CULTURAL BULLETIN | HAPPENINGS | WORLD OF CABANA

A monthly guide to the events and exhibitions on Cabana's Radar: a global cultural bulletin and a must-read for anyone looking to keep their finger on the pulse of art and design. Read on to discover our highlights from August 2025.

CURATED BY TEAM CABANA | HAPPENINGS | 1 AUGUST 2025

Michael Rakowitz; The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist; Centre national des art plastiques.

As summer settles into its ripest days, the cultural calendar does not disappoint. From sun-drenched exhibitions in the South of France to little gems in city galleries, this month's selection invites lingering—over images, ideas, and long summer afternoons.

EXHIBITIONS 

WASHINGTON DC, USA

State Fairs: Growing American Craft

Liz Schreiber, State Fairs: Growing American Craft, 2024-2025, various seeds and flower petals, Courtesy of Liz Schreiber

State Fairs: Growing American Craft brings together the wild and deeply personal world of American state fair craft. From butter cows to beaded rodeo gear, this kaleidoscopic survey of over 240 works traces regional traditions, family legacies, and blue-ribbon dreams across 43 states and tribal nations. A vibrant celebration of making and meaning at the heart of the Americana fairground.

August 22 - September 7, 2025, Renwick Gallery, WASHINGTON DC, USA

ARLES, FRANCE

Collections-Collection

Collections Collection, Cape © Fanny Terno

After five years of meticulous restoration at the elegant Hôtel Bouchaud de Bussy, the newly-opened Museum of Fashion and Costume in Arles debuts its inaugural exhibition, Collections-Collection. From 18th-century silks to Arlésienne headdresses, the show traces centuries of Mediterranean fashion with rare pieces displayed in custom-built galleries.

Through January 4, 2026, Musée de la Mode et du Costume, ARLES, FRANCE

DUBLIN, IRELAND

Maurice Marinot – On Paper, In Glass

Maurice Marinot (1882 – 1960), White engraved flagon, 1927 © Estate of Maurice Marinot. Photo, National Gallery of Ireland

The restless creativity of French artist and alchemist of light, Maurice Marinot, takes center stage with rarely seen drawings, bold vessels, and iridescent forms conjuring his singular vision. Spanning 1900s to the 1950s, the exhibition reveals how Marinot reimagined molten glass as a sculptural canvas—etched, bubbled, and vividly hued. 

August 2, 2025 - January 25, 2026, National Gallery of Ireland, DUBLIN, IRELAND

BOSTON, USA

Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer

Flower Piece, c.1682, Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston brings together 35 radiant still lifes by the Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) whose vivid compositions of blooms, insects, and creeping creatures captivated Golden Age Europe. The first major solo exhibition of her work, it places Ruysch in dialogue with fellow women artists and early scientific minds, revealing a world where art, nature, and global exchange converged on the edge of empire.

August 23 - December 7, 2025, Museum of Fine Arts, BOSTON, USA

ARLES, FRANCE

Yves Saint Laurent et la Photographie

2025-SAIN-01
Peter Knapp
ELLE, September 1965. Cocktail dresses from the Fall-Winter 1965 haute couture collection, also known as the “Tribute to Piet Mondrian.”
Courtesy of Yves Saint Laurent / Jeanne Lanvin-Castillo / Peter Knapp.

This landmark exhibition at the Rencontres d’Arles charts the couturier’s continued dialogue with photography—through over 80 iconic portraits by the likes of Avedon, Klein, and Horst, alongside 200 archival treasures from Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris.

Through October 5, 2026, La Mécanique Générale, ARLES, FRANCE

TRONDHEIM, NORWAY

Pablo Picasso - The Code of Painting

Pablo Picasso Woman with Bird Mougins, 7 April 1971, Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz - Picasso, Madrid © FABA Photo - Marc Domage © Succession Pablo Picasso / BONO, Oslo 2025

Trondheim’s new museum for modern and contemporary art, PoMo, debuts Picasso's late works in its summer exhibition, set to go on tour throughout Scandinavia. Curated in collaboration with the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the exhibition gathers over 50 paintings and rare ceramic works, tracing the major motifs of Picasso’s final years.

August 1 - October 26, 2025, PoMo, TRONDHEIM, NORWAY

LONDON, UK

Emily Kam Kngwarray

Emily Kam Kngwarray installation view at Tate Modern 2025. © Emily Kam Kngwarray Copyright Agency. Licensed by DACS 2025. Photo © Tate (Kathleen Arundell)

Tate Modern presents the first major European survey of Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1914–1996), one of Australia’s most important artists. Born in the remote desert Country of Alhalker, Kngwarray wove her ancestral knowledge into batik textiles and monumental canvases, mapping the plants, animals and stories of her First Nations world with layered abstraction and vivid colour.

