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LONDON FOR FUN Newsletter: 15 March 2011 Issue No.203

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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 - British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet - Through paintings, sculpture, installations, video, film, performance and all points in between, British Art Show 7 explores the ways in which contemporary British art conjures histories - distant or near, longingly imagined or all too real - to illuminate our present moment. Subtitled In the Days of the Comet, British Art Show 7 takes as its motif the idea of the comet as a harbinger of change, a measure of time and a marker of historical recurrence. Besides reflecting these and other cosmological concepts, the works propose alternative ways of thinking about the 'here and now'. Many of the 39 artists and artists' groups included in British Art Show 7 have made works especially for the exhibition. Until 17 April. www.southbankcentre.co.uk

2 - Show - SHOW is an exhibition of newly commissioned performances and artworks by Edwina Ashton, Jack Strange and Bedwyr Williams. It is the fourth Jerwood Encounters exhibition curated by Sarah Williams and seeks to examine the integral role that performance plays within an artist’s practice and its subsequent representation in an exhibition context. SHOW will consist of live performances, experiments in performance documentation and works by each of the artists including; props, sculpture, drawings, collage and film. From 16 March until 21 April. www.jerwoodvisualarts.org

3 - Alchemy - Alchemy is Southbank Centre’s 11-day journey into the richness, contrasts and confluences of the relationship between the UK, India and South Asian culture. The festival returns for a second year, taking over the site with contemporary and traditional music and dance, debate, literature, film, craft and fashion. From 15 April until 25 April. www.southbankcentre.co.uk

4 - Nancy Spero - Artist and activist Nancy Spero (1926–2009) was a leading pioneer of feminist art. During her 50-year career, she created a vibrant visual language constructed from the histories and mythologies of past and present cultures. Trained in the figurative tradition, Spero was greatly influenced not only by the enduring dialogue with her husband Leon Golub, but also by artists including Jean Dubuffet and by the objects and artefacts she discovered in ethnographic museums. Spero rejected the dominant post-war movements of formalist Abstraction and Pop Art in the 1950s, developing a more ephemeral way of working that used paper and collage, gouache and printmaking – a process she described as allowing for ‘all manner of processions, conflicts, interruptions and disruptions’. Until 2 May. www.serpentinegallery.org

5 -Laurie Anderson, Trisha Brown, Gordon Matta-Clark - Pioneers of the Downtown Scene, New York 1970s - Performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson, choreographer Trisha Brown and artist Gordon Matta-Clark were friends and active participants in the New York art community, working fluidly between visual art and performance. With the city as their backdrop, canvas, stage and inspiration, this exhibition is the first major presentation to examine the experimental and often daring approaches taken by these three key figures, both individually and collectively, in the burgeoning arts scene in downtown New York during the 1970s. Until 22 May. www.barbican.org.uk

6 - Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio and Street - E.O. Hoppé is one of the most important photographers of the first half of the twentieth century. Celebrated during his lifetime, much of Hoppé’s work has only recently been reassembled and this major survey will enable visitors to discover a forgotten master. Featuring 150 works, The exhibition includes Hoppé’s strikingly modernist portraits of society figures and important personalities from the worlds of literature, politics and the arts, including George Bernard Shaw, Margot Fonteyn, Albert Einstein, Vita Sackville-West and members of the royal family. These studio portraits will be shown alongside his fascinating photojournalist studies of everyday British people ranging from street musicians and circus performers to bus drivers and postmen, which capture the realities of day-to-day life between the wars. Until 30 May. www.npg.org.uk

7 - Watteau: The Drawings - In March 2011, the Royal Academy of Arts will present the first retrospective exhibition of the drawings of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) to be held in the UK. The display will contain over 80 works on paper produced by the French artist. Watteau is perhaps best known for his invention of a new genre: the fêtes galantes, small pictures of social gatherings of elegant people in parkland settings. He was also an exceptional draughtsman. His drawings were praised for their subtlety, freedom of execution, lightness of touch and grace, and remain widely admired today. Until 5 June. www.royalacademy.org.uk

8 - Strictly Gershwin - Strictly Gershwin is a dazzling homage to George Gershwin, the big band era and the razzmatazz of the thirties. Gershwin's famously sassy tunes adapted by Gareth Valentine and Derek Deane's sensational choreography conjure up the Silver Screen genius of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The dancers of English National Ballet will be joined by special guests and a live jazz orchestra for this fabulous in the round dance spectacular. From 9 June until 19 June. www.royalalberthall.com

9 - Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World - Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World will highlight some of the most important archaeological discoveries from ancient Afghanistan and will display precious and unique pieces on loan from the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul currently undergoing reconstruction. The geographical position, overland connections and history ensured that it was a region which enjoyed close relations with its neighbours in Central Asia, Iran, India and China, as well as more distant cultures stretching as far as the Mediterranean. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is supporting this unique opportunity to see rare treasures of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage in the UK. The exhibition will showcase over 200 stunning objects belonging to the National Museum of Afghanistan, accompanied by selected items from the British Museum. The artefacts range from Classical sculptures, polychrome ivory inlays originally attached to imported Indian furniture, enamelled Roman glass and polished stone tableware brought from Egypt, to delicate inlaid gold personal ornaments worn by the nomadic elite. Together they showcase the trading and cultural connections of Afghanistan and how it benefited from being on an important crossroads of the ancient world. Until 3 July. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

10 - Roland Petit - Roland Petit is a ballet legend. France’s most famous – even notorious – choreographer revolutionised ballet with his work for Hollywood films and for his provocative, poetic theatricality. Petit epitomises the Left Bank creative expressionism of Paris, from owning and operating the Casino de Paris to marrying France’s most glamorous and seductive dancer, Zizi Jeanmaire. This is a rare opportunity to see Petit’s extraordinary work in London. Inspired by Daudet's short story, L'Arlésienne is about Federi's thwarted love for Vivette, the young girl from Arles, set to music especially composed by Bizet for the story. Roland Petit's drama of primordial power unfolds against the frame of the corps de ballet and a landscape by Van Gogh. From 20 July until 24 July. www.ballet.org.uk

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

Events listing:
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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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