Here are the 7 art highlights for this October. Culture and spectacle continue in style in the new autumn season.
The Nuit Blanche festival in Paris and the Festival of Lights in Berlin illuminate the historic centre of two great European capitals under the moonlight. The Parisian capital joins a new journey to Art Basel, making national and international artists visible. On the other hand, through technological immersion, Desafío Dalí challenges visitors to enter the universe of the Catalan painter. Meanwhile, Picasso and Chanel are united by fashion and painting, as are Isabelle de Borchgrave and Frida Kahlo. But the latter, united by colour. In addition, Madrid has been responsible for inaugurating the world premiere of the exhibition Tim Burton The Labyrinth.
The starry night over Paris
This year Paris is celebrating 20 years since the magic of Nuit Blanche Nuit Blancheilluminated the Parisian sky. Since 2002, around 4,000 national and international artists have filled the streets of the city with art, exhibitions, concerts and much more, offering a different vision of the city of lights. In this twentieth edition, the main themes that visitors will be able to enjoy during the night of 1 October will be the relationship between art and sport, the inspiration of the Garden of Delights and the twentieth anniversary celebration.
Purple Rain by Pierre Ardouvin recalls the emblematic project of Nuit Blanche 2011. Movement techniques borrowed from cinema, such as artificial rain.
More than 200 artistic events will be spread from the north to the south of the city, paying homage to past editions. Some of the works presented will be remembered by those who have been following the festival since 2002. But many others will be arriving with a vengeance. Inspired by Bosch and his Garden of Earthly Delights, the artistic director Kitty Hartl acknowledges that she sees the French capital as a vast garden, full of unusual moments. Thus, they have devised a digital reinterpretation of the famous canvas;
For this anniversary edition, a curious eye is opened to Paris and we are given the opportunity to admire its historic heart to rediscover its gardens, squares and architecture on foot and in a more intimate way.
During the Nuit Blanche, creatures will invade the Parisian sewers, offering the bravest visitors the chance to explore the mysteries to be discovered under the darkness.
With the forthcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris in two years’ time, sport will be a big part of the festival. Long walking and cycling routes will connect municipalities such as Saint-Denis and Aubervilliers, as well as canoeing in Champigny-sur-Marne. The five urban routes will bring citizens together to walk through installations of light and sound, watching the city glow at night.
The artist Pierre Delavie works on illusions and iconographies through projections.
The spectacle that can be gained thanks to the darkness is not to be wasted. The lights will make every corner to be discovered shine in a unique way. The purple rain of the mythical Prince will fall on the visitors, and holographic proposals will create a science fiction journey with, for example, Constellations. Introducing viewers to an unreal cosmos. To close the era of the first 20 years, this will be the last edition to be held at the beginning of autumn, to welcome summer in 2023. This is what the citizens have wished for, wanting to make the most of the long June nights.
When: 1 October 2022
Where: Paris, France Paris, France
Time: 7pm to 5am
Free admission
A commitment to a more sustainable Festival of Lights
Under the motto Vision of our Future, Berlin looks to the sky to see its city illuminated by the 18th edition of the Festival of Lights. Walking through the old town, as well as many of the surrounding neighbourhoods, light art and innovative projections will bring the historic centres to life. Knowing the past to understand the future, because nobody knows what this life has in store for us, we can only live it day by day. But that unknown, that mystery is difficult to separate from the minds, and artists have taken it upon themselves to represent their most inspiring and unusual ideas about the future.
The Concert Hall illuminated in 2021. Credits: Festival of lights
In addition to the projections, the sculptures are mentioned this year as a special element because they require little electricity and through them little-known stories become known. Berlin is committed to a more responsible and sustainable electricity consumption, reducing its electricity consumption by 75% compared to the previous year. This is very important, as light pollution and excessive spending is detrimental to society. The festival’s artistic director, Birgit Zander, emphasises the saving of resources by using innovative lighting technology. As well as the importance of mobile energy storage systems that are powered by renewable energy.
St. Mary’s Church, one of the oldest in the German capital, will be illuminated in 2021. Credits: Festival of lights
In this way, visitors will be able to travel through the streets of the capital, discovering 70 works of light art in 35 different places. The Brandenburg Gate, the Cathedral, the train stations or the Television Tower are some of the most emblematic spots that will host works by national and international artists. Lighting up the spotlights and filling the city with colour under the darkness of the night.
