The 7 Highlights of August

August: the month for holidays which, as it could not be otherwise, is full of interesting events. Here, as every month, we have made a selection with which we consider 7 highlights that may be the perfect excuse to make a summer break.

Exhibition “One hundred years of Finnish design” in Stockholm

Nordic design is one of the most important of the planet that is an irrefutable statement. And to understand this phenomenon it is best to look back and discover an impressive trajectory of creations. The National Design Museum of Stockholm invites us to discover it with the exhibition “One hundred years of Finnish design” which opened on June 20^th and can be visited until October 29^th, 2017.

In total, the Swedish museum has selected for this exhibition 200 pieces of different materials, from ceramics to textiles, from glass to furniture and more. 200 creations ranging from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day and in which are represented the greatest Finnish designers, architects and artists. That is, creators with talent like Alvar Aalto, Maija Isola, Toini Muona, Gunnel Nyman, Ristomatti Ratia, Eliel Saarinen, Timo Sarpaneva, Paavo Tynell or Tapio Wirkkala.

The Wanda studio in Barcelona at the exhibition “Christian Dior: Designer of dreams” in Paris

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Chiristian Dior, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris has produced an exciting retrospective of this creator, and many of his followers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri. A must-sample for the fans of the world of fashion and design traveling to the French capital until January 7^th, 2018, closing date of the exhibition.

Logically the main protagonists of this exhibition are the 300 haute-couture dresses selected for the occasion and that make a tour through these 70 years of history, from 1947 to the present. These creations are beautiful themselves, but this time all their visual power is framed by an ornamentation flora of the most suggestive and integrated in the glamorous exhibition. An ornamentation created by the creative studio Wanda of Barcelona.

Starlite in Marbella

A few years ago, the Starlite of Marbella burst with enormous force in the calendar of musical festivals in Spain, and will also offer in 2017 a long list of concerts, which began on July 13^th and will not conclude until August 26^th. An extensive program that aims to increase the number of attendees last year, which exceeded 160,000 people.

This figure is due to the fact that in this event attend great stars of the music world, and this year’s program is a good example of this, as Elton John, Art Garfunkel, Andrea Boccelli and Miguel Bosé will be in the event. But, in addition to, the quality of all these performers the beauty of the natural stage where the concerts take place must also be taken into account. A place with a special acoustic that mainly provides a feeling of intimacy difficult to feel in other venues.

The Edinburgh International Festival

Between August 4^th and 28^th, the Scottish city of Edinburgh will again host one of the most important encounters in the world of performing arts professionals. To this historic city, creators and artists from the world of dance, opera, music or theater will come together, and for three weeks the program of the Edinburgh International Festival will fill art in every corner of the city.

Everything has its own space during these days. Everything that has quality, evidently, since the festival committee receives many proposals to carry out its program. And so, at the end, there is a calendar like in 2017 in which opera performances such as La Boheme, with dance sessions from the Nederlands Dans Theater or musical performances such as that of the seductive PJ Harvey, are going to coexist. And all this will begin with an innovative floral show that will take place on August 4^th.

Sziget Festival in Hungary

When this festival came out in 1993, Hungary was joining Western ways of life. That is why the Sziget Festival started with a local and open style almost exclusively for Hungarian musical groups. But those meetings held on an island in Budapest, completely surrounded by the waters of the great Danube, have grown a lot and today is an international event and where almost every artistic expression can have its own space.

Therefore, it is known with the nickname of “Island of Freedom”, since the word Sziget means Hungarian. So again, between August 9^th and 15^th, music will sound again at the festival program, there will be art screenings, DJ sessions, multimedia performances, circus performances and endless activities for the audience. Many of them will be attracted by the big stars attending such as Rita Ora, Jamie Cullum or Pink.

Rodin-Kiefer Exhibition in Paris

2017 is a special year for the Rodin Museum in Paris, as it is time to celebrate the centenary of the death of the great sculptor Auguste Rodin. For that reason, they have prepared various activities in his memory. And one of the most acclaimed is the exhibition in which his works coexist with those of a contemporary artist: Anselm Kiefer. An exhibition that opened on March 14^th and will remain open to the public until October 22^nd of this year.

The visual power of Rodin’s art competes with the contemporaneousness of Kiefer

For this occasion, Kiefer has created in total freedom his works so that they are exposed next to those of the great teacher. A challenge that not everyone would have accepted, since the talent of Rodin is one of the milestones of Art History. However, the current artist is up to the genius, at least to be inspired by it, learn from it and finally make us aware that sometimes the truest does not have to be beautiful.

Mario Testino at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin

The Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin has one of the most respected photographic exhibitions programs in the world, as it always offers a high-quality exhibition. And a magnificent example of this is the encounter between three geniuses of light like Mario Testino, Jean Pigozzi and Helmut Newton himself, whose images can be seen here until next November 19^th, 2017.

But we can focus on the series of large format photographs by Mario Testino named Undressed, which shows some unpublished works by the Peruvian photographer. They are pictures of the most personal, in which the author plays with the bodies to explore in their nudity the concepts of eroticism or anatomy, but also fashion or art. In short, 50 images of one of the greatest photographers today presented in a special and unique installation in the Berlin foundation of one of the greatest photographers in history: Helmut Newton.

Some photography, music, sculpture, fashion, theater, dance … as always, a little bit of everything to satisfy all tastes. Of course, always for the most exquisite palates. We offer you our seven highlights for this warm August.