Beyond the Classroom: Joy Jiang (CFA’26) - Boston University

Sanlé Sory is said to have taken a million photographs over six decades, documenting rapid change in his home country. A new exhibition looks at the moment he embraced colour

Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe, January 1889 emerges like a vaguely familiar, climactic apparition about a third of the way through the new blockbuster exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (FLV) in Paris. Here, we find “poor Vincent,” as he is occasionally referred to in the exhibition catalog, smoking a pipe, an activity he associated with calm contemplation. Behind him, swaths of orange and red form a bold contrast to his green jacket and matching green eyes, which steadily look back at us. As the painting’s title notes, we see the artist with his left ear in a white dressing; the work is one of two self-portraits he made after cutting off his earlobe following a fight with Paul Gauguin. While van Gogh, painted in his now iconic style, is immediately recognizable, this particular portrait, like so many paintings in this exhibition of modern art icons, feels almost new.

To be clear, Stacey Dooley says she has never taken ketamine. But it is one of the most popular recreational drugs among those under 24, so she is meeting some of the long-term users who are living with the consequences. From learning about “ket bladder” (passing blood or parts of an eroding bladder in the urine) to hearing how much the drug helps them to “dissociate”, the conversations are eye-opening and often heartbreaking. Hollie RichardsonThe Great British Bake Off8pm, Channel 4 It’s dessert week in the tent, which brings newness in round one: the bakers tackle a signature challenge with staggered starts, so letting one’s errors melt into the general chaos isn’t an option. After a technical bake set by Nigella Lawson, the showstopper is a retro confection demanding classic puddings worthy of a squeaky-wheeled dessert trolley. Jack SealeOnly Fools and Horses: The Lost Archive9pm, U&GoldAnd cut … David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney in a clip from Only Fools And Horses Christmas Special 1996. Photograph: © BBCA lovely jubbly watch for fans of the beloved sitcom.

A theatre boss has promised to channel the “pioneering spirit of Manchester” and be “brave and fearless” as she unveiled a new season of work, two years after a deeply damaging censorship row. Selina Cartmell, the artistic director of the Royal Exchange in Manchester, revealed details of 2027-28 productions that include a retelling of the Munich air disaster and a modern Stockport-set version of the ancient Greek myth Phaedra. Cartmell took over at the theatre two years ago, during what was one of the biggest crises in its 50-year history. A production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was cancelled in a dispute over one of the production’s songs, which referenced transgender rights and contained the phrase “free Palestine”. There were accusations of censorship, although an independent review did not find that but did highlight “significant leadership failures”. The play’s director, Stef O’Driscoll, talked of a growing “fear-driven decision-making in the arts”. Cartmell told the Guardian it had been “a very challenging time” for the theatre, and the board at the time took “full responsibility”.