China
Ai Weiwei, Lisson Gallery & Somerset HouseThursday, 12 May 2011
It is now 37 days since Ai Weiwei was detained at Beijing international airport by the Chinese authorities. His family and friends have heard nothing since. His lawyer, to whom under Chinese law he must have access, was arrested as well, and since... Read more... |
The Asian Music Circuit fights backWednesday, 04 May 2011
In the ravages of the recent arts cuts, and debates over the winners and losers, one estimable organisation tended to be overlooked in the coverage – the Asian Music Circuit, who have done more for Asian arts in the UK than probably any other entity... Read more... |
The Blue Dragon, Barbican TheatreSaturday, 19 February 2011
Forked lightning glimpsed through an aeroplane window, a silken dancer spilling stars in a snow-filled sky, a dragon tattoo etched on a man’s back: we’ve grown to expect seductive alchemy of images from the work of Quebecois master of visual theatre... Read more... |
Nixon in China, Metropolitan Opera HD LiveSunday, 13 February 2011
Metcentric New Yorkers tend to think an opera hasn’t achieved classic status until it arrives at their vast inner sanctum. Whereas other cities worldwide know that the inimitable Peter Sellars production of grand opera’s last masterpiece (to date)... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Colombo: Where Music Matters as East Meets WestSunday, 21 November 2010
For hundreds of years now the island currently known as Sri Lanka has had a thriving musical culture (or cultures, not to politicise the issue). There’s been folk music for as long as there’ve been folks. The various strata of society have refined... Read more... |
Imagine: Ai Weiwei - Without Fear or Favour, BBC OneTuesday, 16 November 2010
If you found yourself thinking that you were watching Mission: Impossible rather than Imagine, you could have been forgiven. Alan Yentob had clearly been banned from meeting Ai Weiwei in China, and so one of their interviews was conducted over a... Read more... |
Emanuel Gat Dance, Sadler's Wells/ Henri Oguike Dance, TouringTuesday, 02 November 2010
How do young modern choreographers engage with their audience? With references from the street - motion that the audience knows and recognises? With musical expressiveness? With the development of a technical style that has a language of its own?... Read more... |
When will it end? Dust continues to spoil fun for visitors to Tate ModernSunday, 17 October 2010
Three days after its closure, and just a few days after opening, Tate Modern is still to make an announcement over the future of Ai Weiwei's interactive Turbine Hall installation. Will the closure of the dust-emitting artwork be permanent? Or are... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Locarno: I'm Watchin' in the RainSunday, 15 August 2010
It had to happen. Until now, I've always resisted. But last Thursday, I had, finally, to tear open the plastic container to get to the protection inside. A nice man from Screen International gave me his before leaving - he'd have no use for it... Read more... |
The Printed Image in China, British MuseumWednesday, 12 May 2010
The British Museum’s current exhibition of 15th-century works on paper, Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings, explores the increasing importance of the preparatory sketch in the development of western art. Central to that... Read more... |
City of Life and DeathFriday, 16 April 2010
From The Bridge on the River Kwai onwards, the Japanese haven’t tended to come up smelling of roses in war movies. Kind of unsurprisingly. In recent years it was Clint Eastwood who moved the story on. In Flags of Our Fathers he painted the... Read more... |
DVDs Round-Up 5Saturday, 13 March 2010
Two films with a East European flavour, Katalin Varga and Tales from the Golden Age, are among our March selection, which also includes the lovely, bittersweet Irish drama Kisses. Our US release (available worldwide, of course, by mail-order) is Wim... Read more... |
