Newsletter London for fun

Welcome to the London For Fun regular newsletter keeping you up to date with what's new in London`s events.

LONDON FOR FUN Newsletter: 25 August 2009 Issue No.179

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http://www.londonforfun.com
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1.) Top 10 London events
2.) Other Events, Theatre listings, Museums and Galleries
3.) How to unsubscribe

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1. Top 10 London events
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1 - Regents Park Open Air Theatre - Hello, Dolly! - Strike up the band, join the parade: New York's glamorous match-maker Dolly Levi is back on the scene and out to make the most significant pairing of her career. This Broadway classic, starring Samantha Spiro as Dolly, features such numbers as Put On Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By, and Hello, Dolly! Until 12 September. www.openairtheatre.com

2 - Londoners Through A Lens - What makes a Londoner? Place of birth, place of work, a certain accent, a particular attitude? Living here, dying here? Finding fame and fortune here? The capital has produced its fair share of heroes and heroines down the ages but there are just as many ordinary and anonymous people on ordinary and anonymous streets doing what Londoners have always done: queuing, shopping, working, striking,... Until 12 September. www.gettyimagesgallery.com

3 - Medals of Dishonour - The first part of the exhibition focuses on the Museum’s collection of satirical and political medals from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Subjects range from the sombre and the bizarre to the scatological and the humorous, and the medals will be placed in context through the use of contemporary prints and drawings. Two of US sculptor David Smith's influential Medals for Dishonor of the 1930s (from which the exhibition borrows its title) are included, along with a little-known medal by Marcel Duchamp. The second part of the exhibition features medals recently commissioned from leading contemporary artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, William Kentridge, Grayson Perry, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Richard Hamilton, Mona Hatoum, Ellen Gallagher, Langlands and Bell, Cornelia Parker, Michael Landy, Yun-Fei Ji, Steve Bell and Felicity Powell. Until 27 September. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

4 - Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan - Wind Shadow - Choreographic genius Lin Hwai-Min has created a contemporary dance work that makes shadows come alive. Joining forces with leading Chinese visual artist Cai Guo-Qiang, Wind Shadow is a study of motion created through the monochromatic palettes of black and white and the use of light and shade. Set to a haunting soundscape, the dancers capture the intangible quality of the wind and the variable structure of shadows. Projections of Cai’s gunpowder drawings merge into silhouettes and form a moving art installation within which the dancers engage. From 6 October until 10 October. www.barbican.org.uk

5 - Radical Nature - Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009 - The beauty and wonder of nature have provided inspiration for artists and architects for centuries. Since the 1960s, the increasingly evident degradation of the natural world and the effects of climate change have brought a new urgency to their responses. Radical Nature is the first exhibition to bring together key figures across different generations who have created utopian works and inspiring solutions for our ever-changing planet. Radical Nature draws on ideas that have emerged out of Land Art, environmental activism, experimental architecture and utopianism. The exhibition is designed as one fantastical landscape, with each piece introducing into the gallery space a dramatic portion of nature. Until 18 October. www.barbican.org.uk

6 - Turandot - English National Opera continues to renew its core Puccini repertoire with a new production of the composer’s operatic swansong. Directed by dynamic young theatre director Rupert Goold this darkly beautiful staging promises to be a Turandot for our times. German soprano Kirsten Blanck makes her UK stage debut as the man-hating ‘ice princess’; Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes Jones (Pinkerton in Minghella’s Butterfly) makes his role debut as the unknown prince whose death-defying passion solves the riddle of her tortured heart. Featuring the aria Nessun Dorma, Puccini’s most iridescently exotic score is conducted by ENO’s Olivier Award-winning Music Director, Edward Gardner. From 8 October until 12 December. www.eno.org

7 - China: Journey to the East - China: Journey to the East spans 3,000 years of Chinese history and culture, exploring themes of play and performance, technology, belief and festivals, food and drink, and language and writing. China has been a major influence on many parts of the world through trade and the movement of peoples. Chinese Diaspora communities form a vital part of the history of many other countries, including Britain. This unique exhibition features over 100 objects from the British Museum, the largest loan of Chinese material the Museum has made in the UK. Until 24 December. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

8 - Turner Prize - The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art. The prize is awarded each year to 'a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding'. Nominations are invited each year, and the prize is judged by an independent jury that changes annually. The four shortlisted artists present works in a show normally held at Tate Britain before the winner is announced in December. From 6 October until 16 January. www.tate.org.uk

9 - Pop Life: Art in a Material World - "Good business is the best art" Andy Warhol once provocatively claimed. Tate Modern's hit autumn exhibition Pop Life examines how artists since the 1980s have cultivated their public persona as a product, and conjured a dazzling mix of media, commerce and glamour to build their own 'brands'. Beginning with the grandfather of Pop, Andy Warhol, the show includes Jeff Koons' infamous Made in Heaven series and his stainless steel Rabbit sculpture, an iconic array of golden spot and butterfly paintings from Damien Hirst's recordbreaking 2008 auction, and a reconstruction of Keith Haring's Pop Shop in New York. Also included will be works by Richard Prince, Martin Kippenberger, and the notorious YBAs, and a new commission by Takashi Murakami. From 1 October 2009 until 17 January 2010. www.tate.org.uk/modern

10 - La Clique - Impossible to define and impossible to resist, La Clique is an ever-changing collection of the most outrageous, hilarious, beautiful and downright bizarre acts you will ever see. The show has performed 24-sell out seasons across the globe, with each performance offering audiences a unique, inspirational and unforgettable night in the theatre. Now winner of the 2009 Best Entertainment Olivier Award, La Clique has proved itself to be a seductive, funny, dangerous and above all heart-warming sensation. From 19 November 2009 until 17 January 2010. www.roundhouse.org.uk

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2. Other Events, Theatre listings, Museums and Galleries:

Events listing:
http://www.londonforfun.com/events-in-London.htm

Theatre listings:
http://www.londonforfun.com/London-theatres.htm

Museum listing:
http://www.londonforfun.com/London-museums.htm

Galleries listings:
http://www.londonforfun.com/galleries-in-London.htm

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