Keeping Tabs: Bring on 2025
Lots of art to see in the new year
I hope you had a great festive break. I spent it with family and even though I was relaxing (I promise) a lot of articles I’ve been working on were published, resulting in a bumper newsletter this week - the last one of the year:
I’ve picked my Must-See London Exhibitions To Look Forward To In 2025 for Londonist
I’ve also picked my Top Exhibitions To See In London: January 2025 for Londonist
My review of the Paul Pfeiffer exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao
Art in a phone box, I speak to Greenaway and Greenaway about their artwork in Wembley and more …
Thanks as always for keeping tabs on me, and have a great week year ahead.
Tab’s World
My latest articles and events for your reading pleasure.
I’ve picked my Must-See London Exhibitions To Look Forward To In 2025 for Londonist. It’s looking like another fab art year for London exhibitions.
Looking closer ahead, I’ve also picked my Top Exhibitions To See In London: January 2025 for Londonist.
I’ve reviewed Paul Pfeiffer’s exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao where nothing is quite as it seems.
Catch up on my recent diary entries, interviews and more:
Art in a phone box, I speak to Greenaway and Greenaway about their artwork in Wembley
The last Diary of a London Art Critic for the year
In our latest inspired by London series, we take to the sky with Michael Wallner
Read about Gayle Chong Kwan and her ‘River Guardians’ at the Science Gallery London
Click below to see all the subscription options, and a big thank you to everybody who’s supporting the newsletter already - couldn’t do it without you!
You can watch a snippet from me that was recorded for the Association of Art History, where I speak about why art history is important.
I’m a member of the Critic’s Circle and I’ve written a roundup of November art and architecture articles and more from members visual arts and architecture section.
A quote from me turns up in this piece on the Picasso exhibition, on Africa News.
Tab’s Weeks Ahead
Highlighting my top events for the weeks ahead. Let me know if you'd like to join me!
My first opening of the year will be for ‘Light in the Dark’ at BobCat Gallery in Putney Exchange Shopping Centre. Thursday 9th January, 6-8pm, free tickets available now.
My Saturday wanderings will start up again on 11 January, and I’ll aim to catch the final weekend of Jeff Wall at White Cube, Bermondsey. All are welcome to join me, just drop me a line (or DM me on Substack) and I'll share the full itinerary with you so you can drop in at any point throughout the day. Saturday 11 January, 11am-5pm.
The Wider Arts
Here are my top picks of culture that may be enjoyed from the comfort of your home. Paid subscribers have access to my full back catalogue of recommendations.
POLITICAL PODCAST: The Coming Storm goes down into the rabbit holes of political conspiracy theories in the US, including QAnon and Pizzagate. It’s utterly bonkers but also engrossing as they navigate through the many twists in these tales. 2 seasons on BBC Sounds.
INTENSE DRAMA (SERIES): Industry follows a group of graduates at a London investment bank - the drama, the drugs and the backstabbing. Friends who work in banking tell me it’s a gross exaggeration but it does make for compelling viewing. 3 seasons on BBC iPlayer.
ROMANTIC DRAMA (FILM): Our Souls at Night is a sweet film about two elderly lonely people finding comfort in each other's company. It has two strong and understated leads in Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. On Netflix.
Articles I’m Reading
Interesting stories that I recommend, largely from beyond the art world. If you fancy reading offline at another time, I recommend the app Pocket.
This is a selection of articles I found thought-provoking in one way or another; opinions expressed in the articles don’t necessarily reflect my views or those of Londonist. Paid subscribers have access to my full back catalogue of recommendations.
OUTSIDER SPORTS: Esquire takes us Inside the Savage, Surreal, Booming World of Professional Slap Fighting (27 minutes), Pond Trade looks at The Precarious Artistry of Balancing Stones (4 minutes) - which still amazes me, BBC looks at the story of British man Russ Cook who completed a run across Africa (4 minutes), and ESPN tells the story of Emma Carey: The skydiver who survived a 14,000-foot fall (24 minutes). BBC explores How Raygun made it to the Olympics and divided the breaking world (7 minutes) and switching to sports that are more my speed The Verge writes on how The Excel superstars throw down in Vegas and BBC says speedcubing is the retro hobby that can help boost your happiness (7 minutes).
HOW WE EAT & DRINK: The Empathy Punishment is a 24-minute read via Longreads that looks at an interesting way to deal with a restaurant customer's bad behaviour and Mental Floss shares 8 Psychological Tricks of Restaurant Menus (6 minutes). BBC looks at How humanity has changed the food it eats (7 minutes), The New Yorker shares how the fridge changed flavour (15 minutes), The Guardian reveals How Japan’s humble onigiri took over lunchtimes around the world (6 minutes), and AP says we should stop washing turkeys (3 minutes). ‘Most People I Know Who Went Vegan Have Gone Back to Eating Meat’ writes Men’s Health (8 minutes) and Aeon looks into the joy of foraging (12 minutes). The New York Times reveals This Is Your Body on Sugar (6 minutes) and says Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back (16 minutes), and The Guardian tells us The truth about salt: how to avoid one of the world’s biggest hidden killers (10 minutes).
WAR & TERRORISM: How Four Posts on Instagram Destroyed Her Life looks at the disproportionate consequences for one Palestinian woman, via the New York Times (35 minutes), Reuters explains How Israel’s bulky pager fooled Hezbollah (7 minutes), BBC examines Why these Israeli men volunteered to fight - but now refuse to return to Gaza (13 minutes), Context looks back on One year of war in Gaza (4 minutes), and AP reports that A year after the Hamas attack shattered this Israeli community, going home still feels impossible (8 minutes). Rolling Stone tells of one man’s journey of how the CIA sent him deep undercover to spy on Islamic radicals and it cost him everything (35 minutes), in a similar story, AP reports His country trained him to fight. Then he turned against it. More like him are doing the same (20 minutes), The Guardian takes us inside the Paris attacks trial (22 minutes), and Macleans looks at the crimes of The Incel Terrorist (21 minutes). With the recent civil war in Syria BBC reports ‘From Syrian jihadist leader to rebel politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani reinvented himself’, The Guardian writes ‘From doctor to brutal dictator: the rise and fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad’ (8 minutes), in Hope and Fear in Syria Journal of Democracy reports on what could happen next (9 minutes), and Context gives us Syria: the war in numbers (4 minutes).
LOOKING BACK ON 2024: Associated Press provides 100 Photos of 2024: An epic catalogue of humanity, BBC shows us seven quiet breakthroughs for climate and nature in 2024 you might have missed (6 minutes) and to end on a high 100 heart-warming moments from the year.