Culture Diary w/c 20-11-2017
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 — Manifesto (2017) @ Venues Nationwide
“Art requires truth not sincerity!” Cate Blanchett pays homage to artists manifestos, from the Futurists to the Situationists, in a variety of fantastic disguises in director Julian Rosefeldt’s new film Manifesto. Expect a call to action on free speech, censorship, and creative expression. Read our guide to the first artist manifesto here.
Wednesday – Liverpool Film Night 2017 6pm @ FACT, Liverpool – £7.50/5.50
Highlighting short filmmakers from across the city, and curated by Senior Lecturer in Documentary and Fiction Filmmaking for Film Studies at Liverpool John Moores University, Demelza Kooij, expect to experience the limbo of long train journeys (Lars Koens’ Train to Yulichka), a future where the Internet is in 3D (Hu Ching-Chuan’s Uncanny Field), a manhunt in the wild (Daniel Boocock’s The Desolate One) and more.
Thursday – Algiers 7.30pm @ The Magnet Liverpool — £9.90
Like the sound of “a Donny Hathaway soul song mixed with the Shangri-Las and Delia Derbyshire”? The creative and political influences in Algier’s second album The Underside of Power are nothing less than varied, according to band member Ryan Mahan. Maybe that’s something to do with it being made in a Brexit and Trump era with early sessions involving Portishead’s Adrian Utley. Expect notes on capitalism for the post-punk generation.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Friday (Until Sunday) – Design & Empire [Working Title] @ Venues Across Liverpool – FREE (Booking Required)
Postcolonial approaches to fashion, the politics of computer interfaces, national identity in the display of museum collections… Catch Liverpool Biennial’s ambitious series of talks, cookery classes and walking tours this weekend all over the city, and expect challenging aspects of Liverpool’s imperial legacy whilst reflecting on contemporary design and visual culture. Read our highlights here.
Saturday – Travis Alabanza With Guest 7—10pm @ The Royal Standard, Liverpool – Donation/Booking Essential
Marking the last weekend of TRS’ Homotopia exhibition Notes of Queerness, enjoy performances, live readings and music by exhibiting artist Travis Alabanza (pictured, above) and guest drag artist Kevinlegrand. Don’t miss the opportunity to see Alabanza’s powerful new text works on paper, commissioned for the exhibition, which explore what it’s like to survive violence as a Black Trans person.
Sunday – French Film Festival: Before Summer Ends (2017) 1.45pm @ University of Hull — £4–6
Opening the Cannes Acid sidebar earlier this year, and receiving widespread critical acclaim, writer-director-cinematographer Maryam Goormaghtigh’s debut feature Avant la fin de l’ete, or Before Summer Ends (pictured, below), is a non-fiction comedy following three best friends from Iran on holiday in the South of France. Expect an alternative road trip contemplating what it means to be an expat. A BFI/Film Hub North/Hull 2017/University of Hull event, presented as part of French Film Festival UK 2017.
Laura Robertson, Editor
Images: Design & Empire’s Grace Wales Bonner, Ezekiel, 2017, image courtesy Jamie Morgan & Tom Guinness; Travis Alabanza , courtesy the artist; still from Before Summer Ends (2017)
