ADVERTISEMENT
Spring is in full swing and there's lots to look forward to this week.
With Cannes Film Festival and Eurovision on the horizon, the month of May marks a turning point in the European cultural calendar as communal events ramp up and festivals celebrate the best in music, food, film and art.
This week's highlights include a powerful immersive exhibition by Czech artist Klára Hosnedlová in Berlin, a literary festival in Stratford-upon-Avon and a new entry into the killer clown cinematic universe.
Over on the small screen, there's the hunger-inducing (and very horny) new French drama Carême, along with the return of Ryan Johnson's Emmy-winning 'whodunnit' Poker Face.
For a more in-depth look at some of these things, along with our thoughts on Marvel's Thunderbolts* and Jon Hamm's new series 'Your Friends & Neighbors' — hit play on the video above.
Exhibitions Klára Hosnedlová: Embrace CHANEL Commission: Klára Hosnedlová's 'Embrace'. ？ Courtesy Artist, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, White Cube / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Nationalgalerie , Zdeněk Porcal – Studio Flusser
Where: Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, Germany)
When: Until 26 October 2025
Artist Klára Hosnedlová is known for her large-scale immersive installations that imagine future utopias. Her latest work for the CHANEL Commission is her most ambitious yet: a collection of massive tapestries that fill the 2,500-square-metre hall of Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof. Drawing inspiration from her cultural background, everything is textured with nature and folklore, including audio and video recordings that conjure memories of Hosnedlová’s home near the Czech-Slovakian border. Find out more here.
Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by The Wallace Collection (@wallacemuseum)
Where: The Wallace Collection (London, UK)
When: Until 26 October 2025
Legendary British artist Grayson Perry explores the fantasy and catharsis of craft at the Wallace Collection's largest contemporary exhibition to date. From dynamic digital creations to multi-dimensional ceramics, there are over 40 new works for fans to appreciate — alongside 'outsider art' inspirations by the likes of Madge Gill and Alo？se Corbaz. Gill, who exhibited at the Wallace Collection in 1942, is the exhibition's central muse; her life the basis from which Perry's vibrant ideas flourish in explorations of identity, mental health, and the obsessive need to create.
Related
Gruffalo set to return next year with first book in more than 20 years
Events Stratford Literary Festival
ADVERTISEMENT
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Stratford Literary Festival (@stratfordlitfest)
Where: Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
When: 8 May - 11 May 2025
What better place for a literary festival than Shakespeare’s birthplace? Founded in 2008, Stratford’s event has become one of the UK’s most significant celebrations of reading, writing and learning. This year's programme includes an exciting line-up of diverse and insightful speakers, such as Mishal Husain, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, John Boyne, Rita Chakrabarti and Alison Steadman. There are also workshops on everything from crafting paper flowers to tracing family history through artefacts. If you’re looking to feel inspired and re-connect with others, this is the place to be.
ADVERTISEMENT
Related
Love, Clones and Bloodsuckers: The 25 most anticipated movies of 2025
Movies Clown in a Cornfield
Where: UK cinemas
When: 9 May 2025
This film has been getting a lot of hype amongst horror fans since its premiere at South by Southwest Film & TV Festival in March. Based on the 2020 novel by Adam Cesare, it tells the story of Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas), a young girl who moves to the sleepy town of Kettle Springs with her dad after the death of her mother. She quickly realises, however, that her new home is not as it seems; its older inhabitants stubbornly stuck in the past with backwards values. But worst of all? There’s a menacing clown named Frendo lurking in the cornfields. Cue a gruesome slasher flick that utilises a figure of nostalgia to exert cross-generational rage.
ADVERTISEMENT
Television Carême
Where: Apple TV+
When: Streaming now
Apple’s new French-language series serves us sex, soufflé and spies through the lens of Napoleonic Paris’ pastry maestro: Marie-Antoine Carême (known as Antonin Carême). Widely considered the world’s ‘first celebrity chef’, Carême was foundational to France’s haute cuisine scene, sculpting ever-more elaborate and innovative sweet treats like the croquembouche. But he was also involved in espionage, orgies and all the hedonistic hubbub of the time period, making way for a character-driven show that’s lavishly layered and deliciously dramatic. Find out more here.
ADVERTISEMENT
Poker Face
Where: Peacock / Sky
When: 8th May
Natasha Lyonne is back on fantastically feisty form as walking lie detector Charlie Cale, with Ryan Johnson's contemporary take on Columbo finally returning. The first season saw Charlie hit the road after being framed for murder, meeting various characters along the way whose fibs are unravelled into an anthology of compelling whodunnits. Joining Lyonne this time is a stacked ensemble cast that includes Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians), Cynthia Erivo (Wicked) and Haley Joel Osment (Blink Twice).
ADVERTISEMENT
Music Arcade Fire: Pink Elephant
When: 9 May 2025
Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire return with their seventh studio album, which follows 2022’s ‘We’. Described as "cinematic, mystical punk", its title refers to the paradoxical ‘pink elephant theory’ that suggests the more you try to avoid a thought, the more prominent it becomes in your mind. This, along with the melancholic lead single, set the tone for a soundscape swollen with introspection and altered perception. It's also the band’s first output since lead singer Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, which he has publicly denied.
ADVERTISEMENT
More than 2 million Lady Gaga fans rocked up at the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night to join the singer in what was the largest show of her career as of yet, and it was free.
Meanwhile, authorities arrested two individuals in connection with the alleged plot — a man, identified as the group’s leader, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on charges of illegal weapons possession, and a teenager in Rio on charges relating to child pornography.
Police did not provide further details about their specific involvement in the plot or how the group came to focus on Lady Gaga’s concert.
Rio de Janeiro’s state police and Brazil’s Ministry of Justice outlined what they described as a plot involving a group that spread hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community and others, and had intended to set off improvised explosive devices at the event.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for Lady Gaga said the pop star and her team “learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning. Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks.”
The Mother Monster, as she is known, kicked off the concert at around 10:10 pm local time with her 2011 song “Bloody Mary”. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder to shoulder on the vast stretch of sand.
Lady Gaga performed her classic hits, including “Poker Face” and “Alejandro,” switching between an array of dresses, including one with the colours of the Brazilian flag.
Related
Lady Gaga becomes third artist to have multiple #1 hits in three different decades Lady Gaga's 'Mayhem': Euronews Culture's verdict
Madonna also turned Copacabana Beach into a massive dance floor last year. The large-scale performances are part of an effort led by City Hall to boost economic activity after Carnival and New Years’ Eve festivities and the upcoming month-long Saint John’s Day celebrations in June.
Rio’s City Hall said in a recent report that around 1.6 million people were expected to attend Lady Gaga's concert and that the show should inject at least 600 million reais (some €93.8 million) into Rio’s economy.
Similar concerts are scheduled to take place every year in May at least until 2028.