10 minutes
Serpentine Pavilion, London
If you find yourself in or around Hyde Park this weekend, there’s a brand new structure under which to shelter from the rain: the annual Serpentine Pavilion, designed this year by Mexican architects Lanza Atelier. The undulating shed incorporates a serpentine or “crinkle-crankle” wall, inspired by a type used frequently in Suffolk, and perforated bricks common in Mexico. Beneath a translucent roof, the red clay gives off a warm glow even on a grey day.
Two hours
The Handmaiden, Mubi
An oldie, but a goodie: Park Chan-wook’s steamy historical thriller The Handmaiden is now available to stream on Mubi – and just in time for Pride month. It follows a con artist who hires a petty thief to help him defraud a reclusive heiress during the Japanese occupation of Korea. But the man fails to anticipate the two women’s mutual attraction; what follows is a romance for the ages. Full of sex, lies and sumptuous art deco detail, The Handmaiden won Park a Bafta in 2018. It bears rewatching.
An afternoon
London Gallery Weekend
Many London galleries have been complaining about declining footfall in recent years. Expect them to be buzzing over the next few days as more than 120 participate in London Gallery Weekend by opening their doors between Friday and Sunday.
Highlights include Paul P’s luminous portraits of young men at Maureen Paley, Bethnal Green. Softly painted as if through a fog of memory; they are totally absorbing, even though (or perhaps because) they’re smaller than A4 sheets of paper. In Shoreditch, Gray Wielebinski’s show at Nicoletti, Bring Me Men, is similarly saturated with desire: boxes and panels collaged with images of frat boys and Abercrombie & Fitch models are affixed with cages and anti-climb spikes, so they feel like vaguely threatening fetish objects. In the West End, a never-before-realised work by Christo, the artist who wrapped buildings from the Reichstag to the Arc de Triomphe like Christmas presents, has been suspended from the ceiling at Gagosian. Christo’s works are almost always seen from the outside; there’s a funhouse quality to standing beneath one, almost like being under a parachute at summer camp.
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An evening
Funny Girls, Blackpool
Blackpool sparkles like an ageing drag queen – past her prime but still fabulous. There will be even more sequins than usual in town this weekend as Blackpool Pride takes over the seafront. The free parade along the promenade starts at 11am, but if you’re a night owl, I’d recommend Funny Girls, a nightly cabaret featuring some of the most multi-talented drag performers in the UK. Book early and be warned: if you sit at the front, you will get roasted.
Illustration by Charlotte Durance