Culture Diary w/c 24-07-2017
Our pick of this week’s arts, design, film and music events from around the UK – and most of it’s free!
Tuesday – David Lynch: The Art Life (2016) 5.30pm @ Picturehouse At FACT, Liverpool – Ticket Prices Vary
Did you know it’s the 25th anniversary of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me? The show is also set to return to TV, so what better way to celebrate its eccentric, dark-hearted and astute Director, David Lynch, than with a documentary on his life, philosophies and creative vision.
Wednesday – A Midsummer Night’s Dream 7.30pm @ Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester — £18.50–37.50
The team behind Chester’s new culture hub, Storyhouse (read our feature here), have been garnering critical acclaim for years with their Open Air Theatre. See Director Alex Clifton’s version of Shakespeare’s most popular play in glorious surroundings — either under trees and overlooking the River Dee, or (if it’s raining) in their fancy new building.
Thursday – PICK OF THE WEEK: Edinburgh Art Festival @ Venues Across Edinburgh — FREE
The UK’s largest annual festival of visual art, there are over 50 participating galleries, museums, shops, courts, libraries and colleges taking part this year – all under the banner of The Making of The Future: Now, which highlights that artists could play a critical role in helping societies to imagine new and better ways of living. Expect inflatable dragons by artist duo Walker and Bromwich (pictured above, The Dragon of Profit and Private Membership, Trinity Apse), a very special experience of the Scotsman Steps by Turner Prize winner Martin Creed (commissioned by the Fruitmarket Gallery), plus tons of other exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, tours, walks, and late night openings. Until 27 August.
Friday – Exhibition Opening: Pop Art In Print 10am—5pm @ The Old Chester Library Building, Chester — FREE
Curated by the Victoria & Albert Museum and highlighting some of their best print collection, and hosted by Chester Visual Arts CiC, this is a must see. Expect to see favourites from pioneers of Pop Art – including Robert Indiana’s Love, Peter Blake’s Babe Rainbow, Richard Hamilton’s Adonis in Y-fronts (below) — plus books, posters, printed textiles, and wallpapers, from Andy Warhol, to Roy Lichtenstein. Until 22 October.
Exhibition Opening: Seen By Everyone 6—9pm @ The Royal Standard, Liverpool — FREE
A sensitive exhibition exploring how flowers and plants could impact mental health, featuring a collaboration between Leanne Cook — a florist and post-grad in Clinical and Health Psychology – and Zarina Muhammad — an artist (featured in 2016’s New Contemporaries), and writer behind online art criticism journal The White Pube. Expect an “an exploration of tenderness”; don’t miss the flower-arranging event (with sweets from FoodSketz and live readings) on 12 August; show continues until 20 August.
Saturday – Serf’s 1st Birthday 6pm—1am @ Serf, Leeds – FREE
Recently featured in artist Kevin Hunt’s Hot 100 list for a-n (top UK projects that are “by artists, for artists”), Serf is celebrating their first birthday tonight. Expect DJs including Come Thru, Raffles Boogaloo, David Regruetta, and Serf Residents.
Feist 7pm @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London — £49.50
With her atmospheric fifth studio album Pleasure getting top reviews, expect Canadian Indie-Pop singer Leslie Feist (above) to perform new tracks, as well as hits from 2007 breakthrough album The Reminder – hopefully including The Grammy nominated 1234.
Sunday — Exhibition Tour With Stephanie Straine 3—3.30pm @ Modern Art Oxford — FREE
Join Curator Stephanie Straine for a personal tour of MAO’s two current exhibitions. Expect collaborative drawings from Aleksandra Mir’s Space Tapestry: Earth Observation & Human Spaceflight (concurrently showing at Straine’s previous gallery, Tate Liverpool), and a significant posthumous exhibition about Rose Finn-Kelcey, entitled Life, Belief and Beyond – a key performance and feminist artist in the UK between 1970s to 2014.
Laura Robertson, Editor
Images from top: Walker and Bromwich, The Dragon of Profit and Private Membership, 2017, at Trinity Apse, Edinburgh. Part of Edinburgh Art Festival. Richard Hamilton, Adonis in Y-Fronts, 1963, © The estate of Richard Hamilton. Part of Pop Art In Print at The Old Chester Library Building. Feist, 2017, courtesy the artist. Rose Finn-Kelcey, The Restless Image: a discrepancy between the seen position and the felt position, 1975. Tate, purchased 2002. Image courtesy the Estate of Rose Finn-Kelcey.
