Mark Fisher Talk at Chisenhale Gallery

Wednesday 17th November 2010

Chisenhale Gallery, London

7 pm Free

Alongside Hito Steyerl's new exhibition at Chisenhale, Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism, known to many as blogger kpunk, presents a talk in which he asks the question: ‘Can anything genuinely new emerge in a political landscape that is clogged with ideological junk?’

Mike Nelson, The Coral Reef, Tate Britain, London

Mike Nelson The Coral Reef
Tate Britain
Millbank, London, SW1C 4RG
10am - 6pm daily
Free

Mike Nelson's The Coral Reef is currently on show as part of Tate Britain's collection displays.

Having first been exhibited at Matt's Gallery in 2000, 10 years on it remains one of the most strikingly original pieces of contemporary art you could wish to see. It is an immersive installation that takes the form of a labyrinthine construction of rooms and passage ways in which carefully placed objects act as clues to the characters that have recently left.

The experience of walking through it is disconcerting and unsettling while also being rewarding and full of entertaing surprises - make sure you've got a few 10 pence pieces with you as the arcade machine really works, and watch out for rooms that seem familiar, they may be exact copies of others...

The Nelson installation is worth the trip on its own, but be sure to take a look at Fiona Banner's breathtaking new commission for the Duveen Gallery, Harrier and Jaguar, while you're there, and also catch Francis Alÿs' Guards in the Lightbox space downstairs.

John Bock, Curve-Vehicle incl. Π-Man-(.), Barbican Curve, London

John Bock Curve-Vehicle incl. Π-Man-(.)

Barbican Curve
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, United Kingdom EC2Y 8DS
10th June - 12th September 2010
Daily 11am - 8pm, Thursdays until 10pm
Free

John Bock's practice is a visually stunning amalgam of sculpture, assemblage, performance and video that traverses the mundane, the absurd and the grotesque in a reference-laden language that is seductive, exciting and at times unsettling. Inhabiting the Barbican's large, curved gallery is a series of sculptures taking the form of ceiling- and wall-mounted 'parasites' - pod-like living spaces whose insectoid limbs break through the space's walls - and a large vehicle echoing the forms of these in a tower of pods mounted atop a taxi chassis.

Having opened last week minus a film of one of Bock's 'lectures' - the artists' preferred name for his performance works, one of which is currently being made in the space- the exhibition is due for completion by this Saturday, 19th June and is certainly not to be missed.

Photocredit Lyndon Douglas.

Gig: Patten, Arch M, Forest Creature & Kaleidoscope DJs, 18th June, The Woodmill, London

Click to enlarge.

A fundraiser at one of South East London's newest studio and gallery complexes, The Woodmill. Expect glitches, beeps and lush, off-kilter electronics from Patten, Arch M, Sheffield's Forest Creature, Kaleidoscope DJS and more.

London Literature Festival, Southbank Centre, London

The London Literature Festival
Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX
Tuesday 27 April - Sunday 15 August 2010

Taking place across the Southbank Center for four months this summer, The London Literature Festival brings together a broad range of writers, performers, critics and theorists in what promises to be a lengthy and stimulating series of talks, performances and discussions. Speakers this year include Slavoj Žižek, John Cooper Clark and Bret Easton Ellis.

Alongside this is an exhibition entitled Certificates Of Readership by emerging British artist Sara Mackillop in the Saison Poetry Library.

Tickets have just gone on sale here.

Ryan Gander, Lisson Gallery, London

Ryan Gander

Lisson Gallery

52-54 Bell Street, London, NW1 5DA

5th May - 5th June 2010

Monday - Friday 9.30am - 6pm Saturday 11am - 5pm

Ryan Gander's first show at the Lisson, and also his first London solo show since the excellent Ikon-curated Heralded As The New Black at the South London Gallery in 2008. Gander's oeuvre is never easily defined and intentionally difficult to pin down. Promising a new body of work constructed around the history of art, film and media, I have high hopes for this show.

If you can't make it, you can view it online here.

David Blandy, Choose Your Character, The ICA, London

David Blandy Choose Your Character
The ICA
The Mall, London, SW1
May 6th 2010
12 midday - 1 am

David Blandy kicks off David Gryn's Live Weekend at The ICA with Choose Your Character. Extrapolating from some of the recurring themes found in his work, Blandy will celebrate a variety of different fan-behaviours and sub-cultural obsessions that reflect his own passions.

The day will include a Street Fighter IV tournament hosted by fighting game tournament organisers Neo Empire, music from Big Dada/Ninja Tune's Infinite Livez and King Cannibal, turntablists Ben Phaze, DJ Shorty, DJ CutWild, g-man and Priority Deluxe, with record stalls from Ninja Tune, Rough Trade, Soul & Dance Exchange and Flashback, and cosplay.

