Pick of the Week - 25/09/09

A fair bit seems to be kicking off this weekend, with a festival, fair and performance recommended here ending before Monday. Thanks to us, our regular readers won't have to worry about missing it all.


Performance - Chosen by Joanne
Bahok by Akram Khan Company, 25th-26th September
For two days only Akram Khan Company will be dancing their socks off with the National Ballet of China. I saw the company about 4 years ago performing 'Ma 'and I still remember the stylised movements which pushed movement boundaries and the fantastic original atmospheric musical score. It was one of the best pieces of contemporary dance I have ever seen.
This piece explores how the body carries (bahok means carry in Bengali) national identity and a sense of belonging. As usual Khan uses dancer from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Mixing kathak-contemporary (Indian classical meets contemporary) and classically trained dancers I'm sure will create an interesting fusion! I will be seeing this so look out for the review in the blog!



Audio Slideshow Series - Chosen by Priyesh
'Disappearing acts' - Audio Slideshow series on the Guardian website
If you've ever wondered how old wheels are made, or how a book is
bound this is for you. This fantastic series takes you through crafts
across the country that have almost been lost in time. I stumbled
across the latest one on 'Stucco' which is the technique of
hand-modeling plasterwork and I was amazed at what was produced.
Could there be a revival of the Craftsman on the horizon?



Mini-festival - Chosen by Frank
15 minute factory, 25th-27th September, The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage St, London, E1 5LJ
A three-day cultural mishmash of live music, performance, art, cabaret, burlesque, stand-up comedy and interactive installations, expect art and music from the fringes.



Performance - Chosen by Rosalie
The Paper Cinema - The Lost World, Stoke Newington International Airport, £5
A cast of hand-drawn marionettes are magically brought to life by the Paper Cinema. In this new show, Arthur Conan Doyle's dinosaur tale is told, accompanied by a live score by Kora. Yes please!



Installation - Chosen by Jennifer
Echoes of Blackburn Meadows.
Transmission begins Friday 25th September.
Sheffield-based oral history and public arts project launches the first of a series of solar powered transmitters broadcasting spoken memories and sounds of the former Blackburn Meadows power station; home of two famed cooling towers, which were demolished last year. Workshops are being held to build FM radio receivers with which to access the artwork.
More info at www.sheffieldelectricity.com.




Fair - Chosen by Lisa
The London Art Book Fare, Whitechapel Gallery, on until 27th September.
Friday 25 September, 5pm-late
Saturday 26 September, 11am-6pm
Sunday 27 September, 11am-6pm
I'm mainly excited about this because as a student now I'm budgeting ferociously whilst trying to gather in any resources that might possibly be useful to me. In what equates to a giant art book sale, the gallery advertises up to 40% off the RRPs, plus free membership if you spend over £100 at a stall. If you're around East London this weekend it's certainly worth a look to see what you might be able to snap up.
Read more...

Pick of the Week - 18/09/09

I want to congratulate our bloggers this week, yesterday I'd received no e-mails telling me what we wanted in our Pick of the Week today, and then today I turn on the computer to find that my inbox is jam pack full of Picks. Lets see what we've got coming up for you this week.

Exhibition - Chosen by Frank
The Museum Of Non Participation
Karen Mirza and Brad Butler
25 September - 25 October 2009
Behind Yaseen Barbers, 277 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2
Another bizarre and intriguing exhibition commissioned by Artangel. It was born when the artists looked out from the national art gallery to view the protests and subsequent state violence during the Pakistani lawyers movement, and examines this relationship between the artists and those on the street.



Performance - Chosen by Carly
LOCii, 25th September, The Roundhouse, London
This is a bit of a heads-up for next week, but I'm sure tickets will be going fast, fast, fast! Underneath the great main space in the Roundhouse is a maze of corridors and archways, and it is here that LOCii will take place on the 25th September. In a beautiful 360 degree environment, a variety of performers and creative peoples from undiscovered talent to hidden gems are gathered together in this unique and unusual showcase. I went to the first LOCi and it was absolutely amazing, although I have been informed this second version will be bigger, brighter, better and pushing the boundaries of this intriguing site. Everything from music, to visual art, to magic, to things you never expected to see, this is well worth a fiver!



Performance - Chosen by Joanne
Lotte Van den Berg - ''Stillen''
Sadler's Wells Theatre, 24th-25th September at 8pm, £15
Stillen is a wordless meditation on the silent games people play – sometimes tender, sometimes cruel. Focusing on the relationships between six performers, Stillen explores the power of movement with a profound intensity that is both joyfully uplifting and achingly forlorn. It is a production about the consolation of touch and the pain of being alone.
It looks pretty bleak, theatrical and dramatic I can't wait to see it!