When: 7-16 October 2022
Where: Berlin, Germany
Time: 7pm to 11pm
Free admission
Paris joins international art fair Art Basel
Paris joins the Art Basel project, Paris+, the first edition to be held. The new international contemporary art fair will bring together 156 galleries from 30 different countries. From paintings and sculptures to photographs, from presentations of masterpieces of the 20th century to solo exhibitions of artists who are gradually emerging. As in all the previous editions, a very essential element is to attract new artists who have never seen the fair. In this first edition, Galerie Anne Barrault, We do not work alone or Chris Sharp Gallery are some of the new proposals.
Esther Schipper Gallery with Liberté for who? by Simon Fujiwara. Andréhn-Schiptjenko with Cajsa von Zeipel and her Double Dose of Zen
The director of Paris+ par Art Basel, Clément Delépine, highlights the large and diverse list of exhibitors participating in the inaugural edition. He believes that this great collaboration on the part of the artists reflects the great commitment they convey. On the other hand, Marc Spiegler, global director of Art Basel, this union between historical works and avant-garde material does not cease to be the essence of Art Basel.
Equally important to us, the galleries that make today’s Paris so dynamic are present in large numbers, in many market sectors, giving this show a uniquely Parisian personality, says Marc Spiegler, global director of Art Basel.
Frank Elbaz Gallery with Welcome to Cyberspace, Mungo Thomson. Representing the legendary Time magazine
Sites, Conversations and Galeries Èmergentes are the three areas into which the fair is divided. In each of them, art lovers will discover 16 new artists, 25 sculptures and installations scattered throughout the Parisian city, as well as countless talks on art. Leading artists, collectors, directors and critics will talk about the queer art scene, the poetry movement or the new generations who revolutionise the art world with new ideas;
When: 20-23 October 2022
Where: Paris, France Paris, France
Hours: Thursday from 15.00h to 20.00h. Friday and Saturday from 12.00h to 20.00h. Sunday from 12.00h to 19.00h.
Tickets: You can buy tickets here
Madrid surrenders to Tim Burton’s universe
The American filmmaker, Tim Burton, lands in the Spanish capital presenting The Labyrinth, a tour where immersion plays the central role. Once inside Burton’s peculiar universe, visitors can travel through its different stages by means of his sketches. The proposal allows visitors to enter into the mind of the director to understand the creative processes that he has carried out throughout his career. But to take it in a deeper and more entertaining way, it has been designed as if, instead of entering an exhibition, one enters a labyrinth.
Tim Burton’s peculiar way of creating his characters is something that only characterises him. His works are unmistakable
Burton lovers can decide which path to choose when entering each of the rooms. Opening doors of their own choice to begin and end the journey in a unique way. Starting by entering the forest of The Corpse Bride or challenging the Queen of Hearts. In this way, the experience is captured depending on the luck of opening those doors that lead to strange worlds.
Tim Burton’s cartoons depict very unique and eccentric, and sometimes even funny, elements.
Throughout the tour, the characters are represented at the same time as the visitors move forward in time. Through films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alicia in Wonderland and The Nightmare Before Christmas, the creative evolution of the monsters and characters is revealed. Meanwhile, soundtracks and technological installations will complete an unusual and unique journey.
When: 29 September – 11 December 2022
Where? Access from the side of the Madrid Railway Museum, Cl. del Párroco Eusebio Cuenca, 63, Madrid.
Timetable: From 17.00h to 20.00h
Tickets: You can buy tickets here
The great challenge of new technologies to discover Dalinian chaos
The figure of the mythical Salvador Dalí continues to be ever-present in the art world. Last September, l’IDEAL Barcelona opened its doors to Dalí Cibernètic, recreating an innovative universe through technologies. And on this occasion, IFEMA is in charge of bringing this Dalinian world to life, offering a personal immersion through multimedia and sensorial production. Throughout the 2,000 m², visitors will be able to immerse themselves in 160 works by the author thanks to virtual and augmented reality.
New technologies are enabling a much more enriching experience. Visitors can live it from the inside
Desafío Dalí has challenged the multiplicity of formats, offering a personalised journey, as each spectator will experience the light, the sounds and the attention paid to it all in a different way. Thanks to the digital era, the inclusion of new technologies allows us to experience different experiences; light boxes, 3D glasses, virtual reality or micro-mappings. A tour that is enjoyed little by little with the audio-relay guide, transmitting the essence of Dalí by involving the visitors. Making them believe that they are inside the great paintings, being one more element in the stories portrayed.
