Culture Diary w/c 12-11-2018
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!
Monday – This Grief Thing With Fevered Sleep @ The Whitworth, Manchester, until Sunday – FREE
We’ve all experienced not knowing what to say when faced with someone who’s lost a loved one. You freeze, often say nothing. This Grief Thing “pushes against this, by opening up conversations about grief and making it visible”. For people who have experienced grief, and those who haven’t, the Whitworth plays host to a series of workshops in which people can get to grips with the conversation, and perhaps discuss why we’re so averse to talking about the subject of death.
Tuesday – Manchester Animation Festival @ HOME Manchester – Festival pass £90/day pass £40
The UK’s largest animation festival dedicated to the celebration of the art form, MAF returns this week to Home Manchester. Across three days, expect UK premieres, a welcome screening of Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs – with Head Painter Roy Bell and animator Tim Allen on hand for behind-the-scenes insight – director Q&As and industry panels.
Suspiria Preview 6pm @ FACT, Liverpool – £10.40/Concs
That lurid colour palette, the elemental fury and Goblin’s pulsating score all combined to make Dario Argento’s Suspiria an intense and foreboding sensory experience. Early screenings of Luca Guadagnino’s remake – reimagining? – seem to have split the critics; from “a gorgeous, hideous, uncompromising film” to “bloated fantasy”. Whichever it is, the wait will soon be over, and you can make your own mind up. Starring the magnificent Tilda Swinton, here’s hoping it’s the former.
Wednesday – Object of the Month: Science Fiction with Mark Olly 1pm @ The Atkinson, Southport – FREE
Part of the Atkinson’s Object of the Month strand, writer, historian and TV presenter Mark Olly draws on books, films and other ephemera to discuss the history of Science Fiction. Where to start, and where would you end? For fans, and those wishing to dip their toe alike, it should be a fascinating dive into the genre.
Kevin Gaffney: Far from the reach of the sun + Q&A 6.30pm @ FACT, Liverpool – FREE
Timely subject matter from artist/filmmaker Kevin Gaffney, whose latest – Far from the reach of the sun – posits a near future world in which a drug can alter your sexuality. Raising questions of identity and abhorrent gay conversion therapy, Gaffney reflects on the real-world interference in the lives of LGBT communities. The screening is followed by a Q&A with Dr Michael Birchall, Curator of Public Practice at Tate Liverpool and Senior Lecturer at LJMU.
Thursday – Exhibition Opening: Wake Up Together 6pm @ Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool – FREE
With Liverpool Biennial over for 2018, galleries across the city are reverting to their own programming, and if Open Eye’s latest is anything to go by, we’re in for some exciting palette-cleansers. The first of this week’s Homotopia-related events, Wake Up Together pairs the late Ren Hang’s explicit, fearless work with Robin Hammond’s Where Love is Illegal, which tells the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people who risk punishment and oppression for no reason other than being themselves.
Friday – Tabitha Moses presents The Lives of Others Symposium 11am @ Edge Hill University, Ormskirk – FREE
Photographer Tabitha Moses presents this day-long symposium which investigates the way people’s stories inspire creative responses from artists, writers, film makers and musicians, to performers and activists. Considering “modes of storytelling, the right to authorship and the fine line between empathy and exploitation”, The Lives of Others asks pertinent questions about artistic appropriation.
Hinds 7pm @ Arts Club Liverpool – £14
With a host of stellar reviews for their latest and second album, the charming I Don’t Run, Spain’s Hinds doubled-down on the lush garage-pop of debut Leave Me Alone. This Friday sees them continue their UK tour in Liverpool, before heading to the Netherlands in December.
Saturday – Scottee: Fat Blokes 7.30pm @ The Unity Theatre, Liverpool – £12.50/£10.50
Another hit from Homotopia this week, as new touring show from award-winning artist Scottee – coinciding with his tenth year of performing live across art, theatre and cabaret – Fat Blokes “is about the confusing headspace of what it means to be a fat person”, including people commenting on your weight, being judged for eating in public, and being made to feel much bigger than you are. Expect protest, complex questions, dance, and a company of other artists and stage newbies getting their kit off.
Sunday – Burgerz by Travis Alabanza 6pm @ Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool – £10/Concs
“I was called faggot 60 times last year. 15 different men tried to follow me home. A woman told her child not to sit next to me on the tube. And I hit the headlines after being thrown out of a changing room.” Directed by Sam Curtis Lindsay, Travis Alabanza’s show (again, brought to Liverpool by Homotopia) confronts the reality of life for the trans community, asking pertinent questions such as “What does the trans body do in order to survive?”, and “how can one become a protector, rather than a bystander?”
Mike Pinnington
Images from top: Manchester Animation Festival; Object of the Month: Science Fiction with Mark Olly; Ren Hang 任航 (1987-2017); Hinds on Instagram
