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 October highlights. A preview is available for all, while the full global cultural bulletin is exclusively available on our Substack. Join us there for our newest and most intimate chapter. 

BY TEAM CABANA | HAPPENINGS | 1 OCTOBER 2026 

John Everett Millais, The Bridesmaid, 1851, Oil paint on panel © Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

From archaic talismans and Ancient Landscapes to imagined collectors’ rooms and artists’ studios, October brings a little magic to the cultural calendar. London and Paris welcome the return of Frieze, Frieze Masters, Art Basel Paris and PAD, while further afield the month unfolds across fairs, festivals and exhibitions spanning some 6,000 years of art and human expression.

From photography and craft, to antiquities, contemporary design and the stories hidden within objects, there is plenty to discover, with a few bewitching surprises along the way. 

EXHIBITIONS

NEW YORK, USA

Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World

Magical stela or cippus of Horus Ptolemaic Period 332–280 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World presents Cursed!, an exploration of the role of magic in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, bringing together rare amulets, papyri, curse tablets, sculpture and ceramics dating from 2000 BCE to 300 CE. Together, these objects reveal how people sought protection, healing, revenge and favour from forces beyond our mortal world. Not for the superstitious!

Through December 13, 2026, ISAW, NEW YORK, USA

CAMBRIDGE, UK

A Call to Art: William Morris & the Pre-Raphaelites

Joan of Arc. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (British, 1828-1882). Oil on panel, 1882.

Gathering paintings, textiles, furniture, wallpapers and other objects from William Morris and his circle of Pre-Raphaelites, A Call to Art at the Fitzwilliam Museum explores their fascination with the medieval past, their ambitions for a more beautiful future, and the enduring tensions between craftsmanship, commerce and social political ideals. The exhibition also focuses on the Red House, Morris' famed home co-designed with Philip Webb, showcasing the tapestries, wallpaper, furniture and works it housed.

October 23 - May 3, 2027, The Fitzwilliam Museum, CAMBRIDGE, UK

PARIS, FRANCE

Look! 40 Years of Fashion at the Museum 

MOODBOARD TUILERIES Photo mode © JoeGaffney, MAD

From first sketch to runway, and from museum storage to exhibition display, Look! goes behind the scenes of 40 years of fashion at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Some 57 ensembles, alongside drawings, patterns, embroidery and archives, reveal the craft, care and creative process behind garments from houses of Chanel, Alaïa, Margiela and Valentino.

September 30 - April 4, 2027, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, PARIS, FRANCE

BASEL, SWITZERLAND

Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa amidst several of her looped-wire sculptures, November 1954. © Photo: Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock Artwork © 2025 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc., Courtesy David Zwirner

Filigree wire sculptures, drawings, prints and paintings come together in the first European retrospective of Ruth Asawa, the Japanese American artist whose delicate, looping forms seem to hover between drawing and sculpture. From her studies at Black Mountain College to her public commissions across California, the exhibition reveals the scope of an artist whose work was as much about making as observing.

October 18 - January 10, 2027, Fondation Beyeler, BASEL, SWITZERLAND

LONDON, UK

The 90s: Art and Fashion

Juergen Teller, Young Pink Kate London 1998 © Juergen Teller, All Rights Reserved

Edward Enninful looks back at the decade when British art, fashion, photography, music and design seemed to collide at every turn. Juergen Teller, David Sims and Corinne Day appear alongside artists such as Steve McQueen, Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas, while designs by Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano capture the rebellious energy of iconic 90s Britain.

October 8 - February 14, 2027, Tate, LONDON, UK

NEW YORK, USA 

Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500

Vecchietta (Siena, 1410– 1480) or Francesco di Giorgio (Siena, 1439– Vignano, 1501) Gisant of Mariano Sozzini the Elder Late 1460s or early 1490s Low-tin bronze, elevated arsenic, two pieces slotted together; Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence

Bronze takes center stage at The Frick Collection in the first exhibition devoted to Siena’s remarkable Renaissance bronzework. Through nearly 40 sculptures, reliefs, medals and other objects, including works by Donatello and Vecchietta, Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500 reveals a city where artists, founders and craftsmen pushed the possibilities of one of the Renaissance’s most demanding materials during a major period of artistic and technical excellence.

October 15 - January 18, 2027, The Frick Collection, NEW YORK, USA

LONDON, UK

Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends

Maartje Convens and Marin Céleste, Camfield Place, Hertfordshire, 2022, by Tim Walker

From queer activists and artists, to musicians, performers and fashion icons, Tim Walker’s highly-praised Fairyland gathers some 250 portraits celebrating five decades of queer life, love and community. Drawing on the visual language of Tudor portraiture, fashion photography and Walker’s own fantastically enchanted imagination, the exhibition moves from the activism of the 1970s and ’80s through the HIV/AIDS crisis, to the artists and changemakers shaping queer culture today.

October 9 - February 7, 2027, National Portrait Gallery, LONDON, UK

NEWBURY, UK 

Going for a Walk with Andrew Allfree  

© Dreweatts

Dreweatts explores the eclectic world of collector and designer Andrew Allfree in a sale of richly patinated objects, from Macassar ebony mirrors and Bronze Medici vases to 18th-century globes.

Photographed at Allfree’s Normandy château, the collection brings together an idiosyncratic Anglo-Indian aesthetic that Princess Diane de Beauvau Craon describes as “Baroque” meets “shabby genteel,” with the atmosphere of a particularly well-stocked attic.

Viewing dates: October 10 - 13, 2026, Dreweatts Donnington Priory, NEWBURY, UK

Auction dates: October 13, 2026 10:30 BST Dreweatts Donnington Priory, NEWBURY, UK

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