Culture Diary w/c 02-06-2014

What’s hot this week? Our pick of the listings from around Liverpool and the rest of the UK…

Monday – Book Art Exhibition 9am-8pm Daily @ Central Library, Liverpool — FREE

An exhibition of contemporary artists’ books, surrounded by many rare books in the glorious (and newly restored) Hornby Library? Yes please. Curated by former Bluecoat Chairman Simon Ryder, and featuring fine bookbinding in addition to new creative interpretations of literature and paper, the show includes work by icons Goya and Morris, as well as offerings from local artists Carol Ramsey and Elizabeth Willow. On until 6 July, and accompanied by a Artist Book Fair 4-5 July 2014.

Tuesday – Matisse Live from Tate Modern 7.15pm @ Cornerhouse, Manchester And Various Venues Across The UK — £13

Haven’t seen Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs exhibition at Tate Modern yet? Catch this ‘intimate, behind the scenes tour’ of the blockbuster show. Tate Director Nicholas Serota and broadcaster Francine Stock (with Matisse experts and friends) explore his later career, as he began ‘carving into colour’ from his wheelchair, armed with a big pair of scissors and reams of hand-coloured paper.

Wednesday – The Royal Standard & Outcasting Present: SciFi Shorts 7pm @ FACT

Showcasing ‘undercurrents of dissent, dissatisfaction, and dis-ease’, contemporary art gallery TRS and moving image artists Outcasting camp out at FACT for the evening with three films: Mothership by Jonathan Monaghan, Good Enough for the People by Tricia McLaughlin, and Wisconsin Death Trip by James Marsh. Great chance to explore more abstract notions of science fiction and the influence it has on visual artists.

Thursday – I Dunno Shit 6-9pm @ Rogue Studios’ Project Space, Manchester — FREE

“If u wanna bring ur own WKD’S or bacardi breezerz then don’t be shy #BYOB #artyparty If u don’t know anything aba art then who cares cos #wedunnoshit***…” Joe Fletcher Orr (@cactusliverpool) and Calum Crawford (@calumcrawford) whip out their gold iPhone 5s to record Ahmed & Carpenter’s closing party at Rogue Project Space. Part of an ongoing series of curated temporary exhibitions, the space plays host to experimental, innovative and often surprising works. Dressing like Kimye required (probably).

Polyphonic Spree 7pm @ East Village Arts Club, Liverpool — £15

The 00′s most unrelentingly upbeat hippy ensemble, Dallas’ Polyphonic Spree have been touring it seems since I was in sixthform college. Their new album, Yes It’s True, has been described as sounding like “the Flaming Lips fronted by Deepak Chopra” (Independent on Sunday), to lurching “uncomfortably like a 50-year-old twerking at a bar mitzvah” (Austin Chronicle). Ouch. Expect 22 band members, drum machines, orchestral instruments and a lust for life.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Friday – Mondrian and his Studios @ Tate Liverpool — £10/£7.50

As Linda Pittwood put it in her recent article (read here), studying Mondrian is akin to shining a light on the relationship between popular culture and the canonisation of art. His reach is astonishing; influencing the De Stijl (Dutch for ‘the style’) movement as well as fashion designers, architects and other artists, his work now graces everything from iPhone covers, trays, sandals, candles, duvet covers, t-shirts and cake (!). Expect a beautiful recreation of his Parisian studios as well as an extensive display of paintings, from figurative to abstraction. Check out the accompanying Nasreen Mohamedi exhibition on the same floor and included in the ticket price.

Culture Now: Michael Bracewell 1pm @ The Studio, ICA, London — £5

As part of the Room&Book ICA Book Fair — bringing together ‘the best specialist bookshops and dealers in the UK’ — here writer Michael Bracewell discusses all aspects of arts publishing, with specific reference to the subcultures and ‘Style’ press of the 1980s. A man who has written widely on modern and contemporary art (Richard Hamilton: Late Works (National Gallery, London, 2012), Damien Hirst, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever (Sotheby’s, London 2008)), Bracewell is also the author of six novels and three works of non-fiction (Perfect Tense (2000); England Is Mine (1997)).

Saturday – PULP: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets With Live Satellite Q&A 5.30pm @ Cornerhouse, Manchester and Various Venues (see here for full list)

Launching Sheffield Doc Fest 2014 and ”Reaching the places that rock docs never go”, Jarvis Cocker’s brand of self-effacing pop is celebrated in this new film of their 2012 homecoming show – their final gig in England following a ‘rapturously received’ reunion tour. Premiering tonight and broadcasting live at Sheffield City Hall, expect a lively Q&A session with the band as well as anecdotes from their 30 year career.

Music for Mondrian and Mohamedi from 11am @ Tate Liverpool — FREE, Just Drop In

One thing we do know about Mondrian and Mohamedi is how influenced they were by music. In the morning, Milapfest’s Tarang ensemble (sitar duo, Raaheel Husain and Jasdeep Singh Degun, accompanied by Kousic Sen on tabla) bring to life the type of music Mohamedi would have loved; Miyan Ki Todi, a late morning raga popular in the north Indian or Hindustani music tradition. In the afternoon, the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra encapsulate Piet Mondrian’s time in Paris by playing music from Les Six group of composers — formative members of the circle of Parisian society who frequented the cafe Le Boeuf sur le Toit with the artist.

Sunday —  Hassan Abdulrazzak: A Fire Blazing Brightly 5pm @ the Bluecoat, LIverpool – £5/£3

Part of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival – Various Venues until 15 June 2014

Liverpool Arabic Arts Fest returns for its 16th year, promoting knowledge and understanding of the life, society and culture of the Arab people. Here, London-based, Prague-born, Iraqi playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak (winner of the The Arab British Centre’s 2013 Award for Culture) reads scenes from his new play, A Fire Blazing Brightly (about visual artist Rana, returning to Iraq to investigate her father’s past), as well as the inspiration he draws from political, social and cultural issues in the Arab world. See here for full programme.

Main image: (detail) Piet Mondrian, 1872-1944, No. VI / Composition No.II 1920, Oil paint on canvas, 997 x 1003 mm. Tate. © Tate Photography, 2014. © 2014 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International USA