1. Guido Van Helten art, Arkansas
It’s in the grimy alleys and avenues of cities where you usually find street artists spraying and painting. But once in a while, one of them will venture out to quieter, harder-to-get-to corners to create. This mural on an animal feed mill in Fort Smith in Arkansas, US, by Australian artist Guido van Helten shows Gene Beckman (who was an employee of the mill for 70 years), Kristina Jones and Edward Paradela – Fort Smith locals who Van Helten felt represented the city’s diverse community.
2. World Tapir Day
We love tapirs at Discovery Towers, which is why every year (27 April) we celebrate the pig-meets-aardvark creatures on World Tapir Day. This one lives in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park – but you can celebrate them at zoos across Japan, Taipei Zoo, Sydney’s Hunter Valley Zoo or Badan Warisan Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur – all of which are holding events to raise awareness for the endangered animal. Better yet, coerce your colleagues into donning a tapir costume for the day.
World Tapir Day is 27 April, tapirday.org
3. George Rickey exhibition, London
The names might tend towards the prosaic (this one’s called Column of Six Cubes with Gimbal) but George Rickey’s kinetic sculptures are anything but. See the late American sculptor’s playful, polychromed stainless steel pieces at George Rickey: Sculpture from the Estate, a retrospective exhibition beginning this month at London’s Marlborough Fine Arts gallery.
21 April-20 May, marlboroughlondon.com
4. Happier Camper HC1
Ever fantasised about trading in your shoebox city flat for a life on the road? Then get yourself a copy of Mobitecture: Architecture on the Move, a coffee-table book published this month celebrating houseboats, mountain huts and rustic retro trailers – like the Happier Camper HC1 (pictured). Along with its cute retro look, you get 70 square feet of space, solar panelling, a bluetooth sound system and a completely customisable interior. And the back garden doesn’t look bad either…
Available from 17 April, phaidon.com
5. Art Afrique exhibition, Paris
Artist Romuald hazoumé from Benin recycles found objects to make artworks like Ear Splitting (pictured), made from a plastic petrol can, an old brush and headphones. Hazoumé’s curious style is featured in Art/Afrique’s The Insiders exhibition opening at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris this month, alongside works by some of sub-Saharan Africa’s brightest contemporary artists.
26 April-28 August, fondationlouisvuitton.fr