Event - Chosen by Holly
Since the start of August Justin Allen has been artist-in-residence at The Art of Engagement, a website for socially-engaged practitioners. For his online residency Justin has created VTC2.0 (messages for the future), a virtual time capsule into which people from around the world can place something for the future.
There is only a week left to go before the capsule is sealed for 100 years. Don't miss the chance to contribute to this innovative artwork.
http://www.switchperformance.co.uk/timecapsule/
Next Tuesday 22nd September the capsule will be sealed through a live ceremony that you can join via the Internet. Justin will have his lips sealed with stitches and then observe an hour of silence. You are invited to be part of this ceremony by sharing an hour of silence to mark the sealing of the virtual time capsule.



Exhibition - Chosen by Priyesh
Escapement - RAQs Media Collective
Frith Street Gallery - until 30th September
Having heard/read about this exhibition from various people/places,the one thing I didn't expect as I entered the gallery was the sound. Not from the silence of the 27 clocks mounted across the walls but from the central pillar around which a video installation covers all sides. The slow heart-like beating, the measured pace of a watchful face in orbit of the pillar and the presence of each luminous clock,create an atmosphere of a gradual repetition that mimics insecurities of a global day-to-day. With the world constantly chasing after time, they ask the question - What does it mean to be here now?
http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/
http://www.raqsmediacollective.net/



Exhibition - Chosen by Holly
"Speedy Gonzalez" Viva la Vida Loca! Lee Campbell Projects Summer of Loca!
Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 12:00pm - Saturday 19th September 11.10pm
The Mexican Embassy, 42-43 Hertford Street, London, W1
Artists let loose in a big posh house in Mayfair - see what they created!
Painting Installation Live Art - Live Performances Tonight Friday 18th September
Artists include: MIKE RYDER, MARK MCGOWAN, CORINNE FELGATE, LAURA TAYLOR, JANE AND MIKE CHAVEZ-DAWSON, KATE STREET, ANNIE ATTRIDGE, SARAH BOWKER-JONES, ANJA PRISKA, ADRIAN LEE, JASPER JOFFE, LEE CAMPBELL and others.



Workshop - Chosen by Frank
Owl Project - Build your own m-log workshop
25th + 26th September
Space Studios, Hackney, London E8 3RH
Build yourself a music controller in a log!! Yes, you heard right, the owl project have joined with musician and professional electronic fiddler Leafcutter John, to teach you how to make and use a log (dubbed the m-Log), to control music software. It can't be a bad use of a weekend...
mlogworkshop.eventbrite.com Read more...

Pick of the Week - 11/09/09

This week's picks have a nice little mix with films and exhibitions, a play and even a festival to take your fancy.


Film - Chosen by Joanne
Fishtank by Andrea Arnold
Firstly, this has Micheal Fassbinder in it, he is one talented guy! (and makes me swoon!)
Andrea Arnold’s follow-up to Red Road is an intense and surprising story of love, lust and family. Fifteen-year-old Mia is at war with everything: her family, her school, and the girls on her estate. Her one release is dancing, a passion that she practices in secret. Things change when her mother introduces charismatic new boyfriend Connor.



Play - Chosen by Carly
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Haymarket Theatre Royal
Until 9th January
Well, hasn't our lovely little Anna Friel come a long way from 'That Kiss' on Brookside? She has undoubtedly proved her acting chops along the way, not only on stage but also on screen in the criminally-cancelled Pushing Daisies as the adorable Chuck. See the delightful Friel play the notorious Holly Golightly in the new stage adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's at The Haymarket Theatre Royal until January - but I'd book fast, fast, fast! What with Christmas round the corner, and Friel pulling in the Pushing Daisies punters this will sell quicker than a Tiffany's diamond at a car boot...
Tickets from £15, but feisty Friel is worth that and more. Guaranteed to be a gem of a West End run.



Exhibition - Chosen by Jennifer
OUT OF THE ORDINARY: SPECTACULAR CRAFT
Millennium Gallery
Sheffield
25 June – 20 September 2009
By examining the process of production in this diverse exhibition, we
come to realise that contemporary art is much greater than the sum of
all of its parts.



Festival - Chosen by Rosalie
BAC's Scratch Festival.
10 September 2009 - 26 September 2009, 19:30
£5.00, Concessions are FREE
With three long weekends of freewheeling, risk taking cabaret, BAC's annual Scratch Festival is bigger and better than any previous Scratch event. The building will be bursting with established BAC performers, artists who’ve never been here before and graduates from performing arts courses around the country. Scratch allows artists to test new ideas and get audience feedback, so you have an impact on how shows develop at BAC. Get into the building with a £5 Festival Ticket and be guided around an assortment of Scratch performances, brought together under the themes Reasons for Living, Democracy and the inspirational figure of David Lynch. You’ll also be able to see fresh new work from the best of this year’s graduating students (10 - 12 Sep only) and immerse yourself in Helen Cole's We See Fireworks installation. Download Scratch Festival flyer for more information about Graduate shows.



