Design & Culture by Ed

Berlin is alive and doing fine! And it blooms with great art events. Presented across almost 3000 m² of Gropius Bau‘s historic space, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective offers an overview of the key periods in Kusama’s oeuvre, which spans more than 70 years, and feature a number of current works as well as a newly realised Infinity Mirror Room. The retrospective focuses primarily on tracing the development of Kusama’s creative output from her early paintings and accumulative sculptures to her immersive environments, as well exploring her lesser-known artistic activity in Germany and Europe. Since the 1960s, the artist has been actively engaged in realising exhibition projects outside the former centre of her life in New York and showing her work in a European context. This has also brought to the fore Kusama’s role as a pioneer of personal branding, who early on in her practice intentionally staged and marketed her own artistic persona and multidisciplinary work. Within the exhibition framework, reconstructions allow viewers to experience the pioneering nature of her presentational forms and artistic subjects, making accessible Kusama’s early exhibition projects in Germany and Europe in the 1960s and central solo exhibitions in the USA and Asia from the 1950s to 1980s. It seems that everybody knows Yayoi’s art, but there’s just so much more to her work than the signature, XXL polka-dots.

Till the 15th of August 2021 / Gropius Bau / Niederkirchnerstraße 7

All photos by Edward Kanarecki.

I usually don’t do red carpet coverages, but Tilda Swinton (with a pinch of Timothée Chalamet) at this year’s Cannes Festival is an exception. It was a Swinton fashion week, if you ask me. This woman doesn’t only elevate each film she stars in, but she also serves looks like no one else. Whether it’s a custom, colorful ensemble by Haider Ackermann – one of her most frequent collaborators and, privately, best friends – or a Schiaparelli haute-shirt-dress, Tilda owned Cannes. Here’s a recap of her looks!

The Haider Ackermann look from Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” premiere is everything. It included a cropped, pink satin bolero blazer and top, paired with an orange floor-length skirt. Never one to skimp on theatrical flair, Swinton wore sequin green sleeves underneath the blazer. Timothée in Tom Ford was a great addition.

Another Haider Ackermann look – this time, it’s all about impeccable, electric blue tailoring. Amazing.

Tilda fell in love with Daniel Roseberry‘s Schiaparelli, and this means we can expect seeing her in the Parisian maison‘s couture soon. For Cannes, she chose Roseberry’s haute classics. This crisp, white shirt(dress) is so chic.

Swinton in Virginie Viard‘s Chanel – I love. This white gown is so functional – perfect for the Cannes red carpet, yes, but I can also see it worn to the French Riviera beaches. It’s both elegant and easy, refined, yet approachable.

“Casual” done the Tilda way is going for over-sized Loewe by Jonathan Anderson.

Another Schiaparelli, another shirt, but a totally different vibe. Here, Swinton went boy-ish, and announced global peace with that beautiful, Picasso-esque dove illustration.