Arts

Arts

But at the end of this month, there's a brand new festival arriving to inject some colour into the financial district. 'Vibrance' will light up Roman ruins, medieval churches and secret gardens across the Square Mile on Thursday January 29 and Friday January 30 from 5.30pm until 8.30pm. Created by Guildhall Production Studio, it brings together more than a dozen artworks and live performances by emerging artists from Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Since Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town in 1938, it is said that not a day has passed when the Pulitzer prize-winning show hasn't been performed. Every time I read it, I come away with the feeling of having been woken up, says Michael Sheen, star of the upcoming touring production of Wilder's play about a close-knit community in small-town America. With this urgent sense of I have to not waste this.'

1 Rodney King beating. 2 Boreal forest (taiga). 3 Named storm in the UK. 4 Dr Faustus (Marlowe play). 5 Floella Benjamin. 6 Gentlemen v Players. 7 RNLI. 8 Classical music. 9 Plots against Elizabeth I. 10 Ways of having your steak in France. 11 Animals that can walk on water. 12 Birth states of US presidents. 13 Scales used to measure natural phenomena: tornadoes; earthquakes; hurricanes; hazard from near-Earth objects.

Drawing inspiration from the Renaissance atmosphere of Palazzo Grimani, Boafo turns his gaze to the rich Venetian portrait tradition. The artist is creating a series of new works specifically for the exhibition, directly referencing this historical context and the unique architecture of the palace.

I don't want to be Botero or only a lady who paints,

, the hit play at Studio 54, is writer and director Robert Ickes' modern - and riveting - version of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Since that play was written around 425 B.C., I'm not spilling the beans by telling you it's about the King of Thebes (Oedipus) who unknowingly fulfills his destiny by killing his father and marrying his mother. When he discovers what he has done - what he can never "unsee" - he gouges out his eyes.

Created for the company in 2016, Kahn's Giselle is imbued with inventiveness (this is a daring, dystopian dance-drama like no other), integrity (in the way themes are transposed from the nineteenth-century Romantic-era classic to this reimagining) and impressiveness (the level of commitment from the dancers, whose embodiment makes the work a formidable entity, is outstanding). You can't just watch it. You exist inside it, breathe it in, let it get under your skin.

After 13 years leading the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India, the artist and curator Bose Krishnamachari will step down from his roles as president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and member of its board of trustees. In a statement, Krishnamachari cited "pressing family reasons" for his decision. His departure is not expected to impact the sixth edition of the biennial, For the Time Being, which opened last month and will run as scheduled until 31 March.

If, like me, you'd rather be in Puerto Rico slathering mashed banana on your semi-nude body than braving the forthcoming cold front in New York City, just know you're not alone. "TROPICALIZE ME!" (2025), pictured above, was performed by Matthieu Laurette at the 3rd Gran Bienal Tropical in December, where the artist took home one of five "Golden Coconuts" along with Poncili Creación, Ángela María Domínguez, Miguel González, and Aldo Álvarez Tostado.

I want to make tiny little movies that then don't seem tiny.

Migration is a thing that transforms a human into a different type of human ... the self being transformed into this being that doesn't exist there, and doesn't exist here

This is the site of the Florida state historical marker commemorating Arthur Lee McDuffie, a Black insurance broker and former US Marine whose 1979 beating death at the hands of Miami police ignited one of the most consequential uprisings in the city's history. A plaque unveiled in February 2024 at the site of his attack finally acknowledged the violence that fractured McDuffie's skull and the community-wide outrage that followed.

The red sphere, originally associated with the ritual of celebration and the expectation of magic, is stripped of its function and returned to the landscape as a heavy, vulnerable form without foundation. Suspended by a hemp rope from a bare century-old tree, the object exists between ground and space; neither in fall nor at rest, but in a prolonged state of uncertainty.

In January, we all have to put in a little extra effort to keep sane. With the dark evenings, cold stormy weather and our bank accounts drained from December's festivities, it's easy to just stay home and rot. But don't give in to that temptation - there are loads of things going on across London this month that help make these winter months a little less miserable.

It's never too late to pick up a new hobby. Shop our top picks for easy things to try, and you may just discover something you love. BAISITE Paint by Numbers Kit for Adults Beginners This paint-by-numbers kit is a fun way to get creative and relax. It comes with a canvas, brushes, and paint pots, everything you need to get started. When you finish, be sure to showcase your new skill by displaying your artwork at home.

The very things we value, education, art, culture, are disappearing at a rapid rate,

There's a particular magic in discovering the worlds created by the late prescient author Ursula K. Le Guin, from the Earthsea archipelago to the planet of Gethen. The former series was one of the first I encountered as a young reader that centered non-White characters. Even her carefully drawn maps reveal a mind with gears always turning, swirling with storylines that defied linearity and conventions of science fiction - and the way writers speak to their readers.

"I'm retiring from the gallery, but I'm not retiring," Augustine told . "I leave on very good terms and with a sense of immense gratitude."