I.
“Mother of heaven, regina of the clouds,
O sceptre of the sun, crown of the moon,
There is not nothing, no, no, never nothing,
Like the clashed edges of two words that kill.”
And so I mocked her in magnificent measure.
Or was it that I mocked myself alone?
I wish that I might be a thinking stone.
The sea of spuming thought foists up again
The radiant bubble that she was. And then
A deep up-pouring from some saltier well
Within me, bursts its watery syllable.
II.
A red bird flies across the golden floor.
It is a red bird that seeks out his choir
Among the choirs of wind and wet and wing.
A torrent will fall from him when he finds.
Shall I uncrumple this much-crumpled thing?
I am a man of fortune greeting heirs;
For it has come that thus I greet the spring.
These choirs of welcome choir for me farewell.
No spring can follow past meridian.
Yet you persist with anecdotal bliss
To make believe a starry connaissance.
–Wallace Stevens / from Le Monocle de Mon Oncle
We are in the month of May. We think we’ve seen it all, but then there is something, yes, yes, always something. Welcome to the 160th edition of Prescriptions. Here is our guide to current events in the arts.
Manuela Lorente
Circulation(s) 2025
The richness of this edition finds exploration of intimate territories as places of resistance in the face of systemic violence. We make a point of welcoming different testimonies and perspectives. Through May 31, 2025 / Circulation(s) at Centquatre-Paris.
Sophie-Anne Herin
Sophie-Anne Herin: Mon Pays, C’est la Lune
Sophie-Anne Herin’s Mon Pays, C’est la Lune is a body of work exploring themes of the magical and the lunar, where the delicacy of an intimate and secretive sensibility intertwines with the hunting feeling of a dream interrupted midway. On view through June 7, 2025 at Weber & Weber. Article by Chiara Causo.
Svetlana Jovanovic, Netherlands, Shortlist, Open Competition, Portraiture
Sony World Photography Awards 2025
World Photography Organisation is a leading global platform dedicated to the development of photographic culture. Its programming provides valuable opportunities for artists working in photography. Winners & Shortlist Announced; Exhibition through May 5, 2025, Somerset House, London.
Jadwiga Sawicka, Było nie było, 2010–2014
Pursuing the Whole: The Katarzyna Kobro Award
This exhibition at Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi presents the winners of the Katarzyna Kobro Award, a major distinction that the arts community has given the most outstanding artists for twenty years. On view through Aug 3, 2025.
Isaac Julien, “After Mazatlán III,” 1999/2000 © Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and Jessica Silverman
Isaac Julien: I Dream a World
Over the past twenty-five years, artist Isaac Julien has developed a singular, choreographic style of moving image exhibition in the form of immersive multichannel film and video installations. On view through July 13, 2025 at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Corinne Day, The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola (ed.), Mack
The Virgin Suicides
Corinne Day’s representation of female beauty met its match in Sofia Coppola, whose debut with the film The Virgin Suicides marked the first of her unaffected, empathetic depictions of womanhood. The Virgin Suicides, Corinne Day / Sofia Coppola (ed.), Designed by Anamaria Morris for Joseph Logan Design. Just published this spring by Mack.
A Man and a Woman, Directed by Claude Lelouch, 1966, France
Festival de Cannes / 78th Edition
Each May, all eyes in the film industry are on the Festival de Cannes. The organisation puts its profile and platform to work in giving film the space to shine, ensuring a huge diversity of voices. This year Italian director and screenwriter Alice Rohrwacher has been chosen to chair the Jury of the Caméra d’or. Through May 24, 2025.
