Culture Diary w/c 11-03-13

Monday – Stornoway 8pm @ the Kazimier £13

If drawing unfair and lazy comparisons to Mumford and Sons – yes there are pianos and organs involved – Oxford quartet Stornoway evoke none of the repellent ‘qualities’ of the be-waist-coated bedwetters above. Sure, you could never accuse them of being punk-rock, but their charm, ear for a tune and expansive second album, Tales from Terra Firma, make for more than enough to set them apart from the crowd.

Tuesday – A Liar’s Autobiography 6pm @ FACT

Subtitled The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, A Liar’s Autobiography is an animated, fictionalised account Chapman’s life, who recorded a spoken word version before his death in 1989. Starring all but one Python (Eric Idle is conspicuous by his absence), A Liar’s Autobiography is something of a delight for Python fans and a fitting posthumous honour for Chapman.

Particle Velocity 7.30pm @ Liverpool Playhouse £12-£16

Taking DNA as her starting point for this new show, Phoenix Dance Theatre’s artistic director Sharon Watson uses “movement to unravel our genetic code, taking the audience on a volatile journey”. Judging by the production’s trailer, Particle Velocity should prove incendiary and elegant in equal measure.

Wednesday – Film Lecture Series: Tsotsi 1pm @ FACT 

In conjunction with LJMU’s Liverpool Film School, this week sees the first in a new series of screenings (each followed by a lecture) at FACT. Gavin Hood’s 2005 Johannesburg-set film Tsotsi – the tale of a delinquent whose life takes a change for the more complicated – gets things underway.

Thursday – The Art of Pop Video @ FACT

More than 100 video clips featuring the likes of Daft Punk, Lady Gaga and Radiohead, from directors as diverse as Spike Jonze, Wim Wenders, Chris Cunninghman and Michel Gondry, The Art of Pop Video is the first exhibition of its kind in the UK. Full preview.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Friday – Misdirect Movies 6pm @ The Royal Standard

A group exhibition curated by Andrew Bracey and John Rimmer, Misdirect Movies at The Royal Standard deals with and “continues the lineage of collage” utilising “cinema’s near endless supply of imagery”. Featuring amongst others Transition Gallery’s Cathy Lomax (also the editor of Garageland Magazine, Lomax gives a talk the following day at 2pm) and Dave Griffiths, whose work incorporates video, celluloid, animation and photography, Misdirect Movies is perhaps the Standard’s most ambitious exhibition so far this year.

Saturday – The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things exhibition tour 2pm @ the Bluecoat FREE

Exploring “how our relationships with artworks and common objects are being transformed through new technologies”, Mark Leckey-curated exhibition The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things – which takes in literally thousands of years of cultural history  can be bewildering on first view. Just as well then that this Saturday the Bluecoat have enlisted artist and lecturer Janet Hodgson to lead a tour.

Sunday – The Tenant 6pm @ FACT

Starring and directed by Roman Polanski, 1976′s The Tenant is something of a curio, taking a look as it does at the paranoia-driven metamorphosis of shy bureaucrat Trelkovsky (Polanski). A claustrophobic, at times dizzying psychological thriller, The Tenant is an enigmatic treat.

Posted on 11/03/2013 by thedoublenegative