Through January 11, 2026, Tate Modern, LONDON, UK

NEW YORK, USA

Jonathan Berger Studio Residency

Preparatory rendering by Michael Stradley for Jonathan Berger’s Untitled (Model), 2025–ongoing, featuring Marija Oniščik’s unfinished map of Kaunas, Lithuania c. 1941. Courtesy Michael Stradley

For his month-long 2025 Studio Residency, artist Jonathan Berger and his team of craftspeople construct a detailed handmade model of Kaunas, Lithuania, as it stood in 1940—just before Nazi occupation—based on a map by amateur cartographer, Marija Oniščik. Part memorial, part invocation, the evolving sculpture opens a portal to explore memory, diaspora, and the radical pre-war ideas of Jewish identity.

August 2 - 24, 2025, MoMA, NEW YORK, USA

LONDON, UK

Landscape and Alchemy

Journey _ XI, 2008 © Katja Liebmann (Courtesy HackelBury Fine Art, London)

Through cyanotypes and wet plate collodion prints, photographers Katja Liebmann and Nadezda Nikolova turn landscapes into something more than image—into feeling, mood, and reflection. By using early photographic techniques to explore memory, their works invite us to slow down, look closer, and step into a world shaped by light, time, and intuition.

Through September 27, 2025, HackelBury Fine Art, LONDON, UK

ATHENS, GREECE

Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures

Michael Rakowitz, The invisible enemy should not exist (Room G, Northwest Palace of Nimrud, Panels 5) (detail) 2 part relief from Middle Eastern packaging and Arabic - English newspapers , glue, cardboard on wooden structures.

Ancient artefacts from the Middle East and southeastern Mediterranean are brought into dialogue with contemporary works of acclaimed American artist, Michael Rakowitz. Tracing stories of loss, resilience and cultural restitution, this exhibition stands as a reminder of the fragile fate of cultural heritage in times of war and upheaval.

Through October 31, 2026, Acropolis Museum, ATHENS, GREECE

LONDON, UK

august (adj) at Flowers Gallery

This August, Flowers Gallery celebrate 13 artists whose works have shaped the gallery's programme over the past five decades. Weaving together paintings and sculptures that explore the unseen landscapes of emotion, identity, and perception, this summer show reflects on how artists across generations give shape to the invisible worlds within us.

August 7 - 30, 2025, Flowers Gallery, LONDON, UK

SAN MARINO, CA, USA

Stories from the Library: Los Angeles, Revisited

Anchored by plans for L.A’s first skyscraper, Los Angeles, Revisited—part of The Huntington's exciting new exhibition series; Stories from the Library—reveals how architects, visionaries, and communities have navigated the sprawling, ever-changing landscape of the iconic city defined by diversity, growth, and the delicate balance between preservation and progress.

Through December 21, 2025, The Huntington Art Gallery, SAN MARINO, USA

Last Chance...

NEW YORK, USA

Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial

Installation of “Living Room, Orlean, Virginia” by Hugh Hayden, Davóne Tines and Zack Winokur in “Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial” at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Photo: Elliot Goldstein © Smithsonian Institution

Installed throughout the historic Carnegie Mansion, Making Home brings together 25 new site-specific installations to explore how design shapes—and is shaped by—our ideas of home. From intimate interiors to utopian reimaginings, the Smithsonian Design Triennial offers a timely reflection on belonging, memory, and the shifting landscapes of domestic life across the United States and beyond.

Through August 10, 2025, Cooper Hewitt, NEW YORK, USA

PARIS, FRANCE

Royal Tapestries French Craftsmanship and Contemporary Danish Tapestries

Charles Le Brun Défaite de l'armée espagnole ou déroute de Marsin © Mobilier National - Isabelle Bideau

For the first time in France, sixteen monumental tapestries designed by leading Danish artists and woven by master French artisans are unveiled at the Grand Palais. French Craftsmanship and Contemporary Danish Tapestries celebrates a rare dialogue between nations, traditions, and contemporary vision—honouring centuries-old techniques while revealing the enduring artistry of the loom.

Through August 10, 2025, Grand Palais, PARIS, FRANCE

EVENTS 

ARLES, FRANCE

Rencontres d’Arles Festival

Nan Goldin. Young Love, 2024. Courtesy of the artist / Gagosian.

The iconic Rencontres Festival returns to Arles—the photography capital—as it has each summer since 1970. From the favelas of Brazil to Aboriginal Country in Australia, this year's theme, Disobedient Images, embraces photography as a force of resistance, memory, and cultural translation. 

Through October 5, 2025, City-wise across ARLES, FRANCE

NEWARK, UK

Newark Antiques Fair

From Edwardian armoires to rare vinyl and silver treasures, Europe's largest antique fair, Newark International Antiques & Collectors Fair offers a staggering 1,500 stands of vintage finds and collectible gems—just 90 minutes from London. A global draw for dealers and collectors alike, it’s a pilgrimage of provenance, patina, and the thrill of the chase. A frequent Big Cabana Family favorite.

August 7-8, 2025,  Newark Showground, NEWARK, UK