Sophie Monaghan-Coombs

2 weeks ago | monocle.com | Sophie Monaghan-Coombs

At one point during the installation of the Torrijos ceiling in V& A East Storehouse, 12 different parts of the carved wooden roof dangled from chain hoists. With painstaking care, a team of technicians clad in hi-vis and hard hats slowly tried to manipulate them into place. We don't often look at ceilings, the sides of buildings or entire rooms, for that matter, and consider them "objects". The meaning of the word, however, begins to expand as you wander through this new museum-cum-warehouse.

2 weeks ago | monocle.com | Sophie Monaghan-Coombs

To differentiate it from its global spin-offs, the Swiss version of Art Basel was rechristened Art Basel in Basel in 2013. Despite the repetitive nature of the title, the fair, on from 19 to 22 June, remains the pre-eminent art event of the year. This year's edition promises to live up to its reputation with 291 galleries from 42 countries and territories, new sections and a public reception for the first Art Basel Awards, which celebrate trailblazers across the sector.

2 weeks ago | monocle.com | Sophie Monaghan-Coombs

When Pol Taburet was a child, his mother would take him to look around museums. It wasa natural choice of activity for her: she was a museum guard at Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. "She wasn't educated in art," says Taburet. "But working all the time in those rooms, you become sensitive to the paintings." That sensitivity, and an insatiable enthusiasm for the medium, has clearly trickled down.

4 weeks ago | monocle.com | Sophie Monaghan-Coombs

The director of the museum looks back on the institution's role as the epicentre of London's contemporary-art ecosystem and looks forward to what's next. An eight-legged visitor has returned to London's South Bank to join the birthday celebrations for a rather special institution. Louise Bourgeois' "Maman"first stalked Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2000 and is one of the most memorable artworks commissioned for the space.

1 month ago | monocle.com | Sophie Monaghan-Coombs

Samuel Beckett's 'Krapp's Last Tape' will first be staged at the Beckett Biennale in 2036 - good things come to those who waitA quick search through my emails shows that I signed up to the enjoyably titled "Waiting for Godot mailing list" in December 2023, bought tickets in February 2024 and finally saw the production in October last year. That version, starring Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw, carefully toed Samuel Beckett's fragile line between humour and abject misery.