Culture Diary w/c 20-04-2015

Artist Talk: Wu Tsang 6.30pm @ Institute of Contemporary Arts, London – £7 / £8

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

Monday – Lucy Clout and Marianna Simnett In Conversation With Esther Leslie 6.30-7.45pm @ Jerwood Visual Arts, London — FREE (Booking Required)

Winners of the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2015 –supporting early career artists working in moving-image – Clout and Simnett discuss their commissioned result, What Will They See of Me?, with Professor of Political Aesthetics at Birkbeck, University of London, Esther Leslie. As both artists explore the pressures (and perils) of visibility in a digital world, expect a lively debate around images of the self, personal identity and wider anxieties about our online legacies. Exhibition continues until 26 April before moving on to CCA, Glasgow (30 May-12 July 2015).

Tuesday – Blood Wedding 7.30pm @Everyman Theatre, Liverpool – £12.50-£20

‘In this day and age anybody can love anybody. Or are there still taboos?’ In writer David Ireland’s fearless adaptation of Spanish dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca’s original play, love and rebellion collide in this tragic tale of young love. This 1932 play is sent hurtling into the 21st century as we witness a ‘rich and fascinating’ social commentary that explodes with a ‘riot of dark observational comedy’ (The Scotsman).

Wednesday – Cecile B Evans In Conversation 7pm @ FACT, Liverpool – FREE

To compliment FACT’s current exhibition, Group Therapy: Mental Distress in a Digital Age (see our review), join Belgian-American artist Cecile B Evans tonight in a very special ‘in conversation’ with cultural coordinator Lesley Taker. Discussion will fall to politics, identity and anxiety in the real and digital world, followed by the premiere of Evans’ Hyperlinks Or It Didn’t Happen (2014). Expect a film that is ‘clever, complicated, heavily layered and filled with masked meaning’ (Timeout) featuring pop cultural references and a slightly unnerving CGI Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the starring role.

Uriel Orlow's Unmade Film: The Proposal 7-9pm @ The Bluecoat, Liverpool – £3 / £2

Uriel Orlow’s Unmade Film: The Proposal 7-9pm @ The Bluecoat, Liverpool – £3 / £2

In this off-beat lecture/performance exploring the impossibility of filmmaking, the narrative norms of the silver screen are relentlessly challenged in a series of thought-provoking audio visual works. Beginning in the Kfar Sha’ul mental hospital in Jerusalem, that was established in 1951 for the treatment of Holocaust survivors (including a relative of the artist), this personal live performance combines the act of storytelling and autobiography and invites the audience to participate through the act of witnessing.

Thursday – Think Cinema Presents: The Beauty And The Beast (1946) 6.30-10pm@ Frederik’s Bar, Liverpool – FREE

A Freudian fairy tale for adults – this is no Disney animation. In Jean Cocteau’s spellbinding and sublime classic, Belle (the ‘Beauty’ of this unlikely romantic tale) becomes prisoner – and subsequent object of affection – to an enigmatic and forbidding Beast whose appearance is not all as it seems. A surreal journey into a world of spells and moving statues that is ‘formally exquisite and heartfelt and entirely absorbing’ (The Guardian).

Artist Talk: Wu Tsang 6.30pm @ Institute of Contemporary Arts, London – £7 / £8 (Main Image)

As part of the current ICA group exhibition, Looks – which challenges the construction of identity relating to gender and sexuality in mass digital culture – participating artist Wu Tsang opens up his work to vibrant discussion, including his work with performance artist Boychild and his enduring artistic engagement with the trans and gay community.

Friday – Exhibition Private View: Modern History Vol. 1 5-8pm @ Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool – FREE

Friday – Exhibition Private View: Modern History Vol. 1 5-8pm @ Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool – FREE

The first in a series of three exhibitions showcasing the work of some of the North West’s most exciting contemporary artists, this ‘volume’ – guest curated by Lynda Morris – brings together disparate artists – such as Mishka Henner, David Jacques, Tabitha Jussa and Joe Fletcher Orr – whose works all share a defining connection through their exploration of history from global events to historical change. A Contemporary Visual Arts Network North West (CVAN NW) initiative (connected to our recent Critical Writing Bursary), this exhibition will play host to paintings, sculptures and an array of artist/curator talks and events throughout 2015.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Saturday – Exhibition Opens: Frances Disley: Metamorphosis 10.30-5pm @ The Grosvenor Museum, Chester – FREE

One of our faves – we urge you to hop over the water to soak up artist Frances Disley’s colourful, kaleidoscopic prints. Focusing on Disley’s fascination with colour and process, we explore how techniques such as photography, painting and print-making can transform an otherwise ordinary image into something entirely otherworldly. With a smattering of events at the Grosvenor Museum such as a print workshop (02/05) and a participatory activity, in which we are invited to help make an art installation (27/05), we gain a captivating understanding of her extensive works.

Conference: The Listening Body 11-4pm @ Site Gallery, Sheffield – £5/£4 (Booking Essential)

Listen up! If you missed it at Liverpool’s Bluecoat Gallery or at Baltic 39 in Newcastle, Site Gallery are providing another chance to feast your eyes (and ears) on the third leg of the Hayward Touring Exhibition, Listening. As we delve into all things audible – from dying stars to thunder claps – this day long conference provides performances, talks, screenings and a panel discussion with the exhibition’s curator, Sam Belinfante, that draw attention to and enhance our aural senses. See our review.

Leonora Carrington, Tate Liverpool 2015

Abandon Silence 5.5W / Floating Points 2-9pm @ The Kazimier, Liverpool – £7.50 / £15ADV

Get your diary and make a note of this because it’s not to be missed. With summer definitely on the way, this party in The Kazimier’s lovely gardens will make the most of the (hopefully) sunny weather. Kicking off the day’s festivities, Liverpool based electronic club night, Abandon Silence, play host to music from the likes of Horza, Rich Furness, Harry Sheehan, Andrew Hill and Owain Emyr Gwyn. If you’ve got the stamina, the party will shortly be followed by the main club night with more riotous music from Floating Points, Max Graef and Andrew Hill from 10-4am.

Sunday – Dance Performance Intervention: Imaginarium 3-3.15pm / 4-4.15pm @ Tate Liverpool – FREE

Intersecting with the mythical and surreal Leonora Carrington exhibition at Tate Liverpool, the Imaginarium – consisting of performers James Hewison and Michelle Man with original music by Alfonso García de la Torre Rey – takes a wholly different interpretation of her works through the medium of dance. Inspired by and developed through a residency at Carrington’s childhood home, Crookhey Hall, the performance embodies the colour, energy and physicality of her paintings and brings her visual world to life. Read our review of the exhibition here.

Heather Garner

Posted on 20/04/2015 by thedoublenegative