Culture Diary w/c 13-04-2015
What’s hot this week? Our pick of the listings from around Liverpool and the rest of the UK…
Monday – Japanese Bookbinding Workshop 11am @ Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool – £10 (Booking Essential)
Why buy a book when you can make your own? To coincide with Metamorphosis of Japan After the War Exhibition, let artist and designer Sophie Powell guide you through the beautiful and delicate craft of bookbinding. Easing us in with a simple journal design before building up to more complex stich patterns, expect to make two journals that will provide the motivation and know-how needed to start you off on your own photo journal career.
Tuesday – Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter 6pm @ FACT, Liverpool – £10
The morbidity of obsession has never been more captivating in the Zellner brothers’ ‘Thoroughly oddball’ (The Telegraph) road trip film with a twist. We follow the story of a Japanese business woman – Kumiko – whose discovery of a VHS tape of the Coen brothers’ Fargo leads her on a quest across America in search of a lost (and utterly fictional) fortune. Convinced of her destined treasure, we observe a heart-warming and haunting tale of determination and watch as reality and fantasy collide in one woman’s solitary life.
Wednesday – Exhibition Opens: György Kepes: The New Landscape 10-6pm @ Exhibition Research Centre (ERC), Liverpool – FREE
A companion to Tate Liverpool’s György Kepes exhibition (see next listing), The New Landscape exhibition examines artist — and exhibition designer — Kepes’ undying fascination with art and science through his exploration of light, organic form and technology. With an extensive back-catalogue of experimental photography, archival material, a re-construction of his 1951 modular exhibition structure, plus a printed intervention by artist Tadej Pogačar to boast, we explore the broad and inspiring reach of this innovative yet little-known creator.
Lecture: Pattern Vision: The New Landscape In Art And Science By György Kepes 4-6pm @ Tate Liverpool – FREE (Booking Essential)
Along with the opening of The New Landscapes exhibition at the ERC, tonight we are treated to a talk with Kepes aficionado, John R. Blakinger, to provide insight and discussion into the pedagogical perspective of the artist’s artistic vision. Taking inspiration from Kepes’ book and 1951 exhibition, The New Landscape, topics will include the artist’s study of visual patterns, microscopic minerals and cell structures and asks: ‘can the disparate cultures of art and science collaborate for a common purpose?’
Drenge 7.30pm @ The Kazimier, Liverpool – £12 ADV
As news that our beloved Kazimier will close next year, let’s go as much as we can, while we can. If you’re looking for high energy rock ‘n’ roll to combat those pesky mid-week blues, then look no further. Midway through their latest UK tour (see here for more dates) and in support of their latest album Undertow, The Kazimier welcomes the Loveless brothers to inject their ‘ferocious intelligence’ and ‘dumb, potent noise’ (the Guardian) to this week’s line up. Expect the violence of the Sex Pistols and vicious riffs to rival Nirvana.
Thursday – Unspeakable Freedom: Screening, Live Performance & Debate 6.30pm @ Primary, Nottingham – £4 (ticket includes a free drink)
Food for thought come election time? An experimental film referencing sci-fi and fantasy, Jennet Thomas’ (Matt’s Gallery, London) The Unspeakable Freedom Device explores a warped dystopia where the characters become entangled in a ‘Thatcher cargo-cult’, ‘where the difference between technology and magic has become incomprehensible’. Joining the artist to discuss art and politics will be artist Sonya Dyer, curator and Art Monthly writer Jennifer Thatcher and Programme Curator at Primary Niki Russell.
The Chemical Brothers: Don’t Think & Q&A 7-9pm @ Somerset House, London – £10
Hey Boy, Hey Girl – tonight we are invited to contemplate the transformative effect that sound, film and light have on an audience, in this one off screening of The Chemical Brothers’ 2012 film, Don’t Think. Charting the inimitable duo’s electrifying performance at Japan’s iconic Fuji Rock Festival 2011, we experience a ‘demented firework display of kaleidoscopic assault and psychedelic wonder’ (BBC Music) followed by a live Q&A session with co-directors Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall to provide insight into their unique vision.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Friday – Exhibition Opens: No Homers Club 6pm til late @ Constellations, Liverpool – £6
“When will I learn? The answers to life’s problems aren’t at the bottom of a bottle, they’re on TV!” So it’s about time someone paid tribute to the best TV show ever made in this multi-disciplinary exhibition celebrating our favourite and most beloved dysfunctional family, The Simpsons. Featuring artwork and music from the likes of Organ Freeman, Thom Isom, Hannah Roberts, Klaus Pinter and Harrison Edwards: expect a proper party with computer games designers, foodies, face painters, costume designers, and, of course, a donut stand.
Saturday –External Machines Breakfast Crit 10-12pm @ The Royal Standard, Liverpool – FREE
We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day – so adding a bit of contemporary art into the mix can only be an improvement. To accompany The Royal Standard’s latest exhibition — that explores ‘the physical, self-imposed and necessary tension that exists between constriction and relief’ — we join featured artists – Catrin Davies and Lewis Wright, Adam Ferriss, David Frame, and Chloe Manasseh and Janneke van Leeuwen – in this one-off public, informal discussion of their artworks and working processes in greater detail.
Record Store Day @ Venues Nationwide — FREE
Established in the US back in 2007 to bring together, support and celebrate independently owned record stores and their culture, expect live music and performances, special vinyl and CD releases and meet and greets. In Liverpool, head down to Probe, Dig Vinyl and 3B Records, as well as a pop-ups at Constellations and East Village Arts Club; in Manchester, head to Piccadilly Records, Eastern Bloc Records, Beatin Rhythm and then to Soup Kitchen or Islington Mill for live shows. For a comprehensive list of participating venues in the North-West and around the UK check out this handy store finder.
Last Day: Living Data – Michael Takeo Magruder 10-3pm @ The Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn – FREE
This fascinating solo exhibition by international digital artist Michael Takeo Magruder explores the evolving virtual and physical artworks that can be created from the digital domain. Using the collective data that underpins our everyday existence, modern computer systems and traditional visual art seamlessly converge to form a series of visually stunning and thought-provoking images. Expect hybrid paintings, sculptures, installations and videos that create an immersive experience within living data.
Sunday – Last Day: Nick Crowe And Ian Rawlinson: Song For Coal 10-5pm @ Yorkshire Sculpture Park – FREE
Utilising the collections of the National Coal Mining Museum and Drax Power Station, the power of the human voice takes centre stage in this immersive exhibition. Set inside the park’s beautiful 18th century chapel, the artwork combines ‘plainsong’ and video imagery that traces coal ‘from the carboniferous to the post-industrial’ and, in doing so, contemplates notions of faith, politics and the environment.
Heather Garner
