With the new year we bring the 7 highlights of art and culture to start January 2022. A new year that holds nothing but courage, strength and art.
We should stop and contemplate more calmly the beauty in this world. Enjoy the beautiful cities from the top, as New Yorkers do at the new Summit Observatory. Rediscover Frida Khalo, not only as an artist, but as a woman. To learn how the Garden of Delights is represented today. To delve into the thoughts of Francis Bacon about animals or know the origin of tattooing, a millenary ritual. In addition, we can continue to remember with pride the music of Queen, always with Freddie in our memory, and the legacy of Christian Dior. Join us to discover the 7 art highlights to start January 2022.
The new observatory in New York City where you levitate and ascend to 368 meters
New York continues to enchant visitors with its iconic skyscrapers, and to end 2021 they opened the new observatory Summit on the One Vanderbilt skyline. At the top of the building, between the 91st and 93rd floors, is the immersive art experience that leads visitors to connect with Manhattan, the sky, the weather and nature. What is the experience like? The façade is made entirely of glass, offering wonderful views of everything around, such as Central Park, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.
The spacious glass interior offers a beautiful panoramic view of New York City.
This idea, which makes you feel like flying through the sky, has been created by Kenzo Digital, a very unique space, sharing its fascination and inspiration from New York City. In this space, the senses come alive, the reflections offer multiplicity of sky, city and people. Going from being just “you”, to hundreds that are reflected in all possible angles. Nature is also closely linked, because the experience will not be the same whether the sun has just risen or it is getting dark, whether the sun is shining brightly or the rain is pouring down;
Thanks to the natural light, the interior is embellished in a unique and distinct way during the day and at night.
In addition, within this glass world, the more daring can enjoy two activities. On the one hand, Levitation, thanks to glass cubes protruding from the building, you can walk 324 meters high through the city. And on the other side, Ascent, a glass elevator that lifts visitors to 368 meters and stops to enjoy the magnificent views. To end the visit, there is nothing better than to rest and relax on the terrace, where you can touch dry land while enjoying small culinary delights.
Where? 45 E 42nd St, New York.
Hours: Wednesday from 9:00 am to 12:00 am, Thursday from 1:00 pm to 10:30 pm, Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and Sunday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. Monday and Tuesday closed.
Tickets: You can purchase tickets here
Freddie Mercury still reigns supreme, now in Basel
Last November 24 marked the 30th anniversary of the death of the legendary Freddie Mercury. 30 years without him physically, but his voice continues to resonate loudly in this world. There are many of us who continue to listen to his music, where he lives on, participating in events held in his memory, and getting into musicals that convey his soul. We Will Rock You continues touring countries, from theater to theater, bringing audiences to their feet as they feel Bohemian Rhapsody or Love of my life.
The Musical Theater Basel is in charge of performing the show during the last days of January in the Swiss country. The show, devised by British writer and director Ben Elton, and premiered in 2002, includes 30 iconic and recognizable songs by the Queen band. In the late 1990s, with Freddie deceased, the band’s manager, Jim Beach, intended to create a biographical show around the figure of the legend. The idea was never finalized, but a few years later, Ben Elton, along with Brian May and Roger Taylor, was able to build a story from scratch, fitting the songs into it.
After 20 years of release, We will rock you continues to enchant Queen lovers. In addition, the new generations have the chance to enjoy music that will never be forgotten.
The story, set in a dystopian future, focuses on Galileo, a young rebel fighting against the repression created by the government. An old prophecy reveals that the chosen one will arrive to restore freedom and rock music. Thus, the boy and his friend, Scaramouche, will fight to achieve justice on a depleted planet. With courage and honor, the two characters grow up and forgive each other for their mistakes, and take the electric sound of the guitars to the sky.
When? January 25-30, 2022.
Where? Feldbergstrasse 151, Basel, Switzerland
Schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 19.30h. Saturday 14.30h and 19.30h. Sunday 13.00h and 18.00h.
Tickets: You can purchase tickets here.
Christian Dior: A legacy of dreams
Brooklyn Museum is dressed in luxury thanks to the exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. An experience where the history of the house and its legacy is traced, in addition to the tour of the sources of inspiration of Dior. The exhibition features more than 200 haute couture garments, as well as photographs, archival videos, accessories and works from the museum’s collection. Within these legendary garments you can enjoy the origins, such as the New Look, a revolution in the fashion world that debuted in 1947. Florence Müller, curator of the Avenir Foundation for Textile Art and Fashion believes that Dior transformed fashion.
