'Superfine' Tailoring Black Style at The Met Museum

 

The Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition presents a cultural and historical examination of Black style over three hundred years through the concept of dandyism. In the 18th-century Atlantic world, a new culture of consumption, fueled by the slave trade, colonialism, and imperialism, enabled access to clothing and goods that indicated wealth, distinction, and taste. Black dandyism sprung from the intersection of African and European style traditions.

Superfine: Tailoring Black Style explores the importance of style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora, particularly in the United States and Europe. Through a presentation of garments and accessories, paintings, photographs, decorative arts, and more, from the 18th century to today, the exhibition interprets the concept of dandyism as both an aesthetic and a strategy that allowed for new social and political possibilities. Superfine is organized into 12 sections, each representing a characteristic that defines the style, such as Champion, Respectability, Heritage, Beauty, and Cosmopolitanism. Together, these characteristics demonstrate how one’s self-presentation is a mode of distinction and resistance—within a society impacted by race, gender, class, and sexuality.

#SuperfineStyle

The exhibition is made possible by

Major funding is provided by Instagram, the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Africa Fashion International, founded by Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe, and The Perry Foundation.

Info: Via https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/superfine-tailoring-black-style

Through October 26Now on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 999Free with Museum admission

"Opus" By ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS for OMNIYAT

Located within Burj Khalifa district of Dubai, the Opus by Zaha Hadid Architects for Omniyat will house the first ‘ME by Melia’ hotel in the Middle East. Operated by Melia Hotels International, one of the world’s leading hoteliers with more than 350 hotels in 39 countries, ‘ME by Melia’ hotels are located in cultural capitals across the globe with their progressive, design-driven approach.

The two towers are linked by a four-storey atrium at ground level with a bridge connecting 71 metres above the ground. This three-storey, asymmetric bridge is 38 metres wide. Together with the ME Dubai, the Opus will house 12 restaurants as well as a rooftop bar and 56,000 sq. ft. of office space.

The Opus is designed as two separate towers that coalesce into a singular whole— taking the form of a cube. The cube is then ‘carved’, creating a central void that is an important volume within the building in its own right—providing views to the exterior from the centre of the building. The free-formed fluidity of this eight-storey void contrasts with the precise orthogonal geometry of the surrounding cube. 

“The Opus will be aligned with Omniyat’s vision of treating each project as if it were a unique work of art,” said Mahdi Amjad, Executive Chairman and CEO of Omniyat. “The design conveys the remarkably inventive quality of ZHA’s work; expressing a sculptural sensibility that reinvents the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior.”

Mixed Use Architecture

Via :https://www.archdaily.com/922310/opus-hotel-zaha-hadid-architects

Jenny Holzer’s Installation at the Guggenheim

This exhibition presents a reimagination of Jenny Holzer’s landmark 1989 installation at the Guggenheim. Climbing all six ramps of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda to the building’s apex, the site-specific installation transforms the building with a display of scrolling texts, featuring selections from her iconic series, such as “Truisms” and “Inflammatory Essays”.

Light Line highlights the incisive use of the written word across time and media in Holzer’s practice. In addition to the LED sign, the exhibition features a selection of Holzer’s works from the 1970s to the present day, including paintings, works on paper, and stone pieces. From May 16–20, the artist’s light projection For the Guggenheim was displayed on the building’s façade at sundown.

Jenny Holzer: Light Line is organized by Lauren Hinkson, Associate Curator for Collections. Conservation research and treatment of Jenny Holzer’s Installation for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is led by Lena Stringari, Deputy Director and Andrew W. Mellon Chief Conservator, and Agathe Jarczyk, Associate Time-Based Media Conservator.

What to Expect

• Jenny Holzer: Light Line includes descriptions of violence, explicit language, low light levels, and an electronic light program.
• The exhibition does not contain traditional wall labels or explanatory texts. To enhance your experience, download the free Bloomberg Connects app to access the museum’s Digital Guide, which offers information about the works on view in multiple languages.
• About Jenny Holzer

For more than forty years, Jenny Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments, joys, and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions, including Times Square, the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her medium—whether a T-shirt, plaque, electronic sign, or stone bench—is writing, and the public dimension is integral to her work. Starting in the 1970s with her New York City street posters and continuing through her recent light projections on landscapes and architecture, her practice has rivaled ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and courage. Holzer received the Leone d’Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1990, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award in 1996, and the US State Department’s International Medal of Arts in 2017. She lives and works in New York.

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/jenny-holzer