Transgressive 90s icons, the art of window displays, Carnival Casanovas and a new Disney+ series about an infamous group of all-female thieves – here’s our week’s highlights.
It’s the final week of February and flamboyance is in the air.
From the Renaissance revelry of Venice Carnival to the versatile vibrancy of 90s club scene legend Leigh Bowery, an infectious sort of energy is dominating our latest round of recommendations – much needed as we prepare to crawl out from under our duvets for spring.
Over in Berlin, the 75th Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday, setting the tone for the cinematic year ahead. Among the standouts were Bong Joon Ho’s satirical sci-fi Mickey 17 and Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro’s poetic O último azul’ (‘The Blue Trail’). You’ll find a full list of our reviews here – with a round-up and more interviews to come.
Meanwhile, an exhibition at Musée Picasso Paris spotlights the “degenerate” art disavowed by the Nazis, and over in Rome, 100 works by Edvard Munch take over Palazzo Bonaparte.
Here are this week’s cultural highlights.
Exhibitions
Peek behind shop displays at‘Fresh Window: The Art of Display & Display of Art’
Where: Museum Tinguely (Basel, Switzerland)
When: Until 11 May 2025
Shop window displays emerged in the early 19th century, transforming the consumer landscape. Once purely transactional spaces, they became brightly lit stages for theatrical creativity—not just to entice shoppers, but to project a brand’s unique vision and ethos.
Beyond commerce, these displays took on an artistic and cultural significance, capturing the ambient character of their time—something many renowned artists have sought to reflect or even shape. Through a vast collection of works by Andy Warhol, Marina Abramović, Peter Blake, and Marcel Duchamp, this exhibition explores the shop window as both art and inspiration, revealing its role in shifting social and cultural narratives.
Step inside storyboards at ‘A Kind of Language: Storyboards and Other Renderings for Cinema’
Where: Osservatorio Fondazione Prada (Milan, Italy)
When: Until September 8 2025
When engrossed in a scene seamlessly unfolding on film, it’s easy to forget the meticulous planning that went into it. Many famous directors, including Martin Scorsese, Hayao Miyazaki and Georges Méliès – a pioneer of storyboarding – begin their process by sketching scenes out, mentally choreographing every movement and angle to better visualise the world they’re building.
For cinephiles, this is a rare opportunity to glimpse the raw creative visions of their favourite filmmakers, featuring storyboards from Pedro Almodóvar, Wes Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and so many more.
Embrace taboo at ‘Leigh Bowery!’
Where: Tate Modern (London, UK)
When: 27 February – 31 August 2025
Truly one of a kind, Leigh Bowery was a performance artist, designer, model, club promoter, musician and all-around vivacious icon of 90s counterculture. Born in Australia, he moved to London in the 80s and became a key part of the city’s nightlife scene, reimagining the world through bombastic ideas that challenged stereotypes and made polite society snivel.
A little over 30 years after his death, Tate Modern pays tribute to the performer’s indelible impact on alt and queer culture through striking 80s and 90s imagery, costumes and examples of Bowery’s artistic collaborations, including a painting by Lucian Freud. It’s an encapsulation of a chameleonic character whose influence continues to boldly drip, like paint on a head, across 2025.
Get to the roots of Accra at ‘What’s the 411: STRANDS & STRUCTURES’
Where: Open Space Contemporary Art Museum (OSCAM) (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
When: Until February 28 2025
The latest in OSCAM’s 411 exhibition series, curated by fashion editor and stylist Esmeralda Tan, delves into the subject of Afro-Caribbean hair and its intersections with Accra, the capital of Ghana’s natural habitats. A collaboration with multidisciplinary hair artist Asia Clarke and creative director/photographer Christian Saint, this powerful photo-documentary exhibition stirs reflections on cultural identity while celebrating a unique diaspora community. As part of the event, there’s also a workshop on African hair aesthetics, including a seminar by Asia Clarke, on 27 February, along with a panel talk and closing party on 28 February.
Events
Contribute to charity with Art on a Postcard’s ‘International Women’s Day 2025 Auction’
Where: Online at Dreweatts Auction House
When: 27 February – 13 March 2025
Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Art on a Postcard (AOAP) charity is hosting an auction featuring a range of eclectic works by emerging and established female-identifying artists. Six guest curators have carefully selected works that represent the many nuanced social and political facets of womanhood. Artists include Caroline Coon, Kat Giordano, Ashely January and Ren Yen Song. All money raised is going towards the hugely important work carried out by The Hepatitis C Trust at women’s prisons. There will also be a public exhibition of the works open from 4 March.
Join costumed Casanovas at the ‘Carnival of Venice’
Where: Venice (and other cities around Italy)
When: Until 9 March 2025
Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of Renaissance-costumed revellers have taken to Venice for its annual Carnival. Dating back to 1162, it began as a celebration of the Venice Republic’s victory against the Patriarch of Aquileia, becoming a beloved cultural tradition that is honoured in various forms across the country. This year’s event is dedicated to Giacomo Casanova, an 18th century Italian adventurer and notorious womaniser, known for his posthumously published memoir ‘Histoire de ma vie’ (‘The Story of My Life’). Venetian mask up and prepare for frivolity.
Movies
See Pamela Anderson dazzle in ‘The Last Showgirl’
In a familiar tale of faded glamour and aching nostalgia, Pamela Anderson stars as a Las Vegas showgirl facing the closure of her show after 30 years, suddenly left to confront her identity and desires beyond the spotlight. Directed by Gia Coppola, it’s a rhinestoned rush of contemplations about aging and beauty standards as a woman; how invidious societal pressures lead to impossible struggles within ourselves. When so much value is placed on superficial, ephemeral validation, who are we once the curtains close and the cheers fade?
TV series
Watch knockout new series ‘A Thousand Blows’
Where: Disney+
When: Available now
From the 19th to 20th century, an infamous all-female crime syndicate took to the streets of London, often masquerading as maids for affluent households to steal from them. They were known as the Forty Elephants, and their masterful deception somehow evaded police detection for years. A new show created by Steven Knight (‘Peaky Blinders’) tells their story through the lens of two boxers and best friends Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) and Alec (Francis Lovehall), who arrive in Victorian London’s grubby East End to be faced with fighting Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson (a beefed up Stephen Graham).
Go undercover with ‘Reacher’
Where: Prime Video
When: Available now
In the dregs of winter, sometimes you just need a bit of undercover action and overly-macho stoicism, like: “I’m not afraid of death, death’s afraid of me”. Enter Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), a retired military officer who is framed for a murder he didn’t commit and must go on a rampage to expose the dirty deeds and conspiracies of corrupt powers. Based on the series of books by Lee Child and turned into a movie starring Tom Cruise in 2012, the popular TV series is now in its third season and has Reacher busy infiltrating a drug smuggling ring to protect a DEA informant.
Music
Listen to pop superstar Tate McRae’s ‘So Close to What’
Pop princess Tate McRae rose to fame as a dancer before going viral with her 2020 song ‘You Broke Me First.’ Her third album came out last week (21 February) and is one of this year’s biggest pop releases so far – sure to be taking over TikTok sounds as you read. Tracks like ‘Sports Car’ feel reminiscent of those breathy, Pussycat Dolls-era radio plays, making us feel “so close to” pulling on some bootcut jeans and winking in the rear-view mirror of a convertible.
