PHOTOGRAPHY: VANCOUVER
Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life
Hotels are so much more than a comfy bed and room service; they leave imprints on everything from architecture to the social make-up of a city. California-based curator Jennifer M Volland has put together a selection of images for Vancouver Art Gallery split into four sections – travel, design, social and culture – highlighting hotels’ less obvious functions. For example, the travel section examines the geopolitical role of international hotel chains such as those of Conrad Hilton, which promised “World Peace Through International Trade and Travel” as a foil to communism during the Cold War.
Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street. Open Monday, Wednesday to Sunday, 10.00-17.00; Tuesday 10.00-21.00. Until 15 September.
vanartgallery.bc.ca
ART: TOKYO
All You Need is LOVE
To mark the 10th anniversary of Roppongi Hills’ Mori Art Museum, is an exhibition celebrating one of life’s most powerful emotions – love. It features 200 works including installations, paintings, anime illustration scenes, and sculptures that explore the meaning of love in all its forms, from lust to romance and compassion. Works include Yayoi Kusama’s fluorescent “Love is Calling” installation, René Magritte’s “The Lovers”, David Hockney’s “My Parents” and “Love” by Gimhongsok – a crushed and weathered interpretation of Robert Indiana’s original Pop Art image, which is also on show.
Mori Art Museum, 53F Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku. Open everyday 10.00-22.00 except Tuesday 10.00-17.00. Until 1 September.
mori.art.museum
PAINTING: EDINBURGH
Peter Doig: No Foreign Lands
The first major exhibition by Scottish artist Peter Doig in his home nation is now at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Showcasing works mostly from the artist’s 10 years spent living in Trinidad, the series of oil paintings such as “Figures in a Red Boat” and “Pelican (Stag)” depict tropical, lush scenes that show the country’s urban and natural worlds rubbing up against each other. Doig’s use of intense colours – grassy greens, deep blues – is blended with a skilful, almost traditional level of technique for capturing an everyday scene, which sets Doig apart from the conceptualism dominating much of contemporary art.
Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Open Saturday and Sunday 10.00-17.00. Until 3 November.
nationalgalleries.org
THEATRE FESTIVAL: TORONTO
SummerWorks Performance Festival
Entering its 22nd year, SummerWorks has developed a reputation for serving up a diverse selection of inspiring theatre each year. This time it is introducing the inaugural Artists-in-Residence programme. Performers Sook-Yin Lee, Benjamin Kamino and Adam Litovitz have been collaborating in the lead-up to the festival to explore the tension between remembering and forgetting in How Can I Forget?, the performance piece showing this weekend incorporates original video, photography and music. Theatre enthusiasts have both Saturday and Sunday to view the result.
In venues across Toronto, see website for full schedule. Until 18 August.
summerworks.ca
MUSIC: GLOBAL
Moderat: II
“Supergroup” is a bit of a dirty word these days that conjures images of indulgent musical virtuosos competing against one another (and endless 1970s guitar solos). But Berlin’s Moderat, the combination of electronic beatmaking duo Modeselektor and one-man introspective techno type Apparat, thankfully finds a tasteful middle ground between both – and it’s full of big electronic pop songs. Their second album, appropriately titled II, makes the most of Modeselektor’s talent for creating huge club sounds while vocals from Apparat dance effortlessly across the top. It’s the sound of favours by friends and, no doubt, some friendly rivalry too.
II is available to buy now.
moderat.fm
