ARCHITECTURE: BANGKOK

Life of Terada Mokei

Architect Naoki Terada, founder of Terada Mokei, stresses the difference between replicas and models. Replicas are pale substitutes while models offer new perspectives of the actual subject. Naoki has applied his architectural training into making joyful and vibrant models and is using them to capture unique identities of the world’s major cities. Head to Thailand’s Creative & Design Center in Bangkok’s Emporium Shopping Complex for fresh takes of the country’s familiar symbols such as the tuk tuk and street food.

6th Fl, The Emporium Shopping Complex, 622 Sukhumvit 24. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30–21.00. Until 11 August.
tcdc.or.th

FESTIVAL: LONDON

MexFest

Londoners can catch a catch a little flavour of Mexico in their city this weekend as MexFest, a showcase of Mexico’s arts, film and cultural contributions to the world, takes place across venues such as east London’s Rich Mix cinema, the Royal Academy of Arts and the BFI. Among the films on offer, catch Gabriel Marino’s escapist coming-of-age road-trip tale A Secret World on Saturday and Otilia Portillo Padua’s documentary on three generations of Mexican women Three Voices on Sunday. And if realism isn’t your thing, you can also stroll down to the BFI for a screening of classic 1950s Mexican crime drama Los Olvidados.

At venues across London. See website for details.
mexfest.mx

ART: TORONTO

Louise Bourgeois 1911-2010

When she died in 2010, Louise Bourgeois’ artistic career had already left its mark in many major movements from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism to Feminism. This retrospective charts the evolution of the artist’s work throughout a whole life. From her totemic wooden pieces circa 1949–1950 to “Cell (The Last Climb)” – a 2008 installation – her oeuvre revisits themes of loneliness, jealousy, anger and fear. Art was her coping mechanism, and in her words, “a guarantee of sanity”.

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, 952 Queen Street West. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11.00–18.00. Until 11 August.
mocca.ca

EXHIBITION: RIO DE JANEIRO

O Abrigo e o Terreno

Catch the closing weekend of O Abrigo e o Terreno (The Shelter and the Land) at MAR, Rio’s newest art museum that opened earlier this spring. The inaugural show is the first in a series of exhibitions looking at art and society in Brazil – a fitting topic for a country currently undergoing major social and urban transformations. The exhibit’s 56 works range from Yuri Firmeza’s desolate photography to a recreation of a typical favela home by Projeto Morrinho. The latter is intended to open debate on the ownership of social spaces, the desire for shelter and the right to housing.

Praça Mauá Centro. Open Saturday and Sunday 10.00 to 17.00. Until 14 July.
museudeartedorio.org.br

EXHIBITION: LONDON

Matthew Murphy: Venus and Cup

This weekend, Canadian artist Matthew Murphy’s Venus and Cup exhibition adorns the walls of London’s Wyer Gallery. This collection of oil paintings is an expression of the painters’ academic training in human biology, with the form of the nude being the main theme of his work. But these portraits aren’t simply about the naked form. Murphy uses anxiety-filled facial expressions to infuse greater meaning to laying it all out and bearing all.

Wyer Gallery, 191 St John’s Hill. Open Monday to Friday 9.30-18.00, Saturdays 11.00-15.00. Until 20 September.
thewyergallery.co.uk