Culture Diary w/c 27-04-2015

Neha Choksi

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

Monday – Miriam Allott Visiting Writers Series: Mona Arshi, Sarah Corbett, Eleanor Rees 5-8pm @ University of Liverpool – FREE

With past events featuring the likes of Xiaolu Guo, Will Self, Ishion Hutchinson and Tishani Doshi, tonight the Miriam Allott Visiting Lecture Series continues their always intriguing line up of guest speakers. Join Poets Mona Arshi, Sarah Corbett and Eleanor Rees for an evening of poetry readings in celebration of the launch of Liverpool University Press’s daring (and delightful) new Pavilion Poetry book series.

Tuesday – Northern Broadsides Present: King Lear 7.30pm @ Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool – £12-25

Multi-award winning touring company Northern Broadsides brings Shakespeare to Liverpool in the form of Jonathan Miller’s ‘revelatory’ (The Guardian) production of King Lear. The tale of a family at war with itself: the protagonist of this eponymous play falls to despair from the destruction of his relationship with his daughters and, subsequently, the loss of all he has – deeply moving and utterly compelling.

Blind (2014) 6pm @ FACT, Liverpool – £10

Cut off from the visual world, blindness can be a lonely experience. In Eskil Vogt’s ‘intellectually exciting’ (The Telegraph) and ‘impeccably composed’ (The Guardian) directorial debut, we explore the inner turmoil of Ingrid Peterson, whose sudden loss of sight leads her to a life of confinement, anxiety and an ultimate slip into the realms of fantasy. With ever-growing critical acclaim, this unlikely Norwegian thriller injects nuance and humour to the otherwise fear inducing experience of blindness.

Leonora Carrington, Tate Liverpool 2015

Wednesday – In Conversation About Leonora Carrington 6.30-8.30pm @ Edge Hill University, Ormskirk – FREE

If Tate Liverpool’s current Leonora Carrington exhibition (read our review here) has whetted your appetite to know more about this underrated artist, tonight’s ‘in conversation’ will provide all the insight you need. Join Guardian journalist (and cousin to Carrington) Joanna Moorhead (interview here) with Tate’s artistic director Francesco Manacorda to discuss the life, work and legacy of this overlooked surrealist and how she came to be a national treasure in Mexico, thousands of miles away from her place of birth.

Thursday – Exhibition Opens: George Charman: Blind Spot 10am-5pm @ The Foundry Gallery, London – FREE

This is no ordinary artwork. Through a series of delicate drawings, and silver and black chain screens, occupying the gallery space, we are drawn into this abstract experience in order to question perceptions of space and the physicality of objects. With the curation of the artwork being altered every week of the exhibition, it is safe to say that you will get an entirely unique perspective of Charman’s work.

Thursday – George Charman: Blind Spot @ The Foundry Gallery, London – FREE

Neha Choksi In Conversation With Jennifer Higgie 6.30-7.30pm @ Hayward Gallery, London – FREE

How do we experience absence through presence? Can nothing be created from something? – Just some of the existential questions that India-based multimedia artist Neha Choksi tackles head on in her challenging video works. Tonight the artist is joined in conversation with co-editor of Frieze magazine, Jennifer Higgie, to discuss her ever-evolving artistic creations.

Freaks (1932) & Q&A 7.30pm @ A Small Cinema Liverpool – £5/ CONCS £4

An ancient curio of subversive Hollywood, or just plain provocative? Possibly early cinema’s most uncomfortable horror, Tod Browning’s Freaks nearly destroyed his career, and was eventually banned, not to be seen in full again in the UK until 1963. Tonight’s screening is followed by a post-screening discussion hosted by organiser (and Video Nasties Podcaster) Christopher Brown; read features by Adam Scovell and Nik Glover for more insight.

Friday – Exhibition Opens: Liverpool Art Fair 11-6pm @ The Gallery Liverpool – FREE

Interested in buying artworks without the hefty price tag? Then look no further. Showcasing a plethora of paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures from the cream of local talent, this four day affordable Art Fair provides an exciting opportunity to own a bit of the thriving Liverpool art scene. With some artworks selling for as little as £20 – you never know, you might end up with a future masterpiece.

Motion City Soundtrack: Saturday-Sunday – Fury Fest 4-10pm @ East Village Arts Club, Liverpool – £15 (£25 Weekend Ticket)

Saturday-Sunday – Fury Fest 4-10pm @ East Village Arts Club, Liverpool – £15 (£25 Weekend Ticket)

Get ready for this lot — Moose Blood, Astroid Boys, Roam, Blood Youth, Boston Manor, Trash Boat, Waster, Milestones, Please Head North and Bearing Loss… just some of the punk, hardcore and metal bands that will be set to get you head-banging this weekend. Alt-rockers Motion City Soundtrack will headline tonight’s set with an unforgettable performance of their formative album Commit This To Memory, before Sunday ushers in electrifying performances from joint headliners – pop-punksters Man Overboard and LA hardcore band Trash Talk.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Launch: All Day Celebration: Between The Borders 2pm @ 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool – £5 (After 7pm)

You’re going to need your dancing shoes for this all day party! Collaborating once again with the innovative 24 Kitchen Street, we are invited to celebrate the launch of Between the Borders’s third zine, which discusses migration and asylum seeking in Liverpool. Expect a venue transformed with projections to compliment headline performances from Iranian Hip Hop group Farhood and African music aficionados MogaDisco; as well as a host of DJs, poets and good food to make a memorable night.

Sunday – Last Day: Found 12-4pm @The New Art Gallery, Walsall – FREE

Sunday – Last Day: Found 12-4pm @ The New Art Gallery, Walsall – FREE

The discarded photographs of forgotten lives are brought back to life in the work of seven contemporary artists – namely Paul Chiappe, Ruth Claxton, Julie Cockburn, Ellen Gallagher, Vesna Pavlović, Erik Kessels and John Stezaker – whose works transform the old into new. Through a process of cutting, embellishing and reworking, the lives of strangers are brought firmly into the present day whilst we are encouraged to enter into the imagined lives of these unfamiliar faces. With old works and new commissions made just for The New Art Gallery, we explore themes as wide reaching as loss, memory, race, gender and mass culture.

Heather Garner

Keen to hear about the best art, design, film and music events happening in Liverpool April-June 2015? Download the PDF version of our NEW, printed Culture Diary here

Culture Diary April-June 2015

 

Posted on 27/04/2015 by thedoublenegative