Culture Diary w/c 08-09-2014
What’s hot this week? Our pick of the listings from around Liverpool and the rest of the UK…
Tuesday – The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger 7.30pm @ The Kazimer, Liverpool — £10 ADV
We’ve loved Sean Lennon ever since hearing his second studio album Friendly Fire (dreamy, avant garde folk dedictaed to his destructive relationship with actress Bijou Phillips, delivered in signature deadpan vocals). Musical collaborators include mum Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band, Marianne Faithfull, Albert Hammond, Jr., and now girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl in the form of The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger; expect ’killer hooks aplenty that immediately hit the spot’ (NME).
Wednesday – Future Station: How To Document Your Work With Jon Barraclough & ARTIST TALK Jyll Bradley 6-9pm @ Metal, Liverpool — FREE (booking essential)
Including a ‘How to document your work’ session with one of our favourite artists, Jon Barraclough, plus an intriguing ’3 minute wonders’ section, keynote talk from Mr Roscoe’s Garden creator, artist Jyll Bradley, and the all-important sit-down artists’ meal, this is a great local regular event for any artists looking to make new friends, learn new skills and widen their network.
Panel Discussion: What’s Wrong With Video Art? 7.30pm @ Rosenfeld Porcini, London — £4
‘What is wrong with video art? was our first thought; considering Josie Sommer’s recent article on art film, viewer experience and context seems to be a much discussed issue. How we judge ‘great’ or ‘terrible’ video art is another; from the artist’s perspective, the commercial viability of the medium still comes into question. Expect art critic Tabish Khan (read his views here), Artprojx’s David Gryn and more to discuss the problems and hopefully offer some solutions.
Thursday – Deep Hedonia Mini-Residency ft. In Atoms 6-8pm @ FACT, Liverpool – FREE
Like your electronic music dark, glitchy, and foreboding, with a hint of obsession? Local experimental collective Deep Hedonia team up with In Atoms tonight to play around with ‘magnetic decay and visual memory’ in the We Buy White Albums installation.
Friday – Private View: Concerning The Bodyguard 6-8pm @ The Tetley, Leeds – FREE
Co-curator artist Laura Morrison takes the ‘detached narrative’ of American writer Donald Barthelme’s short story of the same name as a starting point to The Tetley’s new group exhibition. Expect various topics — ‘an encounter with a lesbian archive, life in a contemporary military service institution and the explosion of the Minneapolis synth-funk scene’ — explored through video, performance, painting, photography and sculpture, by a host of artists including Benjamin Orlow, Nina Wakeford, Daniel Lichtman, Jessica Tsang, Matthew McQuillan, Warren McLachlan, JL Murtaugh, Nathan Witt and Alison Ballance.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Friday & Saturday – John Cale & Liam Young: LOOP>>60Hz : Transmissions From The Drone Orchestra 8pm @ Barbican, London – £20/25 plus booking fee
In the final weekend of the Barbican’s Digital Revolution exhibition, join speculative architect/technology storyteller Liam Young and legendary musician/composer John Cale for a one-off musical and tech experiment: Cale and his band performing ‘durational forms, unusual tunings and unorthodox audio delivery’, alongside Young’s collection of choreographed drones. Expect a ‘profoundly immersive’ live music experience.
Saturday – Mashemon Plus Special Guests For Romanian Dog Rescue 7.30-11pm @ Maguires Pizza Bar, Liverpool — £3 (all proceeds go to charity)
Why aren’t Mashemon more well known? They specialise in a very pleasing brand of ’90s-referencing guitar music channeling David Byrne, Frans Ferdinand and Faust. These talented souls are also kindly ones; using money raised tonight to build kennels at Romanian dog rescue centre Asociatia Amicii Nostri Turda- Semper Fidelis ”before the snow comes”. Arhhhh. You don’t have to be a dog lover to enjoy; expect beer, pizza and some proper crowd-pleasing music.
Sunday – Last Day: Aurélien Froment: Fröbel Fröbeled 12-5pm @ Spike Island, Bristol — FREE
French artist Aurélien Froment’s exhibition about German educationalist and kindergarten founder Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852) is inspired by Fröbel’s ‘play gifts’: a series of educational toys (balls of wool, wooden geometric shapes, pattern blocks), thta can form an open-ended sequence of objects whereby each shape suggests the next. Here they are reconsidered as cultural forms, taking on a symbolic context of an ‘idealised’ and modern world view; ‘as objects that suggest freedom and agency.’
Last Day: Make Every Show Like It’s Your Last 10am-5pm @ Manchester Art Gallery — FREE
Ryan Gander’s largest UK show to date, Make Every Show Like It’s Your Last, leaves the second venue of its epic international tour today. The title is a riff on a famous Steve Jobs quote — ‘Live each day as if it was your last’ — imbued with the humour of an artist who has made the show once before, and knows he will repeat the process a further three times before the tour is over. Read Eleanor Clayton’s review here.