Exhibition - Chosen by Priyesh
Frederic Pradeau
Laure Genillard Gallery, 2 Hanway Place, W1T 1HB
until Saturday 3rd October
Pradeau takes as starting point for the exhibition a found piece of
bread, resembling a pound sign, leftover from a tramp in Hyde Park.
From a simple symbol to the vast notion of money, the artist then
derives multiple paintings, drawings and sculptures, associated with
the effects that money creates and emphasising its arbitrariness. It's
humour from the everyday - a good show if you like your materials.



Film - Chosen by Lisa
Dorian Gray, in cinemas from 9th September
Okay, this has the potential to be a bit awful, but from what I've seen and heard of this adaption directed by Oliver Parker it seems to be a faithful representation of the dark novel by Oscar Wilde, which is a darn good read if you haven't picked the book up already.
Read more...

Pick of the Week - 04/09/09

Summer is ending and exciting things to do seem to be waning... if you're a student then your free time is rapidly running out as term approaches... but will we let that stop us going out there and having some fun and culture? NO! Let's see what our bloggers have recommended this week...


Exhibition - Chosen by Lisa
Jeff Koons: Popeye Series, Until 13th September
I do seem to have a tendency to recommend the less sophisticated or mature picks of the weeks. I only discovered that this was on recently and am quite surprised my natural attraction to the nostalgic hadn't led me to Hyde Park earlier. Koons explores the cartoon's reaction to the hardships of the Great Depression, reinventing the iconic imagery by mixing it in with his own signature style.



Book - Chosen by Joanne
The Audacity of Hype: Bewilderment, Sleaze and other tales of the 21st Century, by Armando Iannucci
I will definitely read this book, I am a bit of a fan of Iannucci and if the fantastic Armando Iannucci Show, The Thick of It, The Day to Day Today, In the Loop are anything to go by then this should be right to the point and on the money at ripping the sheer piss out of the media, politics and modern society!
And he is Scottish, I love Scottish people!



Performance - Chosen by Rosalie
Stationary Excess
Shunt Lounge
Wednesday 2nd September – Saturday 5th September
Entry to Shunt is: £5 Weds and Thurs; £10 Fri and Sat
Shunt Lounge, Joiner Street, London Bridge (Station).
Stationary Excess is new piece by new international theatre collective Made In China. The performance involves one woman, one exercise bike, lots of biscuits and a bottle of champagne, exploring themes of human solitude.


Exhibition - Chosen by Holly
The Institute of Education 'Art and Design in Education' MA dissertation exhibition
Open Tuesday 8th September - Thursday 10th of September 10-5pm
Private View Monday the 7th September 6-8pm
Come and see the fruits of our labour after an intense summer and join me in the celebration of getting my life back!



Exhibition - Chosen by Holly
Last chance to see Richard Long at Tate Britain - closes this Sunday 6th September - open late tonight - Friday the 4th.
'featuring over 80 works, Heaven and Earth includes sculptures, large-scale mud wall works, and new photographic and text works documenting walks around the world, plus a big selection of the artists' books, postcards and other printed matter.'
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/richardlong/default.shtm



Play - Chosen by Carly
Fathers Inside
Soho Theatre, 8pm
Until 12th September
Seven young fathers in a Young Offenders Institution face up to their relationships with their children and their own fathers in a prison eduction programme that reveals their vulnerabilities, their hopes, their dreams and their self deceptions. Written by Philip Osment and directed by Jim Pope this is one of the exciting composite parts of the NYT season at the Soho Theatre. A high energy and raw piece of theatre, this will leave you electrified and massively impressed with the level of talent in the young cast. Read more...

Getting into the term time spirit

Maybe this doesn't apply too directly to many of our readers, but term is soon to start. It baffles me to think that one day, when I'm a big grown up, June and September will mean little more to me than the Summer Solstice and my best friend's birthday.

Not that it'll go totally unnoticed by me when suddenly my commute to work is devoid of chattering school children and the funfair moves into the park across the way from my house and the university students who rent a house next door to me seem to think it's alright to be having a party until three o'clock on a Monday morning.
I have been very irritable this past week and I get the feeling it's largely due to the fact that it's September now, and I start university for the first time in three and a half weeks. I'm scared, quite frankly, not just at the prospect of being in a new place with new people, but also at the idea that I'll have to get out of my routine of doing what I want when I want for three months into a 9-5 timetable (bloody art and design degrees taking up three times as much of your time than any others).
I have done... a little preparation. The power of Facebook and the Internet in general means I've been able to talk to a few people on my course already. I gave myself a few projects to keep myself busy over the summer, of which I've completed... half of one.
So maybe this isn't a big time of your life, maybe you ARE a student, and you still are unaffected by this transition... you're probably one of those cool laid back people who takes everything in your stride and can suddenly switch from getting up at 1pm every day to 7am every day with minimum jet lag. Maybe you're a grumpy old man who associates with no young people and locks himself up in his house always, except to get his shopping on Saturday mornings when the streets are guaranteed to be free of anyone under the age of 28 all year round.
If you're a student... I wish you luck, especially if you're going in to a new school or college. Just remember, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE DONE IT BEFORE YOU, IT CAN'T BE THAT BAD. Read more...