Culture Diary w/c 18-09-2017
Our pick of this week’s arts, design, film and music events from around the North of England and the rest of the UK – and most of it’s free!
Monday — Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Re: 2017) 8.15pm @ Picturehouse At FACT, Liverpool — £7.50/5.50
Doo doo dooo dooo dooooooo!!!! Can you believe it’s been 40 years since Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking sci-fi was released? Enjoy this 4K restoration of the director’s cut tonight – including a brilliantly frantic performance from Richard Dreyfuss as the average Joe who makes first contact with alien lifeforms.
Tuesday – Exhibition Opening: From The Vapor Of Gasoline 6-8pm @ White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London — FREE
See the USA through the eyes of artists Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Richard Prince and others, who made witty and cutting work about the emptiness of the American Dream through the 1960s to the 1990s. Expect dramatic references to Civil Rights, celebrity, consumerism, sex and violence. Until 21 Oct.
Wednesday — BRASS EYE AT 20! Screening & Q&A 7.30pm @ Leaf On Bold Street, Liverpool — £11.21
First broadcast in 1997, Channel 4’s brilliant, faux-news programme Brass Eye (pictured, above) made a star out of comedian Chris Morris, and pushed satire to a startlingly provocative new level (who could forget its NONCE-SENSE report?). Join director Michael Cumming tonight for unseen material from his personal archive, and no doubt hilarious anecdotes from behind the scenes.
Thursday – PICK OF THE WEEK: Abandon Normal Devices Festival @ Castleton, Peak District National Park – Festival Pass Standard £45 / Conc £40
This year held in the caves beneath the Peak District (yes, CAVES!), this nomadic festival will this year showcase highly ambitious and brand new cinema, digital culture and art with a scientific slant, across the themes of Strata, Dis-location, Listening to the Dark, Deep Time and Freefall. Our highlights include becoming a virtual cave-dweller with Ooni Studio; a new musical composition by the Kreutzer Quartet inspired by – and recorded in – DNA; and seeing how Studio Roosegaarde will take the v-shaped valley of Winnats Pass back in time to the Ice Age. Until 24 Sept.
Exhibition Opening: Nick Crowe & Ian Rawlinson: Song For Armageddon 10am–6pm @ BALTIC, Gateshead — FREE
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tel Megiddo/Armageddon in Northern Israel has apparently seen more battles than any other place in the world. The location for artists Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson’s new video (main image), made in collaboration with Israeli composer Ophir Ilzetzki and singer Faye Shapiro, expect a reflection on climate change, globalisation, wars and end times.
Friday – Exhibition Opening: ARTIST ROOMS: Roy Lichtenstein In Focus 10am—5.30pm / Pop Art Party 6pm @ Tate Liverpool – FREE
Tate Liverpool unveils a new Roy Lichtenstein exhibition today: 20 of his comic book inspired, Ben-Day dotted paintings depicting fast cars, fast planes, and gorgeous women – plus his only work on film. See the show then enjoy music, make-up, performances, popcorn, cocktails, and mac n’ cheese. Exhibition continues until 17 June 2018.
Sunday — BBC Philharmonic | Mahler: Symphony No. 3 7.30pm @ The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester – £40-12
Described as “epic” in their programme, the BBC Philharmonic performs Mahler’s Third Symphony tonight, joined by Chief Conductor Juanjo Mena, mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, the BBC National Chorus of Wales, and The Boy & Girl Choristers of Gloucester Cathedral. Expect a colossal work inspired by the natural world.
Laura Robertson, Editor
Images, from top: Still, Channel 4′s Brass Eye. Abandon Normal Devices Festival 2017. Roy Lichtenstein, In the Car 1963 © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/DACS 2017. Photo: Antonia Reeve. Main image: Still from Nick Crowe & Ian Rawlinson’s Song For Armageddon, 2017
