Keeping Tabs: Merry Christmas
Have a great festive season
The art world has largely shut down until early January, though freelance life means I’ll be working the days between — just fewer emails to deal with. I will be slowing down a little to spend time with friends and family — I hope you all have nice breaks too. This week I have:
Thanks as always for keeping tabs on me, and have a fantastic Christmas whether you celebrate it or not.
Tab’s World
My latest articles and events for your reading pleasure.
Galleries are closed but there are museum exhibitions you can visit during the festive season and I’ve picked my top 5 for FAD.
I visited and wrote about Xenia — a cultural retreat in North Hampshire, for FAD.
Plus, catch up on my recent diary entries, interviews and more:
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!
I was commissioned to write a critical piece of writing on artist Ziyi Wang for Our Culture.
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 9 January, 6-8pm.
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.
FICTION PODCAST: The Dial-Up is a hilarious and compelling science fiction podcast on time travel and the bonds formed across time. Each episode is only 10 minutes long so you can easily binge both seasons of this fab story.
THRILLER (FILM): Don’t Move has the gripping premise of a woman paralysed by an attacker, trying to survive with limited control over her body. I imagine the concept would wear off quickly so thankfully the film is short, which keeps it taut. On Netflix.
HORROR MOVIE: Disappear Completely is a tense Mexican horror movie where a tabloid crime scene photographer starts to lose his five senses. It slowly ratchets up the tension and is very creepy. 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.
JOURNALISM & WRITING: The Critic laments the end of the art critic (7-minute read) — I sure hope it’s not the end, and The Guardian looks at what happens when sportswriters and arts critics swap jobs (26 minutes). The Verge looks at how Vice’s execs burned down its newsroom and Vox explains the messy Murdoch succession drama (5 minutes). Switching to writing more generally, BBC Future reveals The Clever Folds That Kept Letters Secret (7 minutes), The Guardian shines a light on Stieg Larsson’s double life as an anti-far right activist (7 minutes) and reveals How Ireland Became the World’s Literary Powerhouse (9 minutes).
ARCHITECTURE & HOUSING: GQ looks into the miraculous resurrection of Notre Dame (22-minute read) and CNN explains how Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper withstands earthquakes. Noema shows how new housing construction could be The Making Of A New American Epidemic (19 minutes), El Pais reports a global housing crisis is suffocating the middle class (13 minutes) and Business Insider reveals Denmark's genius housing fix (10 minutes).
WORKPLACE CULTURE: Are Workplaces Inherently Toxic? Asks The Walrus in a 23-minute read. My Job Was My Life. Then I Got Fired is a confessional piece on The Cut (12 minutes), Business Insider reveals Why so many Americans hate their jobs (8 minutes), Knowable asks Are you a workaholic? Here’s how to spot the signs (10 minutes), Inc shares 27 Words You Should Never Use to Describe Yourself (6 minutes), and The Hustle looks into The thriving business of looking good on Zoom (10 minutes). Switching to more positive views The Atlantic suggests You Might Be a Late Bloomer (23 minutes), Every suggests Why Generalists Own the Future (5 minutes), Slate says Having an Enemy at Work Might Help You Get Ahead (4 minutes), Huffpost writes In Defense Of 'Coffee Badging,' The Controversial New Office Trend (5 minutes), and The Guardian explores How gen Z is rewriting the rules of work (3 minutes). On the working week History explains The Origins of the Five‑Day Work Week in America (6 minutes), BBC asks Does working a four-day week make you happier? (5 minutes), AP reveals the benefits of a four-day workweek according to a champion of the trend (4 minutes), and Quartz suggests for maximum recharge, take a Wednesday off (3 minutes).
CHRISTMAS READS: We’ll end with some festive reads, starting with Art UK sharing weird, dark and wonderful Victorian Christmas cards (5 minutes) and A Brief History of Christmas Pudding, Britain’s Imperial Dessert via Mental Floss (5 minutes). The Conversation sets out the case for lying to kids about Santa – from a philosopher (4 minutes), History Extra looks into the child-eating Christmas Yule Cat (4 minutes), Atlas Obscura gives us 5 Tales of Bizarre Holiday Gift-Giving (3 minutes), and The Independent says I’m not buying Christmas presents this year, and you shouldn’t either (5 minutes). The Conversations asks why do we revert to our childhood selves when we visit family? (4 minutes), Slate says “Ugly” Christmas Sweaters Used to Have Character (4 minutes), and NPR says All I want for Christmas is ... help getting this song out of my head (2 minutes). The Independent asks What killed the Christmas movie? (7 minutes) and Vanity Fair lists The 65 Best Christmas Movies of All Time (30 minutes).