Arts/Culture: Pulse: Cultural Calendar May
Cultural Calendar May
This month, if you’re traveling to these destinations, don’t miss the following events.
BILBAO
If you didn’t catch the Juan Munoz retrospective at the Tate Modern, it will open at the Guggenheim Bilbao (www.guggenheim-bilbao.es) on May 27. The Madrid-born artist, who died on Ibiza in 2001, is known for his large-scale figurative installations. The Bilbao show runs through September 28.
BOSTON
The city’s new Institute of Contemporary Art (www.icaboston.org) hosts the first major museum survey of Turner Prize–winning sculptor Anish Kapoor. It will include works from the last fifteen years of the India-born Kapoor (those familiar with Chicago know his Cloud Nine sculpture in Millennium Park). The exhibit, including a new resin sculpture, debuts on May 30.
Coming soon: a destination report on Boston.
CHARLESTON
The city’s ever-fabulous Spoleto Festival (www.spoletousa.org) kicks off on May 23rd and its ambitious 18-day program features music, opera, dance, lectures and theater. Highlights include the premiere of Monkey: Journey to the West, an operatic stage adaptation and collaboration between Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng and Damon Albarn of virtual band Gorillaz.
The world of super heroes takes center stage at the Metropolitan Museum (www.metmuseum.org) during the Costume Institute’s anticipated spring exhibition. The show, entitled Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, is sponsored by Giorgio Armani and kicked off with an all-glam ball co-chaired by Vogue magazine on May 7.
Soprano Anna Netrebko stars in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in a production directed by Robert Carson at the Opéra National de Paris (www.operadeparis.fr). It premieres on May 24.
Also in the French capital this month: On Saturday, May 17, many of Paris’ most celebrated museums, including the Musée d’Orsay, Pompidou and Musee Rodin, will stay open after-hours (some until 1 a.m.) during the annual Nuit des Musées. Admission will be free.
Read about the new Richard Serra solo show Monumenta at the city’s Grand Palais.
French artist Nathalie Decoster takes over the gardens at the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (www.villa-ephrussi.com) and transforms them with her sculptures. From May 24 through November 5.
REYKJAVIK
Cutting-edge curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, of London’s Serpentine Gallery is collaborating with Danish artist Ólafur Elíasson in curating Experiment Marathon Reykjavik (www.artfest.is), an interdisciplinary and experimental exhibition program that showcases the work of leading artists, architects, film-makers, even scientists. Themes evolve loosely around energy, genetics and memory. Experiment Marathon is part of the city’s Art Fest. From May 15-August 17.
Coming soon: An in-depth destination report on Iceland, including capital Reykjavik.
SAO PAULO
On May 23 and 24, acclaimed Jazz violinist Regina Carter performs with Brazilian group Jazz Sinfônica in the city’s Auditorio Ibirapuera (www.auditorioibirapuera.com).
— Simone Girner 05/05/2008