TCé picks: Review of the Year (Apostolos Kostoulas)
In the run-up to 2013, The Cultural Exposé team share their favourite highlights of 2012 and something they’re looking forward to in the New Year:
Highlight of 2012: The Goonies at Nomad Cinema, 18 August 2012
“It is difficult not to get a little bit nostalgic at the end of the year, when you start reminiscing about all the exciting events you attended over the last twelve months. My fond memories of the special screening of The Goonies may well be related to the fact that when I am writing these lines the outside temperature is a little bit above 0 °C and watching a favourite film at the beautiful Queen’s Park under the warm summer sky seems extremely appealing. The Goonies though, do not need an ideal setting to capture your heart and transfer you back to your restless childhood. In a year that many Hollywood blockbusters tackled adult themes and became all dark and serious on us, The Goonies was the most fun cinematic experience I had all year.” http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/film/something-you-should-go-the-goonies-at-nomad-cinema/
Something I am looking forward to in 2013: Screwball season at the BFI (Throughout January)
“Welcoming the new year with an unbeatable combination of sophistication, romance and comedy courtesy of Hollywood’s golden era”
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http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/what-to-do-in-london/tce-picks-review-of-the-year-eri-otite/
TCé picks: Review of the Year (Eri Otite)
In the run-up to 2013, The Cultural Exposé team share their favourite highlights of 2012 and something they’re looking forward to in the New Year:
William Klein & Daido Moriyama at Tate Modern, October 2012
“I enjoyed the exhibition for the wealth of work on display and the pleasant surprises. Moriyama’s harsh, sober portraits of Tokyo provided a perfect contrast to Klein’s energetic vision of New York. As someone who’s interested in the use of text in art, Klein’s wooden panel paintings of abstract letters were a bonus. I knew he’d started out as a painter but my knowledge of Klein was through his work as a photographer and filmmaker. I like him even more now.”
Something I’m looking forward to in 2013: Juergen Teller’s Woo at the ICA, January 23rd- March 17th 2013
“A bit of fashion escapism to banish the winter blues from the influential artist and photographer.”
http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/what-to-do-in-london/tce-picks-review-of-the-year-laura-thornley/
TCé picks: Review of the Year (Laura Thornley)
In the run-up to 2013, The Cultural Exposé team share their favourite highlights of 2012 and something they’re looking forward to in the New Year:
Highlight of 2012: Jeremy Deller, Joy in People at The Hayward Gallery, February 2012
“Despite Jeremy Deller’s fame in the British art scene, there still remains something unique and intelligent about his work; I can’t help but smile when thinking about this exhibition. Often full of humour, his observations about the quirks of British life offer a speculative look at pop culture, icons and folk-ish activities. Evidently fascinated by ethnographic recordings of all aspects of the complicated British life, one piece in particular comes to mind: the gang-style hand gestures for a Middle Class Posse. A video piece illustrated hand signals Deller developed, should the middle classes wish to form gangs. ‘Radio 4’, ‘cup of tea’ and ‘Church of England’ all got translated: classic Deller in its deadpan seriousness, but utter hilarity”
Something I’m looking forward to in 2013: Eclipse Theatre Company presents One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show, Wed 16 Jan 2013 – Sat 9 Feb 2013
“Originally written by a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement, One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show is restored by Sheffield’s Eclipse Theatre Company. Having received critical acclaim in its earlier tours, its visit to London in January promises to be side-splittingly funny.”
Tomorrow: Check out Eri Otite’s Review of The Year
http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/what-to-do-in-london/tce-picks-review-of-the-year-2012/
TCé picks: Review of the Year 2012 (Florence Ritter)
In the run-up to 2013, The Cultural Exposé team share their favourite highlights of 2012 and something they’re looking forward to in the New Year:
My highlight of 2012: Liverpool Biennial, International Festival of Contemporary Art, September – November 2012
“I took a solitary train-trip up to Liverpool for a day and was all set to hit the ground running between exhibitions. But the city is totally manageable, and the locations were mainly clustered together, so any visiting artophile was able to cover a lot of ground in a limited time. In amongst the more established art spaces, hosting the biennial’s projects and pieces were a block of commercial offices, a small community-owned bakery, and a cavernous (and totally deserted) ex-postal sorting office, dotted with defunct machinery. Film-based work featured heavily, highlights being John Akomfrah’s investigation of memory and identity at the Bluecoat, and Anja Kirschner and David Panos’ strangely sensual exploration of subterranean histories in their piece commissioned by FACT.”