The large exhibition allows visitors to enter Dalí’s peculiar studio. As if each of the visitors could see the sea of Girona through a canvas.
The 160 works selected by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation are to be found in more than 20 museums and private collections, so Desafío Dalí brings them together in a single space. Travelling through the figure of his wife Gala, touching surrealism and opening the doors to the world of dreams. To finish in the highlands of Girona; Figueres, Cadaqués, Portlligat, between coves, sea and fishing boats. Once the visit is over, art lovers will be able to access online an art community. In the same way as when purchasing tickets, as the website allows you to view content related to the exhibition;
When: 8 October 2022 to 7 March 2023
Where: Av. del Partenón, 5, Madrid. Av. del Partenón, 5, Madrid
Time: From 10.00h to 19.30h
Tickets: You can buy tickets here
Picasso and Chanel united through painting and fashion
The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza presents two artists united in life and death, between fashion and painting. Picasso and Chanel were connected through the art they created, collaborating together on two occasions with the French playwright Jean Cocteau. The first time with Antigone in 1922, and the second in Sergey Diaghilev’s ballet The Blue Train,two years later. The exhibition brings together more than 100 items from a selection of dresses, oil paintings and drawings on loan from American and European museums and collections.
From left to right: Ensemble, 1926-1928, Dress, ca. 1926 and Coat. 1929
The tour of the galleries has been divided into four sections: The Chanel Style and Cubism, Olga Picasso, Antigone and The Blue Train, taking visitors on a journey between the 1910s and 1920s. To begin the exhibition, there is nothing like approaching the influence that both artists had on their careers. From the outset, Chanel revolutionised his cut-outs and designs, with a geometric formal idea or the cubist poetics of collage with straight-lined, angular costumes. Meanwhile, Picasso portrayed his first wife Olga Khokhlova, a client of Chanel’s, wearing dresses by the designer, few copies of which remain today.
Woman in Front of the Sea, 1922, oil on canvas and Three Women at the Fountain, 1921, pastel on paper adhered to canvas.
In 1922, the adaptation of Antígona brought them together with masks and sets made by the Malaga artist and garments by the French designer. Meanwhile, in 1924, the painting Two Women Running on the Beach (The Race) was the curtain image for the play The Blue Train. Other canvases such as Woman by the Sea (1922) and The Bathers (1918) can also be enjoyed in conjunction with the depiction of the sea. In fact, the swimming costumes that Chanel would later use to dress the dancers were very similar to those portrayed on the canvases.
When: 11 October 2022 to 15 January 2023
Where: Paseo del Prado, 8, Madrid Paseo del Prado, 8, Madrid
Hours: Tuesday to Friday and Sunday from 10.00h to 19.00h. Saturday from 10.00h to 21.00h.
Tickets: You can buy tickets here
The vividness of colours unites Isabelle de Borchgrave and Frida Kahlo
Gazes cross in time, woman to woman, speaking through art. A profound dialogue between two people who have never met, but who are united by colours and fabrics. All this together with the joy that comes from living life. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels opens to the public Looks of Women, the new exhibition by the Belgian artist, Isabelle de Borchgrave. An encounter in which the artist highlights the Mexican icon Frida Kahlo.
Plates, dresses or hats, all full of colour, transmitting life.
It has taken Isabelle almost three years to finish the work that she so painstakingly will present this October. A delicate, hand-painted work in which she used more than four kilometres of paper and cardboard to create Kahlo’s world in detail. Making 40 dresses, rugs, furniture and trees, in a space where visitors will find themselves entering the mythical Casa Azul, her birthplace and home.
Throughout the exhibition, there are many dresses made of paper. Very characteristic of the Mexican Frida Kahlo.
With the 850 m2 installation Isabelle wanted to convey an underrated side of Frida Kahlo, the joy, strength, and resilience of this great woman. This legacy of the Mexican woman is still valid today, making novice and experienced artists believe that they can go on, enjoying life and learning from adversity.
When: 11 October 2022 to 15 January 2023
Where: Rue de la Régenece, 3, Brussels, Belgium Rue de la Régenece, 3, Brussels, Belgium
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 10.00h to 17.00h. Sunday from 11.00h to 18.00h.
Tickets: You can buy tickets here
Images courtesy of Nuit Blanche, Festival of Lights, Art Basel, Plan let’s go, Art Didaktik, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Itsasne Casas
