Culture Watch: Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane, Robert Zhao Renhui & More
The world of culture never sleeps! Each week, Babylon Radio’s Culture Weekly gathers some of the most compelling stories across music, art, film, performance, literature, and more, spotlighting the artists reshaping our creative landscapes and the ideas moving through galleries, concert halls, festivals, and beyond. Here’s what caught our eye this week.
Robert de Niro to Receive Honorary Palme d’Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival
(Cannes, France)
American actor, director, and producer Robert De Niro will receive an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement at the opening ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, which will take place on May 13. The award will come in recognition of his stellar cinematic career as one of American cinema’s most celebrated actors, and 14 years after he Presided over the Cannes Jury in 2011. “I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes,” de Niro said via an official statement. “Especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together — storytellers, filmmakers, fans, and friends. It’s like coming home.”
Culture Date with Dublin 8 Festival Program Announced
(Dublin, Ireland)
The program for this year’s Culture Date with the Dublin 8, the annual festival celebrating Dublin 8’s rich cultural, historical and architectural heritage, has been announced. This year’s edition will take place from May 7-11, and its program boasts over 100 specially curated activities from walking tours, workshops and historic reenactments, to concerts, late night parties, theatrical performances and much more. The program will also be honoring the 250th anniversary of Daniel O’Connell’s birth with a series of events, including a flagship concert at Goldenbridge Cemetery on Sunday 11, curated by musician Fiach Moriarty.
Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane to Premiere Hexagons at 92NY
(New York City, USA)
The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) will present violist/vocalist Caroline Shaw and pianist/vocalist Gabriel Kahane’s New York premiere of Hexagons. The new musical work is inspired by the magical realism of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges’s 1939 short story, “The Library of Babel,” where Borges conjures a captivating and perplexing universe where the notion of infinity collides with the fragility of human understanding. Hexagons, written collaboratively by Shaw and Kahane, is a 92NY co-commission and will premiere there on April 25, 2025. Tickets here.
Robert Zhao Renhui Artist’s Residency at Wigwell Logde
(Derbyshire, UK)
Ikon and The Ampersand Foundation have announced a residency with Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui at Wigwell Lodge, Derbyshire, running from April to June 2025. Known for exploring complex relationship between humans and nature, the artist will develop new work focused on introduced species, particularly Chinese water deer and Indian muntjac, in the British landscape. His research will involve fieldwork, historical archives, and conversations with local ecologists and hunters, culminating in a new work for a future exhibition at Ikon Gallery.
Taymour Grahne Projects to Open New Gallery in Dubai
(Dubai, UAE)
Taymour Grahne Projects will open a new gallery space in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue in September 2025, marking its 12th anniversary and expanding its international footprint. Founded in New York in 2013 and now also based in London, the gallery is known for championing critical dialogue and supporting a diverse roster of artists from the MENA region and beyond. The Dubai gallery will launch with a solo exhibition by American artist Gail Spaien and continue the gallery’s commitment to curatorial excellence through both in-person and online programming.
