Qissa Recommends: Culture to See You Through until 2025

Galleries & Museums 

Biennale Arte 2024, Until 24 November 2024, Venice, Italy

This international art exhibition is now in its 60th year and every year it delivers exciting and thought provoking work. The theme for 2024 is ‘Foreigners Everywhere’ - a purposely divisive title which will explore themes of identity, displacement and flux. This is the first year that the exhibition has been curated by a Latin American - Adriano Pedrosa - and I can’t wait to see what they do. 

‘The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century’, 1st - 31st December 2024, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

Although it seems strange to put an exact date on the birth of a music genre, this exhibition is curated to celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary. Bringing together contemporary artists, musicians, designers and stylists ‘The Culture’ will tell the story of the art form and its global impact on visual culture.

‘Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well’, 23 November 2024 - 23 February 2025, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany

I first fell in love with Nan Goldin’s work when reading about the Oxycontin tragedy and Nan Goldin’s role in bringing the Sackler family to justice (not that that story had a particularly satisfying ending). I gained a greater understanding of the scale of her work upon watching Laura Poitras’ documentary ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’. So this huge retrospective, taking over six exhibition rooms, promises to deliver even more insight; looking at Goldin’s exploration of the AIDS epidemic, domestic violence and more. 

Bangkok Art Biennale 2024: Nurture Gaia, October 24 2024 - February 2025, Multiple locations, Bangkok, Thailand

Taking place every two years, the Bangkok Art Biennale is relatively new on the art scene with just its fourth iteration. This year’s theme looks at the intersections between nature-versus-nurture, divine femininity and environmentalism. It promises to be a great event, with work from Princess Marsi Paribatra, Jessica Segall and more spread out at locations across the city, including the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and gorgeous riverside temple Wat Arun.

‘Memoria : récits d’une autre Histoire [Memoria: accounts of another History]’, Until 4 April 2025, Fondation H, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Featuring 22 artists including Charlotte Yonga and Enam Gbewonyo, this touring exhibition (having already visited France and the Ivory Coast) addresses the idea of a collective memory made up of a myriad of stories, accounts, questions and experiences scattered in our individual, personal and intimate memories. The exhibition spans many mediums, from painting and textiles to video and performance, and has a particular focus on the African continent. The Madagascan leg of the tour also features a residency programme that will allow artists to create works in situ using local materials in collaboration with Malagasy artists and craftspeople. 

Grand Egyptian Museum, Date TBC, Cairo, Egypt

We add this entry in the hope that the build will be completed on schedule and open to visitors before the end of the year. Having been in the works for twenty years, this gargantuan museum promises to deliver fascinating insights for all those kids that were obsessed with Egyptian history as a child (ie. me!). The museum will house a 30-foot statue of Ramesses the Great, thousands of artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb and plenty more.

Films

Harbin, International Release: Expected September 2024

Set in 1909, this spy thriller follows the leader (Hyun Bin) of a group of independence fighters during Japan’s colonisation of Korea. Other cast members include Park Jeong-min (Smugglers) and Jo Woo-jin (Hunt).

Jigra, India Release: 27 September 2024

This visually stunning film from director Vasan Bala tells the story of a sister’s love for her brother and how she will do anything to help him. This Hindi-language thriller stars Alia Bhatt, famous for her roles in RRR and Darlings amongst others.

Small Things Like These, UK Release: 15 November 2024

Starring Cillian Murphy and Eileen Walsh, this production digs into Ireland's infamous Magdalene laundries, where unmarried women were forced to give up their children in convents across the country. The film is adapted from the much admired short novel by Claire Keegan and is directed by Tim Mielants. 

Wicked, UK Release: 28 November 2024

I’m always a little sceptical of pop-star to movie-star transitions but given the supporting cast (Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh), I’ll let Ariana Grande slide. Adapted from the stage musical by Jon M. Chu, this film will also be a musical number, with Tony winner Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Harriet) portraying the green witch, Elphaba. The film is actually the first of two, with the second part predicted to premiere a year later, in November 2025. 

Babygirl, UK Release: 20 December 2024

With powerhouse Nicole Kidman playing a successful CEO and man-of-the-moment Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, Where the Crawdads Sing) portraying her seduced young intern, it’s safe to say we’re intrigued! This erotic thriller will explore power dynamics and sexuality in the workplace and is directed by Halina Reijn, the filmmaker behind 2022’s Bodies Bodies Bodies.