During the day in the ICA Theatre Artprojx will present films and videos including:

Ashish Avikunthak – Kalighat Fetish
Shoja Azari – Windows
David Blandy - My Philosophy
Brian Catling & Tony Grisoni – Vanished – A Video Séance & The Cutting
Mark Leckey – Cinema-in-the-Round & Shades of Destructors
Lynne Marsh - Plänterwald,
Jo Mitchell – Concerto for Voice & Machinery II
Damon Packard - The Untitled Star Wars Mocumentary
Francesco Stocchi - The only system is a sound system
Matt Stokes – Long After Tonight

Entry is free.

For details of the full series of Live Weekends at The ICA this month click here.

View trailer.

The Wire Salon Series at Cafe Oto, Dalston, London

The Wire Salon Series

Cafe Oto

18 - 22 Ashwin street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL

First Thursday of each month 8pm, starting 1st April 2010

Tickets £4 on the door only

Next month sees Cafe Oto begin a series of salon-style events revolving around thinking and talking about music, presented by experimental music magazine The Wire. The series promises readings, discussions, panel debates, film screenings, DJ sets and the occasional live performance.

April 1st : Revenant Forms: The Meaning Of Hauntology

The first event in the series, Mark Fisher (K-punk), Adam Harper (Rouge's Foam) and Joseph Stannard (The Outer Church) will discuss the essence of the spectral, uncanny qualities of much contemporary audio, from dubstep to hypnagogic pop and beyond.

The night will also include screenings of a number of short films by Julian House (Ghost Box, The Focus Group), which feature soundtracks by Broadcast, Belbury Poly and others; a live set by Moon Wiring Club; and eldritch vinyl interludes courtesy of Mordant Music.

May 6th : Sonic warfare: The Politics Of Frequency

For the second event in the series, author Ken Hollings (Welcome To Mars, Destroy All Monsters) and Steve Goodman (Kode9, Hyperdub), author of Sonic Warfare (sample chapters here), discuss the uses and abuses of sound and noise in policing the urban environment, by the military-industrial complex, in the era of the soundclash, and beyond. Plus related films, DJs and other participants TBA.

Chritian Marclay & Others Live In London This Weekend

Steve Beresford's Birthday

Cafe Oto

18 - 22 Ashwin street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL

Saturday 6th March 8pm

Tickets £8 adv/£10 otd

Following last week's post, I have just read that Christian Marclay will be playing live as part of Steve Beresford's 60th birthday celebrations at Dalston's Cafe Oto this weekend.

The line up will feature the following:

Christian Marclay on turntables, Veryan Weston and Tania Chen on pianos, Lol Coxhill and John Butcher on saxophones, Satoko Fukuda on violin, Ute Kanngiesser on cello, Guillaume Viltard on contra bass and Steve Beresford on piano and electronics.

Expect an atonal celebration of all things free and improvisational.

The Library Of Babel/In And Out Of Place, 176 Zabludowicz Collection, London

The Library Of Babel/In And Out Of Place
176 Zabludowicz Collection
176 Prince of Wales Road, London, Nw5 3PT
25.02.10 - 09.05.10
Thursday - Sunday 12 am - 6 pm, and by appointment.
Preview Thursday 25th February 2010 7 - 9 pm

A new show at North London's 176, curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers as part of her year-long residency with the Zabludowicz Collection. Promising a salon-style hanging, the curator-in-residence has selected over 200 works works from the collection for inclusion in this exhibition.

The title The Library Of Babel comes from a 1941 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. In the story inhabitants of an infinite library search for the absolute interpretation of the information around them. The website explains:

"The Library of Babel/In and Out of Place encourages the visitor to embark on a similar quest for meaning... Seemingly incongruous works belie carefully disguised threads of meaning waiting to be uncovered and interpreted."

The exhibition promises an extensive public programme featuring invited professionals and visitors acting as guides conducting tours for the public, as well as an accompanying series of lectures and discussions with scientists and theorists from backgrounds including neurology, psychology, sociology, philosophy, linguistics and literature, alongside an illustrated publication with specially commissioned texts.

For a full and extensive list of included artists click here.

Personal favourites include:
John Bock, Spartacus Chetwynd, Larry Clark, Ryan Gander, Brian Griffiths, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Graham Hudson, Juneau Projects, Jim Lambie, Louise Lawler, Mike Nelson, Nam June Paik, Paul Pfeiffer, Richard Prince, R.H. Quaytman, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Keith Tyson and Banks Violette.