Berolina Trio (The Berlin Piano Trio feat. Eriko Makimura) [iTunes Link]

Takashi Murakami

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Yasou Fukuda goes to China

Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister, left, and his wife Kiyoko wave on their departure at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Dec. 27, 2007.

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"Wanted" @ Helmut Newton Foundation

After the outstanding success of the three-part exhibition, “Men, War & Peace”, the Helmut Newton Foundation presents the work of its founder alongside that of two of his friends and contemporaries, Larry Clark & Ralph Gibson. ‘WANTED’ will be shown at the Helmut Newton Foundation, Jebensstrasse 2, D-10623 Berlin, from June 3rd until February 3rd, 2008. EXTENDED!

A selection of pictures that Helmut Newton published in his own magazine “Helmut Newton’s Illustrated” between 1987 and 1995 are presented for the first time as a complete exhibition in the front three rooms of the foundation.

The central exhibition room is dedicated to two (in)famous bodies of work, “Tulsa” and “Teenage Lust”, by the photographer and film-maker, Larry Clark. Created in the sixties and seventies, Clark revealed to us the world of teenage sex and drug use in a way that had been taboo up until that time. In this he was the most influential predecessor of photographers like Nan Goldin and Richard Billingham.

Clark’s provocative book “Tulsa”, was published in 1971 by Lustrum Press. This publishing company was founded by Ralph Gibson and through it he distributed his own photography books, “The Somnambulist”, “Déjà-vu” and “Days at Sea”, amongst others, as well as books by leading photographers of the day. A representative selection of B/W & Colour images from these and later projects by Gibson, are presented in the remaining exhibition rooms. His timeless, subjective imagery is known for its formal and abstract composition.

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Jeff Wall @ Deutsche Guggenheim

Shoko Nakamura in "Sylvia" @ Staatsballett Berlin last night

Nicklas Bendtner is London Super Star!

Firefox Floppy Disks

Here Are My Best Albums of 2007!

1. Robert Wyatt: Comicopera
2. Murcof: Cosmos
3. Band of Horses: Cease to Begin
4. Justice: †
5. Grizzly Bear: Friend EP
6. M.I.A.: Kala
7. José González: In Our Nature
8. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
9. Devendra Banhart: Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
10. Pop Levi: The Return to Form Black Majick Party

Bonus album: Neil Young: Live at Massey Hall 1971

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Famous Japanese judo master Yasuhiro Yamashita with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Antoine d'Agata "´Tokyo"

Linder Sterling @ Stuart Shave/Modern Art

Behind the scenes of the Pirelli 2008 [photos]

Behind the scenes of the Pirelli 2008 calendar [video]

Peter Hujar: Animals and Nudes

Peter Hujar

Race of Champions 2007 (New Wembley Stadium, London)

Fetish by David Lynch and Christian Louboutin

In one of the more imaginative collaborations we’ve seen of late, Christian Louboutin and David Lynch have locked heads and created a show, Fetish, which opens today in Paris in Pierre Passebon’s Galerie du Passage. The exhibition shows five limited edition pairs of shoes by Louboutin alongside five signed photographs of the shoes by Lynch. As if Louboutin’s day-to-day footwear weren’t fetishistic enough, the pair together has taken the theme to an entirely new level.

As with so many collaborations, things moved very quickly. The process began when Lynch commissioned Louboutin to make shoes for an exhibition he was hosting at the Cartier Foundation back in March this year. The pair quickly became friends and when Louboutin wanted to push the notion of extreme fetish in his work, by creating shoes and then playing with their creative representation in two-dimensional images, it was clear Lynch would be the man to translate his vision.

‘I tried to keep an element of my drawings, to be faithful to the drawings, with no practicality, just pleasure, thinking of extreme fetish shoes. Usually when you go to the third dimension you lose something,’ explains Louboutin of his initial concept, ‘then I wanted to photograph them - I find there’s more emotion with cinematic images. I wanted Lynch’s style and since we’d recently become friends it was natural for me to ask him.’

The designer has an atelier where the one-of-a-kind shoes are created. With practicality and comfort out the window, Louboutin has pushed the designs to their limits: think 26cms heels, spikes on the inside and sole of the shoe, and Siamese heels (two shoes fused at the heel).

The idea is that the shoe becomes a cult object, transcending the most beautiful part of the shoe and/or foot. Louboutin pinpoints ‘The Siamese shoe’ as his favourite, ‘For me the shoe and the picture together become very close to Twin Peaks.’

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Carla Bruni Photo Album