Culture Diary w/c 07-05-2018
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 loads of it’s free!
Tuesday – Unit X Festival 2018 9am-8pm @ Venues Across Manchester — FREE
Showcasing urgent and ambitious ideas from Manchester Metropolitan University students – including future design trends, endangered craft skills and explorations of sustainability – check out pop-up Unit X exhibitions at Manchester Art Gallery, Night and Day Café, Manchester Craft and Design Centre, Cass Arts, Soup Kitchen and the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art until 11 May.
New Town Utopia (2017) + ScreenTalk 6.15pm @ Barbican, London — £13.50
Basildon in Essex: from Post-War dream to worst town in Britain? Christopher Ian Smith’s scenic and genuinely utopian documentary takes a creative view of the concrete New Town, pitching it’s future as belonging to its resident poets, musicians and artists. In their words: you’ve got to experiment somewhere.
Wednesday — Beyond #MeToo 6-9pm @ The Women’s Organisation, Liverpool — £5-10
Can women regain control of their bodies? Or are the political and social systems we live within too damaged? Join an all-female line-up of writers, activists, essayists and entrepreneurs tonight – including anti-FGM campaigner Hibo Wardere (above) – for a significant and strategic discussion about moving beyond #MeToo. As part of Writing on the Wall Festival, which you can enjoy until 31 May.
Larry Achiampong & David Blandy: Finding Fanon 7pm @ FACT Liverpool — FREE
Expect a live AV performance tonight from frequent collaborators and friends, artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy. Probing a mash-up of shared interests across science fiction, gaming, post-colonial theory and pop, The Finding Fanon Trilogy (above, 2015–17) tries to understand the complexities of digital versus physical experiences – a perfect fit with FACT’s current exhibition, States of Play: Roleplay Reality, which is also free to see until 17 June.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Thursday – Time Tunnel Festival @ Fabric District & Other Venues Across Liverpool
Threats to civil rights, possible nuclear war, and an education system in turmoil – sound familiar? It turns out 2018 has got a lot in common with 1968… Artist and musician and Director of Art LABS at the Liverpool School of Art & Design, Professor John Hyatt, is kicking back with Time Tunnel Festival. Expect super creative responses to riots, Situationists, and sit-ins with wearable activism from Dr Noki fashion show, I Am Not A Number! (above), and loads more until 13 May.
The Gold Ones: Video Days 10am-8pm @ Bonington Gallery, Nottingham — FREE
Absurdist satire and pure spectacle nodding to Dada and Futurist cabaret: that’s how Wayne Burrows described The Gold Ones (above) and the Cosmic Care Home when he reviewed their performance in January of last year. Back in Nottingham for an energetic 10-hour edit, expect video, performance and installation exploring an imagined future. As part of Bonington Gallery’s 25 days of open cinema, Video Days, until 12 May.
FOCUS Wales 2018 @ St Giles’ Church & Other Venues Across Wrexham — £12
Highlighting all the alt rock, folk and dreamy pop coming out of Wales right now, this Welsh Music Industry celebrations sees Jane Weaver (above, recently featured in our Kick Ass Women playlist), Gaz Coombes, Bill Ryder-Jones, Kate Rusby, Damo Suzuki (of CAN), Dream State, and 2017 Welsh Music Prize winner The Gentle Good, plus tons more acts, take over Wrexham this weekend. See it until 12 May.
Friday – Public Opening: Mansions Of The Future 11am-5pm @ Mansions Of The Future, Lincoln — FREE
Your first chance to nose around this brand new cultural centre and artists’ space in Lincoln, Mansions Of The Future is aiming to put the East Midlands on the map. Expect artist-in-residence, Kathrin Böhm, to set the scene as she asks: “what culture do we want?” If you’re a collective, group or society, go see and (most importantly) use their many new spaces – including a reading room, commons room and pantry.
Presence Discussion Day 9:30am – 4pm @ St George’s Hall, Liverpool — £18-25
Have you seen St Georges Hall’s current exhibition Presence: A Window into Chinese Contemporary Art yet? Today’s a good opportunity, as the University of Salford discusses their collection of Chinese contemporary art (including Lu Xinjian, above), curated in collaboration with CFCCA, and which is available for loan to galleries. Expect further talks on Liverpool’s China Dream season from Open Eye Gallery, British Council, John Moores Painting Prize China, and many more.
Laura Robertson
