Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show
Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show at the Vitra Design Museum traces the evolution of the fashion show from exclusive Parisian salons of the early 1900s to today’s global multimedia spectacles. Bringing together original garments, films, photographs, stage sets, and archival invitations, the exhibition examines how the catwalk became a site where fashion, architecture, choreography, sound, and scenography merge into a cultural performance.
Organized in four chapters, the exhibition emphasizes the role of models, designers, and collaborators in shaping new narratives — whether through the rise of the supermodel, the deconstruction of fashion’s formats, or performances engaging directly with politics and identity. The exhibition positions the fashion show as a Gesamtkunstwerk, or ‘total work of art,’ and demonstrates how this short-lived format continues to serve as a stage for storytelling.
name: Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show
gallery: Vitra Design Museum
location: Weil am Rhein, Germany
dates: October 8th, 2025 — February 15th, 2026
image courtesy of Vitra Design Museum
HOOKS BROTHERS STUDIO: FRAMING MEMPHIS’S BLACK SOUND
The Memphis Art Museum, opening in 2026, has announced a new partnership with Arts Council Korea (ARKO), launching with ‘Hooks Brothers Studio: Framing Memphis’s Black Sound’ at the ARKO Art Center Open Space in Seoul from October 16th — 31st, 2025. The exhibition marks the first international presentation of works from the Hooks Brothers Studio archive — 75,000 photographs that document Black life and music in Memphis between 1920 and 1979.
Featuring portraits of artists such as Billie Holiday, B.B. King, and Al Green, the show is joined by a curated soundtrack from the Memphis Listening Lab. The archive, a promised gift to the Memphis Art Museum and the National Civil Rights Museum, will form part of the museum’s inaugural exhibitions when it opens in late 2026.
name: Hooks Brothers Studio: Framing Memphis’s Black Sound
gallery: ARKO Art Center Open Space
location: Seoul, Korea
dates: October 16th — 31st, 2025
Hooks Brothers Studio, Nat D. Williams On-Air at WDIA, ca. 1950. Archival inkjet print, 50.8 x 40.64 cm. The Hooks Brothers Photography Archive belongs to Rodney and Andrea Herenton and is a promised gift to the Memphis Art Museum and the National Civil Rights Museum
yoko ono: Music of the mind
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind at the MCA offers one of the most extensive surveys of the artist’s career ever presented in the United States, tracing over seven decades of work across performance, film, music, installation, and participatory art. Featuring more than 200 pieces, the exhibition highlights Ono’s pioneering role in conceptual art and her lasting influence on contemporary practice, from her 1960s involvement with Fluxus and landmark works such as Cut Piece (1964) to ongoing projects like Wish Tree (1996–present).
The exhibition underscores Ono’s ability to merge poetic instruction, humor, and activism into art that demands audience engagement. Early films like Fly (1970–71) and Film No.4 (Bottoms) (1966–67) will show alongside collaborative projects with John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and John Lennon. Meanwhile, interactive installations such as My Mommy is Beautiful (2004) and public works like Imagine Peace (2003) and Peace is Power (2017) reflect her dreams of peace and collective imagination.
name: Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind
artist: Yoko Ono
gallery: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
location: Chicago, USA
dates: October 18th, 2025 — February 22nd, 2026
image © Yoko Ono. photo © Oliver Cowling, courtesy of Tate
Erwin Olaf – Freedom
Erwin Olaf – Freedom is the first museum retrospective since the Dutch artist’s passing two years ago, offering a comprehensive view of his multifaceted career. The exhibition traces his evolution from candid black-and-white reportages of the early 1980s, centered on social movements and LGBTQ+ rights, to his staged studio photography, where themes of diversity, identity, and freedom remained central. Alongside iconic series, visitors encounter Olaf’s lesser-known works, including videos, sculptures, commercial campaigns, and archival material that illuminate the scope of his creative process.
The presentation culminates with his most recent series, each addressing pressing social and cultural themes through Olaf’s precise lens. The exhibition concludes with his final, unfinished video For Life, a meditation on mortality symbolized through recurring motifs of flowers in bloom and decay.
name: Erwin Olaf – Freedom
artist: Erwin Olaf
museum: Stedelijk Museum
location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
dates: October 11th, 2025 — March 1st, 2026
Erwin Olaf, Ice Cream Parlour from Rain, 2004. image courtesy of Stedelijk Museum
Ghosts: On the trail of the supernatural
The Kunstmuseum Basel’s Ghosts: On the Trail of the Supernatural explores the enduring presence of ghosts in Western visual culture. With over 160 works spanning 250 years, the exhibition focuses on the 19th century as a pivotal moment when spiritualism, psychology, and new technologies like Pepper’s Ghost converged to fuel fascination with apparitions despite the era’s emphasis on science and rationality.
Positioning ghosts as mediators between life and death, visibility and invisibility, the exhibition highlights their persistent role across art, literature, theater, and film. By tracing how these figures have shaped imagination and belief from Romanticism to the present, Ghosts reveals why spirits remain powerful symbols in both cultural history and contemporary consciousness.
name: Ghosts: On the trail of the supernatural
gallery: Kunstmuseum Basel
location: Basel, Switzerland
dates: until March 8th, 2026
image courtesy of Kunstmuseum Basel
Marie Antoinette Style
London’s V&A South Kensington presents Marie Antoinette Style, an exhibition that examines of one of history’s most recognizable figures. Bringing together over 250 years of design, fashion, film, and art, the show explores how the queen’s image has been continually reinterpreted, from 18th-century court dress to contemporary cultural references.
Framed by her youth, elegance, and demise, Marie Antoinette emerges as a style icon as well as a complex symbol of power and excess. The exhibition traces her lasting influence across centuries and shows how her persona continues to shape visual culture today.
name: Marie Antoinette Style
museum: V&A South Kensington
location: London, UK
dates: until March 22nd, 2026
image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
exposition générale
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is entering a new chapter with its move to a landmark building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. Rising on the historic Place du Palais-Royal in Paris, this new home marks a decisive moment in the foundation’s history, reinforcing its commitment to artistic creation and public dialogue. To inaugurate the space, the Fondation presents Exposition Générale, running from October 25th, 2025, to August 23rd, 2026.
Gathering nearly six hundred works by more than one hundred artists, Exposition Générale retraces the foundation’s identity from its beginnings in 1984 to today. Shaped by four decades of exhibitions, the show spans art, architecture, technology, and science, offering a portrait of a collection built through curatorial dialogue. Its title, drawn from the historic Expositions Générales once held at the Grands Magasins du Louvre, connects the foundation’s mission to a broader lineage of cultural exchange and experimentation in the heart of Paris.
name: Exposition Générale
gallery: Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
location: Paris, France
dates: October 25th, 2025 — August 23rd, 2026
photo © Luc Boegly
From the Functional to the Fabulous: 600 Years of Decorative Design
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts presents a newly reimagined installation of its renowned decorative arts and design collection, one of the largest in North America. Spanning two levels of the pavilion designed by Fred David Lebensold, the display brings together collection highlights, recent acquisitions, and objects shown for the first time in a space that emphasizes history and innovation together.
Occupying nearly 2,000 square meters, the installation features over 800 works by more than 400 designers, artists, and artisans. Silverware, ceramics, furniture, jewelry, textiles, glass, and industrial design objects reflect the scope of the collection. In Montreal, visitors will witness a near-complete overview of craft and design practices across cultures and centuries.
name: From the Functional to the Fabulous: 600 Years of Decorative Design
gallery: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
location: Montreal, Canada
dates: September 13th — ongoing
the decorative arts and design collection in the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. bhoto MMFA, Jean-François Brière
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