2025WITH LILITH STANGENBERG,’Hauser &WirthParis,2026.© Paul McCarthy. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur Jeu De Paume – Martin Parr, Global warming  Open now to May 24 © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos. 1996.  Picasso Museum – Henry Taylor, Where Thoughts Provoke  Open now to September 6  Henry Taylor, We Were Framed, 2014. Coll. Part. Photo Brian Forrest. © Henry Taylor. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth FEMALE ENERGY Gender roles are questioned by strong voices, such as Nan Goldin’s film installation at Grand Palais and British artist Rose Wylie’s figurative paintings interpreting Henri Rousseau at David Zwirner Gallery. While tackling different aspects of misogyny in two separate media, both do so with a similar wit and a sense of joie de vivre. Goldin’s photography famously captures the intimacy of the present and Wylie understands the now by interpreting the past. Despite difficult topics, both shows echo a sense of hopefulness. Grand Palais – Nan Goldin, This will not end well  Open now to June 21 Vue de l’exposition Nan Goldin, This Will Not End Well, Grand Palais, Paris__455 © Photo Simon Lerat pour le GrandPalaisRmn.  David Zwirner – Rose Wylie, Henri, Egypt…Bette, Bear Open now to May 23 Installation view. Rose Wylie: Henri, Egypt…Bette, Bear, David Zwirner, Paris, April 2-May 23, 2026. Courtesy David Zwirner. Photo by Nicolas Brasseur. SPIRITUAL GEOMETRY For some, geometry typically feels static and mathematical, yet several current exhibitions suggest the opposite. By embracing a geometric visual language, many artists seek to explore the spiritual dimension of reality. The Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibits a retrospective of Alexander Calder, who explored spirituality by rejecting logical shapes in his sculptures. In the Marais, the Institut suédois celebrates geometric abstract art with around 30 works of concretist Olle Bærtling, accompanied by contemporary artists. Similar to Calder, Bærtling was also interested in seeking spirituality in nature through shapes and colours.  Lastly, in early May, the Grand Palais opens its very grand Hilma af Klint exhibition, a must-see for every Scandi in Paris. Try to name a better way to finish Paris art spring than seeing the world through Hilma! On top of that, from grand to more petite, one should not miss the new Swedish, material-focused Galerie Börjesson Perott. From May 6, they are exhibiting a group show that continues the echo of Af Klint, featuring works by contemporary artists Bella Rune, Nadine Byrne, Ylva Snöfrid, and more. Fondation Louis Vuitton – Alexander Calder, Rêver en équilibre Open now to August 16 Alexander Calder, La Grande vitesse (1:5 intermediate maquette), 1969, Sheet metal, bolts, and paint, 259.1 x 342.9 x 236.2 cm, Calder Foundation, New York. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York /ADAGP, Paris. Photo courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York Institut suédois – Olle Bærtling and more, Formes Ouvertes Open now to July 19 Installation view. Formes Ouvertes. Vinciane Lebrun (Voyez-Vous). Grand Palais – Hilma Af Klint  Opens at May 6  Éros, n° 4, 1907, huile sur toile, 58 × 79 cm, HaK030. By courtesy of the Hilma af Klint Foundation – photo The Moderna Museet, Stockholm.jpg as light brings hope we feel to cope as tragedy occurs  we choose magic to stir

Opiates, Uncategorized

Iittala × Pokémon

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Iittala × Pokémon photography Atlas Woo Iittala marks Pokémon’s 30th anniversary with a capsule collection that brings the franchise’s familiar world into the Finnish design house’s own universe of clarity and craft. At its center is Origo, Alfredo Häberli’s striped icon from 1999, reinterpreted with Pikachu‑inspired colors and small illustrated adventures that move playfully across the surface. The collaboration feels less like a crossover and more like a shared origin story. Pokémon was born in 1996; Origo arrived three years later. Both shaped the late‑90s imagination, both became cultural touchstones, both endured. Here, they meet again in objects designed for everyday use: mugs, plates and bowls that carry narrative without losing Origo’s graphic discipline. Rather than treating Pokémon as novelty, the collection integrates it into functional pieces meant to live on tables, in kitchens, and in daily rituals. Nostalgic, yes, but also contemporary, rooted in Iittala’s belief in restraint, color, and objects made to last. Launching 1 May 2026 in Finland and Japan, the capsule sits at the intersection of design, collectability and memory, a reminder that some things we grew up with continue to shape us long after.