The tour traces the 75 years of the Parisian house, the elegance and class it has exuded since its origin
Christian Dior transformed his house internationally, becoming a forerunner of contemporary globalized fashion. The opening of the first branch in New York in 1948 was a prelude to his worldwide fame;
Inside the exhibition you can visit different rooms dedicated to Dior himself and to the artistic directors who succeeded him after his untimely death. Also a toile room where homage to the Ateliers, and adjacent galleries of haute couture garments where petites mains are displayed. The central atrium of Beaux-Arts Court has been redesigned as a beautiful garden full of magic, and a final gallery shows some dresses worn by stars such as Grace Kelly or Jennifer Lawrence.
Colorama, where different garments are exhibited in different colors, each one transmitting different sensations.
The interior of the exhibition is displayed in a magical way. The dresses and costumes are reminiscent of ancient times with princes and princesses.
Over the years, the brand has changed thanks to its artistic directors: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, with his architectural designs, John Galliamo, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri. Each of them has conveyed a personal style, unique and distinct, while still showcasing the essence of Dior. Maria Chiuri is the current and first female director of the house, who is bringing a new vision in line with the new generations. Matthew Yokobosky, senior curator of fashion at the museum believes that thanks to Chiuri, they are promoting inclusion and respect, something that is needed as a society.
When? September 10, 2021 – February 20, 2022
Where? 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY
Horario: Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 11.00h to 18.00h. Friday and Saturday from 11.00h to 20.00h. Monday and Tuesday closed
Tickets: You can purchase tickets here.
The garden of delights of the 21st century
Matadero Madrid and the SOLO Collection return with an emblematic work by Bosch; The Garden of Earthly Delights: a look at Bosch’s masterpiece from the perspective of contemporary creation. The exhibition features fifteen international artists such as the SMACK collective, Miao Xiaochun, Cool 3D World or Dan Hernández, and thanks to their works they want to convey a new vision of the work. Reflecting on the universal values of the painting, reinterpreting its symbolism and finding the social similarities between then and now. As a very innovative touch, the experience has been complemented using media such as artificial intelligence, sounds or digital animation.
Speculum by the creative group Smack, a triptych on 21-meter LED screens. The work depicts Eden, paradise and hell.
To enter the exhibition, visitors are carried away by a sound composition, created by artist Enrique del Castillo. An installation of optical readers and celluloid that recovers sound excerpts by Josquin des Prez and Adrian Willaert. Artificial intelligence, brought by German artist Mario Klingemann, will give way to an interpretation of the garden, allowing visitors’ ideas to flow. In addition to the space Delicious Temptation, dedicated to works that shed the satirical moralism of the original work.
The exhibition includes paintings, digital art and sculptures, such as the little mice by the artist Lusesita
The works, composed by different artists, are part of the SOLO Collection, an international project to support contemporary creation.
The experience has variety of projects that do not let visitors can not stop thinking about everything that surrounds them. Through Xiaochun we approach the microcosms and utopias that emerge from The Garden of Earthly Delights. Or wonder about our destiny as humans and our history thanks to Flip Custic, visual creator of the Catalan singer Rosalía. New stories, visions and characters, diverse analyses of the work and an invitation to participate in reflecting on ourselves as a society.
When? October 7, 2021 to February 27, 2022.
Where? Plaza de Legazpi, 8, Madrid
Tickets: You can purchase tickets here
Origin of an art symbolic.
Art rests on our bodies represented in tattoos, and this practice, ancestral, continues within societies, each showing it in its own unique way. CaixaForum Madrid has brought the exhibition Tattoo: Art under the skin, an exhibition with more than 240 historical and contemporary tattoo works. Within the tour we can discover works by artists from anywhere in the world; Japan, Switzerland, Polynesia or the United States, and is that this art offers a cultural exchange between countries. It enriches diversity, and unites the different concepts and visions of those who love tattoos.
This millenary practice has been performed by the cultures of the world in different ways. In Polynesia they were very artistic drawings, and represented respect and hierarchy within the community.
The exhibition delves into the beginnings of the practice and analyzes its history through an anthropological, geographical and artistic approach. And the fact is that there is much to know, since tattooing has not been and still is not the same for everyone. Throughout the different eras and the different cultures that exist, the uses and functions of the tattoo are unique. On a social level it plays a great role that gives rise to a wide variety of representations, from an ancestral and identity meaning, an object of fascination or a contemporary artistic creation.
