Chaka Khan to curate Meltdown 2024 Festival at Southbank Centre
Chaka Khan to curate Meltdown 2024 festival, celebrating 50-year career at Southbank Centre's 10-day event.
Chaka Khan. Photo by Jo Metson Scott
Iconic musician Chaka Khan has been announced as the curator for the upcoming Meltdown 2024 festival, hosted by the Southbank Centre. Celebrating her legendary 50-year career, Khan will infuse the 10-day summer event with her incredible voice and global influence, promising a celebration like no other in June.
Expressing her excitement for the festival, Khan stated, "Get ready to experience the heart and soul of Meltdown 2024, where the magic of music meets the warmth of community." She envisions the festival as not just a musical extravaganza but a vibrant, diverse, and unforgettable gathering of hearts and souls.
Chaka Khan. Photo by Jo Metson Scott
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, expressed delight in welcoming Khan as the curator, emphasising her status as an artist, activist, and change-maker. With over 10 Grammy Awards and an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Khan's impact on music spans generations, promising an electrifying and inclusive festival experience.
Date: 14 - 23 June 2024. Location: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. Website: southbankcentre.co.uk.
London Gallery Weekend returns from 5β7 June 2026 for its sixth edition, bringing together 120 galleries across the capital for three days of exhibitions, performances, talks and special events. Here is our pick of art exhibitions to see during London Gallery Weekendβ¦
June sees the return of several summer staples, such as the Serpentine Pavilion and the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, alongside Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre, curated this year by Harry Styles. London Gallery Weekend also returns, with more than 120 galleries across the city taking partβ¦
The 61st Venice Biennale opened on 9 May 2026 in Venice, with this yearβs edition shaped around In Minor Keys, a curatorial theme conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh. The Biennale once again transforms Venice into a sprawling international exhibition, with more than 80 national pavilions taking over the Giardini, the Arsenale and sites across the city. Sofia, our arts contributor, picks her five standout national pavilions from this yearβs edition.
Masaki Sugisaki is the Executive Chef at Dinings SW3 in London, where he is known for his contemporary interpretation of Japanese cuisine shaped by both traditional training in Japan and years of experience in the UK. His cooking bridges cultures, seasons, and philosophies, drawing equally on heritage techniques and the possibilities offered by British produceβ¦
South African abstract artist Zach Zono is known for his expressive, gestural paintings that blur the line between instinct and structure. Currently presenting works throughout Rosewood London as part of his Artist Residencyβ¦
Major institutional announcements and landmark cultural investments this week highlight the evolving landscape of contemporary art and public culture across the UK and beyond, from Nan Goldinβs long-awaited return to London to Rene MatiΔ winning one of photographyβs most prestigious prizesβ¦
The theme for the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, In Minor Keys, and its artists, were selected by Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh. The final form of the exhibition, however, was realised by a committee following Kouohβs death in 2025β¦
The prestigious Turner Prize continues its tradition of spotlighting groundbreaking creativity with the announcement of its 2026 shortlist. Revealed by Tate Britain, this yearβs nominees, Simeon Barclay, Kira Freije, Marguerite Humeau, and Tanoa Sasrakuβ¦
The Hayward Gallery has announced a major solo exhibition by acclaimed American artist and activist Nan Goldin titled You Never Did Anything Wrong. Opening on 24 November 2026, the exhibition marks Goldinβs first institutional UK show since 2002β¦
A guide to the key London art school degree shows in 2026, with confirmed dates to help you plan visits between May and Julyβ¦
Mark Perkins is Executive Pastry Chef at Rosewood London, where he has played a central role in shaping the hotelβs pastry programme for more than two decades. With over 30 yearsβ experience in luxury hospitality, he is recognised for his highly creative, art-led approach to patisserie, particularly through Rosewood Londonβs celebrated Art Afternoon Tea seriesβ¦
The Barbican Centre has unveiled its Outdoor Cinema 2026 programme, returning to the Sculpture Court this August with eleven nights of open-air screenings beneath the London skylineβ¦.
Rene MatiΔ has been named the winner of the 2026 Deutsche BΓΆrse Photography Foundation Prizeβ¦
Carmen Joubert is a curator at the Norval Foundation and recently curated Interior Weather, a collaboration with Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel. We had a chat with her about the project, her approach to working within the Mount Nelsonβs historic interiors, and her perspective on the current contemporary art scene in Cape Townβ¦
Artist Δ ulja Holland, whose life and practice have unfolded between Malta and the UK, has developed a practice that moves fluidly across geographies and disciplines. In her practice, this sense of in between is not a limitation but a generative forceβ¦
A major exhibition at the National Gallery in London brings together over 50 works by Spanish Baroque master Francisco de ZurbarΓ‘n, showcasing his striking range from intimate still lifes to powerful, large-scale altarpieces. Including his iconic Agnus Dei (c. 1635β40)β¦
Alexandra Steinacker-Clark picks her top pavilions to see at the 61st Venice Biennale 2026, from Merike Estnaβs Estonian Pavilion to Florentina Holzingerβs widely discussed SEAWORLD VENICE for the Austrian Pavilionβ¦
With a background as an athlete, Samarasinghe draws on sport as a framework for thinking through identity, effort and embodied experience. In this interview, she reflects on the processes behind the work, from repetition and βmuscle memoryβ in her mark-making to her ongoing interest in visibility, connection and what it means to hold the body in motion through artβ¦
The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) presents Icheon and Beyond: The Space Within Form, an exhibition examining the philosophical and material foundations of Korean ceramics through the city of Icheon. We speak with co-curator Jaemin Cha about her curatorial process, the development of Korean ceramics, and the importance of intercultural dialogueβ¦.
Located at the eastern end of Unter den Linden, close to the Reichstag, the Tiergarten and Germanyβs political centre, Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin occupies one of Berlinβs most prominent addresses. Despite the constant movement outside, with tourists, officials and traffic passing through the area, the atmosphere inside is notably calm, composed yet fantastically grandβ¦
Goliathβs work was originally selected to represent South Africa at the Venice Biennale Arte 2026, before being cancelled by Minister Gayton McKenzie on the grounds that its content was deemed too βdivisiveβ. In this iteration, references to the Israeli war on Palestine and the killing of Palestinian poet Hiba Abunada are made, leading to the censorship of Elegy in the official South African pavilionβ¦