Cinema, Uncategorized

The Art of Pretending – Mecenaten by Julia Thelin

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image courtesy TriArt Film image courtesy TriArt Film photography Johan Hannu The Art of Pretending – Mecenaten by Julia Thelin text Kaat Van Der Linden In October 2024, a small film crew gathered on Gotland to create something both dark and strangely beautiful. Working in Visby, the cast and crew relied on each other completely, the isolation shaping not only the production but the emotional temperature of the film itself. As the cinema release approached on March 20th, director Julia Thelin and actors Carla Sehn and Maxwell Cunningham reflected on the experience: the strange intimacy of the shoot, the trust it demanded, and what they hope audiences carry with them after watching Mecenaten.   Thelin has spent more than seven years shaping Mecenaten into the film she wanted it to be. Cunningham and Sehn joined the project in 2023, after an audition process that was anything but conventional. “Julia wanted to see me be a bad dancer, but try anyway, and that made me feel beautifully seen.” Sehn said. “That’s a dream for me, a director who looks at me with beautiful eyes and sees me for all my mistakes.” But her audition didn’t end there. After her first tape, the team didn’t think she was the right fit as Thelin had written the character as older. Sehn, however, couldn’t shake the feeling that she belonged in this film. “I called the producer and said, ‘I think you made a mistake – I think this part is mine.’” And she was on to something, Sehn’s interpretation of the character had stuck with the team. ”It was just obvious how Carla understood something about this character that was crucial” Thelin says. photography Johan Hannu photography Johan Hannu The cast joked that the production felt less traditional and more like a crew of pirates trying to hold a ship together. “We were somewhere on the edge of the world, trying to conquer the world with no money, it felt like. So that was how I would describe it. And in those kinds of situations, you become really close, because you have to depend on each other completely in order to do these kinds of scenes.” The combination of a small team, harsh weather and the isolation created a strange sense of solidarity. According to Thelin, every film develops its own kind of DNA through collaboration, but atmosphere plays an equally important role. “I appreciate focus – you need to preserve your energy and put it in the right places,” she says. On Gotland, that atmosphere came almost effortlessly. As Cunningham put it, “It was easy to tune into the core of the film just by being there, left alone with each other.” Coming into these particular characters wasn’t easy for everyone. Cunningham explains that the hardest part was stepping into someone far more passive than himself: “What felt unfamiliar for me was to depend on other people to make decisions. I have four younger siblings, so I never hesitate to make decisions. But my character is very codependent. He’s very shy. So that was something I had to grow into.” Sehn could easily step into the loneliness her character carries – “that’s a place I know really well,” she said – though laying that loneliness bare before an audience pushed her into unfamiliar ground. The film also gave Cunningham the chance to play a type he had never been offered before: “I’ve never been asked if I could play an art student. A lot of times, you’re just cast because you look a certain way. So I’m very thankful to Julia for trusting me.” photography Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen image courtesy TriArt Film image courtesy TriArt Film Much of this intensity came from the way Thelin works. Her direction is rooted in instinct, attention and a kind of quiet precision. “These three actors are in almost every scene, and they all work very differently,” she said, describing the balance she had to maintain. What she aimed for was a mix of “focus, but also playfulness.” Many of the film’s most charged moments, the long gazes and the tension between characters, weren’t planned. “A lot of the gazing in the film is real,” says Sehn. “We were processing things she said to us in the moment itself.” In the end, they each hope the film leaves audiences with something slightly different. For Thelin, it is a kind of bittersweet release, “a sensation of being liberated by this character’s adventure with themselves, to have the audacity to take control of their own life and question all the stupid rules.” Sehn adds to that, hoping viewers feel a pushback against the people who doubt or diminish them. And Cunningham keeps it simple: “I’d love for people to have more fun… if that’s the thing they can gather from this film, just try to have more fun.”

Opiates, Uncategorized

Inside the Louis Vuitton Hotel

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Inside the Louis Vuitton Hotel In Mayfair, Louis Vuitton opens a townhouse shaped by 130 years of the Monogram — a symbol that has travelled the world and returned to London, the site of the House’s first step beyond Paris. The Louis Vuitton Hotel unfolds as an immersive journey through heritage and imagination, where each floor becomes a chapter in the Art of Travel. Rooms dedicated to the Speedy, Keepall, Noé, Alma and Neverfull trace the lives of the House’s most recognisable bags. The Keepall Lobby evokes departures and arrivals; Café Alma carries the quiet geometry of Paris; the Speedy Room hums with the energy of movement; the Neverfull Gym plays with abundance and ease; Bar Noé glows with the intimacy of a champagne bar rooted in a 1932 idea made modern again. Throughout the townhouse, the Monogram appears not as a motif but as a living presence — restored in the Care Services atelier, reimagined through exclusive personalisation, and woven into every gesture of hospitality. The experience feels both historic and immediate, a meeting point between craft and culture. Open for two months, the Louis Vuitton Hotel stands as a temporary home for the Monogram’s past, its present, and the journeys it continues to inspire. images courtesy Louis Vuitton