Something I’m looking forward to in 2013: Light Show at Hayward Gallery, opens January 30th
“The forward-thinking Hayward, who can always be trusted to put on well-considered, visually spectacular shows, open the new year with this interactive exhibition of works and installations which deal with light phenomena, which has sky-rocketed to the top of my list of must-sees for 2013.”
Monday: Check out Ed Spencer’s Review of The Year 2012
TCé picks: Review of the Year 2012 (Matilda Egere-Cooper)
In the run-up to 2013, The Cultural Exposé team share their favourite highlights of 2012 and something they’re looking forward to in the New Year:
Highlight of 2012: Lauryn Hill at Indigo O2, April 2012
“I’ve been a massive fan of Lauryn Hill since the Fugees days and have been fortunate to see her a few times – but the last few concerts she’s done in London have been, well, terrible. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect with this show, except that it’d determine if Lauryn was still the artist I believed she could be – and surprisingly, she stepped up. Vocally, she was amazing and she performed like an artist who’s come to the realisation that it’s better sticking to the music you do best – the classics.”
Something I’m looking forward to in 2013: Chrisette Michele at the Jazz Cafe, January 27th
“You can always depend on the Jazz Cafe in Camden to host shows from some of the most credible artists around these days – anf Chrisette Michele is no exception. The Grammy-Award winning singer has been on the US R&B scene for the last five or six years – and while she’s still relatively unknown on these shores, she has a strong following which will probably see this gig sell out. She’s got a great set of chops, so can’t wait to see her!”
Tomorrow: Check out Florence Ritter’s Review of The Year 2012
http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/what-to-do-in-london/merry-christmas/
Merry Christmas!
Understandably, we’re taking a much needed break today to eat, drink, reflect and be merry, but look out for our Review of The Year highlights over the next few days!
Something you should do… breakfast at the Electric Diner
It’s very rare we extoll the virtues of breakfast on TCé – and considering all the adventuring we get up to, we should! – so we happily accepted an invite to try an early morning meal at Electric Diner, a new restaurant on Portobello Road. The collaboration between Soho House and renowned Chicago restaurateur Brendan Sodikoff has resulted in a venue that feels distinctively Americana with its red booths and cliché interiors, but features a menu injected with a French influence we picked up when we tucked into the open-faced ham, cheese fondue and fried egg (£9) (a pleasure so guilty we tried to pretend it was lunch).
Here, you’ll find a breakfast menu that is modest and relatively inexpensive considering the generous portion sizes, so other honourable mentions include the avocado on toast with a poached egg, sides such as the buttery mushrooms (£3) and hash browns (much crunchier than expected, but went down well with the fondue) and the Berry Boost smoothie, which was light and refreshing (£4).
But we were much too full to go in on the Electric Donuts, with flavours as varied as maple bourbon and bergamot orange, but it’s given us a reason to return – especially on the weekend when we wouldn’t mind a place to escape from Portobello’s infamous hustle and bustle.
Electric Diner
191 Portobello Road,
London, W11 2ED (££)For more info, visit www.electricdiner.com. Click here to see more pics of our breakfast!
http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/arts-culture/fuerzabruta-at-the-roundhouse/
Somewhere you should go… Fuerzabruta at The Roundhouse
If you were in London six years ago, you may remember Fuerzabruta’s last visit to the Roundhouse. It’s still fresh in the mind of those who saw it and that’s why there is such a buzz surrounding the return of this theatrical show.
Described as a 360-theatre experience, the performance takes place at every angle possible around the audience’s head. Men run full pelt through obstacles, performers act out choreographed sequences in water pools suspended from the ceiling, and acrobats spin and fall amongst suspended fabric. all against a thumping bass soundtrack. No surprises that the name of the show literally means ‘brute force’ and tickets are for standing room only.
The visual effects are what have earned the show a name and are the trademark of Diqui James, the creative director and driving force of Fuerzabruta. Founded in 2002, James had already co-founded De La Guarda, which operated from 1993 to 2006, with many of the members following him to Fuerzabruta. Prime importance to the band of performers is to be experimental. And, considering many who saw them first time round haven’t been able to witness anything like it since, it’s safe to say they are still the ones pushing the boundaries of high adrenalin theatre.
