What’s new in Europe this week

There are just under two weeks to go until the clocks spring forward, so here’s to brighter days ahead – and making the most of the extra hour until then.

From theme park spirited art, to this year’s most anticipated Kpop album, and a new sci-fi blockbuster starring Ryan Gosling (and a spidery alien), there’s plenty to populate your calendars with.

And if you didn’t manage to stay up overnight watching the Oscars, take a look at our coverage for a reminder of the nominees and winners worth catching up on in your downtime.

Here are this week’s recommendations.

Exhibitions

Rothko in Florence

When: Until 23 August 2026

Where: Palazzo Strozzi (Florence, Italy)

One of the most prominent artists of the 20th century, Mark Rothko was renowned for his abstract colour field paintings, their rectangular forms capturing the emotional voids of human existence. This latest exhibition of his works in Florence is one of the largest yet, curated in dialogue with the historical grandeur of Palazzo Strozzi to reflect Rothko’s unique relationship with the Italian city. Spanning Rothko’s career from the 1930s through to the ’60s, it traces the evolution of his craft: From early figurative sketches to his iconic later works. Throughout, visitors get to not only experience his creations – and also the lesser-known details of his life that enrich and expand their meaning.

Find out more here.

Simon Fujiwara: A Whole New World

When: 20 March – 23 August 2026

Where: Mudam Luxembourg (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg)

Perhaps the most famous moment in Disney’s Aladdin is when Aladdin and Jasmine soar through the skies on a magic carpet, the world suddenly opening up with wonder and possibility. British-Japanese artist Simon Fujiwara echoes this same feeling in his latest series, a soaring collection of enchanting worlds that collapse space and time as we know it – leaving behind only feelings. Theme-park-style mascots, distorted funhouse mirrors and hallucinatory visuals coalesce in an unsettling, thought-provoking experience that captures how our collective imaginations shape the present reality.

Find out more here.

Bonus highlight: Anna Maria Maiolino’s visceral clay sculptures are on display at MAAT Lisbon’s ‘Poetic Earth’ exhibition, which opens 25 March until 31 August.

Movies

Project Hail Mary

Where: Cinemas

When: 19 March

Ryan Gosling buddying up with a sweet little spider alien while on a mission to save the sun and in turn planet Earth? Count us in. The latest film from directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie) adapts Andy Weir’s 2021 sci-fi novel of the same name, which follows a charismatic school science teacher (Gosling) who’s sent into space as a last resort solution. The trailer alone broke records when first released as the most viewed ever for an original film, suggesting it’s likely to be one of this year’s biggest hits – here’s hoping the movie itself gets to basque in the sun too.

Bonus highlight: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, the horror sequel to 2019’s murder game original, sees survivor Grace (Samara Weaving) now facing four rival families in a bloody, boisterous showdown with a stacked cast. Out in cinemas 20th March.

TV series

Imperfect Women

Where: Apple TV+

When: 18 March

If Mean Girls taught us anything, it’s that female friendships can be messy. Exploring this with a darker psychological intensity is Imperfect Women, the new thriller series from Apple TV+. Based on the 2020 book of the same name by Araminta Hall, it follows two women, Mary (Elizabeth Moss) and Eleanor (Kerry Washington), whose lives and decades-long relationship begins to unravel following the murder of their friend Nancy (Kate Mara).

Bonus highlights: The Comeback stars Lisa Kudrow as a sitcom actress attempting to revive her flatlined career. Available on HBO and Max in the US from 22 March (so, one to keep on the radar for Europeans.) In the meantime, the fourth season of superhero animation Invincible is landing on Prime video 18 March.

Music

BTS: Arirang

When: 20 March

ARMY, unite! This is one of, if not THE most, highly anticipated pop albums of the year, as boy band BTS (also known as the Bangtan Boys) reunite after a five year hiatus, during which each member had to complete mandatory military service in South Korea. Named after a centuries-old Korean folk song, ‘Arirang’ is themed around the transcendent qualities of traditional music; how it can be a connective tissue between generations that unites and connects. In a statement, the record label called the album “a deeply reflective body of work” that explores the group’s “identity and roots”. Meanwhile, American DJ and collaborator Diplo told TMZ it was the “craziest album ever” – so, have your bias at the ready and prepare to paint the town purple 💜.

Bonus highlights: American indie band Hurray for the Riff Raff (whose last album was one of our favourites of 2024) are releasing a collection of live recordings from their sold-out 2025 summer shows on 20 March. There’s also the 7th studio output from British musician James Blake, titled ‘Trying Times’, which is out now.

Books

Light and Thread by Han Kan

When: Out now

South Korean writer and Nobel Prize winner Han Kang explores how her inner and outer worlds interconnect in a new collection of essays, poems and diary-style entries. Gently visceral and varied in its observations and styles, Kang’s words are guided by a poem she wrote aged 8, in which she imagined a ‘gold thread’ of connection that gathers and enlightens the meaning behind all life’s experiences.

Bonus highlight: For David Lynch fanatics, ‘A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks’ by Scott Meslow is one to add to your reading pile (ahead of Kyle Maclachlan’s upcoming memoir in October!)