Do This Or Regret It: My Weekly Dose Of Capital Culture (Week 1)
Happy New Year! I trust you all had a suitably raucous celebration; here’s to another year of Capital Culture.
MUSIC: Troyka, Vortex Dalston, Friday 6th January
Mercury-nominated keyboardist Kit Downes, alongside hugely innovative guitarist Chris Montague and beat manipulator Josh Blackmore – Troyka mix insanely catchy tunes with complex yet rocking riffs. Be sure to check this out for a uninhibited collision of improvised rock, jazz, and fun funky jamming.
ART: Paul McCarthy, Hauser & Wirth, until January 14th
Inventive, provocative, violently disturbing and often obscene – McCarthy begs a sturdy disposition. I first experienced his work (and experienced is most definitely the word) in an out if use building off Brick Lane in 2005. Crawling through hatches, I was overwhelmed by his dark subversion of popular iconography – a visual assault, twisted taught with carnivalesque brutality. A multi-sensory invasion, the work was underscored by the smell of rotting chocolate sauce and fractured sound recordings of past performances. His current work is no less ambitious. This sprawling exhibition is a multi-venue takeover; with stomach-churning sculptures on display across London and New York. Do this if you dare!
FILM: The Artist, On General Release
In an unlikely turn of cinematic events, an almost silent black and white looks set to triumph as the break-out hit of the season. Director Michel Hazanavicius triumphs with this affectionate homage to the monochrome movies starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. A critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser, this is a magnificent tribute to the wonder of cinema.
THEATRE: This Year It Will Be Different, Theatre 503, 3-7th January
At the forefront of new writing, Theatre 503 is an asset to London’s cultural landscape. In a typically wonderful twist, their first show of 2012 focuses on visual storytelling. Pairing playwrights with video artists, animators and illustrators they create short pieces of theatre inspired by texts, tweets and photos from members of the public. For a sneak preview of the production process, take a look at one artist’s blog. Cressida Knapp’s stunning shadow puppets reveal the untoward underbelly of New Year revels.
WILDCARD: Lonely Boy by The Black Keys – Video
This video forced me to excitedly dance around my kitchen on New Year’s Day. Dancing through the self-inflicted haze of New Year’s Day is a rare-occurrence; so it really must be something special. Reportedly the charismatic chap dancing in the video was an extra on the planned shoot; the director spotted him loosening up pre-take and asked him to take an hour to learn the lyrics and develop a routine. The original video was scrapped in favour of this – an absolute delight.
Enjoy the video and I’ll see you next week!
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