The show only lasts 60 minutes, but that’s presumably because your heart couldn’t take much more. Having been described as theatre for clubgoers, this theatre experience straggles a pumping techno night and an action film sequence which sounds like a pretty good combination to us. The show runs until late January, a perfect lift for the New Year. (Words: Laura Thornley)
For more info, visit: www.roundhouse.org.uk/fuerzabruta
Something you should see… Film in Space at the Camden Arts Centre
Imagine multi-screen mixed media presentations fused with music and set in the dark – this is not the latest VJing event but a new exhibition on expanded cinema. This film movement, which came to prominence in Britain in the early 1970s, was conceived as an alternative to mainstream cinema. Expanded cinema films were experimental works that encompassed film, video, sound and performance. They were made as live projection events, often using 16mm projectors and almost always performed in the dark. Through these films, artists sought to challenge the conventions of spectatorship and the filmmaking process. On at the Camden Arts Centre, this group show has been curated by artist-filmmaker Guy Sherwin and includes both seminal works from the 1970s and more contemporary pieces.
Anyone fortunate enough to have seen and experienced Filmaktion at Tate Modern recently will be familiar with the work of Malcolm Le Grice. Recognised as a major figure in the development of experimental film in the UK, Le Grice’s Castle 1 (1966) or ‘the light bulb film’ is a must-see at this show. Le Grice has said his ‘main interest is in creating experiences rather than concepts’ and this collaged film is just one of a number of works seeking to bring the cinematic experience consciously into the space of the audience. Le Grice’s unconventional use of sound in the editing process of this film cannot go without a mention. William Raban, Gill Eatherley and Annabel Nicolson – Le Grice’s Filmaktion contemporaries – are also represented in this exhibition not only by film but by text and images.
Original expanded cinema works were never produced for a gallery, in keeping with the movement’s radical intent they were shown in more unusual spaces – so several of the earlier films on view have been modified. An expanded cinema exhibition without any live performances possibly misses the point, so a programme of live events does feature throughout its run. There are those who’d argue that expanded cinema is all around us – we are quite used to seeing moving images in a gallery setting but these flicks really are pictures of a different kind. (Words: Eri Otite)
Film in Space is on at the Camden Arts Centre until February 24 2013. For more info, visit www.camdenartscentre.org
http://www.theculturalexpose.co.uk/eat-drink/somewhere-you-should-go-lakwatsa/
Somewhere you should go… Lakwatsa
Although the Bubble Tea craze has been around for a while, it’s a trend I had happily ignored until my recent visit to Lakwatsa, a new bubble tea and Merienda lounge. Despite my healthy scepticism about the bubbles (let me tell you now, they aren’t bubbles, but ‘chewy jelly ball’ doesn’t quite have the same ring), any doubts about how great the taste could be are blown away.
Sandwiched between Huey Morgan’s tattoo parlour and The Nothing Hill bookshop on Blenheim Crescent, you could say that owner Clare Buyson has chosen the perfect place for her first foodie venture. Having grown up in the local area, Clare’s dream of opening a relaxing place to hang out and share a drink or snack has finally been realised. Her love affair with Bubble Tea started a few years back in California but its concept comes from 1980s Taiwan.The Cafe has a well thought-out design suitably relaxing and low-key. Wooden box swing chairs and bright colours, a scrabble menu board and a drink production counter that looks more cocktail bar than teashop, all add to the beach bar vibe. The bubble tea comes in jam jars and in a variety of flavours either milk or juice-based. Tapioca balls (the bubbles: made from cassava root) are included as a matter of course and extra jelly flavours can be added to your choice. I tried a honeydew melon milk-based drink with tapioca – a strangely successful combination. The fruit-based teas were more refreshing and additional aloe vera jellies add a healthy kick. The Taro-flavoured milk tea was particularly creamy and luxurious, and the Asian vegetable passed on its unusual purple tint to the drink.
Whilst the tea options are fun, the food element to Lakwatsa’s bow is something independently successful. With the help of her mother’s traditional Filipino recipes, Clare has created an Asian tapas (merienda) style menu. Spicy and fresh, dishes include Baby Squid with Ceviche sauce, Adobo Rice balls as well as their own take on Prawn Toast and Gyoza.
Bubble Tea may not be about to take over the humble brew as number one beverage in this country, but it is a fun alternative all the same. The café also offers teas and Vietnamese coffees for any of those who can’t go without. Open until 11pm it’s amongst the few places in London that’s an alcohol- free venue – so check out this friendly, foodie option if you are in the neighbourhood. (Words: Laura Thornley)
For more info, visit: www.lakwatsa.co.uk
