Culture Diary w/c 17-02-2014
What’s hot this week? Our pick of the listings from around Liverpool and the rest of the UK…
Wednesday — Saddam is Here Exhibition Preview 6-8pm @ IKON (Birmingham) — FREE
“Saddam is here. Iraqi society cannot forget him even after his death because some of us still love him and the rest are still afraid of him… His shadow is still following Iraqi society everywhere.” So says artist Jamal Penjweny of his photographic series Saddam is Here (2009–2010); twelve images of Iraqi people in familiar surroundings, each holding a life-size picture of Hussein’s face in front of their own, and briefly animating his dark legacy. The first exhibition to open Ikon 50, a year-long programme celebrating the gallery’s 50th anniversary, this is well worth a visit, especially if you’ve never been before.
Thursday — Workshop: Graph Commons 12-6pm @ FACT — FREE (booking required)
Interested in mapping, sketching and the meaning of visual analysis? Bring your laptop along to this free workshop on Thursday, which will include teaching you how to hand draw simple graph diagrams, and gradually learning the uses of network mapping, modelling, relational thinking, protocol authoring, centrality analysis, clustering analysis, and information design.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Warpaint 7pm @ 02 Academy Liverpool — £16.50
So achingly trendy it hurts, “Warpaint slowly pulls you into its own, quietly captivating world” (Alexis Petridis). The LA girl group are on an enormous tour this year, including the summer festival circuit (see our Playlist: 10 Best Spring Gigs). We saw them live not so long ago at the Kazimier; great atmospheric, stripped back rock, that has apparently been stripped back even further with their self-titled new album.
Letizia Battaglai In Conversation 5.30-7.30pm @ Tate Liverpool Auditorium — FREE, booking required
Ahead of her new exhibition at Open Eye Gallery (opening Friday with a private view 6-8pm) Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia discusses her astonishing life documenting the (sometimes incredibly violent) life and death of the Sicillain Mafia. Often compared to American ‘crime’ photographer Weegee, the artist reflects on the role of photography as means for “taking action, bearing witness, providing evidence and documenting history.”
Friday — Only Lovers Left Alive @ cinemas nationwide
Enjoying a nationwide release from today, cult director Jim Jarmusch’s “indulgent, eccentric” (The Guardian), ”magical and magnetic” (TimeOut) new horror is a must for Tilda Swinton fans; her’s and Tom Hiddleston’s central performances as vampire lovers in a derelict Detroit are apparently sublime.
Saturday — Richard Hamilton’s ‘an Exhibit’ Symposium 2pm @ ICA (London) — £8/£10
“The ICA’s painstaking recreation of Hamilton’s little-known early work shows a masterstroke offering fresh context and understanding” (Financial Times). This half-day symposium considers how pioneering Hamilton’s an Exhibit was (a kit of suspended Perspex panels devised with the intention of giving visitors opportunity ‘to generate their own compositions’ as they walked through). Expert speakers include Dr Victoria Walsh, Head of the Curating Contemporary Art Programme at the RCA; Dr Elena Crippa, co-Pathway Leader for MRes Art: Exhibition Studies at Central Saint Martins; and Jeremy Millar, artist and tutor in Critical Writing in Art and Design, RCA, London.
Nymphomaniac Volumes I and II plus live satellite Q&A with cast members @ cinemas nationwide — ticket prices vary
Perhaps the “the least-sexy 4 hour portrayal of sex you’ll ever see” (read our preview here) and transmitted live from the Curzon Chelsea cinema in London, cast members Stellan Skarsgard, Stacy Martin and Sophie Kennedy-Clark will introduce Lars Von Trier’s two-parter provocative epic, and will be answering your questions following the film. First-date movie it ain’t.
Sunday — Root Roast 4pm-midnight @ Django’s Riff — FREE, first come first served
Being skint writers, we unashamedly jump at the chance of free food. So imagine our greed at discovering that Raggas Caribbean Takeaway serve up Jerk Chicken, rice & peas every Sunday for free at Djangos when you buy a drink, accompanied by a very relaxed Sunday vibe of reggae, dub and ska from local DJs. We’re a cheap date aren’t we? See you there.
