Culture Hunter
The Renwick Gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. After a period of closure for renovation, it has re-opened with an exhibition called WONDER. it future 9 amazing installations by artists who use unusual materials (yarn, tree branches, index cards, tires) to create large-scale, awe-inspiring works of art.
For some reason, Somerset House is not a place I go for evening or weekend fun. This is my loss, as the venue has greatly expanded its public offer over the past 10 years. It sits on the Thames across from the Southbank Centre and National Theatre, but does not compare in terms of footfall. It now has [...]
Those who are reasonably well informed know that Raqqa (also known as Al-Raqqah, Rakka, Ar-Raqqah) is the city in Syria that is the ISIS stronghold and focus of Western forces’ air strikes. It currently holds immense symbolic power – a successful military campaign in Raqqa would be a major defeat for the Islamic State. But [...]
This is a bit of a throwback, but I am really impressed with Mona Hatoum's work. She is an alumnus of University College London (UCL) where I work, but I only discovered this after I became a fan of her art. I suspect few got to see this major exhibition in Doha, Qatar, so I'm [...]
“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love.” Arts policy may not have featured in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party Convention speech, but his use of this quote from Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri as well as a quote from African American novelist Maya [...]
Each new article and TV report about the abrupt closure of Kids Company reveals an increasingly complex set of reasons behind the charity’s demise. However, I want to address one of the first explanations cited for its shut down: lack of free reserves. Journalists have pointed to Kids Company’s dramatic increase in grants and donations [...]
