Culture Diary w/c 04-12-2017
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!
Tuesday – Christmas Lectures 11.30am & 2.30pm @ Storyhouse, Chester – FREE (Booking Required)
O Magnum Mysterium! Join University of Chester Professor (and composer) Darren Sproston this morning to discover what it is about Christmas music that makes it Christmassy; and in the afternoon, expect rock anthems with Programme Leader for BA Popular Music Performance, Dr Ruth Dockwray, to analyse why anthemic Christmas songs are so fun to sing along to.
Wednesday – Exhibition Opening: Thomas Bock And Edmund Clark 6–8pm @ Ikon Gallery, Birmingham – FREE
Two wildly different exhibitions launch at Ikon today with one thing in common: prison. Born in Birmingham, Thomas Bock (c.1793–1855) was sentenced to transportation to Australia at the age of 30, where he became a “convict artist”; painting portraits of criminals, including the cannibal Alexander Pearce. More recently, Edmund Clark has been undertaking an artist-in-residence (on behalf of Ikon) at Europe’s only entirely therapeutic prison, HMP Grendon, in Buckinghamshire. Expect photography (pictured, above), video and installation around incarceration and its deep effects.
Thursday – Work – Life Conference 11am–4pm @ The Art House, Wakefield – FREE
Aimed at graduating fine art students, join a bunch of expert speakers today to prepare for life post-uni – including Glen Stoker, Co-Director of Airspace Gallery (based in Stoke-on-Trent), Nick Kaplony, Artquest, Rebecca Huggan, Programme Director at The NewBridge Project (Newcastle), David Gilbert, Programme Producer at The Art House, plus alumni from The Art House Graduate Residency programme.
A Lecture With Anna Barham – *further studies* 6.30—8pm @ The Bluecoat, Liverpool – FREE
The first in a series of artist lectures from the pop-up fs free school, expect a one-off illustrated lecture by London-based video artist Anna Barham (above). It’s bound to be an entertaining and personal look at her practise – which features structures that choreograph the relationships between audiences, screens and speakers.
Friday – TRS Lock In 6pm Til Late @ The Royal Standard, Liverpool – £4
Who loves a pub quiz? We do! Going back to their roots, The Royal Standard tonight pay homage to the disused Toxteth pub that they started out in… Expect bingo, darts, pub grub and art prizes – including special editions and original artworks by studio members. All profits will be ploughed into their new home in the Baltic Triangle.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Saturday – Baskerville – A Sherlock Holmes Mystery 7.30pm @ Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool – £30–10
“They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!” Join Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson for a riotous adaptation by the Everyman & Playhouse team of The Hound of The Baskervilles, with five actors working up a sweat by bringing 42 characters to life. Has the curse of the Baskervilles struck again? Will the hound be stopped before the next heir to Baskerville Hall can be saved?
Sunday – LAST DAY: Everything At Once 12—6pm @ Store Studios, 180 The Strand, London – FREE
With a title taken from John Cage’s 1966 quote that “Nowadays everything happens at once and our souls are conveniently electronic (omniattentive)”, Lisson Gallery are certainly celebrating their 50th birthday with some panache. Don’t miss this superstar group show featuring Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, Tony Cragg, Ryan Gander, Susan Hiller, Anish Kapoor and many more.
Laura Robertson, Editor
Images, from top: Edmund Clark, In Place of Hate (2017). Detail. Image courtesy of Edmund Clark, Ikon and Flowers Gallery. Anna Barham, Liquid Liquid, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, 2015. Poster, Baskerville – A Sherlock Holmes Mystery @ Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. Installation View, Everything at Once ‘Everything at Once’ Lisson Gallery x Vinyl Factory
