October News Roundup
1.
While Raf Simons is currently best known as Co-Creative Director at Prada, his design influence extends into homeware through his ongoing collaboration with Danish textile innovators, Kvadrat. Their partnership dates back to 2014, when Simons began incorporating the Danish manufacturer’s textiles into his Jil Sander collections. In this interview, Simons discusses the banal use of color in contemporary design and unveils his latest Kvadrat collection, which includes an eight-piece kids line up.
Drawing of Frida Kahlo, image courtesy of Marhus / Shutterstock.
2.
Dedicated to exploring the private side of Frida Kahlo, the new Museo Casa Kahlo occupies the family’s historic residence in Mexico City: the Casa Roja. This house was purchased by Kahlo’s parents in 1930 and remained in the family until just two years ago, with the last resident being Frida’s grandniece, Mara Romeo Kahlo. Learn about the immersive experience the museum seeks to provide visitors through a “multi-sensory journey through the life, body, politics, pain, and desire that marked Kahlo’s life” and defines the artist’s enduring legacy.
3.
Though the Japanese city of Hiroshima has become synonymous with nuclear destruction, today it is renowned for its embrace of modern architecture. This article gives readers a brief tour of The Hiroshima Architecture Exhibition 2025, which runs through November 30. Read up on some of the city’s most important contemporary—and, in some cases, experimental— structures from Yasushi Horibe’s portable, flat-packable hinoki teahouse to the renovated Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art by Kisho Kurokawa.
Ai Weiwei at a preview of his exhibition Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads at Trade Fare Palace / the National Gallery in Prague, 2016. Photo courtesy of J Morc / Shutterstock.
4.
Nothing gets under an artist’s skin like being asked to contribute to a project only to have their work rejected for being “too controversial” after submission. This is precisely what happened to Ai Weiwei this past summer with Zeit Magazin. The publication commissioned him to provide 15–20 short reflections on the theme, “What I would have liked to know about Germany earlier,” for their summer issue. However, after receiving the submission, Executive Editor Johannes Dudziak ultimately canceled its publication. To find out precisely why Weiwei’s column was shelved, read the full original article here.
5.
Despite announcing his retirement after the 2017 film Phantom Thread, Daniel Day-Lewis is staging a surprise comeback to star in Anemone, directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis. The film features Day-Lewis and Sean Bean as estranged brothers confronting hidden secrets and resentments during a reunion at a primitive Northern England cabin. This article includes a discussion of the film’s setting and cinematography with the director.
