In the second report from this year’s Venice Biennale, we head to the national pavilions to meet the artists and curators who are raising their countries’ profiles on the world stage.
The defence industry is intertwined with politics and nationhood, and Ivor Ichikowitz is a man at the heart of all three in Africa. But don’t call him an arms dealer – he only has the best intentions for the continent, he…
Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine has irked the West but how has local life been affected along the other Baltic borders? Monocle tours the Russian-speaking hinterlands of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for lessons…
As the United Arab Emirates marks 50 years of nationhood, Monocle profiles the ideas, firms and people paving the way for another half-century of dizzying development.
The first 50 years of nationhood have seen rapid changes in the UAE that few could have imagined. But what’s missed in the renderings of towers or filtered selfies is the country’s canny creation of walkable spaces with a…
A failed Italy and a Grimaldi household in shambles presents the perfect opportunity for a marriage of convenience between Liguria and Monaco in 2014. If it sounds like a storyline from our manga series, it might well be…
This year our nation special puts the spotlight on that sprawling land down under – and in the process we’ve batted away the kangaroos and shooed off the crocs to get to the real red centre of what Australia represents.
With its central-European soul and Italian accent, this Adriatic port could easily have an identity crisis. Trieste, however, is used to occupying the space between one culture and another, as its unique film festival…
Launched in 1960 during a wave of postwar, pre-Olympics optimism in Rome, the ETR 252 train was the height of ambitious rail travel. Designed by leading architects, L’Arlecchino boasted jet-age levels of onboard luxury with…
All over Africa, Chinese labourers are hard at work building railways, roads and national stadiums. In return, the continent’s developing countries are selling their oil and iron ore to the Chinese. The figures are stagg…