Music Festivals

Loud Women Fest, 7 September 2024, London, UK

Loud Women Fest is all about celebrating new talent from the alternative music scene. Whether that’s Italian-Punjabi teen band Baby Said or Bangzz, a Japanese American punk band, this festival will definitely help you find something new and exciting. Female and non-binary artists from around the world perform at this affordable (tickets cost under £25) one-day event, which also features activism and campaigning.

South Star Festival, 28-29 September 2024, Huntsville, Alabama, USA

Throwback is the word for this festival in America’s South. Gwen Stefani and Blink-182 are headliners, with appearances from Ludacris, Goo Goo Dolls, Shinedown and TLC also featured. So whether you like pop, indie or classic rock, there’s something to suit your tastes here. Unusually, the festival also contains a sports hall, showing all the (American) football games taking place across the country.

MOGA Festival, 2-6 October 2024, Sofitel Essaouira Mogador Golf & Spa, Essaouira, Morocco

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Essaouira may not be the first place you think of when you think of electronic music, but that hasn’t stopped MOGA from setting up a five day festival to celebrate the genre. For over 21s only, the festival hasn’t yet announced its lineup for 2024, but with over 7,500 attendees for their 2023 edition, we can bet there’ll be some big names. 

Cape Town Country Music Festival, 26-27 October 2024, DHL Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa

In its debut year, this will be the biggest country music festival in Southern Africa. Featuring ten local artists as well as eight international Country stars, performers include Zac Brown Band, Brothers Osborne, Morgan Wade and Roan Ash. 

Rolling Loud Thailand, 22-24 November 2024, Legend Siam, Pattaya, Thailand

​For its second Asian edition, Rolling Loud is bringing some big international names! Headliners include A$ap Rocky, Wiz Khalifa and relative-newcomer Tyla, plus more than 60 hip-hop artists still to be announced. Rolling Loud also invested in Web3, offering LoudPunx NFTs as lifetime VIP passes to all future Rolling Loud festivals across the world. 

Woodford Folk Festival, 27 December 2024 - 4 January 2025, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia

Taking place in a campground on the edge of a rainforest (it already sounds pretty cool, right?!), Woodford is Australia’s answer to Woodstock. Running for 36 years and with over 2,000 acts, this is a biggie. With everything from Blues to Rock Pop to spoken word and circus performances, Woodford is perfect for families, individuals and groups alike.

Books

Sōseki Natsume’s Botchan: The Manga Edition by Sōseki Natsume, Adapted by Kaori Okura, pub date: 2 September 2024

It’s about time that one of the most popular Japanese novels of all time was adapted into Manga! Based on one of Sōseki’s funniest novels, Botchan is about a young man’s quest to survive the suffocating hypocrisy of everyone around him while remaining true to himself.

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell, pub date: 3 September 2024

If you’ve read any books by Greenwell, you’ll know that sense of place is a key factor in his novels. So, we’re excited to read his newest work, Small Rain, which follows a poet whose life is unexpectedly turned upside down following a medical crisis. With analysis of the American healthcare system, as well as an exploration of art, poetry and music, this book promises to be an insightful read.

A Bollywood State of Mind by Sunny Singh, pub date: 5 September 2024

Sunny Singh is the perfect person to put this book together. She is an Indian-born academic and writer of fiction and creative non-fiction, Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University and co-founder of the Jhalak Prize. This book explores the fascinating history and evolution of Bollywood cinema, looking at the fandom it has generated and its effects on modern India.

Delicious Hunger by Hai Fan, pub date: 12 September 2024

Based on his own experiences, Delicious Hunger draws on Hai Fan’s thirteen years with the guerrilla forces of the Malayan Communist Party. These stories are about the moments in and between warfare and the people who fight for a better world.

The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk, pub date: 24 September 2024

If the title isn’t enough to pull you in (maybe ask yourself why?!) then perhaps the fact that this is the latest work from Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk will be enough to convince you. This particular work is set in a health resort in 1913. The residents debate philosophical questions while knocking back hallucinogenic liqueurs, but it is the sinister presence watching them that makes the story tick.

The Way You Want to be Loved by Aruni Kashyap, pub date: October 2024

If Amitav Ghosh is writing a rave review, then you can guarantee I’ll be reading it. These short stories illuminate queer, displaced lives from India’s Northeast, covering everything from village sorcery to settling into life in America. Thirteen different voices are brought to life by Kashyap and tell stories that are hugely underrepresented.

Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada by Shahu Patole and Bhushan Korgaonkar, pub date: TBC

Originally published in Marathi, this book was the first to document Dalit food history. Now available in an English translation, Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada explores social divisions, and caste-based discrimination all through this memoir that is peppered with recipes. The book also examines Hindu scriptures that prescribed what each varna should eat–and questions the idea that one becomes what one eats.