Culture Diary w/c 28-01-2019

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 – Film With Pride: Mulan 6.30pm @ FACT – £7.70/£5.70

FACT’s Dirty Thoughts season gets underway with Disney’s 1998 film, Mulan. Inspired by Chinese legend, it tells the tale of our titular protagonist, who pretends to be a man so that she can take her dad’s place in the army draft. The film is introduced here by Esme Grace Brown and Zena “Zee” Davine, who explore its relevance for queer audiences.

Tuesday – Tuesday Talks: Jake Chapman 11am @ the Whitworth, Manchester – FREE

The Whitworth’s Tuesday Talks series invites artists, thinkers and curators to “explore the driving forces, influences and sources of inspiration within contemporary art”. Tonight it’s the turn of Jake Chapman, who along with brother Dinos has since the 1990s produced morally ambiguous work, taking in themes of religion, Nazism and consumerism along the way.

Tampopo

Wednesday – L8 Laffs: Tampopo 7pm @ Squash – £5

L8 Laffs comes to a close with 1985’s Tampopo, director Juzo Itami’s so-called ramen western. It tells the tale of a plucky roadside food vendor (who gives the film its title), who has the simple aim of making the best ramen around. On the film’s Blu-ray release in 2017, Little White Lies asked: “Is this the greatest film ever made about food?” Make your own mind up this week.

Thursday – From Liverpool to Bandung to the Stratosphere (and back again) 6pm @ the Bluecoat – £4/£3

Indonesian artist Nurrachmat Widyasena works in photography, print, textile and installation, as he “explores notions around retro futurism art”, where, says his bio, “he tries to stand in the crossroad of reality and fantasy”. This evening, he talks with Bluecoat curator Adam Smythe about his often playful practice, at the end of a month-long residency in Liverpool.

Nurrachamat_Widysena_MED

Friday – Mugstar / Mincemeat / The Cubical 7pm @ Craft Taproom – £2

Part of Independent Venue Week, Smithdown Road’s Craft Taproom welcomes a trio of local acts through its doors for a bargainous two quid. Evergreen psych experimentalists Mugstar play their first gig of the year, and are joined on a strong bill by Mincemeat and The Cubical.

Saturday – Omar Souleyman 7pm @ 24 Kitchen Street – £15+

Omar Souleyman has come a long way since his days as a part-time wedding singer. In the subsequent years, it isn’t overstating things to describe him these days as a bona fide – if somewhat niche – legend. Combining chants, drum machines and synths, speaking in the Guardian, he said: “My music is from the community I come from – the Kurdish, the Ashuri, the Arabic, they’re all in this community. Even Turkish because it’s so near, it’s just across the border. And even Iraqi.”

Sunday – The Seamonsters 7.30pm @ Jacaranda Records Phase One – £5

Another Independent Venue week gig, The Seamonsters hail from Sheffield and sport the influences of catchy indie and synth-pop that city is rightly proud of. Citing Altered Images and Orange Juice alongside the obligatory Pulp, this gang of 18 – 19 year old childhood friends have so far amassed a not insignificant following with the release of singles Lost (& Found), Wonderland and Max and Archie.

Mike Pinnington

Images/media from top, Omar Souleyman; Tampopo; Nurrachmat Widyasena

Posted on 28/01/2019 by thedoublenegative