Culture Diary w/c 25-09-2017

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 – Exhibition Opening: KCCUK 2017 Artist Of The Year: Kim Yong-Ik 6—9pm @  Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK), London, & Spike Island, Bristol — FREE

A key Korean artist, atctivist and teacher, expect two major UK exhibitions tonight showcasing Kim Yong-Ik’s 40 year career for the very first time in Europe. At Spike Island (see it until 17 Dec), expect formative works including his pivotal Plane Object series from the late 1970s, which he used to protest against the South Korean military dictatorship; and at KCCUK (until 4 Nov), expect brand new site-specific paintings. Part of the Korea/UK Season of cultural events across the UK celebrating Korean creatives.

Tuesday – Exhibition Opening: Turner Prize 2017 10am—5pm @ Ferens Art Gallery, Hull – FREE

Experience some quality firsts today: the first time that the infamous Turner Prize will be hosted in Hull, during its City of Culture Award year; and the first time that artists over 50 have been considered. Shortlisting four British artists who has exhibited outstanding work in the previous year, expect a heady mix of political themes executed through painting, printmaking and film, from Hurvin Anderson, Andrea Büttner, Lubaina Himid, and Rosalind Nashashibi. See the show until 7 Jan 2018; winner will be announced in early December.

Exhibition Opening: Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! 6—9pm @ Arnolfini, Bristol — FREE

How can contemporary art best address a diverse cross section of society? If you’ve seen any of Grayson Perry’s public talks or TV programmes recently (including Channel 4 documentary, Grayson Perry: Divided Britain), you’ll be familiar with his societal analysis – of the failings of old-skool masculinity, the complexity of political tribes, of British taste across the classes. Expect over 25 of Perry’s latest works, including his Matching Pair pots for Remainers and for Brexiteers. Until 24 Dec.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Wednesday – Premiere: Different Trains 1947 7pm @ Metal Liverpool — £22

A live open-air concert at the lovely Edge Hill station, expect a gaggle of talent — Ninja Tune’s Actress, Jack Barnett (These New Puritans), Indian music producer Sandunes, percussionist Jivraj Singh, vocalist Priya Purushothaman, filmmakers/artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and BFI’s National Archive – to explore India’s partition in 1947, through the lens of Steve Reich’s 1988 three-movement piece, Different Trains. Support comes in the form of a new composition from electronic music duo Darkstar (Warp Records) in collaboration with Harthill Youth Centre in Wavertree, and film material from Cieron Magat.

Thursday – Live: Baa Baa Baric @ St Helens Centre — FREE

Artist Mark Storor’s Baa Baa Baric: Have You Any Pull? is a live art project 12 years in the making: working with the people of St Helens to challenge the town’s negative statistics. Expect a series of weird and stimulating acts, including an army of young people giving out 2,500 posies of flowers in the town centre, plus Merseyside Police Officers and Cadets setting up in a chip shop to discuss child poverty.

Misty Clouds Scattered Colours 6—9pm @ Crown Buildings, Liverpool – FREE (RSVP Essential: mail@edouardmalingue.com)

We’re very happy to support this special three-day event from Edouard Malingue Gallery: screening work from some of Asia’s most exciting upcoming and contemporary artists, including surreal animation from Wong Ping’s surreal and award-winning animation Who’s the Daddy (2017), and Shen Xin’s sensitive exploration of power, Provocation of the Nightingale (2017) – currently shortlisted for the Baltic Artists’ Award. Our co-founder Mike will join a bunch of other critics, researchers and artists in panels discussing themes of self, space and nation. Until Saturday.

Friday – Exhibition Opening: Bloomberg New Contemporaries 10am—6pm @ BALTIC & BALTIC 39, Gateshead & Newcastle — FREE

Did you know that Damien Hirst and Gillian Wearing were discovered by the New Contemporaries art prize? A touring group show of some of the UK’s top and recent art graduates, this year’s show launches at two BALTIC sites tonight. Expect a really wide range of practices and ideas coming from art schools across the land, chosen by judges and artists Caroline Achaintre, Elizabeth Price and George Shaw. Until 26 Nov.

Creative Time Summit: Of Homelands And Revolution Live Stream Screening 3–9.30pm @ FACT Liverpool – FREE (Drop In)

As this year’s Creative Time Summit is entitled Of Homelands and Revolution, it’s fair to expect a bevy of international experts to be discussing the (very timely) geopolitical and intimate connotations of home. Expect a live stream from Toronto of some really thought-provoking speakers – including Cuban-American artist and feminist theorist Coco Fusco.

Saturday – Premiere: HOUSE Biennial 10am—5pm @ Brighton & Hove — FREE

You may have known it as a contemporary visual arts festival happening every May in Brighton and Hove, but things are a-changing: HOUSE Biennial has had a bit of a makeover. Now bigger, better, and every two years, its programme boasts support from arts partners including Photoworks, Fabrica, and Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, plus exhibitions, talks and screenings. Expect new fabric sculptures from Laura Ford, entitled A King’s Appetite, plus a walk, talk and cake with textile artist Anthony Stevens (below) and HOUSE Biennial Curator, Celia Davies, around his exhibition Common Threads (29 Oct). See the whole festival until 5 Nov.

GROUNDWERK 1.5 // Alternative Artist Economies 2.30—4pm @ Turf Projects, London — FREE

We love this free programme from Turf: focused on helping artists improve their skills and wider network. This afternoon, learn about alternative artist economies from Spanish artist and co-director of arts collective MilesKm, Nora Silva: expect discussion of day jobs, creative thinking and resourceful organisations that work with different structures.

Sunday – Allen Road Sculpture Park: Artist Talk And BBQ! 4—6pm @ 89 Allen Road, London, E3 5JZ — FREE

A sculpture park in the back garden of an East London semi-detached, you say? Art Licks Weekend 2017 presents Allen Road Sculpture Park: featuring site-specific work by Michaela Cullen, Karanjit Panesar and Dominique White. GRAFT’s launch project manages to be subversive and friendly at the same time: expect a chance to peruse the sculptures whilst chatting to the sculptors over a BBQ.

Holiday Ghosts / SPILT / Samurai Kip / Mandoll 8—11.30pm @ Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool — £4 OTD

The latest gig from Hail Hail Records, in Duke Street’s ace Sound, expect jangly jive/pop from Falmouth three-piece Holiday Ghosts; shoegazy-grunge from Runcorn’s SPILT, and more.

Laura Robertson, Editor

Images from top: Grayson Perry, Kenilworth AM1, 2010, courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro, London. Misty Clouds Scattered Colours, courtesy Edouard Malingue Gallery. Creative Time Summit. Detail, Shelf Life, mixed recycled textiles, house paint and hand embroidery 2017, by artist Anthony Stevens. Holiday Ghosts / SPILT / Samurai Kip / Mandoll poster, courtesy Hail Hail Records and James Robert Birtwhistle. Main image: Lubaina Himid: Warp and Weft, courtesy the artist and firstsite