Culture Diary w/c 24-02-2014
What’s hot this week? Our pick of the listings from around Liverpool and the rest of the UK…
Monday – Stranger by the Lake @ cinemas nationwide
It seems this is the month everyone’s talking about sexually explicit cinema. The set for Alain Guiraudie’s new thriller is a cruising ground for homosexual men, placed on the idyllic banks of a lake. Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) meets and falls for Michel (Christophe Paou); then unfortunately sees him drown another man. Expect honest portrayals of a sexual sub-culture, genuine unease, and “one of the most haunting sign-offs in recent cinema” (the Guardian).
The Presidents of the United States of America 7pm @ East Village Arts Club Liverpool (also Tues 02 Academy Newcastle, Thurs 02 Academy Leeds and more; see here for tour dates) – 18.50 ADV
Ridiculously fun, we remember rocking our little brains out to Lump when we first started clubbing, this (twice Grammy-nominated) Seattle trio epitomise ’90s pop punk. Expect Peaches, Video Killed the Radio Star and Dune-Buggy as well as tracks from new album Kudos To You.
Tuesday — Turner Techniques 2-3pm @ Lady Lever Gallery Port Sunlight — FREE
Artist Steve Hersey walks us through a live demonstration of how JMW Turner created his paintings in oils and watercolours, and reminds us of the exquisite appreciation Turner had for light and atmosphere. A perfect opportunity to visit this beautiful 19th century gallery and their new exhibition, Turner: travels, light and landscape.
Wednesday — The Thinking Eye Screening & Presentation 6.30-9pm @ Gasworks London — FREE, booking required
Originally made for public television, late artist Juan Downey’s autobiographical The Thinking Eye videos aimed to unravel some of the main concepts of Western culture, such as the idea of ‘the self’. Here they’re screened together with a special introduction from writer and curator Julieta González (Bronx Museum, New York; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City). Accompanies the group exhibition Late Barbarians (on til 9 March).
Thursday — Private View. Carolee Schneemann: Water Light / Water Needle 6-8.30pm @ Hales Gallery London — FREE
The incredibly influential artist Carolee Schneemann is probably best known for her performance Interior Scroll (1975), where she extracted a scroll from her vagina, reading aloud the feminist speech printed there. Theorist Jeanie Forte commented that it made it seem as if “[Schneemann]‘s vagina itself is reporting… sexism”; and it was a radical stimulus for artists discussing the body, sexuality and gender. See the original film Water Light / Water Needle (edited by Schneemann), diagrams made in ’65/’66 used to conceive the work, and documentary photographs from 1966, in addition to recent paintings.
Friday – Keywords: Art, Culture and Society in 1980s Britain @ Tate Liverpool — £8/£6
A complex yet enlightening take on Raymond Williams’ seminal book Keywords, Tate’s latest exhibition aims to delve into the wider meaning of pivitol words in the English language, like ‘violence’, ‘country’, ‘criticism’, ‘media’, ‘popular’ and ‘exploitation’. With a particular focus on British art from the 1980s, artists include Helen Chadwick, Rita Donagh, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, John Latham, Stephen McKenna, Carl Plackman and Jo Spence.
BBC 6 Music Festival (Friday and Saturday) 4pm-midnight @ Victoria Warehouse Manchester
Now sold out, you can still hear this live online and on air. The first (in we’re sure to be many) BBC Radio 6 Music Festival event, more than 30 artists and DJs will perform across 3 stages, somewhat reflecting the wide range of artists heard on the station everyday, including Damon Albarn, HAIM, Drenge, The Horrors, PINS, Wild Beasts, Mr Scruff – see our Spring playlist!
Saturday – everisland: AQUARIA (with Southern) 8pm-late @ Williamson Tunnels Liverpool — £5 ADV/£7 OTD
This ocean-themed new clubnight (the first installment of The Island Chronicles) is a fun mix of interactive aquatic visuals and performances with live music from Southern, Magic Arm, The Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band, and Broken Men (10-piece performance). Expect to be “tantalised by amphibious inhabitants and engrossing sirens” in one of Liverpool’s strangest venues.
Sunday — The Grand Budapest Hotel 1.20pm @ FACT Liverpool and cinemas nationwide
Wes Anderson’s latest stars a myriad of famous faces — including Saoirse Ronan, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson and Jude Law — and we’re really hoping this will be a return to form (don’t get us wrong, we love the director, but were slightly underwhelmed by Moonrise Kingdom). Set in a European hotel in the interwar years, savvy concierge Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) is left a priceless painting in a guest’s will, arousing the suspicions of local detective Henckels (Ed Norton). Their ensuing antics include theft, a family fortune, and a very heavily made-up Tilda Swinton.
PICK OF THE WEEK: New Everyman Theatre Launch 11.15am-4.30pm @ Everyman Liverpool — FREE
We’ve been waiting a while for this… over 10 years of planning and two years of building, the brand new Everyman theatre finally opens its doors on Sunday. With a new portrait wall, rehearsal spaces, bistro and street cafe, and a reintroduced Circle (in an echo of the original 1964 venue), we recommend taking advantage of the free backstage tours every 15 minutes. See our picture gallery of the refurb here.
