May is brimming with new openings and exhibits, with two focused on music — a display of Björk’s multimedia projects through immersive installations and the new East Wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s inaugural exhibition: “The Music Is Black: A British Story.” If venturing out of the city is what you seek, sojourn to a less touristy part of coastal France and soak up the tranquility at the Philippe Starck-designed hideaway Villa Colette.

V&A East Museum Debuts With Black British Music in Focus

The Victoria and Albert Museum opened its doors to its latest outpost, V&A East Museum in East London, as part of the East Bank cultural quarter.

More than a decade in the making, the site launched with “The Music Is Black: A British Story,” a ticketed exhibition tracing 125 years of Black British music and its impact on the U.K. culture. Key objects in the show include Stormzy’s 2019 Glastonbury vest designed by Banksy; Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, and fashion looks worn by Seal, Sade and Skin of Skunk Anansie.

The location also has two admission-free galleries filled with more than 500 pieces from the V&A collection, updated with acquisitions from Yinka Ilori, Molly Goddard, Jamie Hawkesworth and Bisila Noha, spanning Renaissance paintings, Keith Khan’s carnival costumes, ballet costumes by Leigh Bowery and fashion by Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood. — Tianwei Zhang

Björk on Display at the National Gallery of Iceland

Come for the Northern Lights, and stay for Iceland’s other claim to fame: Björk. This summer, the musician is the focus of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Iceland, located in the capital city of Reykjavík. “Echolalalia” highlights the performer’s multimedia projects through three immersive installations, presented at a theatrical scale. Installations include a piece from her forthcoming album, and two elegiac works that pay tribute to her late mother and the cyclical nature of life, both filmed in the Icelandic landscape. The museum exhibition opens May 30 and and runs through Sept. 19. — Kristen Tauer

Philippe Starck-Designed Coastal Hideaway

Far off the beaten Riviera route lies the quieter Atlantic side of France, where the Villa Colette opened in April. Located in the heart of Cap Ferret and just steps from the ocean, the project, envisioned by Philippe Starck and hospitality developer Laurent Taïeb, captures the spirit of the peninsula in a relaxing seaside villa overlooking the Arcachon Basin, framed by pine trees on one side and sand dunes on the other.

The first five-star hotel on the cape, Villa Colette is housed in an elegant neo-19th-century building facing the village square and the water. Starck conceived of the property as a “joyful house.” With 28 rooms and suites, a restaurant, bar and terrace the interiors lean into his signature “mischievous sophistication,” expressed through creamy pinks and bright accents. — Rhonda Richford

Flying Private During World Cup

For the ultra-high-net-worth set chasing FIFA World Cup 2026 across 11 host cities for the next couple months, Wheels Up has an extremely convenient itinerary in mind. The Delta-backed private aviation operator — the one that flies the Masters set into Augusta every April — is building bespoke, multileg charters that pivot in real time as the draw unfolds. Boston opener, Miami quarterfinal, Dallas semi? Sorted, without ever clearing a public terminal. A Teterboro-to-Miami hop on the seven-seat Phenom 300 runs around $30,000; an L.A.-to-Miami sprint on the eight-seat Challenger 300, roughly $69,000. Their “Wheels Down” hospitality team handles the ground game from hotel bookings to restaurant reservations. Final whistle: the only line you might have to wait in is the one for Champagne at the stadium. — Ritu Upadhyay