Culture Diary w/c 30-10-2017

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!

PICK OF THE WEEK: Monday – Liverpool Music Week: Bella Union 20th Anniversary: Lost Horizons 7pm @ LEAF — £12 / Girl Ray 7pm @ EBGBS — £4 OTD

Following the triumphant opening of this year’s 15th iteration of Liverpool Music Week with Nile Rodgers and Chic last Thursday, the metropolitan festival of 2016 winner continues apace this week. Tonight sees rising stars Girl Ray, touring well received debut album Earl Gray, hit EBGS for less than a fiver, while indie label par excellence Bella Union are celebrating their 20th anniversary with Lost Horizons, BC Camplight and more.

Tuesday – RIBA Stirling Prize Announcement 6–11.30pm @ Roundhouse, London £39–260 (Plus VAT & Fees; Member Discount Available)

This year’s celebration of excellence in UK architecture sees various architectural projects vie for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize. The shortlisted practices are Barretts Grove, Stoke Newington; The British Museum World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre; Command of the Oceans; City of Glasgow College – City Campus; Hastings Pier and Photography Studio for Juergen Teller.

Screened / Rosemary’s Baby (1968) 6.30—10pm @ Texture MCR, Manchester — £5

Adapted from Ira Levin’s bestselling novel, Rosemary’s Baby (above) stars elfin Mia Farrow in this claustrophobic classic featuring a dream move (and birth) gone – way worse than you could ever imagine – bad. A supernatural/psychological thriller, the film is a study in fear, marital tension and well-founded paranoia. Included in the ticket price is the added value of guest speaker Chloé Germaine Buckley, senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University (who specialises in Gothic literature and culture).

Wednesday — Halloween With Liverpool Pride & Flis Mitchell @ FACT, Liverpool — £10/£9

Join artist Flis Mitchell for an evening of readings and conversation addressing the passive role traditionally played by women in the horror genre. Following this is a screening of Daughters of Darkness (1972), a tale of female vampirism selected by Liverpool Pride. Well worth noting that included with your ticket is popcorn, and drinks by Liverpool Craft Beer Co. Can’t say fairer than that.

Thursday – Exhibition Opening: Impressionists In London 10am–4.30pm @ Tate Britain, London — £17.70

Framed by its subtitle French Artists in Exile 1870–1904, this exhibition charts the friendships and connections forged between French and British artists, patrons and art dealers set against a fraught backdrop back home of  the Franco-Prussian war and insurrection in Paris. Expect works by Monet, Tissot, Pissarro, Giuseppe  de Nittis (above) and more.

Friday – Exhibition Opening: In Nothing Flat 6—9pm @ Granada Studios, Manchester — FREE

Featuring artists drawn from across the UK, this group show at Old Granada Studios building from Mark Devereux Projects includes painting, sculpture and performance work. The culmination of StudioBook, an intensive eight-month long artist development programme, In Nothing Flat brings together works by 12 artists including Mandy Payne’s newly commissioned piece for the University of Salford Art Collection.

Saturday — Liverpool Print Fair @ The Bluecoat, Liverpool – FREE

Organised by Abigail Sinclair, Scott Duffey and Mark Adamson, Liverpool Print Fair (above) exemplifies some of the best in screen printing, linocut, etching, woodcut and more. The focus here is on artists, illustrators and designers “using more traditional methods in unique and interesting ways”. Though it might pain you that we point it out, as Christmas is encroaching, why not peruse the stalls for an early Chrimbo present for a loved one, or – perhaps more likely if you’re anything like us – just treat yourself to something nice.

Sunday — Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) 6pm @ FACT, Liverpool — £12.20/11.20/10.20/9.20

Smug, self-centred and arrogant, if you came across Ferris Bueller irl, you’d likely hate him, maybe punch him in the nose to wipe that conceited look off his face. But John Hughes’ 1986 film, it’s hard not to be swept up in Ferris’ world, as he bunks off with best friend Cameron and beau Sloane (played by Mia Sara). The titular day takes in a baseball game at Wrigley Field, a parade (in which Ferris, of course, takes a memorable starring role) and a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, where Hughes’ camera lingers longingly over masterpiece after masterpiece. For once, Ferris is quiet. As Ferris very quotably says, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

LAST DAY: Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity @ Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool — FREE

Marking the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexual acts in England and Wales, Walker’s wider-ranging Coming Out covers a lot of ground. Including work by pivotal contemporary artists such as Margaret Harrison (above), Steve McQueen, LINDER, Sarah Lucas and Andy Warhol, catch this show while you can.

Mike Pinnington

Images, from top: Poster for Rosemary’s Baby (1968); Giuseppe de Nittis, Westminster, 1878, private collection, featured in Impressionists In London; The Lost Fox Stall – Liverpool Print Fair 2017; Margaret Harrison, Women of the World Unite, you have nothing to lose but Cheese Cake, 1969, featured in Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity