Latest posts
Music Monthly: The Biggest Releases and Reissues, January 2025
December and January are always peculiar months for the music industry. Year-end charts and bold announcements of upcoming projects dominate the discourse, while many noteworthy releases slip under the radar. This month we want to talk about a debut album full of contrasts; a book exposing the dark side of music streaming; an experimental soundtrack…
Francisco Goya and the Timeless Allure of the Bizarre
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) remains one of the most pivotal artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The National Gallery – Alexandros Soutos Museum in Athens, Greece, houses all four complete series of Goya’s prints—Los Caprichos, Los Desastres de la Guerra, La Tauromaquia, and Los Disparates (Los Proverbios)—acquired by the…
The Sacred and the Feminist: In Conversation with Indonesian Artist Citra Sasmita
On 30 January 2025, Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita will unveil her first solo exhibition in the UK, Into Eternal Land, at The Curve, Barbican. Bringing together diverse media—from embroidery to scent—Sasmita will transform the 90-metre-long gallery into a sprawling landscape that connects cultures, histories, and cosmologies. Building on her interdisciplinary practice, Into Eternal Land challenges…
Reading List: Five Books to Read This Month
January is the moment of New Year resolutions. “I will hit the gym and scroll less, I will stop binge TV shows and read more,” I tell myself … Let’s see, I suppose. We can but try. With that, here’s a quite eclectic selection of the best books published in the last month to help…
Interviews
Between Form and Spirit: In Conversation with Reginald Sylve...
Ahead of Reginald Sylvester II’s exhibition at CANADA gallery in New York, opening on 16 January 2025, Something Curated’s Keshav Anand spoke with the Hudson-based artist to learn more about his inspirations and the evolving language of his practice. Sylvester creates large-scale paintings and sculptures that trace the generative threshold between the two mediums, utilising…
Takuro Kuwata’s Ceramics Reimagine Wabi-Sabi in Technicolour...
Born in Japan’s Hiroshima Prefecture in 1981, Takuro Kuwata has earned a reputation for pushing the boundaries of ceramics, blending traditional Japanese techniques with modern experimentation for nearly two decades. Opening on 10 January 2025, New York gallery Salon 94 will present an exhibition of new works by the Japanese artist, showcasing his largest body…
In the Studio with Tasneem Sarkez
New York-based artist Tasneem Sarkez’s works amalgamate the personal with the universal, informed by an aesthetic she describes as “Arab kitsch.” Her multidisciplinary practice weaves together symbols from pop culture with historical traditions, forming a visual tapestry that speaks to her lived experience as an Arab woman existing in the diaspora. Through her investigations, Sarkez…
Where to Eat and Drink in Naples in 2025
Naples has undergone a remarkable transformation over recent times, evolving from a controversial and often overlooked city into a major Mediterranean hotspot – its music, monuments, food and football attracting visitors from across the world. It holds a special place in my heart. Despite being from northern Italy, I’ve always had Neapolitan friends who, over the…
The Best from Condo London 2025
Condo, the brainchild of London art dealer Vanessa Carlos—co-founder of Carlos/Ishikawa—involves local galleries lending their spaces for a month to foreign dealers to stage collaborative exhibitions. The model offers visitors and collectors alike a chance to discover talents they may not have otherwise come across in their city, as well as providing galleries with an…
The Films That Inspired David Lynch
At the end of last week, news of visionary filmmaker David Lynch’s passing was announced. Months before his death, Lynch, aged 78, shared that he’d been diagnosed with emphysema. One of the most important filmmakers of his era, Lynch’s oeuvre—from Eraserhead and Blue Velvet to Mulholland Drive and his cult TV show, Twin Peaks—has been…
7 Life-Affirming Restaurants in Kuala Lumpur
“Makan makan makan!” is a rallying cry that booms across Malaysia, meaning “let’s eat, let’s eat, let’s eat” — a Malay phrase nowhere more fittingly celebrated than in the country’s capital and largest metropolis, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia’s complex history, which spans large scale migrations, colonisation and its geographic location sandwiched between multiple Southeast Asian countries,…
Guides
Taiwanese Artist Cole Lu’s Guide to Taipei
By fusing historical and literary references with lived experiences, Taipei-born New York-based artist Cole Lu’s work tells stories of dissonance and longing through winding odysseys—rendered in burnt wood, linen, engraved metal, and concrete. Following a conversation between the artist and Something Curated’s Keshav Anand, discussing Lu’s practice and latest show, The Engineers, Lu shares with…
The Something Curated 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
Welcome to the Something Curated holiday gift guide for 2024 — a varied list of items, objects, and experiences for loved ones, all selected by friends of the SC community. Happy shopping and happy holidays. The Substance Candle — Slime Recommended by fashion and culture writer Lauren Cochrane. Anyone who saw The Substance has the last…
FNT Comes to Brooklyn’s 99 Scott for an Unforgettable Night ...