News, Uncategorized

Saatchi Yates × Isamaya Ffrench: Studio Iron

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Saatchi Yates × Isamaya Ffrench: Studio Iron Saatchi Yates and Isamaya Ffrench open Studio Iron, the first exhibition of Ffrench’s new design gallery, bringing together works that blur the line between art, design and object. Steel and iron dominate the space, forming a stark, post‑industrial landscape where function and non‑function collide. Jannis Kounellis contributes a heavy steel work rooted in Arte Povera. Paul McCarthy’s reflective inflatable sculpture twists pop culture into something absurd and hollow. Jordan Wolfson’s sticker‑covered chair becomes a chaotic surface of competing messages, while Anne Imhof’s readymade benches evoke the eerie stillness of transitional spaces. Marina Abramović’s levitating kitchen scene adds a note of domestic surrealism, and Nico Vascellari’s Visita Interiora Terrae pushes the body into physical and psychological extremity. Additional works by Hannah Levy, Kelly Wearstler, Marco Panconesi, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Peter John and Anselm Kiefer deepen the exhibition’s atmosphere of unease. As an opening statement for Studio Iron, the exhibition imagines a world where art and design collapse into one another; brutal, austere and stripped of ornament. photography Hugo Yangüela

Opiates, Uncategorized

McQueen: Beneath the Surface

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McQueen: Beneath the Surface McQueen unveils Beneath the Surface at Fotografiska Shanghai, an exhibition that traces the origins and emotional undercurrents behind the house’s singular aesthetic. The space explores the tension between interiority and exteriority, and the beauty and volatility of nature, through the Autumn Winter 2026 collection and the Manta bag. Inside the exhibition, the Manta appears in multiple iterations, its sculptural folds echoing the architecture of aquatic life. The forms sit alongside the season’s collision of raw realism and curated self‑presentation, a dialogue that has long defined McQueen’s visual language. The opening marked Seán McGirr’s first visit to Shanghai as Creative Director. The afterparty extended the house’s Reverb series, bringing together its local community with a live performance by Mo La Guai Le featuring Amber Kuo. Actors Zhou Yutong, Xiang Hanzhi and Qu Chuxiao were among the guests, underscoring the cultural energy surrounding the house’s arrival in the city. McQueen: Beneath the Surface ran from 18 to 20 April at Fotografiska Shanghai, offering an intimate look at the house’s evolving codes and the creative tensions that continue to shape its identity. image courtesy McQueen

Design, Uncategorized

Dior Presents the Corolle Lamps by Noé Duchaufour‑Lawrance

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Dior Presents the Corolle Lamps by Noé Duchaufour‑Lawrance For Salone del Mobile 2026, Dior Maison continues its ongoing dialogue with designer Noé Duchaufour‑Lawrance, unveiling a new series of Corolle lamps that merge couture sensibility with sculptural light. The pieces draw on the designer’s belief that light is as expressive as material itself, becoming a language that shapes form, mood and space. The lamps reinterpret the curves of Christian Dior’s Corolle skirt, translating its movement into mouth‑blown Murano glass. Each bell‑shaped shade carries the imprint of artisanal technique, revealing subtle shifts in transparency, reflection and texture. The result is a silhouette that feels both airy and precise, echoing the elegance of the New Look while standing firmly in the present. Available as table lamps and portable versions, the designs come in Dior’s emblematic shades of grey, pink and white. Details such as engraved “CD” buttons and refined handles underscore the house’s commitment to craftsmanship. Duchaufour‑Lawrance also expands the collaboration with a series of pieces crafted in Japan using traditional bamboo basketry. Madake bamboo is cut, refined and woven into forms that evoke Dior’s cannage motif, linking ancestral technique with contemporary design. Together, the creations reflect a shared devotion to savoir‑faire; patient, meticulous and rooted in gesture. In Duchaufour‑Lawrance’s hands, light becomes material, and material becomes a quiet tribute to Dior’s enduring artistry. photography Eduard Sanchez Ribot

Beauty Editorial, Uncategorized

I FOLLOW RIVERS

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Opiates, Uncategorized

Susie Cave Presents Weddings and Funerals

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images courtesy Susie Cave Susie Cave Presents Weddings and Funerals Susie Cave opens a new appointment‑only space in Kensington, marking the beginning of a distinct chapter in her creative world. SUSIE CAVE, WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS introduces a demi‑couture offering shaped by the designer’s desire to return to something elemental and personally driven. The pieces carry the familiar tension and elegance of her earlier work, yet stand apart with a sharper, more intimate focus. The shop invites visitors into a subtly surreal environment where black and white form the foundation of a new visual language. Despite the name, the designs are not traditional bridal or funeral attire. Instead, they explore the ceremonial and performative nature of clothing — from minimal monochrome mini‑dresses to elaborate, sculptural silhouettes. The debut collection consists of 25 designs, each custom‑tailored and fully personalisable. The approach reflects Cave’s wish to step away from the industry’s relentless pace and create garments rooted in intention rather than demand. Opening in mid‑late May 2026, SUSIE CAVE, WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS offers a space where ritual, imagination and craftsmanship meet on their own terms.

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