ADVERTISEMENTWe know what you’re thinking: how are we almost halfway through the year? But the good news is, summer is settling in and with the strides of time comes lots of exciting new things.
An exhibition in Paris is looking at the power and fragility of language, while contemporary art is set to takeover Berlin at the 13th Biennale. Elsewhere, there’s the chance to see Kurt Cobain’s iconic MTV Unplugged guitar (the most expensive guitar ever to be auctioned) at a new Nirvana display in London. We’re also excited about the Rijksmuseum Museum’s “Safe Sex?” exhibition, which includes a 200-year-old condom illustrated with an erotic nun. If that doesn’t sell it, nothing will.
Music festivals continue to dominate the month – with the Netherlands’ Best Kept Secret our highlight this week. For those that would prefer to hide away in a darkened room for a while, there’s the live-action How to Train Your Dragon coming out in cinemas – and a new remix album by The Cure.
As always, be sure to check out our latest Culture Catch-up, in which Euronews critic David Mouriquand and editor Tokunbo Salako discuss John Wick spin-off Ballerina, a vibrant new photography exhibition in Porto, and the best new album releases.
Here are this week’s highlights.
Exhibitions
Tacit Tongues
Where: NIKA Project Space (Paris, France)
When: Until 19 July 2025
There are an estimated 7,000 different languages around the world, each a distinct tether to cultural history, identity and resilience. Still, many of these languages also remain under threat, with approximately 1,500 at risk of becoming extinct within the next century, according to a 2021 Nature Ecology and Evolution study. In light of this, ‘Tacit Tongues’, a new exhibition at Paris’ NIKA Project Space, explores language as a form of resistance in the 20th century – including works from three artists of Buryat and Mongolian descent, alongside the Berlin-based collective Slavs and Tatars. Through the use of textiles, painting, video, writing and more, the displays form a powerful reclamation of identity, experience and truth.
13th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art
Where: Berlin, Germany
When: 14 June – 14 September 2025
Launched in 1998, the Berlin Biennale takes place every two years and has become one of Europe’s calendar highlights for contemporary art lovers. Having skipped last year due to “pandemic-related organisational delays”, it’s finally back for a 13th edition, which is themed around “fugitivity” – inspired by Berlin’s urban fox population, and symbolic of art as a tool of resistance against corrupt powers and oppressive regimes. Including exhibitions, stalls, discussion panels, and more, it’s a space for discovery, inspiration and new perspectives.
Events
Best Kept Secret Festival
Where: Hilvarenbee village, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
When: 13 – 15 June 2025
Despite increased popularity over the past decade, Best Kept Secret still lives up to its name. Nestled away in the sleepy woods of Hilvarenbeek, the event has managed to maintain a uniquely intimate ambience compared to festival behemoths like Glastonbury. This makes its line-up all the more exciting, with big-name performers including Deftones, Kae Tempest, Michael Kiwanuka, Caribou, The Streets, L’Impératrice, Wilco and Barry Can’t Swim.
In our list of unmissable European festivals, Euronews Culture journalist David Mouriquand also highlighted its impeccable food offerings, “serving everything from the best pulled pork burgers you’ll have on this continent, local ciders to die for, and even yummy oysters.”
Delicious scenery, sounds and cider? Some secrets have to be shared.
Twin Peaks Diner pop-up
Where: London, UK
When: 18 June 2025
Agent Dale Cooper once said: “Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it. Don’t wait for it. Just let it happen.” In this case however, you might want to plan for it – it’s going to be popular! To celebrate the 35th anniversary of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s surrealist soap opera Twin Peaks, trendy streaming service MUBI are hosting a pop-up event in Stoke Newington, London – for one day only. Transforming the New River Café into the iconic Double R Diner – where Agent Cooper enjoyed many a cherry pie and damn fine coffee – there’s the opportunity to win limited edition goodies and maybe even spot the Log Lady. It’s open from 11am – 7pm and first come, first served.
Movies
How to Train Your Dragon
Where: Worldwide cinemas
When: From 9 June 2025
It’s been fifteen years since the original How To Train Your Dragon came out, making us collectively fall in love with the sweet little Night Fury dragon known as Toothless. A second and third film followed in 2014 and 2019 – but as with every successful animated franchise, it was always only a matter of time until a live-action swooped in. Starring Mason Thames as Hiccup, a shy but sharp-tongued Viking boy that grows in confidence after befriending a playful dragon, the two band together to fight for world peace – learning the values of courage and kindness along the way. All that dragon breath really warms the heart.
Television
What it Feels Like for a Girl
Where: BBC iPlayer
When: Out now
Based on British author and activist Paris Lees’ 2021 memoir of the same title, this powerful coming-of-age TV adaptation tells the story of Lees navigating their trans identity in the small UK town of Hucknall in the early 2000s. It’s a raw, emotive and compelling first-hand insight into a timely and deeply divisive subject; arriving just after the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling that trans women are not legally recognised as women under the Equalities Act. However, Lees – who was Vogue’s first trans columnist – has previously noted that her original memoir is about more than gender transition: “For me, personally, the much more interesting journey of this book is the class transition.”
Books
Susan Choi: ‘Flashlight’
When: Out now
The new novel by award-winning American author Susan Choi is a moving and fragmented exploration of memory, identity and generational trauma. Told through the darting perspectives of four different Korean American family members, it traces the disappearance of a father — an event that casts shapeshifting shadows across time and experience. Choi transforms the connective tissue of tragedy into a haunting echo that simmers with anger, and questions the cost of silent burdens.
Music
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island
When: 13 June 2025
Australian offbeat rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are nothing if not prolific – this is their 27th album! They released their last, ‘Flight B741’, just last year. A collaboration with the LA Philharmonic, this latest outing is set to be a genre-mash of rich orchestral pazaz – lead single ‘Deadstick’ is a textured romp filled with saucy saxophones and sizzling guitar solos. It’s impossible not to want to jiggle to this – and the Monday mood lifter we all need.
The Cure: Mixes of a Lost World
When: 13 June 2025
Draw the curtains, light some candles and summon a raven – The Cure are back. ‘Mixes of a Lost World’ is a remix album of last year’s mesmerising ‘Songs Of A Lost World’, which made our Best Of 2024 list. “Listening feels like walking through abandoned memories, the shiver of nostalgia sparking life before it all fades away again in a synthy dirge,” we wrote. In other words, it’s an ambient playground ripe for reworked vibes; collaborators including Four Tet, Daniel Avery, Mogwai and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno.
While remix albums can often feel like commercial cash grabs, they’re an enjoyable way to re-experience what’s familiar – sometimes even surpassing the original (more on that here). And in The Cure’s searing soundscapes, we always trust.
