From Outdoor Art in Sao Paulo to Issey Miyake in Tokyo

Our selection of cultural events worth travelling for

Tokyo The shape of Miyake

Clothes are his medium, design his metier, making magic his gift. This show is Miyake’s autobiography in three dimensions. It illuminates his approach to creating (interdisciplinary, close team-work), and his experiments and technical breakthroughs (pleating pieces after they are sewn, making garments from a single length of fabric). The result is a collaboration between designer and client, for the look of a piece depends on the body and temperament of the person wearing it. Whether that is somebody as flamboyant as architect Zaha Hadid or as steely as Steve Jobs, the outcome is both memorably individual – and recognisably Miyake. Issey Miyake Exhibition, National Art Centre, Mar 16th-Jun 13th

Los Angeles Peerless caves from China

Carved in a cliff face near Dunhuang, northern China, are some 500 decorated cave temples known as the “peerless caves”. No other site has done more for the understanding of medieval China: in total, the grottoes boast around six miles of wall paintings and more than 2,000 sculptures of the Buddha and other figures.

Since 1989, the Getty Conservation Institute has been working on conserving the vulnerable wall paintings. As a result, the Getty Centre is exceptionally well placed to delve into the history of the site, and to draw out the artistic, social and spiritual significance of the artefacts found there. These include paintings on silk, drawings, manuscripts, and the earliest dateable printed book in the world – a version of the Diamond Sutra, on loan from the British Library. Getty Centre, May 7th-Sep 4th

Salzburg Bartoli is Maria

Long celebrated as the queen of bel canto and the Baroque, the Italian prima donna Cecilia Bartoli embarks on what for her is a radical departure: a new production of “West Side Story”. Bartoli, who considers the show to be a “20th-century masterpiece”, turns 50 this year, and a season as the teenage Maria is as winsome a midlife crisis as you might encounter. The show is the centrepiece of the 2016 Salzburg Festival, featuring a cast that mixes classically trained singers with Broadway hoofers, accompanied by the exuberant Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under the Venzeuelan conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. May 13th and 15th, Aug 20th-29th

Sao Paulo Art on the streets

Now in its 12th year, Latin America’s leading art fair attracts international big hitters like the White Cube and Gagosian as well as local debutants such as Frente and Sé. Wheeling and dealing is done among the ribbony curves of the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion. The fair bubbles out onto the streets: galleries host talks, launch books and give parties; studio doors are flung open to visitors. SP-Arte, Apr 7th-10th

New York A crusading Crucible

Ivo van Hove’s pared-back staging of “A View from the Bridge” was his biggest hit. But Arthur Miller himself eschewed sets and period costume in “The Crucible”, so minimalism offers little novelty. Van Hove’s casting, however, is radical. Imagine John Proctor, the play’s troubled lead, and you see a square-shouldered alpha; Van Hove has chosen Ben Whishaw, normally ethereal and arch. Add an original Philip Glass score, and this “Crucible” might well forge something new. Walter Kerr Theatre, Apr 7th-Jul 17th

Images: J. Paul Getty Trust

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