Who. What. Where? No. 96

It’s our first WWW of the new year, and kicking things off we have Takashi Murakami at the Gagosian’s Burlington Arcade. The eagle-eyed of you will know that the Japanese artist just put out a collaboration with Louis Vuitton on New Year’s Day. The exhibition, though, focuses solely on Murakami and his iconic flower paintings (which is, of course, the theme of the LV collab, too). The display itself features six new paintings from the artist, who was actually trained in ‘nihonga’ (traditional Japanese painting) before going down the floral route he’s best known for in ’95. The expo is also worth a visit for the gift shop, which has some pretty swanky merch, including Murakami’s new catalogue Takashi Murakami: An Arrow through History. Find out more here.

Up next, we have a collaboration between streetwear brand Goodhood and handmade fashion company 18 East. The eight-piece collection is inspired by Syeus Mottel’s book, Charas: The Improbable Dome Builders, which explores the re-appropriation of unused spaces in urban settings. As such, the pieces themselves blend utilitarian silhouettes and handcrafted techniques. In celebration of the collab, there’ll be a launch event at the Goodhood store on Thursday (9 January), marking the first time 18 East will be physically available outside the US and Japan — ooer. Get more info here.

Over at Somerset House, they’re blending the final skate session of the season with their Making a rukus! exhibition. The expo itself celebrates the work of Black LGBT+ pioneers and artists from the ’70s and beyond, and was curated by Tropher Campbell, who set up the rukus! Federation to archive works just like those on display. In the same vein, Thursday’s event will be led by UK Black Pride, and will feature a DJ set by GIN – the founder of Faggamuffin (a sound system celebrating queer BICOP people within carnival culture) –, a special late showing of the exhibition, as well as the skating. It’ll take place on Thursday (9 January), and you can grab your ticket here.

Last up, we have KOKO Electronic’s 2025 Launch Party. As the name suggests, it’s the venue’s first event back after their massive NYE soirée, and will feature a stellar secret lineup – previous guests include Skream, Roger Sanchez and Artwork – who’ll play house and disco until doors shut at 5am. If you heard about it early, you might have been able to nab yourself a free ticket (they know we’ve spent all our money over Christmas), but tickets for Part 2 on Saturday are still less than a tenner here. Or, if you fancy a dance on Friday night, nab a ticket for Part 1 here.