We're very event-focused in today's Pick of the Week, profiling a range of performances and shows that, we're proud to say, contrast completely in their content. From male burlesque to poetry about place; treehouse workshops, to Brazilian music, there should be something to suit everyone in this range of entertaining goings-on. Of course, since everything on here is chosen by a different one of our Artsbloggers, this difference in taste comes naturally to Pick of the Week. We hope you find the range of viewpoints and preferences make for interesting reading.
Event – Chosen by Holly
The Male Tournament of Tease - Round 2
Thursday 21 May, 8.30pm - 2am
The Bethnal Green Working Men's Club
£8 - tickets on the door
This month, London’s first ever all male burlesque contest, the Male Tournament of Tease, holds its second round at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. The competition is hotting up (ha ha), as contestants compete to make it through to July’s final. Come along and feast your eyes on a delectable selection of snake-hipped acrobatic chaps, competing for some serious cash prizes. Hosted by the Whoopee Club, this promises to be a highly entertaining evening. Just the ticket if you’ve had your fill of lady-led burlesque, but still want to see some saucy scantily-clothed action accompanied by a range of blue-peter-esque props.
Workshop – Chosen by Joanne
Area 10, Peckham, in aid of The TreeHouse Gallery
Saturday 16 May, 3pm-12 midnight
The TreeHouse Gallery is an absolutely amazing project taking place this summer that comes highly recommended by the Artsbloggers. Throughout July and August a cluster of treehouses will be built on the banks of the Boating Lake in London’s Regents Park. Intended to prompt visitors into re-imagining one of the city’s great outdoor public spaces, this collaborative project will encourage people of all ages to explore a variety of creative responses to nature. A diverse programme of exhibitions, performances, workshops, spoken word events and debates will run during the course of the two-month project, focusing on finding local and creative solutions to global problems, and generating ideas for individual engagement with natural cycles.
On Saturday, the first of these workshops takes place from 3pm until midnight at Area 10 Project Space in Peckham (behind Peckham library. Live drawing, theatre, performance, puppetry, live music, labyrinths, projections, workshops, collective games and home-made ice-cream will be on offer for the modest charge of £3. Proceeds go towards the TreeHouse Gallery this summer – go along and help them get this faboulous project off the ground.
Event – Chosen by Giles
People Like Us DJ set
Barbican Centre, 21st may, 7.30pm
People Like Us/Vicki Bennett will be DJing at a thematic evening of Brazilian and Flamenco music at the Barbican on 21 May - between 9 and 11pm, in the Fountain Room on the Ground Floor. Due to the Latin theme, this event veers away from the usual People Like Us sound, but expect a quirky and danceable set and a fun crowd. Aside from DJing, Bennett has been her name with audio and multimedia works since the 1990s, and has had shows at a ramge of museums, public galleries and music festivals in the UK and internationally.
Event - Chosen by Oyinda
Holding Our Ground, Albany Theatre
Friday 15 May, 8pm
Exploring ideas of public space in this age of sat-nav obedience, Friday’s event at the Albany Theatre in East London should give you some topographical food for thought. As part of their ongoing project My Place Or Yours, Rukus - the most up-for-it MC in the Midlands - has been undertaking a writing residency on the streets of Derby, digging deep and discovering just what it is that binds a place and its people. This Friday he’ll be previewing some of his work. The wild and wonderful Mark Gwynne Jones, meanwhile, will be presenting Whose Common Now?, a specially commissioned poem-sequence that celebrates London's parkland whilst pondering the extent to which the public really owns so-called public places. In addition, London Transport Museum's poet-in-residence Abraham Gibson and sometime BBC playwright Nandita Ghose will contribute their own sidelong take on what it means to be a Londoner (or not). And finally, there'll be some placey post-punk chanson from Sussex songthrush Pog.
Event - Chosen by Sam and Richard
Burst Festival - BAC
Until 20 May
BURST, BAC's flagship festival returns with 51 events squeezed into 16 days. This year's festival, with the subtitle 51 Reasons for Living, is inspired by Barack Obama's Presidential Acceptance speech.If you can manage the huge programme it's worth navigating to the opening night on Friday 16th. If you haven’t been to a Peachy Coochy before, then this is a good chance to do so, as it will be kicking off the programme from 9pm. See you there, or at one of the myriad of other events!
Film - Chosen by Lisa
Angels and Demons (based on the novel by Dan Brown)
Out on 15 May
Here's Lisa's take on this, and the first Dan Brown film adaptation, the Da Vinci Code:
'What really annoyed me about 'The Da Vinci Code' the film is that it seemed to try its best not to offend Christians, such as when it was suggested that the descendant of Christ had inherited divine healing powers, and it seemed to negate the point of the book somewhat. Still, I thought that it was a rather enjoyable film in its own right, and I'm hoping that Ron Howard can pull off another not-too-shabby representation of Dan Brown's writing.' If you agree with her, then go check out this madly-hyped blockbuster. If you'd rather experience stigmata than read or watch anything related to Dan Brown, then don't.
Performance – Chosen by Carly
Sharon Hayes as part of ICA Talkshow
Saturday 16 May, 2pm, Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, at the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, SW1P
Sunday 17 May, north-west corner of Trafalgar Square, WC2N
If you happen to be wandering the streets of London on the 16th and 17th and come across a woman who seems to be proclaiming quite personal things to an imaginary person, you will have found artist Sharon Hayes. Continuing her exploration into the relationship between political and personal desire, she will negotiate the 'unspeakable' as she talks to an anonymous lover out loud, in public. Part of the ICA's 'Talkshow', a season of speech-based artworks and events, you will be very lucky to come across her indeed. Check out their website for other exciting things happening in the coming weeks!
Event – Chosen by Sam
Participate With...
Toynbee Studios, London
21 May 2009, 7.30pm
An evening of practical workshops and talks with experienced artists and programmers of socially engaged work. Join our panel for a hands on approach to participatory practice. With Barby Asante (artist), Anne Bean (artist), Joe Moran (dance artist and artistic director of Dance Art Foundation) and Leanne Turvey (gallery education programmer), this event looks to be a corker.
Exhibition – Chosen by Alison
Wysing Arts Contemporary: Performed
Saturday 16 May - Sunday 28 June
Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge
Wysing Arts Contemporary’s second exhibition Performed presents a selection of video, photography, installation, performances and documentation of performed actions and interventions by 10 artists based in the East of England. From Andy Holden’s series of LP records melted and morphed into bowl and vessel structures and hung like baskets from the gallery ceiling, to CJ Mahony’s unsettling, intimate and humorous text based works exhibited in quirky and surprising locations throughout the gallery space, this stimulating exhibition explores the relationship between the artist and viewer and seeks to create a challenging and engaging meeting point between both. Artists include Elena Cologni, Simon Davenport, RJ Hinrichsen, Andy Holden, Katherine Hymers, Olga Jurgenson, CJ Mahony, Rob Smith, Townley and Bradby, and Mark Wilsher.
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