What do you get when you mix the grit of underground fight clubs, the glamour of New York’s arts scene, and the energy of a late-night party? The answer is FNT, the brainchild of Bekim Trenova. Seeking to rekindle the spirit of “old New York,” FNT began as an illegal fight party, evolving into one…
Vibram Five Fingers: the Barefoot Shoes on Everyone’s Feet in 2025?
In fashion, the concept of the ugly shoe has had a good run. Over the last decade or so, there’s been the Dad sandal, the heeled Croc, and even, in 2024, a proper Frankenshoe: the loafer sneaker, aka the ‘snoafer’. So, as our eyes become accustomed to these clunky shapes, as they become the norm,…
London Short Film Festival 2025: Six Must-See Films Screening Over the Coming Week
Opening this weekend, 17th January, the London Short Film Festival (LSFF) returns for its 22nd edition to celebrate emerging filmmakers and the art of short filmmaking. The eclectic programme will run across London’s most iconic screens and venues, including the BFI Southbank, ICA, Curzon Soho, Rio Cinema, and Rich Mix, and a free 1960s Mobile…
Inside the World of Trần Lương, Vietnam’s Performance Art Pioneer
Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre hosts the first international retrospective of the prolific Vietnamese artist, Trần Lương. An influential figure in his home country, the artist’s work is lesser known outside of South East Asia—though it seems like that’s imminently going to change. Following its presentation in the United Arab Emirates, the new exhibition, titled Tầm…
What Happened in the World of Music Last Month
“More music is released in a single day now than in the entire year of 1989,” said Will Page, former chief economist at Spotify, in a report by Music Radar on the current state of the industry. With the constant flow of songs, albums, news, and events, it’s easy to lose track and move on…
From The Archive
Meet Harris Dickinson, the Compelling Lead Actor of ‘B...
British actor Harris Dickinson plays the lead role in Eliza Hittman’s critically acclaimed Beach Rats, which chronicles a young man’s struggle with his sexuality over the course of a summer, amid the stultifying machismo of outer Brooklyn. Opening in select theatres on 24 November, the film follows Frankie, portrayed by Dickinson, as he roams the…
Interview: Ernesto Neto On Gravity, Togetherness & The ...
Since the 1990s, Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto has produced an inimitable body of work that is in equal parts informed by sensuality and spirituality. Inspired by the Brazilian Conceptualists Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, as well as biomorphism, Minimalism and Arte Povera, Neto’s works engage all of our senses while asserting the human body as…
SC Exclusive: Notes on a Siren — a Film Essay by Justice Jam...
Director Justice Jamal Jones joins myth with modern themes of Black queerness and trans identity in their latest film, Notes on a Siren. Presented by Something Curated, and exclusively premiering on the site, the film was shot on location at Palm Heights in Grand Cayman. Jones expands on the thinking behind their mesmerising work below….