What’s Happening: A media blitz has coalesced around Beyoncé’s private concert at Atlantis the Royal, Dubai’s latest ultra-swanky hotel. The superstar enjoyed over-the-top accommodations and a reported $24 million windfall for introducing the soon-to-open property to the world, which attracted its fair share of raised eyebrows.

The Download: Dubai does not suffer from a lack of starchitect commissions, man-made islands, or opulent destinations, but Atlantis the Royal’s 795 guest rooms, 90 swimming pools, and 17 restaurants—eight of which are helmed by celebrity chefs—puts the property in an outrageous category all its own.

The five-star resort presides over the Persian Gulf on Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island shaped like a palm tree. With its gravity-defying Jenga-like architecture by Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF)—the global firm leaving its mark on the region with a new Abu Dhabi International Airport terminal as well as towers in Tel Aviv and Doha—the building is slated to become one of the city’s most high-profile destinations. That’s aided in part by its star-studded list of collaborators, including Michelin Star chefs José Andrés and Heston Blumenthal, and swanky amenities like 20-foot-tall Lasvit crystal lava trees, gold toothbrushes in each guest room’s vanity kit, and an on-site Valentino boutique.

Beyoncé herself seems to have enjoyed the premier Atlantis the Royal experience, having stayed in the $100,000-per-night, 12,000-square-foot Royal Mansion duplex penthouse with her family. Its accouterments, including century-old olive trees, his-and-hers steam rooms, dedicated butler service, and private rooftop infinity pool, likely provided a tranquil charging pad for the superstar’s first concert since releasing her acclaimed album Renaissance, a sweaty dancefloor tour de force that pays tribute to Black queer culture and topped many critics’ end-of-year lists.

As is the case with pretty much all Beyoncé performances, her exclusive outing in Dubai was meticulously choreographed. More than 1,000 journalists, celebrities, and influencers were invited to enjoy the “once-in-a-lifetime” occasion, which spanned three sets, 17 songs, and four costume changes.

Cameras and phones were strictly forbidden during the performance, but that didn’t stop footage leaking of her on-stage theatrics and lavish outfits, which were reportedly decked out in $7.5 million worth of diamonds to complement her various outfit changes. She began the night in a Dolce & Gabbana red carpet ensemble and additional looks came courtesy of Dubai-based designer Rayan Al Sulaimani, Lebanese designer and repeat collaborator Nicolas Jebran, and a finale fit by Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov.

Though her set tantalized viewers with dramatic costume changes, pyrotechnics, a 48-woman orchestra, and an appearance by Blue Ivy, it conspicuously lacked songs from Renaissance. Criticism surged around her decision to accept money from and perform in the United Arab Emirates, a country where homosexuality and gender reassignment are criminalized. (It recalls the widespread backlash to fellow Emirate Qatar hosting the FIFA World Cup despite its anti-LGBTQ+ laws and thousands of migrant worker deaths). Migrant workers make up a staggering 88 percent of the UAE’s total population, who allege they’re building Dubai’s ultra-luxury playground under poor conditions tantamount to indentured servitude.

In Their Own Words: While the singer has yet to comment on her decision to perform in Dubai, a quiet, under-the-radar debut doesn’t seem to align with the resort’s DNA. “There was almost a performance goal to our brief; an expectation ‘to blow the client out of the water’ and create a showstopper of a building that would deliver a unique set of experiences,” KPF president James von Klemperer said in a statement. “[The building] is not just a quiet place to relax and eat fine food—it’s about experiencing something you never imagined could be. The architecture sets this up strongly with its vertical piling up of outdoor experiences in the outside spaces.”

Surface Says: Renaissance may be a timeless musical statement, but we wouldn’t mind hitting pause to hear more about Atlantis the Royal’s on-site “fish hospital” and its claim to housing the world’s largest jellyfish tank.

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When the multidisciplinary design studio Workshop/APD first partnered with Desiron, an industry favorite for handcrafted furniture, the collection catered to oft-overlooked perimeter spaces: a two-piece debut of a console and bench probed the construct of spatial composition and balance with a nod to sculptural asymmetry. Their newly released follow-up collection consists of six pieces, each embracing their rightfully earned place at the center of the room—and attention. The collection was at least partially inspired by today’s evolving focus on domestic spaces and the undisputed importance of function.

When: Until Feb.19

Where: Regen Projects, Los Angeles

What: Showcasing the Los Angeles–based artist’s practice over the last 20 years, “Echo” encompasses collages, sculptures, assemblages, paintings, photographs, ceramics, and works on paper that are all inspired by the activity and environment of Hundley’s Chinatown studio. Each work functions as an accumulation of objects and artworks that act like thought clouds, giving shape to the feverish affinities, attachments, and excesses of contemporary experience. The show is structured around foam-covered walls that act as supports for hanging works and serve as fertile ground for intricate groupings of free-form collages.

Surface recently hosted the 57th installment of our Design Dialogues series in partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre to celebrate the heritage Swiss horology brand’s Reverso 1931 Cafe on Manhattan’s Upper East Side—and the 90th anniversary of its namesake timepiece. This edition, moderated by Surface senior editor Ryan Waddoups, featured Stephen Harrison, the chief curator of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, lettering artist Alex Trochut, and perceptual artist Michael Murphy.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

Is the Graphic Designer Who Refuses to Create Websites for Same-Sex Couples an Artist? [The Art Newspaper]

An Evicted Princess Is Refusing to Vacate a Roman Villa That’s Home to Caravaggio’s Only Ceiling Mural [Artnet News]

Wind Turbines Taller Than the Statue of Liberty Are Falling Over [Bloomberg]

A Mass Burial of Decapitated Roman Remains Discovered in England [ARTnews]

How Did My Dogs Become My Decorators? [WSJ]

The Doomsday Clock Moves to 90 Seconds to Midnight, Signaling More Peril Than Ever [NPR]

“Lucky Girl Syndrome” Is the Peak of the Internet’s Delusion Era [i-D]

Copland Dance Episodes, an abstract new ballet from New York City Ballet resident choreographer and artistic advisor Justin Peck, premieres tonight at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater. It’s something of a generational turning point: Peck’s is the first new non-narrative, evening-length performance to join the company’s repertory since 1967.

For the production’s visual design, he worked closely with the contemporary artist Jeffrey Gibson, whose two massive fabric drops for the performance’s opening and closing curtain recall the kaleidoscopic geometry of his quilted textile art and vibrant acrylic-on-canvas paintings. Drops are traditionally a crucial piece for stage scene-setting, but in a non-narrative work like Peck’s, they instead inspired the variety of color—citrine, turquoise, magenta—in the costumes designed by former City Ballet dancer Ellen Warren.

Standard is the Los Angeles-based architecture and interior design partnership of architects Jeffrey Allsbrook and Silvia Kuhle. Standard’s projects are guided by identity and culture, reflecting the narrative for which they’re designed. Conscious of architecture’s potential to communicate, from a way of living to a company’s image, their work aspires to provide the setting that expresses the project’s conceptual idea.

Surface Says: Standard’s work exemplifies a mastery of harmony, craft, and complimentary existence with the natural world. Look no further than their residential projects like Forrest Knoll and Wildlife, which accentuate the finer points of picturesque Southern California.

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Clothing found in a 1600s-era shipwreck may offer insight into the ultra-wealthy.