Details of how to book yourself in to drink and dine at a secret Speakeasy, profiles of a whole range of intriguing-looking exhibitions, a feature on the Pride Parade, and an exclusive review of the new Hayward show - all here in today's Pick of the Week. Read on and the next week of your life will be immeasurably improved...we promise.
Event – Chosen by Holly
The Annual London Pride March
Saturday 4th July, 1pm (setting off from Baker Street)
Join this Saturday’s LGBT Pride Parade, a cavalcade of colour and fun processing through the streets of London. Leaving Baker Street at 1pm, the parade will proceed down Oxford Street and Regent Street, then through Piccadilly, ending in Trafalgar Square. There you’ll be entertained by speakers, stalls and music from 3pm. Alternatively, head into Soho where you'll find the streets closed to traffic and a street party in full swing.
And for an after party with a twist:
Gay Shame goes Girly at the Brixton Academy this Saturday (9pm - 4am). From the Duckie website: 'The last ever Gay Shame is an indoor po-mo-homo playground full of interactive art and alternative ideas. It is a creative rebellion against the banalities of the mainstream Gay Pride festival and a satire on the commercialisation of our community.' Tickets are £15 in advance.
Installation – Chosen by Rosalie
Bassline: London by Graeme Miller
9 - 26 July
Venue: Car Park 5, Barbican
11am-8pm daily; 11am-10pm Thu; 12pm-10pm Sat 25 & Sun 26. Closed 13, 15, 20 &22 July
FREE
Created by theatre-maker, composer and artist Graeme Miller, this free multi-screen video and sound installation is a series of projections situated in the hidden spaces of the Barbican Centre’s Car Park 5. See and hear the recorded testimonies if 15 local participants based on their journey around the Barbican complex with a double bassist. These moving and intimate accounts reveal their memories, associations and perceptions of the area, capturing the vicinity’s hidden characteristics. A solo bassline based on a piece by Henry Purcell (to mark the 350th anniversary of this London-born composer) underscores the piece.
Comedy – Chosen by Joanne
N20: BACs Biannual Comedy Season
13 July - 1 August
Another inebriating mixture of Edinburgh previews and works-in-progress with BAC's biannual season of comedy. Top names and old favourites to make you squeak with joy! Highlights include Daniel Kitson, Laura Solon, Phil Nichol, Tom Basden, The Penny Dreadfuls, Richard Herring, Hans Teeuwen, Pappy’s Fun Club, Idiots Of Ants and loads more...
Exhibition – Chosen by Giles
Walking in my Mind, Hayward Gallery
Until September 6th
Giles’s review of this well received new show at the Hayward:
‘A handful of the entries stood out, in particular Keith Tyson's panelled images packed full of references and personal evocations. Also Pipilotti Rist’s work, whose installation presented the audience with enlarged images of disembodied mouths, feet, breasts and hands - powerful because in an instant it made me feel like nothing more than a huge mass flesh and of mis-firing neurones, the symptoms of which might be interpreted as 'emotion'. And I liked Thomas Hirshorn’s piece, Cavern – a fascinating interpretation of an individual as a collection of glued, pasted, layered cultural references.’
Exhibition – Chosen by Holly
Paul B. Davis, SEVENTEEN Gallery
17 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8AA
Paul B. Davis’ probing, contemplative second solo show at SEVENTEEN represents a bold step forward for the artist...though not necessarily one he expected to take. It was instigated by a semi-voluntary rejection of a practice that, until very recently, was central to his creative output and figured prominently in his debut exhibition at the gallery - Intentional Computing (2007). A curious turn of events led to this unforeseen repudiation and redefinition of practice: Davis says: ‘I woke up one morning in March to a flood of emails telling me to look at some video on YouTube. Seconds later saw I Kanye West strutting around in a field of digital glitches that looked exactly like my work. It fucked my show up...the very language I was using to critique pop content from the outside was now itself a mainstream cultural reference.’ See the results of his response to this shocking turn of events at SEVENTEEN Gallery now.
Performance/ Installation – Chosen by Carly
The Pale Blue Door, Tony Hornecker
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until 12 July, two sittings per night (see here for timings)
5 Glebe Street, E8 4BD
With all this hot, humid weather, isn't it nice to imagine yourself in a make-believe, dream-y fantasy, full of exotic oddities and jazz-y blues drifting on the slow breeze? Well, imagine no more! 'The Pale Blue Door' is set designer Tony Hornecker's brand new installation/ performance wonderland. Created in his 'humble' Hackney abode, it's up to you to find the door to this fantasyland off Kingsland Road - methinks the title may have something to do with the style of door...You'll be sprited into an underground speakeasy, fed a three-course meal and entertained by a myriad of performers whilst you dine... Alice in Wonderland meets Bugsy Malone no doubt, and even though it's £30, you are getting dinner and entertainment and an experience all in one! The design looks to be especially beautiful, so if you're into those details and idiosyncrasies I'd highly recommend it! And if you fancy paying another £30, you can even have the pleasure of Carly’s company.
Exhibition – Chosen by Joanne
Bobby Baker's Diary Drawings: Mental illness and me, 1997-2008
Until 2 Aug, Wellcome Collection, London
Bobby Baker is one of the most widely acclaimed and popular performance artists working today. She began her diary drawings in 1997 when she became a patient at a day centre. Originally private, they gradually became a way for her to communicate complex thoughts and emotions that are difficult to articulate to her family, friends and professionals. The drawings cover Bobby's experiences of day hospitals, acute psychiatric wards, 'crisis' teams and a variety of treatments. They chart the ups and downs of her recovery, family life, work as an artist, breast cancer and just how funny all this harrowing stuff can be.
Photography – Chosen by Holly
Fresh Faced and Wild Eyed, Photographers Gallery, London
Photographers gallery 'fresh faced and wild eyed' student show recognises the immense breadth and dynamism of graduate and post-graduate photographic work emerging from colleges and universities across the UK each year. You can view the work online here.
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