This weekend’s highlights include a new pop-up hotel in sunny Mexico, a craft festival in Japan and a music fest to get you out of those pre-Christmas blues.
1 EXHIBITION: TOKYO
—Japan Folk Crafts Exhibition
Japanese restaurants are for many their first exposure to the nation’s handicrafts, but this weekend take a trip beyond the lacquer of a Bento box and visit the Japanese Folk Craft Museum in Tokyo where 240 craft makers are exhibiting their work. As well as exhibiting handicrafts from all over Japan, the museum is also selling them as part of this annual event, which first began in 1936.
Japanese Folk Crafts Museum, Komaba Meguro-ku, Tokyo. Open daily 10.00 – 17.00. Until 23 December
www.mingeikan.or.jp/events
2 HOTEL: TULUM
—The Papaya Playa Project
If you’re in the northern hemisphere, you’ll probably be trying to find a way to escape the inclement weather and make good use of your holidays. Don’t think twice and buy a ticket direct to Tulum in Mexico, where the pop-up hotel Papaya Playa has opened its doors this week. With an almost 1km Riviera Maya oceanfront, this bungalow resort has hammocks swinging to the rhythm of chilled tunes, from where you’ll smell the food cooked in beach grills by German chefs selected by KaterHolzig and 42°RAW.
Km 4 point 5 Carretera, Tulum- Boca-Paila, Quintana Roo. Until 5 May
papayaplaya.com
3 FOOD: LONDON
—London Chocolate Festival
London’s Southbank Centre Square hosts the yummy Chocolate Festival, a place where all the chocolate-cravers’ dreams become true. From Spanish “churros con chocolate” to chocolate cocktails, it is also a good place to find a – probably short-lived – Christmas gift. Plus the haute cuisine of the best chocolate experts, including Bill McCarrick and William Curley, who has been chosen as the best chocolatier for five consecutive years.
Belvedere Road, London. Friday-Saturday 11.00-20.00, Sunday 11.00-18.00. Until 11 December
festivalchocolate.co.uk
4 EXHIBITION: NYC
—Clement Meadmore: Sculpture
The work of Australian-American artist Clement Meadmore is now on view in Chelsea’s Marlborough Gallery. Among the included works are three large-scale steel sculptures resembling superimposed boxes from Meadmore’s 1965 “Criss Cross” series. A departure from other massive sculptural works on display is a series of smaller, table-top works focused on representing the three-dimensional form in its most simple context.
Marlborough Chelsea art gallery. 545 W. 25th Street near 11th Avenue, NYC. Until 14 January
marlboroughgallery.com
5 MUSIC FESTIVAL: Minehead
—ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas
A rainy December weekend at Butlins holiday camp in Minehead on England’s craggy west coast might sound like your worst nightmare. But fill that weekend with a line up of some the world’s most progressive (ok, progressive meaning artier-than-thou US indie) and generally quite mind-blowing bands to watch, and you might just have a plan. That’s what promoters All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) have done, and their festival Nightmare Before Christmas takes place this weekend. Each day of the event has been handed over to Les Savy Fav, Battles and Caribou to curate the music acts which this year include Wild Flag, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, The Budos Band, Cults and even Gary Numan…
Butlins Holiday Centre, Minehead, UK. Until 11 December
atpfestival.com/events/nightmare2011
