London Cult.

“Baroque Comes Alive: Pergolesi’s ‘Olimpiade,’ ‘French Cow,’ and Music You Can Touch”

London Cult. meets Betty Makharinsky, the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Vache Baroque, the project that presents Baroque opera in a unique and accessible way. We posed some questions to Betty to get insights into how this project works and what to expect from the new performances of Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade…

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Yes and No: Insights from the David Zwirner Gallery and Sadie Coles HQ

In modern London, the number of galleries, if accurately calculated, would likely rival the abundance of Christian churches in Renaissance Rome. A proliferation of art so vast that keeping abreast of all vernissages, let alone attending them, is an inherently impossible task. On a recent Friday, the LC team managed…

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”Kinds of Kindness”: Lanthimos’s Return to Sicko Mode

As "Poor Things" swept through the festival circuit, recruiting more devotees into the fold of the "Greek Weird Wave," Yorgos Lanthimos was already finishing his next cinematic venture. "Kinds of Kindness" presents a conceptual exploration of the nature of manipulative behavior, pushing it, weirdly, beyond theextremes. Co-written by Lanthimos and…

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A Nightmarish Dream of Zweig: A young team has created a play based on the autobiographical novel of the writer.

The premiere of the play The World of Yesterday, based on the novel by Stefan Zweig and directed by Anna Ostrovskaya, was performed at the Camden Fringe Festival. The enormous, very complex novel by Zweig has been transformed by Anna Ostrovskaya into a play that combines fiction and reality, but…

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Theater on the Streets of the City: The Notting Hill Carnival in London

What do you call it when a street transforms into a theater? That's right, a carnival or masquerade. These words might seem like they belong to a distant era, but today, we can step outside and find ourselves in the midst of a modern carnival.

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In the Eye of the Storm: The Content of the Paintings is Unknown to the Author

The feverish pulse of the early 20th century demanded a new visual lexicon to capture the zeitgeist. Within artistic circles, an awareness of the “other self” intensified, leading to the realization that art’s essence lay not in directives (what should or must be done) or meticulous simulation of reality, but…

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Vache Baroque Opera 2024: Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade

The libretto of L’Olimpiade or The Olympiad was set to music by over fifty composers, making it one of the most popular in opera history. Based on the story of the ‘Trial of the Suitors’ by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, it has all the materials necessary for a work…

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The Unenviable “Bohemian Life”

In the heart of bohemian Paris, Irishman Schaunard composes a symphony titled "The Influence of Blue on Art," Albanian Rodolfo finishes a painting in the art naïf style (for which he will earn one-tenth of what he spent on paints), and French playwright Marcel harangues publishers with his 21-act epic.…

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Anya Ostrovskaya: “I’ve always had a tense relationship with authoritarianism”

Anya Ostrovskaya is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has several performances to her credit, recognized both by critics and with awards. At the Camden Fringe festival, Anya and her team will present a new work, The World of Yesterday, an adaptation of the novel of…

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Attention: Artist at Large! Reflections on Banksy’s 9-Day London Intervention

For nine consecutive nights, the streets of London, each time in a new location, were graced with animal-themed graffiti by Banksy, the mega-star of modern art. For an artist known for his sporadic appearances, this serial manifestationbecame the first major street-performance since his month-long New York takeover in 2013, whenhe…

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“Sick of Myself”: A Cocktail of Vanity and Desperation

Signe, a 30-year-old barista from Oslo, is trapped in a dead-end job and zero popularity. She is in a toxic relationship with Thomas, an artist who makes sculptures from furniture he personally steals. Devoid of any discernibletalent yet brimming with envy, Signe craves attention and will seize any opportunity for…

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“London Zoo” by Banksy

In the enigmatic world of street art, few figures provoke as much speculation as Banksy. The elusive artist, known for his sharp social commentary and iconic stencil works, has once again made London the stage for his creativity.

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Anatomy of Light: Anthony McCall’s “Solid Light” Exhibition at Tate

In the avant-garde enclave of the London Filmmakers Co-op, Anthony McCall remained relatively inconspicuous among his peers until the early 1970s, when he boldly decided todistill the cinematic medium to its most elemental form—the projection beam itself. This beam, McCall noticed, possessed an untapped plastic, sculptural potential. By that time,…

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Farewell to the Olympics: A Moment of Unity in an Era of Conflict and Division

On a warm Sunday evening, Paris celebrated the end of the Olympic Games with a closing ceremony. The Stade de France, the heart of the Paris Games, became the stage for a mesmerising kaleidoscope of light, music, and spectacle, capturing the spirit of a city that had hosted the world’s…

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Post Tenebras Lux

Critics have heralded Carlos Reygadas as the "third wave of Mexican cinema in one person," positioning him as a successor to Buñuel and Jodorowsky. Initially destined for diplomacy after studying at an English college and working at the European Commission, Reygadas' career took an unexpected turn. Inspired by Tarkovsky's films,…

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