From left to right: Man of the Marquesas Islands tattooed. 19th century. oil painting, Tattoo design on a male arm, Yann Black, 2013. Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris.
CaixaForum presents a twenty silicone models tattooed by great artists, as well as twenty tattoo projects painted on kakemonos. The latter are traditional Japanese scrolls used for calligraphy and Chinese ink paintings. From Buddhist temples they came to homes to decorate in a spiritual way.
When? December 2, 2021 to April 17, 2022.
Where? P.º del Prado, 36, Madrid
Orning hours: Monday to Sunday from 10.00h to 20.00h
Tickets: You can buy tickets here
Man and animal alike
To end January, Royal Academy of Arts welcomes artist Francis Bacon with the exhibition Man and Beast. Exploring the paintings of the Irish artist where the differences between humans and animals are scarce. For he himself reminded us that the primal instincts remain under the skin. The exhibition will include around 45 paintings, tracing his career through art, from his first works between the 30s and 40s, until the last one, made in 1991. The latter will be exhibited for the first time in the United Kingdom, in addition to showing the trio of paintings of bulls, made in 1969, which had not been shown together.
From left to right: Study for Corrida de toros n1. 1969, Portrait of George Dyer Crouching 1966
As we have said, Bacon was totally fascinated by animals, thus, the visit will start observing the representation of these, and how the artist drew them hypnotized. During his trips to South Africa, he observed with determination the movements of the animals, discovering and learning a little more about the wildlife. In addition, he took Eadweard Muybridge, a 19th century photographer, as a reference, and felt he could understand nature itself by observing the behavior of chimpanzees, dogs or birds.
Second Version of Triptych 1944, 1988
At the center of the tour, you will find the trio of paintings of bulls, highlighting violence, life and death. These works were not thought by Bacon only for the confrontation between bull and man, but also for the contradictory attitude of men and women. Many human beings condemn animal abuse, but wear natural furs and eat meat. In this way, the artist wanted to reflect the fragility, and on the other hand, the superiority of man over animals.
When? January 29 to April 17, 2022.
Where? Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, UK
Orning hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00h to 18.00h
Tickets: You can purchase tickets here
Frida Kahlo: artist and woman
We start the year with the exhibition Frida Kahlo. The Experience that lands at the Palacio Neptuno in Madrid after visiting other countries, an immersive and totally technological exhibition. The Mexican artist is going deeper and deeper into our daily lives. Symbol used to fight for women’s rights, for equality, for the strength and for the art she exuded. Revolutionary woman who, despite the difficult moments, was able to get out of all of them and remake herself. In this way, with the exhibition, they want to show not only the artist she was, but the woman herself, wanting to take a journey through her life..
Its interior is steeped in Frida’s story, and immersively takes visitors on a journey.
Alejandra López, curator, who for ten years has coordinated the registration of the collections, the realization of temporary exhibitions and restoration of Kahlo, considers that visitors will enjoy discovering unpublished photographs and very personal information about the artist.
The exhibition is a visual selection of important moments in Frida Kahlo’s life. It is very inspiring to appreciate the different stages of her life, revealing information about her personal care, the intimacy of friendly encounters, masterfully captured by famous photographers, as well as iconic moments in the history of Mexico and the world.
The experience is based on joy, life and resilience in the face of difficulties. In fact, Frida had physical problems as a result of the accident she suffered when she was on a bus, and that was like a before and after at an artistic level. Throughout the visit, you can observe and learn about all the phases of her life: her childhood, her life with Diego Rivera, or her characteristic garments. In addition, it is complemented with an environment and atmosphere that reminds us of Frida, such as the Casa Azul, where she was born and died.
Palacio Neptuno does not need much to exhibit Frida, just a large space to represent images of the artist virtually and in a big way.
To dive into her career as an artist, the editorial Artika published The Dreams of Frida Kahlo, where they analyze in detail her known and unknown works. A complete and unique book that was released in a limited edition.
When? December 17 through May 29, 2022.
Where?Calle de Cervantes, 42, Madrid
Horario: Friday to Sunday from 10.00h to 20.00h
Tickets: You can purchase tickets here
Images courtesy of Summit, WWRY, Brooklyn Museum, Matadero Madrid, Caixa Forum, Royal Academy of Arts, Palacio Neptuno, Madrid.
