UK Culture Radar

Gaia is a stunning touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Measuring seven metres in diameter and featuring detailed NASA imagery, it offers a breathtaking 3D view of Earth. Inspired by the “Overview Effect” experienced by astronauts, Gaia invites reflection on our planet’s beauty, fragility, and interconnectedness. Accompanied by a surround sound composition by BAFTA-winner Dan Jones, the slowly rotating sculpture creates an immersive and moving experience.

The Victorian landscape painter Thomas Burton Watkin Forster created his work in the wake of the English painters William Turner and John Constable and in the circle of the Bristol School of Artists, which made an important contribution to English art in the 19th century. Forster's life and work are being presented in a museum for the first time.

From the creators of the hit exhibition The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind, which has attracted over 2.5 million visitors across 24 cities and seven countries, comes a bold new concept: House of Banksy – An Unauthorized Exhibition. Featuring more than 150 iconic works, it’s one of the most comprehensive presentations of Banksy's art in Europe to date. House of Banksy opens in Leipzig at the end of March 2025. More info here.

Renowned for her expressive wire animal sculptures, British artist Kendra Haste presents her first solo exhibition in Germany, featuring eleven striking works that have captivated audiences from London to Asia. More info here. 

Scottie Wilson was a Scottish artist. An unmistakable signature style characterises his drawings: flowers, fish or birds, totems and self-portraits, small faces that flow into one another. He died in London in 1972, and his drawings are part of important collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Britain in London. The Zander Collection contains 43 drawings by the artist.

The Heidelberg Sculpture Park presents works by the British sculptor Tony Cragg. The show is in cooperation with the Skulpturengarten Spanischer Turm in Darmstadt. A selection of 15 works, curated by the artist himself, will be shown in a joint exhibition at the Skulpturenpark Heidelberg and the Skulpturengarten Spanischer Turm in Darmstadt. More info here.

Artist Varvara Keidan Shavrova’s new solo exhibition will open at the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation in Berlin on 1 February 2025. The exhibition focuses on Shavrova’s social and performative textile installation, Migrants Blankets (2018). She will run a workshop on 2 February for participants who wish to use creative techniques to transform personal memories into unique artworks.

This joint exhibition by the Middle Rhine Museum and the Siebengebirgsmuseum explores how 19th-century British travellers and artists—among them Turner, Byron, and Queen Victoria—shaped the romantic image of the Rhine. More info here.

16 exceptional emerging filmmakers came to Berlin to take part in this year’s Berlinale Talents in February. Berlinale Talents is the talent development programme run by the Berlinale, Berlin’s international film festival, with 200 filmmakers selected from all over the world. This year’s theme was Listen Courageously: Cinematic Narratives in Times of Dissonance. We have conducted interviews with Berlinale Talents from the UK. Explore them here.

Our 2024 Literature Seminar is now available on YouTube! Dive into readings and panel discussions with five of Granta's latest Best of Young British Novelists. Watch here.